This vehicle was basically "designed" to go off road. It has skid plates and 4 wheel drive. Low range, clearance is okay. Clutch is terrible. It's a "street clutch". It works fine for grandma to take it to the corner market, but off road it will burn out almost immediately. First time up a hill my clutch smoked out completely. I was not "riding" it. I grew up using clutches so I know not to do this. If the clutch is under any stress it will overheat and burn up. I learned very early on that this vehicle is not suited for going off road mainly because of this. Also, the 4x4 feature will "high-end" easily and I've been stuck in about 3 inches of mud. A front wheel drive Corolla probably does better. Plus it goes through clutch master cylinders for lunch. I've had to replace them a minimum of three times. It will get stuck in 4x4 mode (can't shift out) and it was not for years later that I learned the "trick" of driving in a straight line to get it unstuck. When vehicle was new I complained about this and they just said "they all do that" - no solution was suggested.

This happened a long time ago but it appears that Toyota never improves or changes their products much so it could still be occuring. I bought the truck to go offroad and hopefully have some recreational fun in my spare time. I quickly discovered that this vehicle is not anywhere near up to the task. One time I was out and climbed a hill that was medium in difficulty. When I reached the top smoke was billowing from beneath the vehicle. I realized that this wimpy little hill climb had stressed the clutch so badly that it was burning. Shortly after this I had to replace the slipping worn out clutch for $425. I sadly never took the vehicle off road again for fear of the cost of some wimpy Toyota part breaking if I "overused" it. The vehicle is supposed to be designed for off road use but it is way underdesigned even for a novice off roader like myself.