Advice Please! Newbie here - Going to check out 92 4Runner tomorrow

[heidi555]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be looking at a 92 4Runner tomorrow.
Here is the ad: 1992 Toyota 4-Runner

I'm not into offroading. I want to be able to load it up and move my stuff to Colorado, and be able to drive into the mountains to hike. And drive in the snow. Other than that it would just be normal driving.

I'm concerned because I read on Edmunds that the SR5-V6 engine only has 150 HP. while I guess after 1996 they are 183 HP... Is it underpowered at all for carrying stuff through mountains?

Other than that, not too thrilled with manual transmission. But I'm happy that it may potentially go to 400,000 miles if maintained? And parts are not as expensive as Subarus for example?

I'm wanting to get it looked at by a mechanic and buy it tomorrow before his other potential interests can, but I'm just concerned about the power. What do you think??????

Thanks!

Heidi

 

[Red Leader]

I feel kinda iffy about this one. 255k on body...motor replaced. That always shoots up a red flag for me.

The 3.0s had headgasket issues. It sounds like this one had a replaced engine and then the replaced engine blew its headgasket.

Don't get me wrong, I have heard of people taking the 3.0s up into the 300k territory, but that is more certainly not the case for everyone.

I think for around $3k you might be able to do better.

If you could find a good used 3rd gen, that would be a great way to go. Don't let high mileage scare you on those. Ours has 270k and runs perfect.

I'd go with either a 4-cyl 2nd gen or a 6-cyl 3rd gen. Only if you do get the 4 cyl 2nd gen (which is very desirable and hard to find), you can forget about power in the mountains. Ask me how I know