Hope this is a joke.

So he pays less monthly but pays more over time. Not to mention who the hell offers 9 year auto loans?

Just chiming in to say if you're at all thinking a rear locker would be useful to you, you should definitely find a 4Runner with one. ATRAC is great but the locker has been essential in certain situations.

Of course its a joke. But reality is there are many people taking 72+ month loans. Its actually quite common.


America's Auto Loan Debt Is Truly Out Of Control

I'm all for used and saving some money. I found my 18' SR5 Premium with 19k on it for $32k on CarGurus. They do go quick when there is a deal so just have to be on top of it. You can find used from guys who have babied their 4Runners just takes some patience and really doing research and knowing what you want and what to look for.

New is probably the way to go these days with deals being offered due to covid.

Historically, credit unions offer really good rates, and I'm also noticing a trend of them offering new car rates on 2yr+ old cars if you find a killer deal on used.

Also don't limit your search to your metro area or even your state. If you have to travel mid-cross country for a killer deal do it. Flights are super cheap and you'll have a good time to get acquainted w/ your 4R by making a trip out of it.

In July 2019 I bought a used 2018 SR5. Options such as Entune with navigation, 3rd row. According to the VIN my 4Runner was 10 months old.

I bought it from a local Ford dealership, part of an Idaho based auto group with a Toyota dealership in eastern Idaho. My 4Runner spent its first 10 months as a lease vehicle in the Portland area, owned by a business (original insurance papers still in the glovebox). The local Ford dealership has been stocking the lot with 4Runners and they’ve been selling like hotcakes in my small, isolated northern Nevada city.

After 17 years with a Tacoma TRD, it was long paid for and I gave it to a family member, electing to keep it in the family instead of trading it in (they did offer me $5,000). My 2012 Outback was paid off long ago. I paid for the 4Runner in full and after tax and license paid a few bucks over $36,000.

I spent a few hundred more and bought Toyota all weather floor mats, cargo mat, privacy cover and rear cargo net (the one that stretches across the back, not the cargo tie down). I didn’t opt for the extended warranty, based on 17 trouble free years with the Tacoma. A year ago I had a set of B.F. Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2’s to replace the OEM street tires (I had already torn a sidewall on a local 4x4 trail).

I’ve been quite happy with my purchase.

I have an immaculate, bone stock, black/black 2016 trail premium with KDSS, 49k miles. Wife is picking up a rav4 prime in a month or so (whenever Toyota deems MI cool enough to get some stock...presently everything is reserved for the east/west coast markets, I’m told).

I am literally just now starting to research the market to figure out how much I need to make it worth the hassle of a private sale vs Carvana/CARFAX sale vs trade in. I’ll post a FS ad in the classifieds in the next few days; once I have a chance to clean her up for a photo shoot.

Dm if you’re interested.

Our oldest son is about to get his license so I have been shuffling cars around and spending too much time researching and looking for cars. I love it. What's surprising is how many dealers advertise or calculate monthly payments on 72 month loans as if it's the new standard. When I purchased our 2015 TRD Pro, the first offer they laid out was a 72 and 84 month option at 2.59% interest. This is for a five year old car. I took a shorter term but there has to be some sort of auto loan crash coming. There has to be a ton of auto loans underwater out there. I'd hate to see what interest is being charged on some of those loans.

Carvana has been mentioned on this thread. Absolutely at least get a quote from them if you are looking to sell or trade in a car. It's fast and almost too easy. I traded in our 2016 LR4 for a 2012 Pilot my son will be driving. They quickly raised the trade-in offer up $2k after I showed them the Carvana offer. I still ended up selling to Carvana who offered $600 more. A truck pulls up, someone does a quick visual inspection. They don't even drive it. I sign on an iPad, they load the car, and money is wired the next day. My local Land Rover dealer offered $30k for it a few months earlier. Carvana bought it from me for $32.6k. A few weeks later they list and quickly sell it for $38k. From what I can tell, they drove it from Northern CA to Arizona and spent some time inspecting and prepping before selling it.

Patience. That is the most important thing on this search. I just purchased a 2015 Trail, 73K on the odometer for just over 25k. It has a small lift, 285s, perfect condition, perfect interior etc.
I used Carvana, Guru, etc and set up filters for exactly what I wanted and a cap on the price ($26k for me) and then waited for the internet to do the work for me. It took about 3 months to find the one I eventually bought, and I had to have it shipped from Texas to Colorado ($500), but well worth the wait.
Figure out what you want, set those filters into the search engines and then be patient. Deals are still out there, you don't need to go new to get what you want.

BTW, I would not be as critical of the milage on a 4Runner, they last forever, so a bit higher miles 70-80K is like buying a Chevy with 20k.

Great thread everyone, thanks!

Yep, lease then buy it.

First post....Woooop.

If you find something you like, jump on it. There aren't too many available out there at the moment, especially if you are looking for a certain color. The used market sucks right now. People are scooping up good used cars like crazy.

I just picked up a 2018 Silver TRDOR Premium w/KDSS w/ 30k off lease last week here in NJ. I had been looking in the similar price range to you for the last few months, which was 2014/15 SR5s even with 100k miles, and couldn't find anything worth buying. I decided to go test drive this one and fell in love with it.

The dealer was asking $39200 and I got them down to $36800. I thought of buying new too as there was a 2021 TRDORP (non-KDSS) for $44300 that I used for leverage (however, realized quick it was way out of my price range). Since they dropped the price on the used one I jumped on it and picked it up same day, especially since it had KDSS and looks right off the showroom floor. I justified the higher cost to much higher resale and got just about a new T4R that has everything. Buy once, cry once I guess! .

I was looking at used here in Vancouver Canada but the price of a slightly used was pretty much the same as brand new and the 2020 came with TSS and android auto so that really sealed the deal on getting new for me. Ended up with a ORP, 2021 so got the LED headlights as well.