How did you choose a 4Runner?

NoRaSS411

NoRaSS411

New member
Hey everybody, i was just wondering how all of you first got turned on to 4Runners and how you came to own them. Here's my story.

For around the past 13-14 years my dad has worked for various dealerships here in NC. He started off as a ford man :duh: but then moved to Modern Toyota. Around this time he bought a 1986 White 4cyl 5spd 4Runner. I fell in love with the car and the 4 wheeling we did in it ever since then i knew i wanted a Runner to be my first car. After a few years and a move it became time to sell the old Runner which had come to be known as "Whitey" but, we couldn't exist for long without a 4Runner in the garage so it came time for my mom to get a brand new Desert Dune '97. It was a great car and my mom soon fell in love with 4Runners as well until one winter morning we got a call.

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There was a few inches of snow on the ground so i was home from school and my Mom had cancelled all of her appointments for the day. When my mom answered the phone she seemed quite upset and through the crying i finally managed to get the message that my dad had flipped the 4Runner, which he had taken on account of the snow. Thats the day a Runner saved my dad's life. Through later pieced together accounts (it seems he doesnt really care to talk about the subject) the event seems to have gone as such. He was driving on the highway about halfway to work, slowly for once, when he hit a patch of ice on the road. He lost control and after a few moments fighting to regain it braced himself for an approw 30ft 1 1/2 flip down the side of the highway to be stopped only by a tree. My dad emerged fromthe crash unscathed save a few cuts and bruises. The 4Runner also survived amazingly, with only body damage, a few broken rear windows, missaligned steering, and a minor fluid leak.

cont'd agian
 
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My dad, however, made the decision to sell the car as he did not want my moom to drive something which had been in that serious of an accident (and my mom now tells me he was somewhat frightened of driving the car agian) so once agian we were without a Runner. Serveral years passed, after serveral more toyota dealerships, my dad had now made service manager at Flow Lexus where we got my moms current car, a 2002 is300. My dad had a silver 2wd tacoma (origionally destined to be my first car) until yet another snowy day. My dad came home from work in a very nice looking, brand new 2003 4wd D-Cab Tacoma. We asked him why he had brought this one home (he frequently drives customer cars to listen for noises, ect.) when he announced that he brought it home because it was his. My dad later moved to his current posistion at the Modern Toyota body shop, and now it was time to begin searching for my first car.

cont'd once agian
 
I scoured the internet searching for the perfect 4Runner, i dreamed of a white limitedwith silver cladding 4x4, but geez, so expensive. It was around September when i was bringing in the mail one day, and what did i find? A liscence plate? 4rnr4...ME!? Now this was very suspicious, and obviously meant to be secret, so i didn't inquire any further. As my best friend kyle (who happens to live 2 houses down) and i discussed the recent events more clues as to my parents plotting begain to arise. Rumors began to circulate about Kyle's house as to my possible Christmas present. Kyle, sadly not the brightest guy, leaked info of the tag discovery to his parents who are also close friends of my parents. It was a few days before Christmas and my mom felt it was time for a famed "little talk". Oh s***, wat'd I do now. She told me she had learned of my learning of the posession of the tag.

yeah i know i know, but yes cont'd once agian
 
My mom broke the horrible news to me, contrary to popular theory, i was not to be recieving a 4Runner this Christmas. Christmas morning came with a slight sense of dissappointment, no small gift forotten behind the tree which Santa Claus must have left no little box with a new Toyota key in it. Oh well. This year, no longer having their own parents to visit, my dads parents came over to have breakfast before my parents and I would go over to have lunch with my moms side of the family. After breakfast, we were all sitting around the den talking when my grandma's car alarm went off. She asked me to go outside to see what was going on as she fumbled through her purse looking for her keys. I opened our large front door, wondering why it had been closed up on Christmas morning, and was greeted with the answer to my question.

ok, last one, i promise
 
Sitting in my driveway with a big red bow on top was the most beautiful 4Runner i had ever seen. White with silver cladding, leather seats, 4x4 sunroof, full power, this was amazing. Ever since August my parents had the car, it had been at the body shop where my dad and his friends were busy, each adding something small to my present, repainting my cladding, adding a black pearl emblem kit, putting in a cargo liner, mounting brand new Michelin LTX 265s, and installing weathertech weathergaurds, making this truely the best Christmas i think i'll ever have.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on, now i hope you'll share the tale of your Runners
 
My 2000 Heep Grand Cherokee broke down for the 100th time. So my girlfriend got tired of this and said I only have one choice, and that was to get a 4runner. After about test driving 13 other SUV's I was sold. I kept on test driving the v8 4runner after each of the other test drive. There was really no contest. Oh yeah also a no brainer. Plus needed to join the import family since my gf has a 4runner also.
 
