Well, after 300,000 miles I decided it was time to turn my faithful steed out to pasture.
Many of you know that I want to get an all wheel drive Ford Transit and build out the inside and enjoy the #vanlife as I travel. Currently that's not meant to be as a van with the specs I want just aren't available.
So for now I needed a plan B so I had reliable transportation as I travel to the far reaches of the US. New vehicles in general are hard to come by, due to the chip shortages and labor shortages the pandemic caused. So with very few new cars available used car prices have sky rocketed, with often used cars with 20-30k miles being listed for more then a brand new car with 0 miles.
I had narrowed down what I wanted to a Toyota 4Runner, and I wanted the TRD Off Road Premium version, as it adds a ton of bells and whistles for 4x4 like a bunch of crawl modes in 4x4 low, locking rear differential, a front facing camera so you can see the terrain in front of you that is hidden by the hood, etc..
I won't bore you anymore, but after several days of looking, with used prices so bad, I thought I would make a last grasp at calling local dealers to see if they did have any new ones in stock. The closest Toyota dealer had 2 in transit. I went in and 1 of them was just being unloaded from the cargo ship, and one was still in Japan getting loaded. But both of them were reserved. A manager there was driving their Demo version of the TRD Pro, which is really tricked out for 4x4. But it was at his house. He was going to bring in on Monday and I could test drive it.
(Sorry this is still getting long)
But this morning (Monday) I made a call to another local dealer, and he said to wait a minute, he thought he had one that was just delivered from the port. Fresh off the cargo ship). He texted me back with 2 photos of it, and said it was available. I ran down there, test drove it and bought it!!! An hour or two after I got there, someone else came by looking for the exact same 4Runner.
So it turned out, there was this narrow window for me to have gotten this 4Runner. It's brand new, and I bought it for less then what used ones are going for. It still wasn't cheap... and I am totally not ready for a car payment... but hey... it was perfect timing.
I have already looked up prices for new tires. Not sure why 4x4's come with highway tires on them, but new real 4x4 tires is what I will be getting on Tuesday, along with looking to see if I can get it raised an inch or two. I don't need too much, and can probably get by without any lift, but if I can do a lift where it's not too expensive, I will.
So... if you aren't asleep yet, here is a picture of it at the dealers lot.
Many of you know that I want to get an all wheel drive Ford Transit and build out the inside and enjoy the #vanlife as I travel. Currently that's not meant to be as a van with the specs I want just aren't available.
So for now I needed a plan B so I had reliable transportation as I travel to the far reaches of the US. New vehicles in general are hard to come by, due to the chip shortages and labor shortages the pandemic caused. So with very few new cars available used car prices have sky rocketed, with often used cars with 20-30k miles being listed for more then a brand new car with 0 miles.
I had narrowed down what I wanted to a Toyota 4Runner, and I wanted the TRD Off Road Premium version, as it adds a ton of bells and whistles for 4x4 like a bunch of crawl modes in 4x4 low, locking rear differential, a front facing camera so you can see the terrain in front of you that is hidden by the hood, etc..
I won't bore you anymore, but after several days of looking, with used prices so bad, I thought I would make a last grasp at calling local dealers to see if they did have any new ones in stock. The closest Toyota dealer had 2 in transit. I went in and 1 of them was just being unloaded from the cargo ship, and one was still in Japan getting loaded. But both of them were reserved. A manager there was driving their Demo version of the TRD Pro, which is really tricked out for 4x4. But it was at his house. He was going to bring in on Monday and I could test drive it.
(Sorry this is still getting long)
But this morning (Monday) I made a call to another local dealer, and he said to wait a minute, he thought he had one that was just delivered from the port. Fresh off the cargo ship). He texted me back with 2 photos of it, and said it was available. I ran down there, test drove it and bought it!!! An hour or two after I got there, someone else came by looking for the exact same 4Runner.
So it turned out, there was this narrow window for me to have gotten this 4Runner. It's brand new, and I bought it for less then what used ones are going for. It still wasn't cheap... and I am totally not ready for a car payment... but hey... it was perfect timing.
I have already looked up prices for new tires. Not sure why 4x4's come with highway tires on them, but new real 4x4 tires is what I will be getting on Tuesday, along with looking to see if I can get it raised an inch or two. I don't need too much, and can probably get by without any lift, but if I can do a lift where it's not too expensive, I will.
So... if you aren't asleep yet, here is a picture of it at the dealers lot.
