Used 4th Gen, a hot market...

[4rcybr]

So these past few weeks I saw a few 4G 4R V6 Limited/Sports I was interested in purchasing.

2 of them sold before I even got a chance to test drive it.

Another one I test drove has been on the market for about a month. I found rust on the tow hitch, screws on the rear hatch, rear axle, and certain metal rings in the engine bay, so I passed.

A few days ago (1st day of market) the vehicle was in negotiation while I went on a test drive.

Frustrating to say the least....

Any main differences between the 4G and early 5G? I'm thinking I may have to expand my search a few years and budget. Wife and good friend of mine are telling me to get new, but I want to keep my expense down. I'm not fond of the 2013+ restyle, but ok with 2010-2012.

Having just recently purchased my own 4th gen, yes, it is a fairly hot market for 4th gens in good condition. I messaged several people in 12-24 hours after their vehicle was posted, only to be told it was already sold.

Ultimately, I messaged the seller of the one I got within 2 hours of their posting it for sale. After a few PMs I sent them a deposit via paypal, sight unseen, no inspection done, etc. I did get it inspected later, and eventually flew out to drive it ~1500 miles home.

I had a similar experience selling my civic recently (last week). It was in good mechanical shape, poor cosmetically though (all the scratches from when I was commuting and dealing with parking garages and such regularly). I had a deposit in hand 2 hours after posting it online.

In other words, if you want to snag a deal, you either need to be lucky-or you need to be proactive. All the forums where 4runners are regularly listed can be subscribed to so you get alerts whenever a new for sale thread pops up. You can set up alerts from ebay, craigslist, or whatever local variants you like. If you can get to the seller within the first few hours you should be good.

 

[nick_rabbo]

Don't forget the car auctions. Many nowadays allow the public (non dealers) to browse their inventories online. Then if it's nearby, you can go check it out. That's what I did.

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[docboy]

Hey man, I'm just gonna put this out there if you want. I live in the Dallas Fort Worth area and they might be cheaper here. If you find something, I wouldn't mind going to check it out on your behalf before you decide if it's worth making the trip for it. I wanted a galactic gray, black cloth interior v8 4th gen with low miles and sure enough found exactly that and couldn't be happier. And now I'm ordering a frappe from McDonald's...
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Thanks for the offer, enjoy that frappe!

I'm in Woodinville so I feel your pain. I spent 9 months looking, including as far north as the border, as far east as spokane, and as far south as salem. All the local dealers seemed to just have east coast, mid west, and north east auction 4Runners that they had painted over to hide rust. Eventually I stopped even looking at them and only kept my eyes open at proper Toyota dealerships and private sellers.

I got lucky in that my father works at a dealership and sees cars traded in all the time so we got first crack at it before it had even finished being traded in. There were 2 offers and an ask to test drive my 4Runner while it was still on the lot and I was signing the final paperwork to walk with it...that was the 2nd day (first official day after getting it's trade in service to sell it again) it was on the lot...

Before that I had actually scheduled to go look at one in Portland and another in Spokane in the coming days.

Be patient, don't settle (because you can keep the 4Runner for many years/miles), and be ready to pull the trigger given the opportunity. I would have lost mine if my auto loan wasn't pre-auth'd and all set and ready to go (obviously if you have cash you don't have to worry about it, just be ready to slap that card down, write that check, or make it rain in the vehicle).

Yeah, I learned my lesson. I have the title of my car ready for trade in, and check ready on me... and checking CL and Carguru everyday... let me know if you hear of a sub 100k 2007 V6 Limited or Sports Edition 4R coming in

Located on the east coast and pricey, but available:

2005 Toyota 4Runner V8, low miles, like NEW

Full disclosure: I am the seller. :wave:

Thanks for letting me know, but I have a car I want to trade in, and I'm looking for V6 2007+MY. Picky I am But 3,000 miles! This thing should be in a museum!

 

[5vzT4R]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but try cargurus.com
Thats where I located mine at. Different listings then autotrader.

 

[luke87gt]

Don't forget the car auctions. Many nowadays allow the public (non dealers) to browse their inventories online. Then if it's nearby, you can go check it out. That's what I did.

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Auctions that are open to the public and don't require a dealer lic are generally a joke.

 

[neoguri]

thinking about selling mine. I will move to Seattle end of year. Here is a post I made for feelers: 2006 Limited Toyota 4Runner 4.7L V8 AWD 4WD Automatic

In no rush or real need to sell. Thinking of downsizing.

 

[matt922]

4runners are good, simple, affordable, useful vehicles and gas is cheap.

and the v8s will never be back in a t4r.

 

[V8inVA]

I think that's a reasonable price given the condition and ridiculously low miles, GLWS! And I have to ask just out of curiosity...what's the story behind the low miles?

-Graham

Thanks gbouton!

It's a toy. I had always wanted one. At first, I drove it on weekends for fun. Then I just didn't have enough time to take it out as often as I would like. I've kept it thinking it would become my daily driver some day but I have other vehicles that would get drafted for DD service first. I'm somewhat of a car hoarder!

 

[Alco14]

I guest I got lucky ... I've woke up one morning and decided to get a 4runner instead of a chevy avalanche, looked them up and found my truck, called the guy, we agreed on the time to meet, called him back before leaving he answered: there is a guy offering me 500$ more just for bumping me .... the seller was kind enough to keep it as we agreed earlier! anyhow I wish you the best of luck getting what you want ... don't settle for anything less!!!

