Originally Posted by GeoFlory

I have a similar situation. Two weeks ago, I traded in my '98 4Runner on a 2007 V8 4WD Sport Edition 4Runner with 123,000 miles. I am crawling under it today checking things out. One of the first things I am doing is measuring my brake pads; if there is anything wrong, I want to do them myself; I have the larger disk brake rotors and I wouldn't trust a shop to get the right parts. I would also add an anti-freeze change to the items mentioned; I also don't trust a shop to add anti-freeze for fear that they will add tap water to my radiator. When I was a kid, I asked the mechanic what caused those deposits in the radiator and he said that nobody knows, it just happens to some cars and not others: I thought about that and decided it came from tap water and ever since always used distilled water with my antifreeze and never saw deposits again. Under the 4Runner today, I found a torn CV-joint boot, so I guess I will replace all of those.

I looked for the V8, because I wanted the 7000 lb towing capacity; then I saw the Sport Edition and decided I wanted that too. I found a nice one only one state away. I originally wanted to get something a lot newer, but decided I had to have the towing capacity of the V8, but I didn't want to go to a bigger vehicle, consequently I got a 14 year old vehicle, but I decided that it is to be a lifetime vehicle to be totally maintained forever. I hope we both have good luck with our new old 4Runners.