Dear Toyota,
You built a two-door 4Runner with a roof that comes off, and now I have questions.
Mostly: what do we have to do to get you to sell it?
Because the Toyota 4Runner TRD Surf concept has exactly the kind of boxy, take-the-top-off-and-go-somewhere energy I want in a vehicle. It gives me that FJ sort of feeling, with the very important addition of being able to remove the roof.
And apparently, I need to start making my case.
Yes, Toyota really built a 4Runner with a removable top
Toyota revealed the TRD Surf concept on October 31, 2024, for the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The build started with a 2025 4Runner and took its inspiration from the original 4Runner and Southern California surf culture.
Toyota’s photos show an actual concept build. It has two doors and a removable hardtop that Toyota says was designed for one person to take off.
One person. That is an excellent detail. I do not want my hypothetical cute-car day to begin with recruiting a roof-removal committee.
Toyota also gave the concept waterproof flooring and a front passenger seat that flips forward so people can get into the back. The blue-and-turquoise color combination is doing a considerable amount of flirting with me, too.
You can see the roof and the rest of the build in Toyota’s official SEMA photo gallery.
The part where I get annoyed: it’s still a concept
This is where I have to interrupt my own excitement: I could not find a Toyota announcement confirming a production TRD Surf, a price, or an on-sale date as of October 30, 2026. Toyota introduced it as a concept, and the regular 4Runner is a separate vehicle.
The photos date back to 2024. They do not mean a removable-top 4Runner has just been announced for dealerships.
I understand that a show build takes work to turn into something people can actually buy. I would simply like Toyota to know that I am very interested in them doing that work.
Give us a version that keeps the personality: the two-door shape, the removable top, and a color that looks like someone in the design department was allowed to enjoy themselves.
I can let the engineers work out the complicated bits. My contribution is pointing at the pictures and saying, “Yes. More of that.”
I don’t need to be a surfer to want this
I live in Colorado. My version of this fantasy involves mountains, sunshine, and taking the longer way home because the weather is good.
A removable roof makes even an ordinary drive sound more fun to me. I want something with a little personality. Something I would park, walk away from, and then turn around to look at again.
This would get the look back.
We covered the sixth-generation 4Runner when Toyota revealed it. The TRD Surf takes that shape somewhere I would very much like to follow.
And then there’s the green Land Cruiser ROX
If the Toyota you have been looking at is green, with open sections in the doors, that is a different concept: the Land Cruiser ROX.
Toyota showed that one for SEMA 2024, too. Its roof is a sliding soft top, rather than the Surf’s lift-off hardtop. It has Spring Green paint and an orange interior, which is a very effective way to make me want a second concept vehicle I cannot order.
Apparently, Toyota has plenty of ideas about how to make an open-air SUV look good. I would love to see one make it to a showroom.
Dear Toyota, tell us what it takes
Do we need a petition? A strongly worded love letter? Someone standing outside a meeting room holding a picture of this 4Runner?
Consider this my contribution. If the point of a concept is to find out whether people want it, please record one very enthusiastic yes.
Keep the boxy shape. Keep that removable top. Please keep some fun colors in the conversation. And if pink ever comes up in a product-planning meeting, I would like my support entered into the record.
You already built the vehicle that made me stop and ask whether Toyota was finally doing this. I would love the next answer to be yes.
Dear Toyota: please let this one graduate from concept car to something with a price tag.
