Engineer
New member
I didn't read through the entire thread and seems you have gotten some good advice. My thoughts are below
*If you are spending near 40k on something it better be just the way you want it.
*KDSS, don’t read about it, drive it OR make up your mind realizing you paid for something without driving it. Long term maintenance on it shouldn’t be much of a concern (the system won’t ever leave you stranded on the side of the road). I have it and like it, would I drive a 4runner without it………. why yes I would.
*Not sure what direction you are heading but if you end up with a TE or TEP and decide to get a lift, general guidance, if you do not feel capable enough to install the lift then you are not going to need “Better- Race” shocks (Radflo, Icon, King, Fox) due to the increased maintenance and lack of likely use near the top end of their ability ( if you are actually over heating a stock shock then you should upgrade, if you are overheating a race shock you are going to break something else). While my Radflos have not given me any issues in 24k miles and I did the install myself If I was to do it again I would likely go with Bilsteins or OME for simplicity sake/$$$ sake.
*Don’t worry about the seats, if they look bad at 200k you can decide to have them redone, or you can look at them and think man think of all the fun and memories that were made in those seats. After 200k miles and 10+years any vehicle that is used for outdoor recreation is going to have some scratches, dents etc.
*Dealerships have to make money , know what a reasonable price is, offer it and if they don’t bite let them know it’s your final offer and if they still don’t budge walk away. If you repeat this process you will find out quickly if you are being reasonable with your price. ( for reference I ordered my 2014 TEP w/ KDSS for $38,500-38,600 without sliding tray but did have carpet mats/roof rails/cross bars) that matches up very close with @ 2ndRun below. There was Tax and Title on top of that but no dealer fee that I recall.
*If a dealer is not giving you want you need and you are being reasonable, let them know one final time, outlying what you want and if they are not able to provide it to provide an explanation (detailed) as to why not. If you are not satisfied , move on. Life is too short to be tugged around by other people when they are supposed to be providing a service. The 1st dealership I tried I think I offered low 40’s give or take out the door and they came back right away with “we can do that”…….get to the finance person and they were assuming I meant sales price……….TTL extra. Had them rerun the numbers and they came back with a offer that was just a bit higher but said I had to sign that day…..I walked. Ended up ordering through a local dealer (was almost same price) me but I got a brand new 4runner without 2xx miles on it AND I got to sleep on the decision, as it was my 1st new car I was extremely hesitant to sign on the dotted line even though the car was well within my means, hard for me to spend that kind of money……….1.5 years late and no regrets at all.
*In general car salesmen are not required to be extremely knowledgeable because the average consumer is not an enthusiast. Is a salesmen’s that doesn’t know all the small differences between the 5th gen 4runner models and year to year changes a bad salesmen? I think so , however based on what I have seen when shopping for cars they are still able to sell plenty of cars without being experts on their products (sign me up?). When recently shopping for cars for the wife I narrowed it down to a field of 6, spent a couple hours on each doing research and all but 1 of the salesmen didn’t have anywhere near the knowledge of the cars that I did..........it’s a good gig if you know people because apparently you don’t have to know cars.
*If you are spending near 40k on something it better be just the way you want it.
*KDSS, don’t read about it, drive it OR make up your mind realizing you paid for something without driving it. Long term maintenance on it shouldn’t be much of a concern (the system won’t ever leave you stranded on the side of the road). I have it and like it, would I drive a 4runner without it………. why yes I would.
*Not sure what direction you are heading but if you end up with a TE or TEP and decide to get a lift, general guidance, if you do not feel capable enough to install the lift then you are not going to need “Better- Race” shocks (Radflo, Icon, King, Fox) due to the increased maintenance and lack of likely use near the top end of their ability ( if you are actually over heating a stock shock then you should upgrade, if you are overheating a race shock you are going to break something else). While my Radflos have not given me any issues in 24k miles and I did the install myself If I was to do it again I would likely go with Bilsteins or OME for simplicity sake/$$$ sake.
*Don’t worry about the seats, if they look bad at 200k you can decide to have them redone, or you can look at them and think man think of all the fun and memories that were made in those seats. After 200k miles and 10+years any vehicle that is used for outdoor recreation is going to have some scratches, dents etc.
*Dealerships have to make money , know what a reasonable price is, offer it and if they don’t bite let them know it’s your final offer and if they still don’t budge walk away. If you repeat this process you will find out quickly if you are being reasonable with your price. ( for reference I ordered my 2014 TEP w/ KDSS for $38,500-38,600 without sliding tray but did have carpet mats/roof rails/cross bars) that matches up very close with @ 2ndRun below. There was Tax and Title on top of that but no dealer fee that I recall.
*If a dealer is not giving you want you need and you are being reasonable, let them know one final time, outlying what you want and if they are not able to provide it to provide an explanation (detailed) as to why not. If you are not satisfied , move on. Life is too short to be tugged around by other people when they are supposed to be providing a service. The 1st dealership I tried I think I offered low 40’s give or take out the door and they came back right away with “we can do that”…….get to the finance person and they were assuming I meant sales price……….TTL extra. Had them rerun the numbers and they came back with a offer that was just a bit higher but said I had to sign that day…..I walked. Ended up ordering through a local dealer (was almost same price) me but I got a brand new 4runner without 2xx miles on it AND I got to sleep on the decision, as it was my 1st new car I was extremely hesitant to sign on the dotted line even though the car was well within my means, hard for me to spend that kind of money……….1.5 years late and no regrets at all.
*In general car salesmen are not required to be extremely knowledgeable because the average consumer is not an enthusiast. Is a salesmen’s that doesn’t know all the small differences between the 5th gen 4runner models and year to year changes a bad salesmen? I think so , however based on what I have seen when shopping for cars they are still able to sell plenty of cars without being experts on their products (sign me up?). When recently shopping for cars for the wife I narrowed it down to a field of 6, spent a couple hours on each doing research and all but 1 of the salesmen didn’t have anywhere near the knowledge of the cars that I did..........it’s a good gig if you know people because apparently you don’t have to know cars.
