I was scrolling the internet for deals and flips when I came across a pretty good deal on a 2021 4Runner SR5 in silver. It had 26,000 miles and it was listed for $33,000. Not only was this a killer deal as the market value of this vehicle at this point 1/20/23 is around $40,000 in this condition (pretty much new) AND it just so happened it was at a Chevrolet / GMC dealership in the town closest to us. I did my due diligence of doing a Carfax report, a Toyota service history search and the typical reliability, common issues and things to look out for this particular vehicle and called them to set up an appointment.
I went in first thing in the morning and drove it around as they valued our trade in which I did the estimated trade in value on their website and it said between $9,000 and $10,000 which was WAY over valued but since it was their own site I figured that is a bargaining chip even if it was a mistake on their part. The sales guy I was working with was nice and straight forward. I took the 4runner around some back roads and highways and also gave it a pretty thorough inspection. I went back and started the negotiations. I knew that the value on the 4runner was already way lower than it should be so I didn’t feel right about trying to dicker them down any further with that however I did fight for the trade in value which they offered 6500 but I told them the estimated trade in values I got and they totally did not believe me so I showed them the value and that it was their website and said I understood but I feel like we should at least meet some where in the middle. I told them I wouldn’t feel good about anything less than $7500 and that’s giving them a deal. After an awkward amount of silent treatment from “the used vehicle manager” (which sidebar: EVERYONE’s name tag had some sort of position AND “manager” behind it. not sure what that’s about) he finally said “uhhhh I guess I can do that but I’ll have to make up the loss somewhere else.” I said “yep, Deal”. Handshakes for everyone and we started the paperwork. I said straight away that I do not want anything extra for warranties or anything like that so lets get er done. They didn’t like that and I get that’s how they make a bunch of their money but not off of me. I was out of there in a tight 10 minutes and on my way to pick up my wife in our new vehicle. She really likes it and I think this will be a very good rig for our lifestyle.
In the past we’ve had the following vehicles for adventures: Dodge Caliber, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Honda accord, Toyota Tundra’s, Corolla, Sequoia, Tacoma’s but never a 4runner. I’m excited to see how it works out for us. We have gone through many different variations of adventure transport and types of rigs. We started with sleeping in the back of the Caliber and Mitsubishi with an inflatable mattress with no frills. There’s a simplicity to this early version of our adventures that made it more about the adventure itself instead of the rig. There were things that would make it a little more comfy and that would let us enjoy it even more so we decided to look into it more. The more adventures we went on the more we learned that we love road trips and seeing new things via vehicle. I did more research on vehicle reliant travel I got into the whole “overlanding” thing and that’s when I started outfitting our rigs with better tires for off road travel, roof racks with cargo bins, drawer systems with beds on it and pull out kitchens and lights galore. We travelled a couple times with a teardrop camper that I built with my Dad and that was an experience and worked well for what it was. It was very small and light which is great but it was too small for us and the dogs. A lot of people can make it work but it just wasn’t our favorite. We also found it to be kind of a headache hauling a secondary unit with the extra maintenance and what not so then we switched back to sleeping in our rigs whether it was the Tundra or Sequoia. We then figured it’d be nice to have a bigger vehicle that we can move from the main cab / driver seat to the living quarters. We knew pick up trucks were kind of out for us and we really liked the Sequoia and the ability to hop in the driver seat from the bed / living area if needed. It was my favorite vehicle we’ve had until the 4runner but we will see if it lives up to the standard of the Sequoia. I randomly found a 2008 Chevrolet Express 3500 Mini bus with the 6.0L engine with 60,000 miles for $7000 that we turned into a camper because we though that would be the ultimate adventure vehicle because it’ll have a queen size bed, counter with sink and drawers, passenger seat on a swivel with a fold down table and plenty of storage space. Unfortunately with this being the short height option of short bus and without A/C it was also just not the right fit for us. It was a fun project and worked well when the weather was good but we decided we are going to sell it in the spring to someone who will use it more and or finish it all the way. I am confident we will make our money back and than some with the sweat equity.
We have come to the realization that we really enjoy a good quality, reliable, off road capable vehicle. We like taking the back roads, we like to be self sufficient in our vehicles but at the end of the day we really like the feeling of pulling into a welcoming, temperature controlled, comfortable, clean building, with a hot tub, cable, wifi and hopefully good food and drinks. We will sleep in the 4runner with some of the gear we still have from our overlanding days some time I’m sure but not as our sole lodging option. I am excited to see what the 4Runner will do for us.
UPDATE 2025: We ended up trading the 4runner for a 2021 Rav4 XLE Premium for Katie as she started commuting and didn’t like the way the 4runner drove and got poor gas mileage. I 100% agreed.
