How Did You Decide to Buy a 4runner?

[934x4]

For me, it was easy.

I have a '93 4x4 pickup, and it is still as solid as the day I bought it 18 years ago. It just has the feel of being tight and tough. No rattles despite nearly 400,000 kms. I'll say it's had 100,000 kms on the backcountry roads of Western Alberta and it has never failed to bring me home. It's had water in the cab a few times, so many 1000lb loads of firewood and it's even picked off a few animals. Absolutely 0 electrical problems. The original battery lasted 14 years. Even when I don't plug it in it will still start at -35. Except for the regular maintenance items, it's still all original. I like every scar, dent and scratch on it. In 1993, I paid $21,500 for it, and they are still selling used for $5,000. Unfortunately, it's only weakness is rust. It's getting noticeable now, but I'll be reskinning it in the next couple of years.

I've tried Nissan, Ford and BMW, so why did I buy the 4Runner? I did my homework and found that it's made in the Tahara Factory in Japan, the same factory that put the truck together. The next vehicle for me will likely be a Lexus IS 350, also made in the Tahara factory. When people do work this good, I patronize them.

And watch these videos - start to finish. They should say enough.

Killing a Toyota part 1 - Top Gear - BBC - YouTube

Top Gear - killing a Toyota Pt 2 - BBC - YouTube

Top Gear - killing a Toyota Pt 3 - BBC - YouTube

 

[lezavw90]

I have SR5 Upgrade Package which I think is pretty "luxurious". I am not prepared to pay additional 7K for JBL stereo, climate control (never really use it in my Accord), NAV (got GARMIN for that job) and other extras on limited. It's just too expensive up here.

BTW, I got my SR5 U.P. for $39K. Check CAA's Car Cost Canada... Good luck.

Thanks for that info. I signed up and the invoice for the Limited comes in at $5000 less than the toyota.ca site.

Did you do the negotiations yourself? Or did you let CarCost do it? After doing a report there was no dealers in my area, so I called there 1-800 number and the guy said they could negotiate for me with one of their dealers.

I wish I knew about this when we bought the Tacoma. The dealer was playing hardball and flat out said the price on website is the price I had to pay. I told them would they rather sell a vehicle today or not and they said they didn't mind not selling one as the Tacoma's sell so fast. I phoned around a few other dealers and got the same story.

 

[Will733]

You'll obviously get a lot of biased answers from the forum here...

But

As a former Tacoma owner myself, I purchased the 4Runner due to it's looks and financial benefits that come along with Toyota Trucks. Like others said, less repair bills and higher resale values make the total cost of ownership less.

You can argue all day with others on what looks better but research shows that Toyota Trucks have just been a smarter buy historically.

 

[scanny]

I wish I knew about this when we bought the Tacoma. The dealer was playing hardball and flat out said the price on website is the price I had to pay. I told them would they rather sell a vehicle today or not and they said they didn't mind not selling one as the Tacoma's sell so fast. I phoned around a few other dealers and got the same story.

I think it's way easier when you come to a dealership and look at the vehicles, ask questions about 4Runner, take a test drive and when dealer feels that you're hooked you show them printout with invoice price and start negotiations from fair "invoice +$500" price. Or start from just invoice price if you feel lucky. So you would let dealer know that you know exact real price and how much they are trying to overcharge you. Of course you are going to hear all sort of things, but when you trying to leave, dealer normally would offer you lower then MSRP price. You still leave with this price in mind and in the other dealership you can just say that you got an offer already and wondering if they could get you a better deal. Then you go to next dealership with this even lower price. Or you can make two dealerships compete with each other. But final price depends on you patience, how desperate is dealership to meet sales targets, vehicles in stock and demand. But I'm sure you could get better price than MSRP.

 

[whiskywizard]

Up here in Canada we don't get any choice on options. There's 4 models of 4runner and that's it. We don't get choices like adding 3rd row seats, you just get it. I understand why Toyota does it as they probably don't sell a ton of vehicles in the small Canadian market.

