I've been looking at buying my first Toyota for some time now. I'm not sure if this is my first post, but I have been lurking around on these forums for quite some time now. I've mainly just been doing a lot of reading, and finally decided on a few things.

My original thought was I would want to get an 89-95 Toyota pickup extended cab with the 3.0 V6. After doing research, I found that not only is it extremely hard to find one of these trucks even in decent condition, the 3.0 V6 is problematic, and I don't want the 22RE.

Then I decided I wanted to buy a 1st Gen Tacoma. When I was still in the market for a Tacoma, my girlfriend ended up buying a 2000 4runner SR5 5-speed with 66K miles on it. She decided she didn't like it anymore because she wanted to buy her parent's Xterra. I fell in love with the vehicle, but I was on the lookout for a Tacoma at the time. She ended up selling it (for $1200 more than she bought it for btw), and after the fact I realized I want a 3rd Gen 4runner with a 5-speed.

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion I want a 1999 4runner due to the extra height and what not. It has to be a 5-speed, and preferably the Highlander edition with e-locker, but that's extremely rare. Anyway, all this typing brings me to one question.

I've read that the 5-speed 99-00 4runner doesn't have that 4WD push button mode so you can AWD it on drive pavement. Is that true? And why is that? I almost think it would be worth it to give up on the 5-speed just to have that AWD capability when need be, but I hate driving automatics. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

Why do want AWD on pavement? I'm pretty sure that the 99-00 4Runners are 4WD anyways.

 

I'm just saying AWD in the condition where there's snow patches and ice on dry pavement. I would never drive AWD on dry pavement, that's a waste of gas.