My aunt always bought Toyota trucks, so I fell in love with Toyotas because of that, those things seemed to last forever and go through anything. So naturally loving them also while growing up, naturally my first official vehicle was a 1990 Toyota Pickup.

Although the downside was that it was a 2WD and I have a need for a 4X4 as it's more suited to my pasttimes, I stuck with the obvious choice, the 4Runner. I chose the 2nd generation as it is the only thing in my price range at the moment, seeing as I am 20 years old, I'd rather not go into debt and get one that is $30k.

So yeah, the short and sweet is that I've loved Toy's my whole life ;):
 
Since this is a good question, i am moving it to GENERAL DISCUSSIONS.

As for me, i have always wanted a 4runner. My brother had a '99 model and i fell in love with it! So, when it was my time, it was only natural to get one. :) Genetic predisposition?? I think so.
 
I just liked the look of the previous 4Runner and when they redesigned them I was hooked. We have had a bunch of Toyotas in our family and they have all served us well. The same can not be said of some of the domestics that we have owned. At chrismas my sister who just bought a new Camry gave her Corolla to my mother who already had bought my sisters previous corolla years ago. My other sister has a corolla and my brother in law has a tacoma. I parked my 4 week old 4Runner in front of them which I had traded in my Camry for. Now if I could just get my wife into a toyota. My wife drives a Liberty, which is no where near as comfortable or as nice as my 4Runner. My wife thinks my 4runner is too big for her.
 
Lets see, I always thought the 4Runner was awesome and I remembered when they redesigned it in 96 and I so badly wanted one but their was the whole 4X4 craze, winter time and snow, and Toyota was selling 4Runners before they got off the truck so I ended up with a 96 Pathfinder cause I worked for Nissan, after 3 years I was looking for something new and wanted a 4Runner but the truck seemed over priced and I was tired of the games not to mention I did not like the interior and the seat was killing my back, so I went back to my friend at Nissan traded the 96 for a 2000 and was good to go, drove the Pathfinder for 3 years and was looking for something new when I came across the V8 Limited 4Runner completly redesigned went and test drove it and a month later got it, this time I felt the whole interior layout/seats was well worth the price they wanted plus the V8 and AWD.

Truck has been great and I can truely say I have not thought about another truck, many times driving my Pathfinder I was like damn I want something else well know I have it.

My brother likes my truck, probably more then I do so I might give it to him and get another or a GX:)

I will say Toyota is really growing on me, before I really only liked the 4Runner and the LandCrusier and the Sequoia but now I'm starting to lighten up to the other models, you have to look at them for what they are not what they could have been, I just hope Toyota and Lexus add more power/performance to their cars
 
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My story is a little different, being a Honda person for the last 21 years before I bought the 4Runner, actually 29 years if you count my Honda motorcycle in 71. Since the only two made Honda SUV's at the time were a CRV (too small) and Passport (not a Honda at all, except in name). My 2 final SUV's were the Nissan Pathfinder (240 HP) and my first choice, the 4Runner. The 4Runner just oozed quality and had a large trunk 44.5 cubic feet, a huge payload, 1,600 pounds and a full frame.

I was probably going with the Pathfinder due to price, but in 2001 the Toyota Highlander came along and the price dropped thousands of dollars on the 4Runner, who wants the old style 4Runner anymore. I never looked back, the only problem I have with the 4Runner is my wife loves to drive it and I ocassionally see my car missing when I go to work. :mad:
 
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It all started back about 16yrs ago in High School. A buddy of mine had one (it was his mom's) 4runner and I can remember seeing it sitting in the driveway looking so good!!!