Up here you get
SR5
SR5 upgrade (leather, heated seats)
Trail
Limited with Nav

All Canadian 4runners come factory with running boards
they all have the tow package
SR5 upgrade and Limited come with 3rd row seats
KDSS is standard on the trail
X-Reas is Standard on the Limited
Talking with the dealer Canada will not be getting Entune on the 4runners

The Toyota website isn't so fun to shop on as the choices with options are limited, lol. I guess that's why I've been looking at the Jeep and Ford as they both have a ton of options and it's fun to play around and customize.

My Canadian '11 Limited has no Nav.

 

[homeyclaus]

My Canadian '11 Limited has no Nav.

Be glad. You can get better in the aftermarket if you want.

Our choice was rather mathematical:

1. Had to have more space than our 2001 Maxima.
2. Had to have the same or lower operating cost as out 2001 Maxima
3. Had to do everything our Matrix did otherwise
4. Had to be as reliable and punishable as our Matrix*

The 4Runner was the only one that really made it past the formula above, and the sniff test by the wife. The others are more fun to drive, but that's little comfort when you're somewhere waiting for a tow truck. The only other contender was the Honda Pilot, but the wife shot that down without explanation even before we went to the dealership.

I'll also second the opinion that you'll lose very little if you take the SR5 (with upgrade or not, your choice) over the Limited. Full-time 4WD is nice, but it's not the $7000 nicer. If you don't like the ride on the SR5, it's pretty easy to fix with Bilstein 5100's for $400. Also, you have kids. Reconsider your desire for leather seats - my 27 month old does a number on the leather seats in my Maxima. Thankfully, all he says is "Truck!" these days.

* The Matrix had been beat on so bad doing rally-style driving that there were chafe marks from the dash plastic about 1/2" up the A pillars. The body felt pretty stiff, but I guess it flexes some

 

[lezavw90]

My Canadian '11 Limited has no Nav.

for 2011 you could get the Limited with or without nav. For 2012 they have bundled nav into the Limited.

 

[enzo]

I have always driven toyota from my '96 Rav4, '06 Rav4, then finally my dream car my '08 Tacoma Dbl Cal TRD Off-Road. I loved that truck, I never thought I could give it up. But by Jan 2010 I was in need of secure storage space, and something more family-friendly. To me the Trail Edition was pretty much the SUV equivalent of my truck. One day, I did a search of the East Coast dealers for TEs. Found two in Virginia a Salsa Red w/o KDSS and Nav and a Mag Gray with KDSS/Nav. So I drove down to the dealer one Sat morning to look at it the Mag Gray. It was a no brainer I wanted it.

As luck would have it there was another person working with another salesman who has approached the car the same time I did. At this point neither of us really had "dibs" on the car yet - but we both knew we wanted it. Luckily for me the other guy was an off-duty deputy and after about 5 minutes of circling the 4R got called in. I spent the rest of the day negotiating. The salesman kept saying it was a fluke that they got any Trail Editions because they were not supposed to come to the Mid-Atlantic.

Anyways, it was all of the comforts and conveniences the T4R TE offered without any sacrifice to off-road performance that made this one of my best decisions.

 

[Batang.Gapo]

Did you do the negotiations yourself? Or did you let CarCost do it? After doing a report there was no dealers in my area, so I called there 1-800 number and the guy said they could negotiate for me with one of their dealers.

I wish I knew about this when we bought the Tacoma. The dealer was playing hardball and flat out said the price on website is the price I had to pay. I told them would they rather sell a vehicle today or not and they said they didn't mind not selling one as the Tacoma's sell so fast. I phoned around a few other dealers and got the same story.

I did the negotiation myself. Upfront, I asked dealerships how much they want on top of CAA's invoice price. Most of them wanted at least 4% on top of invoice price and a lot of BS . One dealership offered me $1000 over invoice, they got the deal. PM me if you live in GTA and I will give you details.

 

[lezavw90]

Thanks, for the info. I'll take the info to our local dealre first and let them have right of first refusal. They have been nothing short of outstanding with our truck (other than the fact they would not budge on price, but no one would on the Tacoma). If they won't budge then I'll phone around some dealers in vancouver. I really don't mind riding a ferry for a big purchase and it would make for a good little road trip when the time came.

