4Runner or Tacoma? Same truck underneath. Bed, or back window?

They share the frame, the engines and the front seats, so the two feel close through Duck and Corolla. The 4Runner has a roof and a cargo floor over the back wheels, so with nothing in it the ride over the patched pavement is a little more even.

The step up is a real step, and the view out is the one every 4Runner has had: upright, square, a hood you can see the corners of.

Four-high at the ramp, Sand on trims with Multi-Terrain Select, and go. 33-inch tires on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter.

Rolls down with a button, and the cargo area turns into a porch. Everything rides inside, dry and locked, and by August it all smells like the beach.

Five seats, or seven on the gas SR5 and Limited.

The family that wants everything inside and locked, a third row now and then, and one vehicle for the next decade.

A pickup, and it drives like one: the bed is light when it’s empty, and you feel it over the bumps. On the TRD Pro, the front seats have their own shock absorbers, and you’ll know what that means the first time the sand gets rough.

Up and in, with a bed behind you instead of a roof.

Four-high at the ramp, Sand on trims with Multi-Terrain Select, and the mid-size pickup you see on this beach every morning does what it does every morning. 33-inch tires on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter.

Rods, the wet wagon, the cooler and the sandy everything ride behind you, outside, and hose off at the end of the day. This is the whole argument for the pickup.

Five seats in the four-door, and nothing behind them but the bed.

The family that fishes, or surfs, or just doesn’t want the sand inside.