would you trade your 99 sport for an 02 sr5

[LittleCaesar]

I do like the look of the 02 Sport, but the one thing that kept me out of an 02 is the VSC crap. No thanks. I had a chance to buy an 02 vs 99 back in 07 for roughly $1500 more and 28,000 miles less. I do wish though I would have waited for one with a locker already installed instead of combing the yards until I finally found one.

Bottom line though: both are 4runners, and either way you go, the ride will be a good one.

 

[SCRunner12]

I do like the look of the 02 Sport

Problem is it isn't even a sport, just a plain Jane SR5.

 

[WHORERUNNER]

Dang. That's a tough one for sure! What are your long term plans on owning either 4Runnner? Do you plan on keeping them for a long time to come or do you see a different vehicle in the somewhat near future? If you plan on holding onto it for a while, I say keep yours. Lower miles and you know it inside and out way more that the other one. If you plan on swapping it out at some point, trade it. Might as well have a comfier ride!

I could live with my ride its not too bad, just the 02 was a bit more comfy on my buns meter. I'm gonna call my dads friend and ask how much he'd want for his. It it's too good of a deal to pass up I might just go for it. He's not rough on his cars. He drives it back and forth from the st.cloud to minneapolis which is about 130 miles round trip. My future plans would be small lift, nothing major. How much do you guys think is a steal $ for his truck with no trade on mine. I'd just sell mine on the streets or on t4r.org:hello:

 

[BrianSD_42]

I could live with my ride its not too bad, just the 02 was a bit more comfy on my buns meter.

Why don't you just buy new seats and a new suspension? For $1500 you could have both and you would still have ~ 30,000 less miles.

Is it really a good deal for you? I believe that the KBB value is based almost entirely off of the miles on the engine. There is VERY LITTLE difference between a SR5, Sport or Limited. Sure 4x4 and leather might change the value slightly but the real value weighted toward the total miles. And he actually wants you to PAY HIM -- haha. Also, your truck is black which is highly desired! ... so is mine btw. It is possible that KBB is listing his as higher value because it is slightly newer but in my opinion the difference is minimal. Also the AWD does not mean very much to me. Get yourself a good set of BFG tires and you will be fine with 4WD.


You don't want to trade up to 145,000 miles if you only have 115k.

After 150k the truck will start to break down i guarantee it. The other guy probably knows this as well.


Here is a snipped of my maintenance log from my build thread. I have owned my truck since 75,000 miles. It is a great truck but things will break. I always took great care of my truck but many things are beyond your control. There is no maintenance to prevent a diff-seal from leaking or steering rack from going out - those are all related to your total miles.

Notice that almost all the major maintenance -- $400-$600 events, occur after 120,000 miles. Also, what cost me $600 might cost you $1200, because I go to a mechanic that only charges $75 per hour (but they do great work )

Then a few months ago, at 199,840 miles I suffered a 'cracked head' - I fixed the truck and am back on the road $2,700 later.

Summary: low miles do matter!

Rough estimate on miles, some of it is from my log, the rest is from memory
100,000 miles ------- Warranty replacement of factory coils
110,000 miles ------- Spark plugs, change diff fluids
110,000 miles ------- $350, Timing Belt and water pump [done at Naval Exchange, used non-Toyota parts ]
120,000 miles ------- $650, Re-build rear axel seals and redo rear brakes (ruined by axel seal fluid) at dealer
130,000 miles ------- $350, Valve cover gasket and belts
135,000 miles ------- $280, Replace front brake pads and machine rotors @ Midas
135,000 miles ------- $280, Rear axel seals go again , dealers fault, they agree to redo for parts only
138,000 miles ------- $100, Re-surface rear drums and adjust brakes; this time I go to The Truck Shop in San Diego

I decided to switch mechanics at this point. No more stealership, no more Midas. I started going to a local shop “The Truck Shop” in San Diego. Reason: you can talk to the owner; they know what they are doing; good prices & honest.

139,000 miles ------- New spark plug set
July 2008 ------------ Fuel filter replaced
Aug. 2008 ----------- New exhaust: Flowmaster with tundra resonance silencer
Aug. 2008 ----------- $400, Lower Ball Joints replaced (luckily they started to ruin my tires => detected the failure)
Summer 2008 ------ $350, Steering Bushings, replaced with poly ones
Summer 2008 ------ $550, Install rebuilt steering rack => like new again
Sept. 2008 ---------- $550, Complete front brake rebuild – upgraded front brakes to Brembo slotted & cross drilled rotors with performance pads. Installed via The Truck Shop in SD. I still have factory limited calipers but this setup is awesome, my truck stops so hard the tires will shred.
Sept. 2008 ---------- $150, Tranny Pan drain plug starts to leak; spot weld repair, this is much cheaper than a new pan.