I've done all the research online that I can, and I have personally sat in (drove the 4runner) the 3 vehicles. I think January I'll take the wife and we'll go around to the 3 and see what she says. I can pretty much be certain the Cherokee and Ford will be elimanated just for the fact that the rear seats are barely bigger than the Tacoma and that's the whole reason we are getting a new vehicle.

I'll continue lurking here and let you know how everything goes in a month or so.

 

[lezavw90]

Wife and I went out last weekend to look and test drive. Explorer got eliminated immediately, the back seats have the smae room as our Tacoma.

The Cherokee was really really nice. You get a lot of vehicle for the price. I really wanted to like the Cherokee but the reliability is a massive question mark. The back seats are a little over 3 inches bigger than the Tacoma which allowed enough room for driver and carseat.

The 4R has bigger back seats than the other 2. The test drive went well. Think we are going to end up with a Shoreline Blue Limited when they come in. Toyota reliabilty won us over.

It's a shame for the domestic vehicles. The Jeep is such a nice vehicle, but on all the forums people have been having so much issues with even the brand new ones. It would be nice if Toyota could throw in a few more options for the same price as their current asking price is a little high when you compare it to others. But in the end I'll take reliability over a few luxuries.

 

[1engineer]

Good choice and it's too bad Jeep marketing decided on bells and whistles instead of reliability and durability. It costs extra for each and I'll take Toyota's approach and solution.

 

[4FL]

How I decided I am going to buy a 4runner next year was simple. From an off-roader perspective, like them or not, 4runners for as long as I known have been always on top as far as function and reliability. Even the most harden f-series lovers (that would be me!) cannot deny the abilities of the 4runner. I never could fit comfortably in one until the 5th gen came out (that is why I never owned one), it was like Toyota finally answered my letters!

The other thing; look at the first ten pages of this forum, now look at the first ten pages of an explorer forum, if anything, that should tell you right away which one to choose.

I know nothing about the jeep, so cannot comment.

So I am waiting impatiently for next year to roll around to order my TE!

 

[badinterrupt]

I previously owned a Jeep Wrangler and a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. I loved the ability to go offroad and the fact that if I needed to get somewhere for the zombie apocalypes, the Jeeps would get me there. The terrible part was the complete lack of reliability and high cost of repair bills. And that was even for the JGC that I never took off trail, only fire roads and dirt trails occassionally.

If you look at SUVs these days, a lot of vehicles say they are SUVs but nobody in their right mind would take them offroad, although many will brave the elements with them (e.g. snow and ice).

The 4runner has both a history of off road capability and reliability.

I also needed a vehicle to fit my 6'4" frame that could transport 3 kids in a pinch (with the 4runner 3rd row seat handling toddler/child car seat overflow).

The big question for me was Limited vs SR5. In the end I opted for the Limited soley for the all-time 4WD so my wife would not have to worry about switching in and out of 4wd [the wrangler was part time].

What I like so far about the 4runner Limited:
- Feels like an SUV that I can beat up and take off road
- Roomy for my taller family
- Gas mileage so far is 18.6 MPG with mix of city and high way

What I don't like so far:
- XM antenna sticks up from the roof of the vehicle and prevents me from using my Thule with the factory crossbars
- Sluggish feel, underpowered. You don't get any "oomph" out of the engine unless you floor it and hit the high RPMs - even then it's just adequate.
- Pinging noise from engine as it revs is distracting. Forums seems to indicate it varies from vehicle to vehicle and from temperature
- Noisy cabin on highway makes it tough to use hands free sometimes
- Shape of door/roof splashes water on seat when you open the door even after the rain has stopped

HTH

 

[Claff]

We had a 30,000-mile 2007 Santa Fe that we were really happy with. Drove nice, hauled a lot of stuff, gave us decent mileage, etc etc.

