Land Cruiser or 4Runner? Same bones, different personalities.

Quieter and more planted than the 4Runner, with the hybrid’s torque always there off idle. Full-time four-wheel drive means you leave it alone on Highway 12 and leave it alone on the sand. There is no shifting at the ramp.

Lower and heavier-feeling than the 4Runner, with a flat, square dash and a hood that fills the windshield. It feels like a more expensive object, because it is.

Lock the center differential and go. The hybrid’s low-end torque is the thing reviewers single out off-road, and it is what gets a heavy vehicle moving in deep sand without digging in. Ground clearance is lower than the 4Runner TRD Pro’s, about 8 inches to 10.1, so mind the ruts.

Fixed. This is the trade: the tailgate lifts, the glass stays put.

Five seats, no third row, and premium fuel only.

The driver who wants the quietest, most settled thing on the sand, and doesn’t want to think about four-wheel drive, ever.

A little more truck in it than the Land Cruiser: more road noise, more movement over the bumps, and a lightness the heavier Land Cruiser doesn’t have. The gas-only 4Runner weighs several hundred pounds less and feels it. The base turbo four is plenty for Highway 12; the hybrid pulls harder.

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.

Shift into four-high before the ramp; most 4Runners use part-time four-wheel drive, so two-wheel drive on the pavement and four on the sand. On trims with Multi-Terrain Select, pick Sand. The TRD Pro and Trailhunter ride on 33-inch tires that make the soft stuff easy aired down.

This is the thing. The rear glass rolls down with a button, so the back of the 4Runner opens to the beach: salt air through, sandy feet out, rods in. Nothing else on this page does it.

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

The family that wants one vehicle for the next decade, the beach on weekends and the school run in between, with the back window down for the dog.