I knew a little history at the time and realized they always were seen in the safari shows/movies on television, plus the UN officials drove them all over the world.

Then, I saw the special about the two Landcruisers that trekked across Antartica (The only vehicle in the world that accomplished this feat). It was awesome....on Discovery Channel I think.

As time went by and I was in the IT field...I happened upon a position with a company named World Omni Financial owned by SouthEast Toyota Distributorships of Florida. I began my job and found out we could order brand spankin' new Toyota's from Japan!!! WooHoo. So, I looked and looked and finally decided up the 4runner at the time (Landcrushers were just to big).

So, I bought a '98 SR5 V6 with almost every option for $28,800.

After owning it for 5 1/2yrs and having no major problems and just regular maintenance items, I decided after looking at a ton of other cars (Mitsu Evo8/WRX STi/ForesterXTurbo/350Z/G35/Volvo/F150/Corvette/and many others) I would just have to get the new 4Runner w/V8!!!! =)

If you want to drive a great, dependable car and KEEP IT FOR A LONG TIME.....buy a Toyota.

Thanks
03RR
 
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My toy days started in 96 with a loaded 96 sr5 4runner. Though previously I had a beater Tercel that just wouldn't die till the city of chicago towed it away for parking tickets - got the boot, and luckily I had put it in my first/ex wifes name so she got the wrath!

I can say I did choose Toyota as I'm a what I call a professional consumer. Case in point; I just spent 4 hours researching the purchase of a $40 humidifer!

Anyone who knows and appreciates quality and respects the money they work hard for will eventually end up in a Toyota!

My 04 Limited w/nav and a V8 was my Christmas present to myself and my lovely wife. So far it's proved to be much more enjoyable than Christmas of 2002, a Sequoia. It's nice that despite you got yours as a gift you appreciate it so much. Maybe that's why you got it to begin with.

Be good to it!
 
My brother got a Tundra almost a year ago. Great truck and engine. When the V8 became available in the 4Runner I was sold. I have not made the switch yet, still have my Acura. I'm waiting for the summer to shop: no snow and probably higher gas prices = better deals and selection. 4WD Sport V8 please.
 
It all started when every car I touched would blow up, break, Die... lol

T-bird SC Engine blew\crashed
84 Monte Carlo - Tranny blew (hated the car)
Shadow (hated even more) always breaking

Then I switched over to an SUV. I got a 93 Explorer. It served its purpose for the 3 years I had her. Finally this past September, I deemed it necessary for me to purchase a graduation present for myself a semester early. Especially since they had really good deals on 03's at the time (bought it for 1500 under invoice). So after researching every SUV in the same class as the 4Runner, there was no other SUV that compared. Dollar for Dollar, it was the best value overall! Not to mention that it was the nicest looking one as well!

Thats my story
 
Well let's begin with my automobile history, which as you read will make it clear why I am now a proud 4 Runner owner.

About 14 years ago when I was 16 and got my license, my parents gave me a 84 Buick Regal. As far as body, heating, and such it was great, but when it came to the engine it was horrible. If I did not get a head start I would not make it up a hill, I had the engine changed, and before and after the change of the engine it was in the mechanic's shop every single week.

Finally my parents let me spend my hard earned money ($3000) and buy my dream car: Camaro. After buying that I can say the only benefit of that car was it got some girls attention, and I got to learn how to drive stick. But with that aside I do not know what is worse: the 84 Buick or the 84 Camaro.

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So after owning the Camaro for a couple of years an opportunity I was waiting for finally arrived. My best friend's father finally was selling his 84 Blazer (it's not like I was looking for an 84 car, just worked out that way). I have had my eye on this ever since I knew my buddy Dave: before I even had a license. So since his father liked me and new I wanted that car, he gave me an opportunity to find a way to get it. So I did the only thing I could think of, I went to mom. Well after giving my mom my well planned speach about 4 wheel drive and reliability she loaned me the money.

So I spent my mom's hard earned money and bought myself my very first 4 wheel drive vehicle that needed the carburator to be rebuilt. So all in all through the years it needed it's repairs. One that sticks out the most is when my gas tank was leaking because a hole was rusted through.
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