When we started getting semi-serious into autocrossing our Miata we decided we were going to go to some far-flung events, and driving a stiffly-sprung 20 year old car 1500+ miles each way did not sound comfortable or practical. And what if it broke?

Towing was a very real possibility, and as we investigated the capabilities of our Santa Fe signs were pointing to it being inadequate. It didn't have the towing package, and even if it did, it would only be rated for 3500 lbs. A 2100 lb Miata and an open trailer would easily eclipse that.

So we started shopping for things rated for 5000 lbs of towing. The first choice was actually the Highlander. I figured it would ride more car-like than the 4Runner and that would treat us better for the days we wouldn't be towing.

At the Washington DC new car show last year, Toyota had a thing where you could drive various cars basically around the block. We tried a Highlander Hybrid and a 4Runner because they were both available. To my surprise, the 4Runner didn't drive nearly as truck-like as I expected. Talking with the guys running the test-drive show, one of them was a racer with lots of towing experience, and strongly recommended the 4Runner over the Highlander (frame-based, RWD-biased, etc). The price difference was minimal as was gas mileage so I went along with that. Making the decision easier was the fact that it was pretty hard to find a Highlander equipped with to tow, while every 4Runner we saw was ready to go.

With that decision made it was a matter of finding one equipped the way we wanted in an acceptable color. I was cool with any one of four colors so that shouldn't have been hard. We found this magnetic gray one at the local dealer and did our dealing via email. When we had a deal we went to test drive it: it had one mile on the odometer when we got in it. It was lacking one feature we thought was something we had to have (automatic HVAC) but we compromised and went ahead with the deal, and we don't miss it. We've got 11,000+ on it right now, with well over 8,000 of that towing little cars all over the east coast and a couple trips to the midwest, and we're all smiles.

 

[lezavw90]

Went to the dealer today and did some haggling. Put a deposit on a 2012 Shoreline Blue Limited.

Super excited, have to wait a bit as its still on the boat from Japan.

 

[Qjake]

Went to the dealer today and did some haggling. Put a deposit on a 2012 Shoreline Blue Limited.

Super excited, have to wait a bit as its still on the boat from Japan.

Congrats!! :reddance: I'm sure you will be pleased with your decision. Best of luck with your new 4Runner!:thumb3:

Don't forget, we're gonna want pics

 

[4RYota]

Great thread

Im struggling between a Tacoma DCSB Sport & 4R Limited - I know two completely different vehicles. I've had GMC Diesel truck for 6 yrs, original bought it for towing a travel trailer which we sold last yr and also have a Yukon XL. Going to a mid size will be an adjustment over my rig but mainly I dont know if I would regret losing a truck. 4R is a nicer ride. I can live without a truck but it's the time when you need to haul Home Depot goodies or throw you muddy shoes in the back thats got me twisted. Also the extra 10k is a consideration. Wife prefers the 4R. Im almost there.

 

[dxntxn]

Went to the dealer today and did some haggling. Put a deposit on a 2012 Shoreline Blue Limited.

Super excited, have to wait a bit as its still on the boat from Japan.

Welcome to the Shoreline Club!

 

[platinumb]

I love our 2011 limited we actually have a 2011 Tacoma too, the 4 runner interior has a lot more room. The 4run Ed is a great family car for my wife. Great resale too that was a big deciding factor as we put a lot of miles on quickly and do t keep cars very long she will have a new one within 2 years. Probably another 4runner. I love them. That said if you need to tow 5k I wouldn't do it. I have a 12' trailer that I usually tow with the Tacoma, which has a supercharged and a few other mods. Behind the 4runner even with the trailer empty it is still very very obvious the trailer is there. It gets it moving and stops it ok it just doesn't controll a mid size trailer very well. For that the grand Cherokee would be your best bet but reliability can be hit or miss I have had 2 grand Cherokees both went over 170k miles which is my average for 2ish years of driving, neither one ever had a single problem not even a warranty repair. But I have heard other peoples horror stories about issues wih them. Resale value on the jeep however is not even close to the 4runner. As with any car reliability depends largely on how it's treated and cared for.