Brian.
Member
Just drove a '99 Limited home yesterday and I'm a bit frustrated, just going to throw myself a little pity party here, sorry. First thing that comes to mind is holy hell, does these seats suck ass. I'm saying that after 17 years a t100 owner, these t4r seats are AWFUL. I don't know if the ONE owner has a whale of a wife (I'm 230, was 290 for awhile and my T seats were never this bad), but it was only about 20 minutes before I was in serious pain. Fooled by the recovered seats (and now, looking closer, that was done poorly).
I was also completely shocked by how TINY this thing is. I guess it's closer to the Tacoma in size than the T100. With the sunroof, that means my head is smashed solid against the headliner unless I get the "gansta lean" going on with full seat recline (which makes the pain from the seat that much worse). Were it not for my wife wanting this thing, I'd be tempted to just take the several thousand dollar hit and get this thing out of my life. I'm never going to be able to be in it for more than 10~15 minutes at a time as it sits (I'm an honest 6'4").
The rest is *****ing about prior owners, everyone goes through this. But who freaking doesn't replace lost keys? Wait, scratch that, who loses keys in the first place? I'm in my 5th decade and I'm struggling to remember even ONE instance where I "lost" a key. Had one, exactly one, stolen when it was in a jacket that was stolen. That T100, while just basic keys with an aftermarket alarm, I had 6 (six) keys and 3 remotes (one remote looked worse for wear). Do people just think "Hrm, I've lost 2 keys already, guess I'll just try real hard not to lose this last one"... the One key I have, was also chewed nearly to pieces by a dog. My brain simply can not fathom this scenario, no matter how I twist or turn it I'm always left lost.
To a lesser extent I feel the same way about the bent radio antenna (so it's non-functional), the missing pieces for the seat controls (plastic bits that fit on the electric controls), and non-functioning drivers lumbar control. I suspect the dash was replaced at some point as it looks Clearly different than the rest (airbag cover, glovebox, etc..) in terms of color... which I sort of understand since I'm going to guess the original was chewed up by a dog.
So, why did I buy the damn thing? One owner, low(ish) miles, I've found zero rust thus-far, current on all maintenance (20k on TB, water pump, tensioner, etc ~ 300 miles on new brakes, tires with good life, original transmission, etc...) and it's Easily the best example I've found in the past 3~4 months of looking. It's so far ahead of the rest that I didn't even get in/drive the others I've seen. Those were nearly universally walking up and saying "Yeah, sorry to waste both of our time but that's no where near the condition I'm looking to buy". Mostly I'm just disgusted that I sold my T100, which was in VASTLY better condition, for about the same as I bought this 4runner for. Don't ask me why I sold, I can't answer (seemed right at the time, found out I *HATE* new vehicles worse than I'm annoyed by this buy). There's nothing that can't be fixed... well, maybe the very tight interior space for my normal human size.
I know I'm picky, most people would probably be stoked to find a 4runner in the condition I found (oh, it stinks like wet dog too... 2 boxes of baking soda spread on the carpets currently). I brought this on myself, which is the worst part and where most of my anger stems from... I feel dumb for having bought this truck.
As a side note, WTF.... this thing can't even do 400 highway miles to a tank? I thought that was pretty normal for ALL vehicles to do, but it's seeming as thought the 320 till the light (and yes, I saw that the fuel gauge is inaccurate while waiting at the tag&title office) is actually on the better side of normal. This thing needs the 25 gallon tank from the T100.
:tape: (this is my intro post, I'm a picky bunghole)
I was also completely shocked by how TINY this thing is. I guess it's closer to the Tacoma in size than the T100. With the sunroof, that means my head is smashed solid against the headliner unless I get the "gansta lean" going on with full seat recline (which makes the pain from the seat that much worse). Were it not for my wife wanting this thing, I'd be tempted to just take the several thousand dollar hit and get this thing out of my life. I'm never going to be able to be in it for more than 10~15 minutes at a time as it sits (I'm an honest 6'4").
The rest is *****ing about prior owners, everyone goes through this. But who freaking doesn't replace lost keys? Wait, scratch that, who loses keys in the first place? I'm in my 5th decade and I'm struggling to remember even ONE instance where I "lost" a key. Had one, exactly one, stolen when it was in a jacket that was stolen. That T100, while just basic keys with an aftermarket alarm, I had 6 (six) keys and 3 remotes (one remote looked worse for wear). Do people just think "Hrm, I've lost 2 keys already, guess I'll just try real hard not to lose this last one"... the One key I have, was also chewed nearly to pieces by a dog. My brain simply can not fathom this scenario, no matter how I twist or turn it I'm always left lost.
To a lesser extent I feel the same way about the bent radio antenna (so it's non-functional), the missing pieces for the seat controls (plastic bits that fit on the electric controls), and non-functioning drivers lumbar control. I suspect the dash was replaced at some point as it looks Clearly different than the rest (airbag cover, glovebox, etc..) in terms of color... which I sort of understand since I'm going to guess the original was chewed up by a dog.
So, why did I buy the damn thing? One owner, low(ish) miles, I've found zero rust thus-far, current on all maintenance (20k on TB, water pump, tensioner, etc ~ 300 miles on new brakes, tires with good life, original transmission, etc...) and it's Easily the best example I've found in the past 3~4 months of looking. It's so far ahead of the rest that I didn't even get in/drive the others I've seen. Those were nearly universally walking up and saying "Yeah, sorry to waste both of our time but that's no where near the condition I'm looking to buy". Mostly I'm just disgusted that I sold my T100, which was in VASTLY better condition, for about the same as I bought this 4runner for. Don't ask me why I sold, I can't answer (seemed right at the time, found out I *HATE* new vehicles worse than I'm annoyed by this buy). There's nothing that can't be fixed... well, maybe the very tight interior space for my normal human size.
I know I'm picky, most people would probably be stoked to find a 4runner in the condition I found (oh, it stinks like wet dog too... 2 boxes of baking soda spread on the carpets currently). I brought this on myself, which is the worst part and where most of my anger stems from... I feel dumb for having bought this truck.
As a side note, WTF.... this thing can't even do 400 highway miles to a tank? I thought that was pretty normal for ALL vehicles to do, but it's seeming as thought the 320 till the light (and yes, I saw that the fuel gauge is inaccurate while waiting at the tag&title office) is actually on the better side of normal. This thing needs the 25 gallon tank from the T100.
:tape: (this is my intro post, I'm a picky bunghole)
. Parallel parking? Done.
