Yeah, she's pretty sporty. It worked out for a while that she drove one of my Tacomas for a couple of years and really liked it. She liked being up high where she could see, the sporty looks and the occasional appreciative glance she got while driving it.
When it came time to get another vehicle, she chose to buy a Subaru Outback - seemed like the perfect sporty mom mobile. We bought a brand new loaded out 3.6 Limited. Great power, higher than a normal car, solid all weather performance - she hated it almost the day she drove it off the lot. Wasn't really a bad car (though it did seem to pick up squeaks and rattles faster than I thought it should), she just hated it.
We never flip cars, we buy and hold till they're "used up" or at least well worn, but we made an exception on that one. In the end her happiness was well worth it! So we started looking for an SUV and she kept saying she wanted a Toyota Highlander "like the Tacoma". I gently explained to her that the Highlander was really a glorified mini-van and while it drove nice and sat up relatively high, if she wanted a SUV like the Tacoma she wanted the 4Runner.
We did some research and some test drives and she bought the 4Runner. At first she didn't want to touch it, but slowly but surely she's been pushing to have the 4Runner made closer to the Tacoma she loved driving. Decided she wanted the running boards gone and sliders added, upgrade the tires and she would be happy. I started talking about no lift/low lift suspension options and she decided she wanted it to be same height as the Tacoma which is a 1.6"F/1"R lift and here we are...
She's really happy with it and looking forward to getting the mods completed and taking it to Big Bend this Thanksgiving.
No, I'm not going to do the mods myself. I have developed a friendship with a guy that owns a local discount tire over the years. They have done excellent work for me in the past at a reasonable cost. Installs go so much more quickly when you have all the equipment! By the end of October I plan to install Shockworks TE rockers myself, then have him weld on a set of BAMF sliders, the icon low lift suspension with custom order Deaver rear coils and a new set of Mickety Thompson MTZ's size 265/70R17 (plus the spare). I will install my own TE skids (i know they are thin but they are free

) and rear diff mod (if I can figure out where to locate it).
David