Hello all,
I'm excited to join the 4Runner club! I just picked up my clean 2002 4Runner SR5 on Friday from a great, local, original owner. It's got a low 164k miles on it, and is in really nice shape overall. A few bumps and bruises and some light wear, but is very sound fundamentally and looks fantastic from 10 feet. The original/previous owner took very good care of it and had it serviced extensively at local Toyota dealerships, including a timing belt/water pump change just a few hundred miles ago.
I'm new to 4Runner ownership but previously had a 2011 Tacoma TRD Sport Long Bed that I enjoyed, before we were forced to sell it to handle a larger travel trailer we bought. Ever since then I've missed driving a Toyota truck.
Add to that that I have two good buddies who have 3rd Gens (
CBlock and
RyanC) who let me drive and explore their 4Runners a bit to push me into wanting one for a while now.
The 4Runner joins a vehicle stable that also includes my garage queen 1998 E36 BMW M3 manual sedan, and my primary daily driver 2018 VW Golf R DSG. The 4Runner was purchased to be a part time daily driver, to be a general utility vehicle around town, and to be a light duty offroad exploration rig. I don't plan to do any hardcore rock crawling in it, but I'll probably slowly modify and improve it over time.
My M3
My Golf R
My old Tacoma
Here are a few pics after picking her up:
After picking up the 4Runner and getting emissions testing and registration changed over on Friday, I removed the Thule box and Yakima bars, and reinstalled the stock crossbars. I like their more low profile look, but the box might be useful in the future for camping and such.
Saturday I decided to remove the stock running boards on Saturday to avoid beating them up offroad. They came off super easily and are now safely tucked away in the garage.
That's some clean 17 year old hardware! I love the PNW...
Does this rust look bad?
Did I already say I love the PNW?
Much better!
Ryan wasted no time getting me out off the pavement. We went up towards Mt Rainier to do some forest roads, but found too much snow...they are all still set up for Snowmobiling only
Still, we had a bit of fun and got 2 cars unstuck who got in over their heads a bit.
Hope the snow melts soon and we can explore a bit more!