Newbie Looking for 4Runner Buying Advice

Lowpro said:
Doh, just sold it this afternoon.

Oh well.....
Click to expand...

That's just a sign you should get a 4WD. :D I know you're in So Cal, but I've seen cars get stuck on wet grass before. Your wife will appreciate it when that El Nino comes around. Just a peace of mind to have it (4WD). Even if it saves her once.
 
Just my .2cent$: Get 4x4, because what you'll find with your first SUV, is the growing desire to hit the trails. In my own personal opinion, buying a 2wd SUV is like non-alcoholic beer...sort of defeats the purpose.

Also, Toyota makes spectacular engines throughout, but their V8's are probably the best in the world. When I buy a used car, I buy V8's simply because they barely have to work to get things moving, which translates into much less wear and tear on the engine. BUT, the V8's do have a timing belt that needs to be changed at 90k, which can be a costly service bill "this is also when the water pump gets replaced". If you're mostly city driving though, sitting at lights, stop and go, the V8 gets thirsty. Open road cruising...it's fantasticly quiet, smooth, and just downright great! Will return around 20-22mpgs in that setting. City though...probably 10-13 realistically.

Mine has 70k on it, bought it in August of 07' with 52k, for $20k. It's an SR5, midnight blue, 17 inch wheels, sunroof, cloth interior, perm 4x4, yada yada. All I've done to it is change the differential fluids to Mobile 1 synthetics, put new spark plugs in "didn't need it, but I'm a freak", replaced the front rotors and pads, back pads "did this last weekend", and had the front bumper replaced due to hitting a deer last year at 40mph. All the deer did was slightly crack the bumper, that's it. The BEST thing I did however was buy a Bissell Little Green fabric cleaner machine, and cleaned the seats and carpets. The dirty water looked like hot chocolate, it was that dirty. Didn't "look" dirty, but apparently it was. Now, it looks like new and feels like new inside.

I did a full claybar, 2 coats of polish, 2 coats of wax "all maquires" a few months ago. Even when it's dirty, it still shines. That made a huge difference to the appearance and the maintenence of the paint...HUGE.
 
Last edited:
nc211 said:
When I buy a used car, I buy V8's simply because they barely have to work to get things moving, which translates into much less wear and tear on the engine.
Click to expand...

Sorry, had to comment on this. How did you come to this conclusion? Just because it takes less effort on your part to get the vehicle moving, does NOT mean less wear and tear on your engine.
 
p nut said:
Sorry, had to comment on this. How did you come to this conclusion? Just because it takes less effort on your part to get the vehicle moving, does NOT mean less wear and tear on your engine.
Click to expand...

Huh? Seems to me that you answered your own question "less effort". I have yet to see any engine that normally has to run in the 3k-4k rpms to power a vehicle, out last and operate as smoothly and trouble free an engine that barely has to exceed 2k rpm. Effort = wear and tear.
 
nc211 said:
Huh? Seems to me that you answered your own question "less effort". I have yet to see any engine that normally has to run in the 3k-4k rpms to power a vehicle, out last and operate as smoothly and trouble free an engine that barely has to exceed 2k rpm. Effort = wear and tear.
Click to expand...

I can see the logic behind that. You assume the previous owner didn't abuse the engine though.
 
nc211 said:
Just my .2cent$: Get 4x4, because what you'll find with your first SUV, is the growing desire to hit the trails. In my own personal opinion, buying a 2wd SUV is like non-alcoholic beer...sort of defeats the purpose.

Also, Toyota makes spectacular engines throughout, but their V8's are probably the best in the world. When I buy a used car, I buy V8's simply because they barely have to work to get things moving, which translates into much less wear and tear on the engine. BUT, the V8's do have a timing belt that needs to be changed at 90k, which can be a costly service bill "this is also when the water pump gets replaced". If you're mostly city driving though, sitting at lights, stop and go, the V8 gets thirsty. Open road cruising...it's fantasticly quiet, smooth, and just downright great! Will return around 20-22mpgs in that setting. City though...probably 10-13 realistically.

Mine has 70k on it, bought it in August of 07' with 52k, for $20k. It's an SR5, midnight blue, 17 inch wheels, sunroof, cloth interior, perm 4x4, yada yada. All I've done to it is change the differential fluids to Mobile 1 synthetics, put new spark plugs in "didn't need it, but I'm a freak", replaced the front rotors and pads, back pads "did this last weekend", and had the front bumper replaced due to hitting a deer last year at 40mph. All the deer did was slightly crack the bumper, that's it. The BEST thing I did however was buy a Bissell Little Green fabric cleaner machine, and cleaned the seats and carpets. The dirty water looked like hot chocolate, it was that dirty. Didn't "look" dirty, but apparently it was. Now, it looks like new and feels like new inside.

I did a full claybar, 2 coats of polish, 2 coats of wax "all maquires" a few months ago. Even when it's dirty, it still shines. That made a huge difference to the appearance and the maintenence of the paint...HUGE.
Click to expand...

I completely agree that it is utter nonsense to buy a 4wd especially since my purpose is to go into the snowy areas of Lake Tahoe :D

but I'm curious, how costly is this timing belt change?
 
nc211 said:
Huh? Seems to me that you answered your own question "less effort". I have yet to see any engine that normally has to run in the 3k-4k rpms to power a vehicle, out last and operate as smoothly and trouble free an engine that barely has to exceed 2k rpm. Effort = wear and tear.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I
 
Last edited:
I'm getting less because I now use the "ignore" feature. Less, in this case at least, equals more. Much more.
 
4boer said:
I'm getting less because I now use the "ignore" feature. Less, in this case at least, equals more. Much more.
Click to expand...

is there a way to turn off the emails? like every time someone posts in this thread, I get an email ...
 
bCaHnIaCnKa said:
is there a way to turn off the emails? like every time someone posts in this thread, I get an email ...
Click to expand...

Go to user cp (up top). Edit Options. Email notification by default --> click NO.
 
bCaHnIaCnKa said:
it's already put to no :confused:
Click to expand...

But did you change that after you started this thread? If so, the computer will remember that and will continue to send email notifications until you unsubscribe to it (which you should be able to do under subscriptions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 585 (members: 2, guests: 583)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,089
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top