One of the nicest things about the Matchbox brand is the knowledge that no matter what mainline model I want, I will eventually be able to track it down at some retail store. That’s one of the lovely side effects of Matchbox being less widely popular than the blue brand – it just doesn’t have the same level of hype or inflated resale prices that Hot Wheels is burdened with. This new 4Runner sure did test that theory…
I suppose the 4Runner hype shouldn’t be all that surprising, given the surprising popularity of the Hot Wheels Car Culture 4Runner when it came out in the Boulevard line last year. There’s clearly a lot of collector demand for the late model 4Runner, and that surprised me. Surely, there are others like me that wanted one to match the 1:1 4Runners in our garages, but that cannot possibly account for all the demand.
Maybe all that demand is a reflection of the quality of the model. Sarcastic though it may sound, I actually think there’s something to that. This 4Runner is about as perfect as a mainline Matchbox gets: lots of casting detail, full front and rear detailing, and an interior. Matchbox went above and beyond with the detailing, especially on the front fascia. The grill is fully tampo printed, though it lacks the mesh detailing of castings like the Bentley Continental. This 4Runner is revealed as a Trail trim by the silver lower bumper cover, which I initially thought was printed as well, but it’s actually made out of the interior section. That’s incredibly clever casting design, though it will limit the possible interior colors for this model (sorry, owners of 4Runner Premiums, don’t expect to see your brown interiors replicated anytime soon).
There’s a lot of depth to the front end of this casting, which really allows Matchbox to show off their tampo prowess. The 5th generation 4Runner’s headlights are very bulbous and presumably difficult to replicate in 1/64, but Matchbox did an admirable job of allowing them to wrap around to the sides of the model. Sure, it may not be perfect, but it puts cars like the Hot Wheels Mercedes AMG GT to shame. These fog lights are also very well done, and I appreciate how crisp the bodylines for the hood scoop are (that’s the benefit of a brand new mold, I suppose).
Speaking of crisp lines, look at those door handles! The 4Runner has huge, chunky door handles, and they are impressively well replicated here. I also quite like the rather squared off fender flares, which fit the Matchbox’s accurately-sized wheels perfectly. I much prefer this look to the lifted 4Runner with oversized wheels that Hot Wheels put out. While these are just Matchbox’s normal truck wheels, they do a shockingly good job of replicating the 4Runner’s factory wheels!
The back end of this truck is similarly well-detailed. We see the same interior-piece trick to form the rear bumper cover, and more great detailing on the hatch. Not only did they replicate the 4Runner badge, but they included the key hole that you can use to roll down the rear window! Unfortunately, the tail lights don’t wrap around as well as the headlights, but there’s still a lot of detail in them.
Despite that great detailing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt off about the back of this truck. After several minutes of staring at it, I finally realized: it’s missing its license plate! From a design standpoint, I understand that omission, but it does make the hatch feel like more of a wall of red than it normally would be.
I also have to give a hat-tip to Matchbox for the roof detailing on this model. Given its height, few people will ever see the roof of their 4Runner, but Matchbox has done an excellent job replicating the roof design, even integrating a sunroof. Of course, it would be great to see the roof rails detailed in their correct silver and black, but it’s only a $1 car…
Colored roof rails or not, this $1 car is already on the shortlist to be one of the best mainline models of 2023! Given how hard this model is to find, it would appear the rest of the community shares that opinion (I ultimately found the model you see at a Five Below 30 minutes out of town). As I’ve noted before, Matchbox is at their best when they’re making cars that just look like traffic, and this 4Runner is a perfect combination of cool (for its capability off-road) and normalcy (go to a Target and count how many 4Runners you see in the parking lot). I suspect you’ll see this model make a return when I put together my Top 5 list for the year…
diecastleno.com 
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