Toyota 4Runner

mauicedar · January 2003

The truck had new tires put on by Firestone earlly this year. I have noticed that they have some vibration at 60+. I'll find out if Toyota can balance the tires.

Thanks again this townhall discussion is great.

My 4Runner has Anniversary Edition decals on it and the Window Sticker lists it as a Anniversary Edition with a charge of $500 for several options lumped togeather. Do you think I could find out about this from Toyota?

Sherry

sovang · January 2003

This is my first toyota so I am not sure if it is common practice or not. But, where are all the accessories for the 03 4runner? I can't even get a bug deflector? My first SUV was the original Xterra and I bought it one month after Nissan released it. I had no trouble getting bug deflector, roof basket, seat covers, etc. Is this pretty normal for Toyota???

SV

toyotaken · January 2003

Part of the issue with accessories on Toyotas is that they stay so closed-mouthed about their product until after they release them to the dealers. Many manufacturers have early models and specs out many months prior to their release for sale so aftermarket companies have time to build accessories for them. So give it a couple of months and I'm sure you'll be seeing alot of accessories for your 4Runner, just give the free-market time to work and you'll see.

Hope this helps.

Ken

stever · January 2003

Toyota goes to great heights for ad campaign

Steve, Host

joatmon · January 2003

Mark Vaughn wrote an atricle for the Dec 30 issue of AutoWeek titled, "TRD Update, Is Toyota Racing Development Slowing Down". It said that TRD parts for new Toyota's are delayed because Totota won't even give TRD a heads up on new product releases. It states, "But the biggest problem is that Toyota doesn't even tell U.S.-based TRD what products it has coming and has not told TRD what the second Scion is, even though that car will be shown in a few days at the Los Angeles auto Show"

Do you see a pattern here...

Jack

pat84 · January 2003

I bought an 03 Sport on New Years Eve. If you get the titanium silver, as I did, the gray cladding is color coordinated. Odd, the salesman said I was the only one he sold a 4Runner to who was going off road in it. Why buy it then ? It is quiet and rides really well on the road. I have 150 miles on it.

tomjava · January 2003

Great article.

Thank you for the info.

cliffy1 · January 2003

Riding the clutch on a steep ramp will destroy the clutch. Using the low sear range will help. Using less steep ramps with no algae will also help. If you have done it before, you should be fine, but just be careful. It is easy to tell when you've pushed things too hard. The acrid odor of burnt clutch is a dead give away.

horsestick · January 2003

I have followed this site for a while and found it is very helpful. I am living around LA, so finding a V8, 4WD, sport 03 4runner is very tough. I have been told there are less than 5 of them in whole CA. I can understand they sell 2WD Highlander here but why there are soo many 2WD 4runner? What's the point to buy 2WD 4runner? I guess just for the looking. Anyway, are there any folkd who has some experience to buy auto out of CA? I am serious thinking to buy one and drive back. Thanks!

senton7 · January 2003

Has anyone custom ordered a 03 4Runner from Toyota? The dealer I went to in Colorado said it it very rare, and is likely to be rejected by factory. All I want is to get a Sport model without Sunroof. Is that unreasonable? Dealer did a check in 7-state region and no Sport models existed without sunroof.
Why do I not want the sunroof? Basically because my head was touching the ceiling when I test drove the sport model. No sunroof would give me room to actually turn my head without reclining the seat way too far back. I want the Sport model because SR5 can't have heated mirrors or X-REAS added on. Heated mirrors are important when driving with limited visibility in freezing weather.
Dealer said custom factory order requires $2000 deposit, 1 month approval wait, and 1 month delivery wait. Should I expect to pay full MSRP with this factory order since they will already have $2000 of my money? In other words, will I have no room to negotiate on my trade-in, since they already have me over a barrel?
The test drive itself was great otherwise, the only feature I wasn't to excited about was the shifter. It looks like it would be possible to accidently nock the shifter from 3D to reverse if you were reaching to grab something without looking. Salesman said v6 only requires regular unleaded which would save a lot at the pump.

toyotaken · January 2003

I know that at least here in my area (buffalo) they have been about 50% each with and without the moonroof on sport models. So there are areas of the country that do have them without moonroofs. You might want to try the "build it yourself" part of the Toyota website to find an area of the country that does have them built that way. After you find the area, look up a dealer or two in that area, call them to place a deposit on a truck that fits your needs and take a short "vacation" to go there, pick up your new truck and dive it home.

I don't know of any other way to do it other than ordering it like your dealer is offering to do.

Hope this helps.

Ken

rstebie · January 2003

I bought my sports edition in San Bernardino Calif. Before you drive out of state call them.
San Bernardino Toyota. Also try Redlands Toyota.
Hope you find what you are looking for.
Bob

004runner · January 2003

When your shifter fork bent, did you experience problems shifting with every shift into second or did it start out as an itermitent problem like I have now?

And, thanks for the heads up regarding the clutch pedal assembly bracket. All this info really helps.

004runner · January 2003

Karl,

I've had Toyota swap the gear lube for synthetic. I can't remember what weight they recommended. I'll need to did through my file to check. Unfortunately, the change to synthetic didn't make any difference. Could have been the weight though.

I'm interested in what you said about the clutch. When I asked the dealership about a clutch adjustment, they told me that the clutch is "non-adjustable". I'll try your suggestion of jacking up the rear wheels and seeing if the wheels stop turning when the clutch is in. I can't believe that the dealership didn't mention a clutch bleed job or adjusting the pushrod for the clutch master cylinder. I wonder why they are so resistant to diagnosing and fixing this problem.

Thanks for your help.

AL

bigorange30 · January 2003

Do you know where we can see some of those pictures? I haven't seen this in a TV commercial or anything. The show on ABC and OLN they mentioned did not have any date with it. It sounds very interesting and something worth seeing.

stever · January 2003

This looks like the "home page" (no images to speak of though):

GLOBAL EXTREMES: Mt. Everest  4Runners of Adventure

Maybe you can find it on cable tomorrow night if you have Outdoor Life. Premiere: Monday, January 6, 2003 at 9:00PM ET. Someone from Boise is one of the "50." Maybe I should get a TV... nah....

Steve, Host

bigorange30 · January 2003

Actually, the schedule says that it will air first on April 28th.

http://media.yahoo.com/globalextremes/episodes/index.html

stever · January 2003

That's the Everest stuff I guess. The summit attempt is going to be live (I think it said May) - maybe that's where ABC comes in?

The stuff tomorrow will be the intro - another Survivor type reality show gets under way. Hopefully you'll get to see a lot of 4Runner ads ;-)

Steve, Host

nippononly · January 2003

4Runner sales are doing on the 4th gen? Just because I have too much time on my hands, and because the local dealer is on my way home from work, I stopped by a couple of weeks ago and jotted down a handful of VINs from Runners on the lot, and only one of those had sold when I went back tonight, but they have many more on the lot now than they did two weeks ago.

Anyway, it made me think that sales have been very slow on the new model, but I just wondered if anyone out there had hard data...

bigorange30 · January 2003

or about 700 down from last year. I think its probably due to the cladding to some degree.

Anyone else got more explanation?

http://www.autosite.com/editoria/asmr/svsuv.asp

pat84 · January 2003

Some possible explanations for fewer 4runners being sold are cost, first year redesign, lower vehicle weight capacity than previous 4runners, and fuel consumption to name a few considerations.
As for a 4runner without a moon roof, at least in my 03 Sport, there is more headroom where the moon roof is located. I am not a big fan of moon roofs either. I live in MD and all the Sport versions I have seen are 4 WD and all have moon roofs.

swalis · January 2003

Senton7,
There are now Sport Edition 4Runners coming to Colorado that do not have sunroofs nor running boards. I know this because I live in Colorado also and two dealers in Denver told me last week that they would each have one "in the next few days".

However, I bought one from another Colorado dealer on Saturday and it had just popped onto their inventory list. They expect it to arrive o/a 1/17/03...can hardly wait.

Best regards.

fudge123 · January 2003

I just purchased a 2003 SR5 (Black) V8, Sunroof, JBL Upgrade (10 speaker, 6 CD changer). I wanted the Sport (V6) but couldn't pass up the deal I got on the SR5 ($34,849 MSRP to my purchase price of $31,200!). I also got a great lease rate with MF= .0016 or 3.84%! (Hint, Toyotas lease rate was .00259 or 6.2%! This equates to higher monthly payments!)

First Impressions
I can't say enough about this vehicle. I drove both the SR5 V8 and Sport models and couldn't notice much of a difference. X-REAS is a bit firmer in cornering, but not much. I never enjoyed driving an SUV as much as this. I am a previous Jeep Laredo and Explorer XLT owner. These SUV's don't even come close to the ride of the 4 Runner!
Love the V8! It runs very smooth and is powerful. On my trip home from the dealer, (about 50 miles on the interstate covered with 2" of snow), I averaged 22.4 MPG. Much better than I expected! Overall, very roomy, very quiet, very comfortable!

Dash controls.
Climate controls are very intuitive! Set the temperature, press auto and the climate control system will the rest. The vehicle steamed up on a few occasions, but turning the AC on high for a few seconds took care of it.

JBL 10 speaker Surround Sound System
I am an avid audiophile (Home stereo and Home Theater). In my opinion, the JBL system sounds fantastic when adjusted properly. There have been a few posts stating that the center channel speaker is too loud. I found that this is true if you leave the fader set to zero. The trick here is to fade the system more toward the rear (I like R4). Once I did this, the system came to life! You have to turn the volume up a bit more, but it sounds unbelievable! I like rock music and set the Bass @ 4, Mid @ 1 and treble @ 4. Always keep surround "ON"!

Body Cladding
Didn't care for it at first, but love it now. My car is black. The cladding seems to keep the black part of the car much cleaner looking.

Conclusion
I could go on and on. Wonderful SUV. I just want to keep driving it. If you want one, now is the time to deal! If leasing, I would look for a better lease rate than Toyota is offering. I saved over $30 / month! If I were Toyota and wanted to get first time buyers interested, I would offer a better lease rate!!

peter78 · January 2003

Some reasons sales are not grand:

1.) Sales are down for everyone, not just the 4Runner. We are in the middle of a recession. Buying a big budget item is harder to do. Some companies are offering 0% interest on loans.

2.) New SUV, with only a limited number of models and colors. In November there were no V6's, only the V8.

Having said that, I have noticed discounts on the 4Runner. I remember when the Highlander came out, no discounts for months.

nippononly · January 2003

I thought sales were supposed to be higher in the first year of a new model introduction, and that they then taper off little by little until the next revision?

I would agree whole-heartedly with the economy issue, except that overall vehicle sales continue to be so hot. As you say, that is due in large part to 0% incentives.

The V-6 is almost the same price as the V-8, with few advantages over the V-8 except for the 5-speed transmission. I am not convinced that the widespread availability of the V-6 will improve sales very much. The only one that sold on the local lot was a V-8.

I am still curious to hear stories from anyone brave enough to use their '03 to go offroad...especially if they have done the same in the past with a 2nd or 3rd gen, and can offer a comparison.

nippononly · January 2003

Jeep Grand Cherokee sales are actually up for the month over the year before, and that has been around for quite a while, I think.

bevie1 · January 2003

I purchased a new Toyota 2002 SR5 about 6 weeks ago. It has never been off-road. 4 days ago, I went into the garage to back it out, and it will go nowhere, no matter what gear it is placed in. It is permanently stuck in neutral. At this writing, my 2002 Toyota, with only 900 miles on it, is at the local dealership, perplexing all the service experts who thus far cannot repair it. Has anyone had a similar experience, or any ideas?

