How patient were you when you were tying to find your 4Runner?

[McFinnigan]

Just talked to this guy- http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/cto/4913016008.html

Said if someone didn't pick it up tonight, someone else was picking it up tomorrow

 

[Road Bull]

Just picked up my first 4Runner. It's a 2002 SR5 179k miles for $7k. It's very clean, engine bay clean, fluids looked good. Took oil cap off and inside looked good. No rust underneath. Just a few minor fixes, mostly cosmetic, besides me needing to pick up a missing rear lock on the rear door. I can open the rear just fine when the door locks are open, but cannot use the key to open. Hopefully, that's not a PITA. Overall, I am pretty happy.

 

[McFinnigan]

Just talked to this guy- http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/cto/4913016008.html

Said if someone didn't pick it up tonight, someone else was picking it up tomorrow

Mechanically sound, but paint was rough and some rust underneath. To be expected on a 18 year old truck 

 

[silvo99]

I had been looking for about 3 months. Just found and bought a 2002 Sport edition in Silver on Ebay. My '98 Limited with 230K starting to worry me. Patience is a virtue.

 

[Rifter]

I grabbed the first one with little to no rust. With this high milesage on any vehicle you just have to realize the engine and trans are on borrowed time anyways so didn't bother checking them out more than enough to know there wasn't a major issue.


Got a 1998 Limited V6 Auto 4x4, non functioning rear factory locker. 186k miles(300k kilometers)

Paid $4400 Canadian for it which included them installing a new timing belt and water pump as it hadn't been done in 9 years and 97k miles.

Just small amount of surface rust inside rear frame, no rust on body.

Drives great just need to fix the locker and the valve cover oil leak and should be good for a while.

 

[cleanrunner]

very. you need to know what your looking for. i looked at a few tacomas and one other 3rd gen 4runner before i bought mine. knowing what to look for and where to look helped as well as a near flawless auto check and carfax.

 

[McFinnigan]

I'm still looking after about 6 months....there's A LOT of overpriced beat to shit 4runners out there. The ones that aren't are snatched within hours of hitting the market.

This statement is no joke. I just found a 99 sport with a 5-speed and e-locker. I contacted the guy within an hour of listing.... 30 minutes too late

 

[Oprah]

Breaking News: New England Man Searches for 4 1/2 Years for Dream Vehicle

New England isn't nice to old cars. I searched for a nice 4Runner starting when I was 15 1/2 getting ready to get my license... didn't find the right one (not rusted out or overpriced or a POS) in my area (budget was restricted) until I was about 20 years old and found a beaut for $4500 (under market value at the time) that was from PA originally. I didn't have too many specifics I wanted, considered everything from 2nd gens to 4th gens... glad I ended up with a 3rd gen, definitely my favorite once I learned more about the 4wd system and other general awesomeness of these trucks.

Boy you couldn't even imagine how happy I was after dreaming about owning a 4Runner since I was a wee tike when my dad had a 1st gen (that he put 350,000 miles on through most of my childhood).

Put 35k on her in the last 1.5 years (212k) and lovin' every minute of it! Let the journey continue!

On the way home after I picked her up:

 

[RUGGED Elegance]

I searched off and on over the past few years, but about 3-4 months of serious searching. I specifically wanted a Golden Pearl 4WD that had been maintained.I owned another vehicle, so i wasn't in a hurry to pick one up. I wanted to keep my search target area to the Western part of the US, due to rust. I found this one out in Las Vegas, so my girlfriend and I flew out, picked it up, did an extended detour to Southern California, and drove back to Texas. I ended up picking her up for just under 11k with 115k. Came with a new battery, Tires, and some service records. One of my Best/Happiest purchases to date.

 

[Doghouse_Riley]

I've been looking for about 4 months and looking every day for the last month. I checked out a few that were either beat to hell or waaay over priced. I'm happy that I was patient and got what I think was a good deal for around here, a super clean 2002 Sport with 151k for $6200.

 

[Loubaru]

It took me about 4 months on and off of watching craigslist and what not to find mine. I'm also very picky when it comes to my stuff though and was looking for a 99/00, silver or white, limited w/ elocker which made it harder. The "Toyota" tax in the NW is also insane which made it difficult to find one in good shape that was reasonably priced.

I eventually ended up taking a small risk on a cherry '00 with ~63k miles, silver, limited, elocker, with ultimate lift and sliders installed a month before which I got for ~9k. The "risk" was that it was a salvaged title but I spent about 30 mins underneath the truck inspecting it, drove it for ~20 mins, and researched the vin/wreck/repair on the internet before looking at it. Some guy had bought it planning on using it for wheeling/camping but realized he didn't need 5-6 cars and it was too small for his family....so he pretty much put a ton of money into it then sold it to me. I've had it for almost 2 years now and put about ~12k miles on it (its not our primary vehicle) and couldn't be happier with my purchase. I had to replace the axles (boots were torn from the lift, they weren't clicking but it bugged me), rear hatch (PO backed into a tree, I got one on CL for $200), and rear axle seal (probably wasn't replaced when the truck was wrecked) but other than that I haven't done anything other than fluid swaps and a tune up. The tune up wasn't even necessary because the previous owner did everything but the front diff fluid.

Anyways, this year my wife and I plan on taking it on a few camping (or "overlanding") trips.

 

[Laidflat]

I wasn't very patient at all after I ran across this one. 2001 sr5 4x4 with 145k miles for $4800.

 

[southsidewaterman]

It took me 7 months to find one that loosely matched my criteria. I ideally wanted a black 5spd V6 with zero rust, very few flaws, and under 200k miles for $6k or less. I was not in a rush, and was willing to wait for the right one.

I was naive when I started searching though. This was going to be the 2nd 4runner I'd purchased, and I knew that 5spds could be somewhat hard to come by. About a week in to the start of my search, I found one on CL that met most of my criteria, had 175k but was green. I made the mistake of waiting too long, and after viewing it for several days on CL, the day that I went to look at it and make the call, the ad had been taken down.

I was absolutely gutted! I continued to search every day on CL, autotrader, ebay, local ads, etc. and couldn't find something within reason for several months. Finally, I found a black 5spd V6 with 250k with 33"s and a 4-6" lift. I wasn't thrilled about 250k nor the lift being mostly a body lift, but I was interested in it. The owner was asking a lot for it, somewhere around $8k, and I spent a bunch of time negotiating with. Finally got him to come down on the price, and we agreed on a final price that was higher than my desired range because I wanted this deal done.......and then he turned around and reneged on the deal and decided to keep it.

I was pissed at this point, but I kept looking. Found another one that same week a couple hours away for $6500, a tan 200k 5spd V6, and after emailing back and forth with the owner, he changed his mind and decided to keep his as well.

I was thinking at this point that maybe this is never going to happen.......until a couple weeks later, when the first 4runner that I had found on CL, the green 5spd V6, appeared back on craigslist! I saw the ad, called him that day, and bought it the next day for $5750. Couldn't be happier with how it worked out.

A week later the guy with the black 4runner contacted me to say he was interested in selling it to me now. Nope. A few weeks after that, the seller of the green 5spd contacted me to see if I was interested in selling it back to him. Double nope.

Very frustrating process, but it was worth the wait and I'd do it again.

A pic from the day I got her.