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Red XS, yes, the terrain control that is found with the newer Toyotas, especially with the 4runner, is superb. The truck can almost actually drive itself.
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El_Freddo, I tend to lean with you on this one. Trucks before were made for almost primarily for work. Now, they are marketed as lifestyle vehicles, as well, hence the aggressive electronics. They make the car safer, though, especially for those who do not care that the CoG is still high up there. The stability control would detect sharp or dangerous maneovres and adjust accordingly.
An example of this was when I went to Piha beach with my brother on his GC8, where on the way back a modern pickup truck with 21" wheels plus road tyres was tailgating us. We tried to slow down to give him space but no, he wanted to be aggressive and just kept bullying us ON A GC8!!!!! We do not speed on public road, we have the racetracks for that. Then, near the end of the depression were tighter bends. The truck tried to match our entry speed but slightly after the corner's entry, the truck slowed down wildly and I was assuming that was the traction/stability control. The new ones are still like older SUVs but the electronics are there to prevent clueless drivers from toppling over like they can match the CoG of any car.
Modern trucks' cabins are much more reinforced, though, just to pass the safety standards. They are safe up to a certain degree. I still see terrible deformations on modern ones, especially here where they are too abundant.
There are compromises but, as I have said, every vehicle is a compromise. It's a matter of choosing the best compromise for our use.
My old Bighorn with no electronics can rip through desert roads on an almost stock setup. The stock skid plates were extra hard and the stock bump stop is good enough for jumping. That truck though is unsafe at 2 stars. My cousin bought it from me after 200,000km of abuse. It's now at 1.3M kms with the original engine, but with Ranchos and the now-upgraded active bump stops. It still has 2 stars out of five. It really depends on the use of the vehicle.
With the focus on many electronics and features, some have said that reliability suffers on newer vehicles, even truck. I cannot comment on that because I think reliability is subjective and I only comment on those that I have owned. The top-selling trucks tend to have some design issues. Surprise good performers, in terms of dependability, are the Mitsubishi Triton and the Dinosaur-Max or D-Max. They tend to have the older chassis/designs, so there's that.
