Advice for first time 5th gen sr5 premium buyer?

M

Mgltacoma

New member
Hello Everyone! I am newbie and do not own 4runner yet, but I am planning on getting a new one. I want to get sr5 premium with 3rd row seat. I really wanted trail but, but 3rd row is a must for the future in mind for a growing family. Now the question is what shall I order my sr5 premium with? Is there any additional option anyone recommend? I chose premium due to softex for spills from kids and moonroof.
Some of the optional things I can add are:
rigid running board (additional $350)
TRD PRO Bilstein Shocks with TRD-tuned Front Springs11 ($1799)
Wheel locks
Exhaust tip
Ball Mount
Are any of those waste of money? or nice to have it done when ordering it first.
I am planning on buying a lift kit (2.5"), buy bigger tire
Goodyear duratrac 285/70r17 load range e
I heard this tire requires 17.5" or bigger wheel. Standard sr5 comes with 17". Which means I might need to buy new wheels. I wonder if I can order it with trail wheels since they are 17.5".
Anything will be helpful for first time buyer. Thanks. I am thinking about buying through costco due to its auto program savings.
 
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Mgltacoma said:
Hello Everyone! I am newbie and do not own 4runner yet, but I am planning on getting a new one. I want to get sr5 premium with 3rd row seat. I really wanted trail but, but 3rd row is a must for the future in mind for a growing family. Now the question is what shall I order my sr5 premium with? Is there any additional option anyone recommend? I chose premium due to softex for spills from kids and moonroof.
Some of the optional things I can add are:
rigid running board (additional $350)
TRD PRO Bilstein Shocks with TRD-tuned Front Springs11 ($1799)
Wheel locks
Exhaust tip
Ball Mount
Are any of those waste of money? or nice to have it done when ordering it first.
I am planning on buying a lift kit (2.5"), buy bigger tire
Goodyear duratrac 285/70r17 load range e
I heard this tire requires 17.5" or bigger wheel. Standard sr5 comes with 17". Which means I might need to buy new wheels. I wonder if I can order it with trail wheels since they are 17.5".
Anything will be helpful for first time buyer. Thanks. I am thinking about buying through costco due to its auto program savings.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the new (possibly) 4runner... Just brace yourself for people who may yell at you for not reading the stickies here which answer some of your questions. Having said that, checkout some of the stickies here for some good beginner and background information on the truck.

As far as dealer accessories..

NO - rigid running board (additional $350)
NO - TRD PRO Bilstein Shocks with TRD-tuned Front Springs11 ($1799)
Sure - Wheel locks
If you really like the way it looksExhaust tip
NO, buy it yourself, not through the dealer. They are universal. - Ball Mount

The TRD suspension is nice and will give you about 1" of lift over the normal SR5 suspension. However, you can essentially buy this suspension aftermarket for half the price (search for Bilstein 6112\5160) and get the 2.5'' of lift you want.

Uhh 17.5 inch rims for the tires? You were misinformed or misread something. You will be fine on stock rims. I would personally look at different tires though. Unless you drive a wrangler, stay away from the DuraCraps.

Welcome and good luck!
 
Maybe instead of 17.5 you mis-heard and were told 7.5. The width on some of the larger tires are not recommended for the factory 7 inch wheels. You would want an aftermarket wheels that are at least 8 inches wide. I am not sure if the ones you are talking about would be an issue. This link here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/156378-going-bigger-5th-gen-tire-fitment-guide.html will give you a better idea.

Good luck, I am a new owner and there is a lot of stuff on here for you if you look, the guys here did a great job organizing everything, I wish it was this easy on my F150 forum!
 
I just purchased a new 4Runner Trail edition last week. They offered me all kinds of extras from paint protection to tire insurance, I did not fall for any of this BS. Just buy the car without any strings attached. I did my homework and found that you can get most of the extras , like genuine floor mats and wheel locks much cheaper on sites like ebay. By the way, when I purchased mine they threw in all season floor mats and the cargo area liner.
 
deerhunter said:
I just purchased a new 4Runner Trail edition last week. They offered me all kinds of extras from paint protection to tire insurance, I did not fall for any of this BS. Just buy the car without any strings attached. I did my homework and found that you can get most of the extras , like genuine floor mats and wheel locks much cheaper on sites like ebay. By the way, when I purchased mine they threw in all season floor mats and the cargo area liner.
Click to expand...

I had the all weather mats put in mine...then immediately bought some huskys! The OEM ones cover like 1/3rd of the space, when you see the weather tec and husky overage vs the OEM its a joke they even include them.
 
Hey man. Keeping it simple like all the other folks say is key. The moon roof and seats are a personal preference and if it's what you want. Get them now before you regrat it (misspelling intended).

As for the extras, don't get anything more for the vehicle that can be considered as able to be add ons (not already fabricated) into the vehicle itself. The running boards priced at 350 are as much as you can get real rock sliders for if you find the right deal. The suspension is already pushing the same price point as a toytec boss lift or, if you spend a few hundred more than that, a good set of Icons.

Dealerships mark up the hell out of their products so unless they are truly giving them to you and not manipulating the price of other inclusions to make up for a "reduced price," on what you're bargaining for, let them keep it in their inventory books.

As [MENTION=129513]bjohnston115[/MENTION] said, buy the runner and keep an eye on the threads and stickies. Many times there are great offers for group buys on hella good components that would make dealership add ons look like a Barbie accessory.

Congratulations on your future purchase and welcome to the family!
 