:bat:

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Higher miles do mean a few more repair jobs but alot of it is normal maintenance like brakes,timingbelt&waterpump and even axle seals are very well documented to be replaced around 100k miles but it's the things that can fail as time and miles add up but 3rd gen 4Runners are quite exceptionally reliable when cared for.

I have 166k miles on mine and my list is as follows excluding brakes which usually get replaced a couple times before 100k miles:

101k rear axle seals and rear brakes (my '97 made it to 98k and my mom's '99 Limited just had her's go recently at 91k miles)
110k: New shocks and coils but the old ones still had some life on them and were fine just a little tired ands I wanted new ones. Back then t only cost me about $400 from the dealer for both coils and new shocks.
125k: new rotors
130k-140k: Steering rack bushings,end links and timing belt/waterpump,plugs
150-155k: starter replaced and new coil pack (my mom had an injector and coil pack fail at near 100k)
165k:needed to replace positive battery connector $25

The only major thing I need to do in the near future will be a new radiator so I can avoid the pink milkshake disaster but my truck is one of the most reliable vehicles I've owned in the last 25 years and that's good considering my 4Runner does get used off road and is a daily driver and it's still way cheaper than having a car payment.

 

[cordrayj1]

you know what they say about vehicles with electronic crap all over it. . .

mo money, mo problems.

 

[TheDurk]

you know what they say about vehicles with electronic crap all over it. . .

mo money, mo problems.

When the electronic crap starts to go, THEN it is time to dump the vehicle. BMW's from the 80's started losing VERY expensive modules (ECM, ABS, SRS) about 6-10 years ago. You go crazy trying to find used modules because new each one costs more than the car is worth. Once they start going, they go all over the car.

Our 3G's so far show no sign of this. It's both time and mileage, but I saw this happening to cars with 15+ years and 200k+ miles. I will be watching my rig carefully. Odds are when the first expensive module goes, I dump the truck. I am not fighting that battle again. ('95 BMW 735i and '92 Saab 900S). I hope the Asian electronics prove more durable than the Bosch crap that killed my European cars.

For the OP, I agree with the rest. Keep the '99 with lower miles. I wouldn't trade my '99 for an '01-'02 with the SAME miles, let alone more.

 

[WHORERUNNER]

UPDATE. So it seems that he didnt tell his wife about the even trade. So he can't have mine, his wife want something more comfy and smaller,like a rav4. The upside is he says he'd sell it to mo for $6,000. with me and my dad finishing his basement. Put up drywall. My dads been doing it for 30 years. I used to help him when I could. The value of us doing the labor for the drywall is $1,800. My dad would me charge $0.00 to do it. We could knock that job out in a 1 day or 2 tops. So I'd up with only paying $6,000 for it the labor for the job costs me nothing,just some sweat. Then I'd have to put my mine up for sale, and I'd have to sell kinda quick. I'm moving within 3 weeks. What do you guys think, some extra money in my pocket wont hurt by selling my truck. I did bring up that I'd try and sell my first.then buy his. He's not in a rush to finish his basement. But I'm kinda in a rush as I only have 1 months tops before I move out of state.

 

[badattitude]

Sounds like you have made up your mind to get the 02. But here is another vote for you to keep the 1999.

Really keep the 1999 for all the resons already mentiond.

Plus you don;t want to mess with an auto sale if you're moving.

Good luck

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

You're making a pretty stupid mistake, and I am sorry for when you ultimately realize that in the future. Have fun with more miles, chrome, less money, more problems, all just for some old, worn out springs.

Farewell 99 Highlander, you'll hopefully find another owner who respects you for your rarity and exclusivity as much as you deserve.

:violin:

Truly is a shame. A set of D rated tires, some 881/906's to retain height, some Bilsteins, and a set of new sway bar and steering rack bushings, that 99 will ride like an S Class.

All the while with black exterior, less miles, oak interior, highlander... the amount of failure in this trade is beyond me.

:ak472: Unsubscribed.

