Sweet! I Scored a Free tow Vehicle (56k Go Away)

[sciff5]

only about a week ago my girlfriend started talking about 4runners. Initially I thought she was crazy. (I always believe in keeping your current car unless its really not serving you well anyway) So anyway I have been thinking about building a small tow truck for my car but when I found out the v6 4Runner can tow 5000lbs something clicked in my mind. My GF wants an SUV that will get her through the winter and maybe just maybe it could tow my car to and from the track. Finally after a couple days of serious research my GF came to me and says she really wants one, so the next day I go to work and ask my boss to see what we could get one for at the auction. He goes "get one at the auction, we are trading one in right now". Wow great timing!

So I go look at the car and its pretty beat up but nothing a little paint work wont fix and I can get some good deals on paintwork. Also the car drove pretty well especially for 76k. I also knew the last guy who owned it was a rich guy in his 40s who used the car as a family car so the drivetrain prob wasnt beat on. g We taded it for 11,200 which we thought was a deal but my boss decided that he wanted to sell it to me for 13,650... nice guy huh?

Forget that beat up crap and the next day we went out and researched cars all over Ma and RI. I found 2 v6s with lower mileage for 13,990 and then I find a 03 V8 with 57K on it for 11,500. I went down there the same day they posted the car. Nada on the car is 18K+

Looked over the car and there is no paintwork anywhere, I do a car fax and the car is clean a one owner vehicle that was leased in New Hampshire. I am like this is just too good to be true, so we get it checked out at a shop. Clean bill of health. So I am like alreight lets see what we can get off on the car even though I felt kinda bad because we really stole the thing. I got him to come down another 500$ for 11k even. . I then get he a loan with half the interest she was paying before.. so even though its a much more valuable car and shes only doing a 48month loan compared to her 60 month loan (and she put 2k down on her last car and nothing on this one) on her last car her payments only went up about 40$ a month.

Car hasent even been cleaned yet. This is the way it came from the dealership. Whoever owned it before kept it pretty clean inside/out










Wild Spirit? WTF are these? They are pretty quiet on the highway and look like they're more agressive than stock




I set up the hitch tonight too and saw that this car has the towing package as well so it has a 7300lb towing capacity and has the plug built in so I can just plug and play when it comes to hooking up the trailer. I'm pumped. Will post more pics when I get it detailed and also post up what it gets for mileage after we go to the cape tomorrow. It runs great the engine/5 sp tranny is smooth and it basically feels like your driving a gx470 which is a sweet ride. The 4runner and Gx470 are pretty much the same car like the maxima and I35. I've taken it over pretty much every curb I can find (slowly of course) and we even brought it down a hill into a field. This is fun having an SUV.

This is almost as good as getting a new car myself except for all the bills

[sciff5]

[irish44j]

1. Those tires are the gayness....

2. No non-functional hood scoop, FTL!

3. Prepare to realize that the factory base system (you have it) sucks balls. There is a very cheap upgrade that is direct-fit: Any radio out of a Scion. They're more powerful and sound better (made by Pioneer), and have iPod control. You can pick them up on ebay practically brand-new for under $100 and they're plug and play. Hit me up if you want more details, there are several modeals and I can link you to good threads on T4R.org on the subject..... Mine just got here today and it sounds 10x better than the POS stock deck...

4. Congrats. Me=Jealous at the V8. btw, take a look at the front brake calipers. I think you'll like what you see.....

[sciff5]

Originally Posted by irish44j

1. Those tires are the gayness....

2. No non-functional hood scoop, FTL!

3. Prepare to realize that the factory base system (you have it) sucks balls. There is a very cheap upgrade that is direct-fit: Any radio out of a Scion. They're more powerful and sound better (made by Pioneer), and have iPod control. You can pick them up on ebay practically brand-new for under $100 and they're plug and play. Hit me up if you want more details, there are several modeals and I can link you to good threads on T4R.org on the subject..... Mine just got here today and it sounds 10x better than the POS stock deck...

4. Congrats. Me=Jealous at the V8. btw, take a look at the front brake calipers. I think you'll like what you see.....

The tires I know about.. although I'll tell yah the last car we drove had the stock tires on and I could induce squeel easily either braking or turning sharply. These things seem to stick, are quiet and prob have good tread life. If they go through snow half decent I'de say they arent bad at all.

The hood scoop I'de rather go without.. even though the GF wanted a sport. I think this looks classier. She has enough difficulty seeing over the dash and the seat is literally as high as it will go.

Send on over a link. For that money I'de do the swap too but I'm pretty used to toyota sound systems, it was the same thing on my old camry.


I plan on doing the rotors anyway so I'll get a chance to look at them. 4 piston?

After driving it again I think this car actually has the optional sport suspension that reduces body roll and dive when braking (forget the name). We took it on a curvy backroad and the damn thing handles as well as my GFs stock maxima.

[irish44j]

Originally Posted by sciff5

The tires I know about.. although I'll tell yah the last car we drove had the stock tires on and I could induce squeel easily either braking or turning sharply. These things seem to stick, are quiet and prob have good tread life. If they go through snow half decent I'de say they arent bad at all.

fair enough..

Originally Posted by sciff5

The hood scoop I'de rather go without.. even though the GF wanted a sport. I think this looks classier. She has enough difficulty seeing over the dash and the seat is literally as high as it will go.

lol, I was being sarcastic...though I do like the look of the scoop, it's kind of silly to have it if it's non-functional. Maybe I'll make it functional

Originally Posted by sciff5

Send on over a link. For that money I'de do the swap too but I'm pretty used to toyota sound systems, it was the same thing on my old camry.

here's one, let me know if you need more info...I've done alot of research on the topic

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showth...threadid=36182

Originally Posted by sciff5

I plan on doing the rotors anyway so I'll get a chance to look at them. 4 piston?

Somehow toyota can put baller brakes on an SUV, but Nissan puts crap brakes on it's top-level "luxury sports sedan"

Originally Posted by sciff5

After driving it again I think this car actually has the optional sport suspension that reduces body roll and dive when braking (forget the name). We took it on a curvy backroad and the damn thing handles as well as my GFs stock maxima.

It has XREAS? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure XREAS is only available on the SportEdition (standard) and the Limited (optional), as well as the niche models like the UrbanRunner.....When researching I never saw anything about XREAS being available on the SR5.

I could be mistaken though....but yes, the 4Runner handles great and stops far better than my 5th gen did stock...even thouh the 4R is much heavier..

[jman7777]

the new bandwagon...


nice rig though, hope it serves you... i mean the gf well.

[DaveVQ]

nice score.

Rumor has it, Ford is soon to be taken over by Toyota, just what I am hearing from some of the ford salespeople I know. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[rteenie22]

nice truck but nada means nothing right now on those things and probably wont for a while and if it does you wont like it...

[Cliff Clavin]

Looks great and you got a really good deal.

I was very happy with the engine/performance when I had my Tundra (same 4.7L V8).

However, the gas mileage wasn't very good for me. I don't think I ever did better than upper teens with it. I did use it to haul a lot of crap.

I was pleased with the tow capacity, especially compared to anything with a V6. I took it camping a lot up in the mountains. Everything you see in the picture -- 17 foot trailer (about 3000 lbs full of stuff) plus firewood, kids' stuff and everything in the bed for a week of camping.

[00MaxSE]

Nice find. Now it just needs an intake.

[sciff5]

Originally Posted by 00MaxSE

Nice find. Now it just needs an intake.

I'l make sure to put a snorkel on it

After we cleaned it/ (I) waxed it. She vacuumed the interior and cleaned all the scuffs off the interior, and then we proceeded to wash the pounds of dirt out of the floor mats and scrub them with several carpet treatements.

After that work she wont even let me bring it in the sand or in the construction zones to rip up the dirt. The 2 times shes gotten it off road she nearly smacked something very big/hard both times.

[albundy]

Originally Posted by Cliff Clavin

Looks great and you got a really good deal.

I was very happy with the engine/performance when I had my Tundra (same 4.7L V8).

However, the gas mileage wasn't very good for me. I don't think I ever did better than upper teens with it. I did use it to haul a lot of crap.

I was pleased with the tow capacity, especially compared to anything with a V6. I took it camping a lot up in the mountains. Everything you see in the picture -- 17 foot trailer (about 3000 lbs full of stuff) plus firewood, kids' stuff and everything in the bed for a week of camping.

dam those lil john deeres can pull some weight

[FunLovinMaxima]

Originally Posted by sciff5

Nice find!

[secondtonone317]

congrats.....I had a 93 4 runner and that thing was fun in the snow, it lasted a long time even with the messed up tranny in mine, it eventually dies when pops drove it without oil cause of a leak.

[Tarantula]

cars looks clean! nice find

[heems27]

I just joined the 4Runner bandwagon. I picked up a 2007 V6 SR5 4X4 with 55k miles for $15200 on the road including a bumper to bumper warranty until 100K miles. I'll post some pics as soon as I get a chance.

[Froggmann]

Originally Posted by heems27

I just joined the 4Runner bandwagon.

Yea they are a VERY tempting vehicle. Test drove one when I was thinking of trading in the Max. Almost made me go through with it even though I was specifically looking for a car based wagon. Smooth ride, great power and has a good look to it.


Yes I stuck with the Max, the prospect of not having payments soon is very appetizing.

[BluFlame]

Op : 4rner and gx470 are not identical, gx is based on landcruiser, only toyota suv worth buying.

[sciff5]

Originally Posted by BluFlame

Op : 4rner and gx470 are not identical, gx is based on landcruiser, only toyota suv worth buying.

Keep guessing.. The Gx470 is the same chassis as the 4runner even though they dont share any body panels (just like the I35 and maxima) and the lx470 is the same as the landcruiser (actually an older platform)

[Mr. Blue Sky]

4runners are great vehicles. My parents have owned 4 runners since 1996 and would switch it out when the new body styles came out. Our most recent 4runner is a 2006 4.0L V6 Automatic , Black with tan interior, limited edition, with aftermarket nav installed. I love the Auto LSD button and the XREAS suspension, which makes it feel less like an SUV and more like a car(i have driven it my share of times). ours isn't too bad on gas if driven conservatively(70mph and no jackrabbit acceleration), we averaged 24mpg on our round trip from L.A to Pismo beach(with a lot of traffic coming back to L.A which hurt our MPG). hell it gets almost the same gas mileage as my maxima at the same speeds(probably due to the 4runners 5 speed Auto with good gearing vs. my 4speed auto)

[sciff5]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky

4runners are great vehicles. My parents have owned 4 runners since 1996 and would switch it out when the new body styles came out. Our most recent 4runner is a 2006 4.0L V6 Automatic , Black with tan interior, limited edition, with aftermarket nav installed. I love the Auto LSD button and the XREAS suspension, which makes it feel less like an SUV and more like a car(i have driven it my share of times). ours isn't too bad on gas if driven conservatively(70mph and no jackrabbit acceleration), we averaged 24mpg on our round trip from L.A to Pismo beach(with a lot of traffic coming back to L.A which hurt our MPG). hell it gets almost the same gas mileage as my maxima at the same speeds(probably due to the 4runners 5 speed Auto with good gearing vs. my 4speed auto)

At 24 mpg I wouldent have to think twice about gas.. thats better than my 5.5 gen. I know her car doesnt have the XREAS because it was only an option on the V8 limiteds. That being said it seems to handle a lot better than the one we drove on stock tires. So the only thing I can think is the tires we have on there are pretty good. I found out they are manfuactured by Goodyear. She got the tires balanced and the oil changed and found out that we need to do the brakes, so I'll prob be doing new rotors pads up front and new pads in the back if needed.

Anyone got any recommendations on pads. She wants quiet and she obviously doesnt want them to fade either.. but I know she'll be pissed if theres any squeel. I am gonna run down to the toyota dealership and see what they want for OEM pads.


Btw if you want parts at a discount for your Nissan/ toyota, ect just call up a local Nissan/toyota dealership say your "_____" in sales from "_____" dealership (name a local dealership that is not the same brand as the car your trying to get parts for). Say you brought the car in on trade and it needs ______ parts. Usuaully they'll believe that your from another dealership and give you a discount on parts (most oem parts theres like a 30-40% mark up on) our discount is 10% over cost. They dont ask for verification or anything like that. Usually when you go down there they have you pay for it just like a regular customer and if you did work at a dealership you would bring the reciept to the dealership and they'de cut you a check.

Just thought I'de throw that out there in case you guys ever want OEM parts for whatever car. Also "International Auto Parts" is where most dealerships buy their OEM parts if they dont get them from other dealers.. If you find an International Auto parts locally you can just walk in or call them up and they will help you like an autozone only they are cheaper and your getting OEM quality parts, also they can usually get any part within 24 hours.