 

[Rodtheviking]

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/5806296924.html

2008 at Beaverton Toyota.. little steep though.

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/5773730288.html

2007 in Portland

 

[ATOWN4R]

Searched for months, even more picky I wanted third row...after months I found 3 in a 150 mile radius that were garbage...check multiple times per day and finally found one about 100 miles away.... 1 owner, old couple, great condition...no room to bargain of course and finished everything that day after work...


I think you just have to be lucky with these...so, good luck

 

[docboy]

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/5806296924.html

2008 at Beaverton Toyota.. little steep though.

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/5773730288.html

2007 in Portland

Good find, thanks!

The 07 4R would have been perfect, but it's sold. Not surprised...

I just placed a call to Beaverton Toyota about the 08. I suspect it's gone too b/c it's not on their website. Sales guy will be calling me back nonetheless.

Just found out a local V8 Sport Edition just came on the market. Not sure if I want a V8 though, since I don't want to deal with the timing chain.

 

[03v8raleigh]

Good find, thanks!

The 07 4R would have been perfect, but it's sold. Not surprised...

I just placed a call to Beaverton Toyota about the 08. I suspect it's gone too b/c it's not on their website. Sales guy will be calling me back nonetheless.

Just found out a local V8 Sport Edition just came on the market. Not sure if I want a V8 though, since I don't want to deal with the timing chain.

V8 has the timing belt (90k interval). V6 chain shouldn't have issues.

 

[ArrArr]

let me know if you hear of a sub 100k 2007 V6 Limited or Sports Edition 4R coming in

Why sub 100k? Just curious.

I've got 226k on my '06 V6 and I wouldn't hesitate to get in and drive cross-country in it (in fact, that's what I do with it! ).
While I could understand you wanting it as low as possible, I don't see how, say, 123k is any worse than 99k?

 

[docboy]

V8 has the timing belt (90k interval). V6 chain shouldn't have issues.

My bad, I meant to say the V8's timing belt. V6's timing chain is a selling point to me wrt maintenance, or lack there of.

Why sub 100k? Just curious.

I've got 226k on my '06 V6 and I wouldn't hesitate to get in and drive cross-country in it (in fact, that's what I do with it! ).
While I could understand you wanting it as low as possible, I don't see how, say, 123k is any worse than 99k?

Guess it's a psychological factor; the car I want to trade in has 65k miles and I want the 4R to be somewhat near that mark.

 

[ofcbarbrady]

Miss my '03 Sport V8 everyday, but just picked up an immaculate '04 Sport V6 with 96K ......thank god for family discounts...let the mods begin !!

 

[wadle5]

Heck of a deal

If everything checks out this looks like a steal

2006 Toyota 4Runner

 

[docboy]

If everything checks out this looks like a steal

2006 Toyota 4Runner

Agreed, that looks like a very good buy, though I'm looking for a V6. Too bad I can't check it out nonetheless

On flip side, during the weekend I drove 200mi one way to check out a low mileage 4R Sport. Everything checked out and I proceeded with negotiations. I accepted my trade in value, but the dealership just wouldn't budge on the 4R's price. I estimate it was ~$2000 over priced based on current market/cargurus and I was willing to meet halfway between my initial offer and what they were proposing. I walked away, and they still wouldn't budge.

I called the next day, still no change. So I drove back tired, thinking I shouldn't have to over pay. Now today I'm having 2nd thoughts, but the idea of having to overpay for a used vehicle doesn't jive with me. Even my wife was saying to just a get a new 4R (though I'm partial to the 4G and I'm trying to stay within a budget).

Any ideas/thoughts?

 

[nick_rabbo]

Agreed, that looks like a very good buy, though I'm looking for a V6. Too bad I can't check it out nonetheless

On flip side, during the weekend I drove 200mi one way to check out a low mileage 4R Sport. Everything checked out and I proceeded with negotiations. I accepted my trade in value, but the dealership just wouldn't budge on the 4R's price. I estimate it was ~$2000 over priced based on current market/cargurus and I was willing to meet halfway between my initial offer and what they were proposing. I walked away, and they still wouldn't budge.

I called the next day, still no change. So I drove back tired, thinking I shouldn't have to over pay. Now today I'm having 2nd thoughts, but the idea of having to overpay for a used vehicle doesn't jive with me. Even my wife was saying to just a get a new 4R (though I'm partial to the 4G and I'm trying to stay within a budget).

Any ideas/thoughts?

I wouldn't budge. Something better will turn up for you. And in any case, they have your info on file so they will reach out to you if they have no luck and they want to negotiate. Then you will be in a better position to bring the price down even more than what they could have gotten from you now. It just recently happened with a friend of mine on a Lexus GS and he ended up paying about $10,000 less just because they wanted to get rid of it off of their lot.

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[docboy]

I wouldn't budge. Something better will turn up for you. And in any case, they have your info on file so they will reach out to you if they have no luck and they want to negotiate. Then you will be in a better position to bring the price down even more than what they could have gotten from you now. It just recently happened with a friend of mine on a Lexus GS and he ended up paying about $10,000 less just because they wanted to get rid of it off of their lot.

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Thanks for the advice. Do you know how long the Lexus GS was on the lot? Part of me thinks this dealership knows that used 4R sell well here in my area and go quick. This car has been on the lot for only a few days, perhaps that's why they are stubborn with the price. Ugh.