 

[BrianSD_42]

You're making a pretty stupid mistake, and I am sorry for when you ultimately realize that in the future. Have fun with more miles, chrome, less money, more problems, all just for some old, worn out springs.

All the while with black exterior, less miles, oak interior, highlander... the amount of failure in this trade is beyond me

x2^99


ladyRunner,

you did not even acknowledge the posts questioning your decision. what is up with that?

Your decision seems pretty immature. I agree with COB and further would like to ask:
* will you be doing the maintenance on this higher mileage rig?
* Did you buy it with your own earned cash?
* will you be paying for maintenance on the older rig?

=>

Because if this was your own money I cannot understand why you think this is a good idea.


:redbrick:

 

[WHORERUNNER]

I still havent made the jump,just still waying out my options. I love my truck, I put in some good lube for it to last me long time. All I'm thinking is right now it sounds like a hassle to sell mine and redo the lube,radiator, and other things to get it up to date on the 02. Even though they are both t4r's side by side they looks like different animals. Mines like a stripper and his is like a librarian. Who doesn't love strippers.

 

[Geolander]

Who doesn't love strippers.

Exactly! Keep the 99.

 

[vthokie]

I think everyone in this thread has said keep the 99. It makes sense to keep yours for the mileage difference alone.

 

[PalmettoRunner]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with everyone and say sell that highlander to me, that's the 4runner!

 

[WHORERUNNER]

Ok, so while at work I was thinking I'm a fool. It took me a while to find a 99 black sport with good miles. And whenever anybody asks me what year is the the best I tell 99's sports. I was kept trying to convince myself to get the 02 and sell mine and get some money back, ONLY because I might need nasal surgery which runs a couple of thousands. And I could really use that money. Anyways I love my yota and plan on keeping it. I also plan on buying the 02 t4r. My buddy works for a dealer and he said I can take it to the dlr auctions and try and sell it there and try and make a buck,hopefully.

 

[Geolander]

I'm not sure that you'd be able to get more than $6000 at a dealer auction. You'd be better off trying to put it up on craigslist or autotrader if you're really set on doing this. You could probably get about $8k that way. The dealer isn't going to be able to sell an '02 for much more than $10k, and even that is probably stretching it, so they're not going to pay very much for it.

If you can get the service records for it, even better. They're worth quite a bit at that mileage. Check it out on carfax or autocheck first as well, just to make sure it doesn't have any strikes against it. They may not make much of a difference to you since you know the owner, but any public buyer is going to take a lot out of their offer if it's got accidents.

 

[WHORERUNNER]

I did pull carfax, clean records. Even has some service history too. He has a bunch of oil change records from toyota dlr. Yea, maybe I could get more out on the public but I dont want to gamble with time needing to sell it. If I could get 200-300 profit from the auction I would be happy with that. If the dealer gets it for under 7k I would think they would sell it for 9k easily.

 

[WHORERUNNER]

I'm not sure that you'd be able to get more than $6000 at a dealer auction. You'd be better off trying to put it up on craigslist or autotrader if you're really set on doing this. You could probably get about $8k that way. The dealer isn't going to be able to sell an '02 for much more than $10k, and even that is probably stretching it, so they're not going to pay very much for it.

If you can get the service records for it, even better. They're worth quite a bit at that mileage. Check it out on carfax or autocheck first as well, just to make sure it doesn't have any strikes against it. They may not make much of a difference to you since you know the owner, but any public buyer is going to take a lot out of their offer if it's got accidents.

Just noticed your sig, I used to have a 91 t4r white like yours. I had a chevy small block V8 in it.

 

[BrianSD_42]

If I could get 200-300 profit from the auction I would be happy with that.

Hi again,

I am sorry to hear about your medical woes. I probably sounded rash, like COB, I was reading your whole thread going WTF?

Here are a few more thoughts:

1) A dealer auction is the worst way to sell a car, you will always get more by looking up the KBB value and selling it to a private seller. The only reason dealers go to those auctions is so they can buy cars for the bottom dollar. They will then flip them for $2000 - $3000 profit. You don't want to do this.

2) Have you considered taxes and registration? That will also hit you hard and erase some of the potential cash gained. If you can afford to buy the 02 and still keep your car you should hold on to it long enough to sell it on CL and make some small profit. However big that profit is, I am sure it will be larger than you would get from a dealer auction.

:artist2: