Well, that's that. Thanks. Embarrassed I didn't see that right away.
Hey Harper7, with the complete transformation you did on your LE, was it the Torsen that had you locked-in on the LE as the right platform?
I would need to absolutely toughen-up the look of a LE and I am basically looking at either a TE but adding leather and top line sound system/nav (I could live with the TE wheels for a but)...OR....LE but instantly ditching the wheels/tires and that hideous running board...I end up at about the same cost.
I will really not need all of the capability of the TE. I'll wheel a few times per year but nothing heavy duty at all. I like the exterior look of the TE but not sure it's worth ditching part time 4WD vs AWD.
Torsen rocks, eh? I know, probably beating that to death of course.
I weighed the Limited's Torsen/Keyless/Dual Climate vs the TE's KDSS/Locker/Sleeker Look and it was a struggle for me to decide also. Months before they came out in 2009 ,I had a Silver TE ordered and changed my mind,canceled and ordered a Limited after a bunch of research on the Torsen vs. Part time/locker when I found out TE's had part time. All 4x4 4Runners since 2003 before the 5ths had the Torsen and they were tried, true and tested mechanically and being virtually trouble free is what swayed me. Torsen Center Diffs are expensive for Toyota to buy and were a trade off to keep cost down on the other two 5th Gen models is why they did away with it,not because it wasn't a good reliable full time 4x4 system used for years.
If you research on the forum even now you will find very few Limiteds have had any kind of mechanical problem of any type at all. I notice the vast majority of the problems and whining going on are about SR5's and TE's but maybe that has to do with the numbers on the forum.Very few complaints from Limited owners though.
With 5th Gen 4Runners reported to of being built in 2 different plants(Lexus and Hino Truck) in Japan and nobody knows if both plants make all 3 models or which one makes which kind of makes me wonder.We need to find out the coding of the VIN numbers and it will probably give the factory.
I have 50k miles on mine and have been pretty rough with it with not even one minor mechanical problem and the headlight hazing and squeaky lumbar(covered by TSB's) being the only 2 complaints ,period.
Looking back ,the only thing I would have done different is to have bought the Limited in Blizzard Pearl/Black Leather. I still love my silver though!
See if you can find a dealer who will throw in the TE plastic parts as part of the deal on a Limited. That's how I got mine although at the time ,nobody knew how many and how involved it is.They get parts way cheaper then what they sell them for as there is a huge mark-up,like 50% or more from what I've heard.IMO,they make as much or more money on parts and service then they make on sales .