Never buy any add-on accessories from the dealer. Everything is marked up. You can buy your own shocks, coils, wheels and tires equal or better than the TRD Pro parts for much cheaper if you shop around online. Forget the oem running boards, takes away too much clearance away when you lift your truck.
 
As all of the above mentioned, get any of the add-ons. You can get them either used or slightly used (you want my cross bars?) for 1/2 the cost. I "ordered" mine as basic as possible and it still showed up with the cross bars and rigid running boards (that I didn't have to pay for because they sold the vehicle I ordered and got me another one and it already had those options installed). If you really want the rigid running boards as well, let me know and maybe we can work out a deal (especially if you live near South Florida)

Wheel locks are fine if you want them.
 
Only have two kids and get the Trail.
JK!
I just traded my SR5 for a Trail, so I am a little biased...and I only have two kids.....ha ha.
Forget about the dealer add-ons.....
Easy things to add yourself and save a bundle of cash. Wheel locks-good. TRD suspension-bad, better stuff available. etc.....
 
Mgltacoma said:
Hello Everyone! I am newbie and do not own 4runner yet, but I am planning on getting a new one. I want to get sr5 premium with 3rd row seat. I really wanted trail but, but 3rd row is a must for the future in mind for a growing family. Now the question is what shall I order my sr5 premium with? Is there any additional option anyone recommend? I chose premium due to softex for spills from kids and moonroof.
Some of the optional things I can add are:
rigid running board (additional $350)
TRD PRO Bilstein Shocks with TRD-tuned Front Springs11 ($1799)
Wheel locks
Exhaust tip
Ball Mount
Are any of those waste of money? or nice to have it done when ordering it first.
I am planning on buying a lift kit (2.5"), buy bigger tire
Goodyear duratrac 285/70r17 load range e
I heard this tire requires 17.5" or bigger wheel. Standard sr5 comes with 17". Which means I might need to buy new wheels. I wonder if I can order it with trail wheels since they are 17.5".
Anything will be helpful for first time buyer. Thanks. I am thinking about buying through costco due to its auto program savings.
Click to expand...


See my post above for advice on what to order, but I forgot to mention I found TrueCar to be a good place to start negotiations and find some data (not just from this forum) on what people are paying. After going through the process I found that Costco price and TrueCar pricing are pretty much within a couple hundred dollars give or take.


Good Luck and you won't regret the SR5 Premium. The third row is more useful then a lot of people on here will have you believe. We just did a ton of running around while my parents were in town, and even drove 3 hours up to a Spring Training game in Sarasota today and back no complaints. Used the third row for my wife and the grandparents as the kids are in car seats in the middle row. As long as the people are under about 5'8" its very doable since the second row slides forward and back giving the 3rd row more room.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the replies. I learned few things as I was in search for the car. I did use Costco as my bargaining chip as I visited every Toyota dealer around where i live. The hardest part was that finding 4runner with exact spec i was looking for. Black 4Runner SR5 Premium with 3rd row was very scarce in inventory. Usually you will find no 3rd row ones, if they do have 3rd row it is either not sr5 premium or not black. Toyota does a good job of making inventory of their cars at dealers low on purpose and they restock it as they sell. This creates less supply and more demand making buyers hard to negotiate. There was not one single black new sr5 premium with 3rd row available so I decided to have them order from the factory and put down deposit. As for the price I ended up paying $400 over invoice(not msrp). I did checkout true car value site as well. But most of the time it is mostly between invoice and msrp. I know i could have gone below invoice if the car i was buying was not fast selling. But paying little over invoice is not bad and i can get the exact car I wanted. I did skip all the add-ons which made the msrp low. Because the car is being built, it will take 4-12 weeks to arrive. I need to use this time to order 3rd party add-ons. Since some of those are already backordered like gobi rack takes 4 weeks etc.
 
Good to hear you decided to order and wait to get what you really wanted, not what a sales rep talked you into.

This forum is a gold mine of info on add-ons, mods etc. Maybe run it a while before buying too much. Find out what you really need/want. Even with OEM tires, the T4s are very good off-road and will surprise you on what they can do. Take your time.
 
Congrats! Sounds like you did it the right way for you and are getting just what you wanted, in the end that's the important thing..you don't want to have buyers remorse over a few hundred bucks on a 40k vehicle!

Mgltacoma said:
Thanks for all the replies. I learned few things as I was in search for the car. I did use Costco as my bargaining chip as I visited every Toyota dealer around where i live. The hardest part was that finding 4runner with exact spec i was looking for. Black 4Runner SR5 Premium with 3rd row was very scarce in inventory. Usually you will find no 3rd row ones, if they do have 3rd row it is either not sr5 premium or not black. Toyota does a good job of making inventory of their cars at dealers low on purpose and they restock it as they sell. This creates less supply and more demand making buyers hard to negotiate. There was not one single black new sr5 premium with 3rd row available so I decided to have them order from the factory and put down deposit. As for the price I ended up paying $400 over invoice(not msrp). I did checkout true car value site as well. But most of the time it is mostly between invoice and msrp. I know i could have gone below invoice if the car i was buying was not fast selling. But paying little over invoice is not bad and i can get the exact car I wanted. I did skip all the add-ons which made the msrp low. Because the car is being built, it will take 4-12 weeks to arrive. I need to use this time to order 3rd party add-ons. Since some of those are already backordered like gobi rack takes 4 weeks etc.
Click to expand...
 
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