So I have a 2000 SR-5 that Ive added a locker to it. It has leather.

There is a 99 limited for sale near by (1/2 hour) that we are thinking of getting for grandson and to be his families 3rd car. ( however daughter in law wants her baby to have a subaru) I texted and owner said it does not have a locker...I thought limiteds came standard with lockers. Has leather...wish it had heated seats..typical wood grain dash parts , fog lights, sunroof, etc

What other differences are there...other than the cladding on doors.. No sport hood so I assume no super charger.
Isnt there a difference in the transfer case ?

If it was a 5 speed Id be on the road looking already ?.

3rd Gen 4Runner Buyer's Guide

Locker was an option not standard with Limited

The SR5 might have the manual HVAC controls versus the electronic ones for the 99+ Limited's

thanks guys
yes I looked at buyers guide after posting my question.

Although it looks really clean in pictures, I had a few questions that he could not answer....such as 1) front end work or ball joints.....answer...yes it has had some front end work...time and what unknown.
2) Any records of when timing belt was done ? reply was....Timing belt ?

and like I said my daughter in law is really pushing for a Subaru and they found one they like, 8 years newer and 90k less miles . Subarus have their own can of worms...but their money...their choice

Unfortunately limited are not standard with lockers.

As long as the Subie hasn’t blown a head gasket and/or is drinking oil, I would go with it given the age and miles. My neighbor had an Outback that almost made it to 500k. The neatest thing is that the transfer case had a dipstick.....

My wife had a Sub Outback. Our first Subaru. It was actually a really nice car. I didn’t think I’d love it as much as I did. Never gave us any trouble over 80k miles and 7 years we owned it. It may actually make more sense for a younger kid, especially if lots of commutes and road travel is involved. Subaru will get about 2x the MPG. It’ll handle some mild Offroad as well.

Of course, if the kid is interested in off-roading, I’d definitely go with a 4Runner.

By the way, I know as of a few years ago, you can try to see if the timing belt and other services have been done by plugging in the VIN on the Toyota owners site. This is only if they had it done at a Toyota dealership.

Not sure if the subie you're looking at shares the same engine, but my brother in law is constantly complaining about my sisters 2005 Forester - it's from the MY that had major HG issues. Besides needing to replace the HG, his general complaint is that the boxer engine makes the car a huge pain to work on, and just about doubles the cost of labor for some job if you decide to take it to the shop.

Regarding the E-lockers, from what I've seen, a majority of Limited's (except 01-02, obviously) have them. I'd guess that's because that the type of buyer who would throw down a few extra grand to get the Limited trim wouldn't think much of an additional $350 for the E-locker. Kinda funny it was such a cheap option to add, considering how much more valuable it makes these trucks 20 years later.

The limited's had an upgraded sound system - not sure how much of a difference that makes 20 years later though. I think the main upgrades are the multi-mode AWD system, the leather interior, and the climate control system.

I respect your daughter in law. However, here is why you wont purchase a Subaru no matter how much she whines she wants one. Ask her the cost of maintaining a subaru vs a toyota. specifically a 3rd gen 4runner. Of course she will not know the answer. My girlfriend has a 2003 Subaru outback with an H6 engine in it. So its a 6cyl boxer engine. It took me 5 hours to change the sparkplugs on that son of a gun a couple days ago. Why you ask? Because there is only 3 inches of clearance between the coilpack and the framerail on either side.... no grown man can fit his hands inside of these regions of the engine LOL and as you move back towards the fire wall guess what, it drops down to 1 inch of clearance. To change the valve cover gaskets most people PULL THE ENGINE........ and then not to mention the fact that your miles are literally numbered until you blow a head gasket on the dang thing because the previous owners didn't maintain their cooling system religiously. Ive had my own subaru as well, it was a 1998 outback. 4 cyl. Now this was a different story, more space and easier to work on, however it had 6 oil leaks and a possible blown head gasket....... how many oil leaks has my toyota 4runner had? Zero. My girlfriends subaru outback? had 3 when I got it. One at the oil cooler, two at the valvecover gasket. Took me a good 4 to 5 hours to do one side because i refused to lift the engine out of the vehicle. Long story short, sounds like you guys are well off enough to do your family a great service of purchasing a vehicle, she may want her babies in a Subaru but when it blows a head gasket, and she didnt buy it herself, and her mechanic says its gonna be 3k to fix, that subaru is gonna go straight to the junkyard. This 4Runner will be around a while. you can could on that. just my opinion from someone that performs routine maintenance on both a subaru and a 3rd gen 4runner.

EDIT: Btw ive got 2 extra lockers, and locker housings in my garage. Always for sale.

Typical 4Runner (or any vehicle) is not ordered but bought on the lot. Majority of the Limiteds were optioned with the rear locker as a standard build package. Region, or dealership may have left it out in some cases.

So despite it being a low cost option, most people could not add it on even if they wanted to.

Good to know, I'm pretty ignorant of the process honestly as I've never bought new.

But I guess you could still say that the dealerships (or whoever's making the call to add the locker) expected that those who wanted Limited trim would also want the locker. Just my guess as to why I've see so few Limiteds without it.

4Runner sucks ass as a family car/baby hauler. They are better off with the Subaru. You don't need a rear locker to haul babies.

Based upon your info, sounds like the Subaru is a 2007. This should have the SOHC 2.5L. We have a 2005 Outback (the nice car) with 140,000 miles. It has been bombproof and has very nice manners for a car that can get through some really difficult winter conditions.

That said, it did develop an oil leak due to head gaskets about 20,000 miles ago. The earlier DOHC 2.5L (pre-2005) had issues with coolant leaks, both internal and external, via the head gaskets. The SOHC engines as a rule do not do this unless overheated. The oil leak we are experiencing causes an oil loss of about a half quart in 1000 miles. It doesn't seem to get any worse according to anecdotal evidence. I could spend the time and money to redo the heads and install the Six Star head gaskets (proven superior), but oil is pretty cheap in comparison and we're past due on an upgrade for this car. We're eyeing up a Crosstrek with the six-speed manual after all of this covid-19 has passed.

The Subaru would not be a bad choice, imho. Much more comfortable for a family car and quite nimble in winter.

As others have said rear diff lock was not standard with limited packages. Main differences will be automatic climate controls vs manual with the SR5 and multimode transfer case vs j-shift. I would make sure that all the 4wd functions work especially the 4HI (press the button on the side of the transfer case shift lever). Most people have to be moving at a decent speed to get 4HI to engage. I found that I need to be moving at least 25 mph and coasting for 4HI to engage. If it starts blinking try clicking the button to cancel the shift and then try to engage 4HI again. Coasting at speed around a corner helps too. With the multimode transfer case the 2HI to 4HI/4HI locked is done with an electric motor on the transfer case, but the HI to Low is still done with the the transfer case shift lever mechanically.

Me and three friends have pulled an engine, fixed a clutch issue and has the engine back in and running in just over 2 hours in a TURBO Subaru. You are doing something wrong...

Subarus are like Legos - you do have to expect you will be taking them apart and putting them back together. But it is VERY easy if you know what you are doing.

-Charlie

PS. The US-made Subarus do seem to leak oil a lot. The Japanese produced ones are much better in this regard.

Subaru destroys real 4x4's in mud pit.







I'm guessing because the IFS isn't getting hung up in the center like the diff pumpkins are. Pplus they don't seem to have lockers.