Early versus late 3rd gen T4R

[JPHen]

In the market as well. Sounds like pre 01 is the way to go. This would be for my sons first car. Find it humorous it would be older than him. Lol. Hate seeing the blown out seats of the older but I guess that’s what eBay is for...

 

[jgue467]

Not sure why everyone is so afraid of 01s, but I do appreciate it when in the market next....lots of original stuff on this one with zero issues and it offroads alot.... :cowboy:

 

[T4R2014]

I always found the 01-02s more refined. Better sound deadening.

 

[Rallysport]

Somewhere in between, would be the answer. I intend to use it for driving off road in the mountains during holidays. Nothing too drastic though, no rock crawling. Most of the mileage will be on paved roads, as there are no mountains near where I live, so I have to cover some distance to get there.

I may use it during tough winters as well, although we don’t have many of those.

In that case definitely familiarize yourself with the differences in 4WD systems. IMO you should consider the car with multi mode all wheel drive. The hive mind on this forum tends to skew towards hard-core off roading and rock crawling, but from what I determined in mixed use and more moderate off roading, multi mode is definitely more convenient and flexible.

 

[pavelvoivoda]

Hello all

I am looking to buy a 3rd gen Hilux Surf 3.4 litre in Japan. As I live in continental Europe (The Netherlands), I would prefer to have a (left hand drive) 4Runner, but unfortunately importing a car from the USA or Canada is much more expensive than importing from Japan.

I'm trying to determine whether to go for an early one, or try and find a 1999 or later. Early cars will be cheaper, not just because these are sold at lower prices, but also because cars manufactured in 1998 or later years are more expensive to import into The Netherlands. The reason is that an individual type approval is required, which involves a very tedious process.

In view of this, the following questions come to mind:

1) Are 1996 or 1997 vehicles more prone to rust than later cars? (apart from the fact that an early car has had more time to rust);
2) Do earlier cars have other weaknesses which have been eliminated in later years?


Any thoughts on (dis)advantages of early versus late 3rd gen 4Runners/Surfs are much appreciated, thanks!




Regards,
Frans

Here are some options:
[text]https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=271332836&utm_source=sharedAd&utm_medium=android[/text]

[text]https://www.autoscout24.com/offers/toyota-4-runner-limited-kein-rost-2hand-tft-dvd-player-gasoline-grey-22b468ff-3e2f-4ea3-916b-e0c040b1ec67?cldtidx=3[/text]

or you could go crazy here on this site!

[text]https://www.merrjep.com/Shpalljet/Gjith%C3%AB-Kosova/Vetura/Toyota/4-Runner?Search=toyota&Types=ForSale[/text] :wow::wow::wow::wow: