Jeff_M

Well the bad news is that I finally had to sell my baby. Anyone who knows me knows that I kept my 4runner in immaculate condition. Never took her through the automatic car wash, oil changes done religiously with Mobile 1, all scheduled service conducted at Toyota dealership etc. I clayed, polished, and waxed twice a year, and hung onto all of my service records. It all paid off! I was able to sell my 98' with 110,000 miles on it last month for $10,500. Considering I bought it for $16000 in Spring 03', I was able to enjoy close to 5 years of 4runner ownership for a mere $5000 (not counting regular maintenance... and I never had to pay for a repair during the 100k miles I put on it). You might pay a little more up front for these vehicles, but keep em' in good shape and the residuals on 4runners is amazing.

MTL_4runner

Not the least bit surprised.

neoworm0

A toyota 4runner is not a good "investment".

Jeff_M

Unless a car is very rare, or a classic, it WILL depreciate. Obviously I referring to depreciation in relation to other vehicles.

CJM

What sucks worse is my T100 with 200k miles is still worth about 4 grand, worth even more b/c of the new engine and parts though..

Either way toyotas dont depreciate that much, sold my 93 camry in great shape with some minor problems and 150k for 2500 bucks..considering thats only about 500 below bluebook I was surprised.

unitofstuff

Wait, the PO only put 10,000 miles on it in 5-6 years?

elnino

thats awesome man....

i dont really know how much a jeep cherokee was in 1999...but i got mine last year for 4000$...and i think with all the upgrades it has...i can ask..may be 5000$...lol...jeep sucks

Nate08

I here alot of people running them to 250K plus!! I'm at 133K and running strong as ever!

nate

89macrunner

my 89 4runner was purchased for $1300 with 104k miles
Put about $2000 into it in body work and new clutch and brakes

sold it for $3500 with 129k miles

yes..my dad drove the truck for 2 years, than I drove it for 2 years. we put 23k miles on it and made it look 100x better than we we bought it. we made money on that truck. It still boggles my mind how that happened.


i love toyotas

Wife's 4runner

I paid high bluebook for a 2nd owner, local trade. People thought I was crazy buying a 7 year old vehicle for more than 10k. But then again, it was in great shape and had an e-locker....heh heh...

James Dean

Most people don't buy Toyota's for the return. They buy them for the quality and reliability. That's where they are a good investment.

I paid $5000 for my 93 4Runner 7 months ago. But it has a new short block from Toyota with only 50k on it, so I figure it's just getting broke in.

surf4runner

vehicles in genral are not good "investments"
toyotas hold their value very well.

i didnt buy mine as an investment, but as something i could drive reliably for a l o n g time.
so far 60K in 3 years-nothing other than routine maint.
today id loose about $4K(KBB/trade-in) below what i paid in '04

Jeff_M

Yup. I bought my 98' in Spring of 03' with just under 12,000 miles on it. The previous owner had a prosthetic left leg which was evident when looking at the severely dinged-up plastic trim along the floor on the driver's side. A quick trip to the junkyard for a new molding and it looked good as new. He was an elderly gentleman that owned the truck for 2 years before going into a retirement home. The truck basically sat until I bought it (owner's son would drive it occasionally for upkeep). The color (anthracite) was definitely a drawback at the time, but I just couldn't pass up on the deal. In the end, the color was one of my favorite attributes.

roundhouse

Our 96 has 244K, only thing I had to wrench on was to replace the starter at like 190K.

Firecaptain

So what takes the 98's place?

Jeff_M

Sorry for my belated reply, but obviously I haven't frequented Yotatech as often since the sale. I bought a 2005 Acura TSX in September which was promptly rear-ended and totalled!!! I ended up buying a 2005 Acura TL. Nighthawk Black Pearl, black interior, navigation, 6-speed manual. The Navi/MT combination was tough to find. As much as I miss the 4runner, this car has been sweet enough to help ease the transition!

rdlsz24

Sounds like a sweet ride. I really like the new stuff Acura is coming out with.

Rob

BIC performance

Yup you gotta love how Toyotas hold thier value. I had a 92 v6 p/u, I bought it for $7000 drove it for 4 years and sold it for $7700 back in November !!!!, I did put chevies springs in the rear and 33's. The truck had 320,000 kms on it too !!!

cackalak han

6MT TL. Nice. I'm a huge Acura/Honda fan.

One question: In the picture above, why is the bumper painted and why is there a 99+ front end? Did you do a conversion?

Jeff_M

No kidding. Having the 6th gear is nice. I can do 75 on the highway, and the RPM's are barely over 2K. Nice and smooth and gets me ~32mpg!!! Of course, when I feel like driving like a bat out of hell, I can leave it in 3rd and let er' scream up to 80. It definitely has some balls.

I swapped bumpers and grills and had them custom painted to match. It truly was a one of a kind 4runner. Here's some more pics:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/p...-lights-67681/