I have to update this post. I did a 4,200 mile round trip with this “beater” 4Runner towing a good amount of gear plus a roughly 2300lb travel trailer.
My goal for this 4Runner was to have something that could make the 12 mile commute back and forth to work reasonably reliably and safely. As a domestic car fan I wanted to see if the hype was real with these foreign cars….
Goals evolve overtime, I could have taken my almost new truck on this trip, but it didn’t fit the trip goals. I built my Jeep for the trip (LS swap, etc, but had a couple unforeseen issues that made me nervous). I also had this 4Runner that I daily drove and seemed rock solid somehow with 250k miles (yes since posting almost 2 years ago I added bilsteins, made sure all fluids done, new uca’s, new lower ball joints, radiator, trans cooler). Perhaps this sounds like a lot, but I think I have put $500 in necessary parts in almost 2 years and 25k miles.
I decided half with that “I own a Toyota” confidence plus the other half “why is this thing so good” feeling, lets take the Toyota.
I did have issues on this trip…. A turn signal bulb burnt out and a rear brake was dragging… i cleaned where the pads slide and compressed the cylinder, not a single issue after.
Moral of the story, if you maintain these, they are very very very good vehicles.
Don’t tell anyone, but my only regrets buying this are it doesn’t have a hundred thousand less miles (seat wear etc is real), and I sure would love the V8 torque….
