If the plan was to smash in to boulders and drive like there's a high probability of rollover, I wouldn't want to rely on that vehicle as my daily regardless of payment method.

HAHA ... I can still hear the "nails on a chalkboard" squeal.

I bought mine to be used off-road and do things I can't with other vehicles, I frequent class six trails that I've bashed skid plates off rocks and took it to a 7/8 trail once but plan to do more in the future. I plan to pay my loan off next year and if I don't the interest rate is low enough that I don't really care. I don't plan to sell it and when it's paid off it will become a trail dedicated rig and I'll buy a Rav4 or something more fuel efficient.

These things will last you 20 years easy if you maintain them. Keep it for 20 years and dont worry about it. Every ding on mine tells a story, it adds character. The Japanese have a name for this aesthetic: wabi-sabi. I don't see any reason to ever upgrade or sell unless they come out with some electric or fuel cell 4runner with massive torque that gets 50 mpg or something.

"In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.[2] The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".[3] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō), suffering (苦 ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū).

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes."

It's more the mod money/time that I'm worried about. I have double what I paid for my truck in parts alone, no labor costs because I did it all myself. Insurance won't cover any of that, so eventually I'll be looking into aftermarket insurance.

I will be passing on this for a few years, I built up a Jeep Wrangler while paying it off and made a perfectly fine onroad/mild offroad vehicle into a nightmare for anything onroad. 3.5 inches lift, SYE/custom DS Currie control arms a custom built ford 8.8 with Detroit locker and 4.56 gears it was AWESOME off road but was terrible back on road, had a blast but at the end of the day going to work and trying not to drag your dress pants over the rocker guards not being able to hear a passenger due to tire noise just ruined it. I will be using the 4Runner as my DD until paid off and then will begin with mild mods to do over-landing with my wife.

You should talk to your insurance company. Most of them will cover parts that have been added and upgraded if they know about them, you will probably have to pay a little more on the premium though.

i think this is the most important point

in all honestly as just an on-road people mover the 4runner is pretty miserable, it's dated and lacks creature comforts that come standard on other vehicles.

yeah this is kind of my conundrum. Like I said in my first post, I have a 3rd gen, stock 5spd manual with factory e-locker. I've had it for about 2 years. It's awesome offroad, I pass built jeeps on difficult trails all the time. But I hate it for daily driving. I mean, I don't completely hate it. The sunroof and tailgate combo makes it a really nice sunny day mild drive around town cruiser. But I absolutely hate it on twisty roads and the interstate, which I do a lot. I've always been known amongst my family and friends as the road trip warrior, I've hopped in my car and driven for a month straight more times that I can count. 24 hour drives are common for me, etc. I hate driving this thing long distance so much that I've completely quit taking any road trips at all. I did one trip from Denver to SLC and two weeks later went from Denver to Jackson Hole, and since the misery of those, I've decided I'd rather stay at home.

I actually NEED a new car right now with the state my 3rd gen is in (or a few thousand and a week off of work to fix everything), so I started looking at 5th gens because offroad and Toyota reliability and dog and bike carrying and they look cool. But A: f*ck the price and B: all of the above about it sucking as a DD and highway driver. I'm kind of thinking maybe I should get a Rav4 or Subaru or maybe even a Lexus IS 350 and turn the 3rd gen into an offroad beast.

I had an awful terrible troll-like human as a professor in college that constantly talked about wabi sabi. She would do this really pretentious and infuriating little self-absorbed head wiggle every time she said it, which was about 15 times a day. Just reading the words gives me the heebie jeebies. Although I appreciate the concept.

No offence to OP but you sound like you are better off with a highlander or a RAV4,they are both better than the 4runner for daily commute and keep building your 3rd Gen so you can have fun without worrying about breaking anything.


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meh, I love driving my 4Runner on my short commute to work and long road trips. It's plenty comfortable and in curvy backroads, the KDSS totally holds its own for being a top heavy vehicle. And then, if I decide to go explore some roads less traveled by, I can do that without even a second though. And then, if I decide to take my travel trailer out, I can do that without a second thought. And then, if my dog wants to stick his cute-ass head out the rear window, I can do that without a second thought.

Granted I'm not putting 5,000,000 pound rear springs and steel bumpers on the thing as if I'm taking it through the Serengeti. But if I keep it long enough, I'll probably throw some King suspension on it because I'm totally a suspension snob when it comes to vehicles, even if I never use it to its full extent.

yeah i was hoping the KDSS would mitigate some of what I hate about my 3rd gen, ie. the insane amount of body roll on road.

My 2016 did not have KDSS but my 2019 does, and there is 100% a noticeable difference between the two when it comes to body roll.

Why buy a truck if you don't need it? To flex at parking lot meets with other insecure people who need validation from others?

It's a tool and an expensive one. Don't become a tool by buying one you don't need.