Need help picking a 4runner if any.

[biggestmexi]

Plus if I'm going down there to drop that in a 4r I don't think my wife would be to ecstatic with me coming pack with more parts lol. Maybe I could just bump up the price that I tell her I bought the vehicle for so I could have that extra to spend on the way back. Hmmm.

 

[jeremyc74]

If it were me, I'd pass on both of them. Too much money for a rusty vehicle.
Good Luck

My sentiments exactly!

For that kind of money I would fly somewhere that doesn't use salt and pick one up. You can get very nice trucks here in FL in the $5500 range all the time. That leaves you $500 for travel money and you don't have to worry about the rust.

 

[Hepar]

I agree with traveling for one with no rust. And it makes it so much less of a worry if there's someone willing to check it out first. I ended up buying mine in Cali and drove it back to Washington.

My sentiments exactly!

For that kind of money I would fly somewhere that doesn't use salt and pick one up. You can get very nice trucks here in FL in the $5500 range all the time. That leaves you $500 for travel money and you don't have to worry about the rust.

Rust is still very much an issue in Florida cars. Especially the closer you get to the gulf or Atlantic coast.

 

[96LTDrus]

Those are some seriously impressive mileage numbers. I haven't seen any advice those lol. I do have a friend that has somewhat recently moved to Arizona but it s seems like the 4 runner that I'm looking for wouldn't exist down there or would cost 10k.

I'm really looking for low mileage because I would like to modify it but still have piece of mind that my son could drive it for his first vehicle in 7 years. Then he can sit and brag how awesome his truck is to his friends and break it himself after he buys it from me lol.

My car that I drive now, I have put less than 100k on it in less than 11 years. So I am kind of basing my numbers off of that. And I would assume I'm going to be driving the 4r less since I will still be using the other car for work. So, technically I guess something around 180k mileage wouldn't be terrible now that I think of it.

Yeah don't get too fixated on low miles. If anything you could end up with a truck that needs EVERYTHING since it just hit the mileage where it needs some investment to replace a bunch of wear items.

I bought my '96 with 99k miles with zero rust up here in Indiana in 2013, and paid a very fair price for it. Right off the bat it needed axle seals, suspension and brakes all around, a muffler, a fan clutch, in addition to the standard tune up items (t-belt, plugs+wires, PCV valve, all fluids and filters). That was about $1500 with some incredibly fair labor rates at my brother's shop.

In the 20k miles I've driven my 4Runner, I had one case where one of my fuel injectors crapped out and I limped in to my gf's place. Since then no issues, truck's been on more 10+ hour road trips than I can count, I trust it more as a 19 year old truck than I wold many 10 year old cars. And most of that is the knowledge that it's been fully gone through at this point, not just the Toyota "magic." Oh and I carry a spare fuel injector and coil and plug :biggrin1:

 

[pluton]

I second the notion of buying from a region of the country that does not suffer the rust issues of the snow belt.

 

[jeremyc74]

Rust is still very much an issue in Florida cars. Especially the closer you get to the gulf or Atlantic coast.

It's an issue, but not the same as vehicle driven in the rust belt. Here you'll get body rust, and some surface rust on the frame but you're not going to see rot like you get up north. And I live just about as close to the coast as you can get. :thumb:

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.7856654,-80.0388279,18z

 

[Hepar]

It's an issue, but not the same as vehicle driven in the rust belt. Here you'll get body rust, and some surface rust on the frame but you're not going to see rot like you get up north. And I live just about as close to the coast as you can get. :thumb:

Definitely agree that it's not an issue to the same degree, but it's still an issue. If I were in the NE or any other part of the "rust belt" and I was willing to buy out of state, I would make sure that it was from an area with NO rust for a couple of reasons. One, any surface rust on the vehicle is going to accelerate that much faster once it's brought into a rustier environment (Barring some serious preventative maintenance. In which case it's then a matter of time and effort willing to take.) and two, surface rust has its issues too. Surface rust will hit the nuts and bolts of the vehicle first. Thus making any work you do on it that much more annoying.

 

[jeremyc74]

Definitely agree that it's not an issue to the same degree, but it's still an issue. If I were in the NE or any other part of the "rust belt" and I was willing to buy out of state, I would make sure that it was from an area with NO rust for a couple of reasons. One, any surface rust on the vehicle is going to accelerate that much faster once it's brought into a rustier environment (Barring some serious preventative maintenance. In which case it's then a matter of time and effort willing to take.) and two, surface rust has its issues too. Surface rust will hit the nuts and bolts of the vehicle first. Thus making any work you do on it that much more annoying.

My truck has been on the coast of FL most of its life and did a couple of years in HI, and it's just not an issue. I've done shocks and springs all the way around, all the sway bar links, O2 sensors, brakes, and the timing belt and haven't had any issues with bolts being rusted. Usually if you see a vehicle with substantial rust in FL it's because someone's been using it to tow a boat, or fishing, or diving, and has gotten salt water on it. They don't just rust from being driven around.