I bought my 2005 4Runner a week ago. It's a 2005 4Runner Limited V8 4wd with the Sunroof, Navigation, and rear spoiler. It has 134k miles, and based on the road rash up front, it spent it's time on the highway. I will say out of the 25+ cars I've owned, I've never had one with this amount of mileage that drives as nice. It doesn't have a squeak or rattle to be found, and I'm the type of person where squeaks and rattles annoy the hell out of me. Everything works, and the interior is in very nice condition. The motor and transmission function like brand new - seriously you can't even tell this thing is running. It idles as smooth as my Lexus LS430! There are some blems here and there on the hard plastic parts, but that's to be expected since it was used. It's a California car, but it has seen some salt at some point, but not much. The tires are good, and it drives EXCELLENT.
I need to do the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, thermostat, seals, serpentine, etc. I'm trying to work out a buddy buddy deal with some Toyota techs, and I'll supply the parts. If not I'll do it myself since I'm no stranger to wrenching, but if I could get it done for 200 bucks plus parts, I'd be happy.
The front end and any panel that is exposed to sand/rock chips has some issues. The worst being the trim panels under the headlights. The front bumper cover was repainted, but all of the VIN tags are still on the vehicle so it's never been wrecked. The headlights were recently replaced due to heavy road wear I'm sure. They are OEM Toyota lights though. The fogs and turn signals were heavily pitted to the point you couldn't even see the projectors. I sanded them starting at 400 wet dry then to 800, and lastly 2000 grit. Then I polished them with my Makita buffer and some cutting compound. They look WAY better, and it saved me $250 or more in replacing them. I'm going to put a bug deflector on the front, repaint the trim panels, and replace the grille/emblem/V8 badge with a new one. Otherwise it only has a couple of small dings and the rest of the body is in excellent condition.
I'm looking at lifting it and replacing the wheels/tires. I'm not going to do anything too crazy since I don't want to mess up a good thing. I replaced my 2000 GMC Yukon XL with this, and need something to pull a 5x10 cargo trailer on occasion. When I had my 2001 Toyota Tundra 4wd TRD, I was at Geweke Toyota having it serviced when one of the sales people spotted me looking at a brand new 2003 4Runner Limited 4wd V8. She knew I wasn't going to buy it, but wanted to look busy, so we went on a test drive. I loved it even back then compared to my Tundra. Now roughly 8 years later I own one. When I was looking I wanted a 2005 or newer, and I did want the V8 with VVT-I. I found it locally here in Sacramento and got it for 14k from a Subaru dealer. I wasn't really all that interested at first, but when I drove it, I was totally impressed. It was dirty, but after getting it all cleaned up I'm happy with the deal. I won't put a ton of miles on it - probably 5k a year or so, which means the higher miles didn't really bother me. Once I do the maintenance items and flush all the fluids, I'll carry a spare coil pack, a bit of hose, and a few odds and ends.
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I need to do the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, thermostat, seals, serpentine, etc. I'm trying to work out a buddy buddy deal with some Toyota techs, and I'll supply the parts. If not I'll do it myself since I'm no stranger to wrenching, but if I could get it done for 200 bucks plus parts, I'd be happy.
The front end and any panel that is exposed to sand/rock chips has some issues. The worst being the trim panels under the headlights. The front bumper cover was repainted, but all of the VIN tags are still on the vehicle so it's never been wrecked. The headlights were recently replaced due to heavy road wear I'm sure. They are OEM Toyota lights though. The fogs and turn signals were heavily pitted to the point you couldn't even see the projectors. I sanded them starting at 400 wet dry then to 800, and lastly 2000 grit. Then I polished them with my Makita buffer and some cutting compound. They look WAY better, and it saved me $250 or more in replacing them. I'm going to put a bug deflector on the front, repaint the trim panels, and replace the grille/emblem/V8 badge with a new one. Otherwise it only has a couple of small dings and the rest of the body is in excellent condition.
I'm looking at lifting it and replacing the wheels/tires. I'm not going to do anything too crazy since I don't want to mess up a good thing. I replaced my 2000 GMC Yukon XL with this, and need something to pull a 5x10 cargo trailer on occasion. When I had my 2001 Toyota Tundra 4wd TRD, I was at Geweke Toyota having it serviced when one of the sales people spotted me looking at a brand new 2003 4Runner Limited 4wd V8. She knew I wasn't going to buy it, but wanted to look busy, so we went on a test drive. I loved it even back then compared to my Tundra. Now roughly 8 years later I own one. When I was looking I wanted a 2005 or newer, and I did want the V8 with VVT-I. I found it locally here in Sacramento and got it for 14k from a Subaru dealer. I wasn't really all that interested at first, but when I drove it, I was totally impressed. It was dirty, but after getting it all cleaned up I'm happy with the deal. I won't put a ton of miles on it - probably 5k a year or so, which means the higher miles didn't really bother me. Once I do the maintenance items and flush all the fluids, I'll carry a spare coil pack, a bit of hose, and a few odds and ends.
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