vodgut · January 2003

I'm currently considering the purchase of a 2003 V8 Limited 4Runner. It looks like the best deals people are getting on those are about $4K below MSRP. I take it this is before dealer documentation fees? For those of you who have purchased this vechile, what have the documentation fees been at your dealer?

pat84 · January 2003

Documentation fees may vary from state to state and by individual dealer. My documentation fee was $40. not much in the scheme of things as I saw it.

vodgut · January 2003

Hmmm....most of them around here seem to be asking $250 or $300 in doc fees. Seems excessive. I'm in Colorado.

peter78 · January 2003

Sometimes dealers add profit to this fee. I paid $350 for my last Honda and $390 for the 4Runner at Atlanta Toyota in Georgia. Non-negotiable.

jbhnc · January 2003

So I took my 03 4runner (v8 4wd ltd) for some light offroading last week in the mtns of GA. I used to have a LR Disco so this is a good comparison.

gravel roads: Perfect, very predictable and hard to power slide. Seemed not to hit that harmonic on washboard surfaces as much as my disco did. Running boards and mud flaps kept most of the gravel off the side of the car.

tight offroad: Very predictable. Suprisingly good turning radius. Easy to use 4 lo (although it did miss coming out once and made a nice grinding sound). Good visability. I would consider it equiv. on this type of trail as my Disco was. 4wd was much easier to use, the diso was kinda a pain getting into low when stopped

scratches: Took a nice wheel to wheel scratch from a stick. Rubbed out very well, especially on the cladding (painted on my LTD). Glad I got silver!

negatives: A rattle formed coming from my sunroof somewhere. Only occured on bumpy roads so it will be tought to pinpoint for the dealer. Hopefully it will either go away or start occuring on surface roads.

All and all, very impressed. I don't do any real serious offroading so I would consider it equal to my Disco where I was...plus it is bigger, more powerful (nice on the mtn roads!) and I am sure the runner will be _much_ more reliable.

J

nippononly · January 2003

did you do anything that would challenge running clearance or low departure angle? Is it roughly equivalent to the Disco on those fronts as well?

jbhnc · January 2003

approach, departure, and ground clearance aren't as good as the disco. I didn't really tax it (not that crazy) but didn't run into any problems on some skewed humps on an up hill.

One negative is that the disco ('96 series I) had a solid chunk of steel for the front bumper that was able to support the entire weight of the truck (I have pictures

) where as the 4runner has a normal plastic bumper.

That being said, my final two choices were a 03 disco 4.6L or a 03 'runner. I drove the runner the day it came out and bought one two days later.

J

nippononly · January 2003

andrews928 · January 2003

I don't know about November but the Lexus RX300 sales figures were down almost 1400 cars from last year of approx 6,000 cars in October. As far as the 4Runner on dealer lots, my 3 local dealers had a total of 5 4runners as of last week. I'm still not sure on how this reflects on demand since one of the dealers offered a $40,126 MSRP Limited for slightly over $ 36,200.

andrews928 · January 2003

What bank did you get a rate factor of .0016? That is one heck of a deal. What was the residual??

Thanks!!

jbhnc · January 2003

For those of you that saw (or are watching) Global Extremes, not a lot of 4runner clips but they did have one quick shot of a runner with A-bar, hella's, gear basket, etc.

Anyone know where/when the A bar came from?

BTW: The commercials during the show are mostly for Tacoma??

poseidon · January 2003

Just curious if anyone has heard anything about a hybrid powerplant in the 4runner's future? It's my understanding they typically can produce similar power to a gas only engine, but greatly improve mileage.

bigorange30 · January 2003

I have heard reference to is a Highlander one. I would think they would see how that goes before branching out to other SUVs.

nippononly · January 2003

their focus for hybrid powerplants in the next couple of years is the mainstream people haulers...after RX and HL, which will have hybrid powertrains available in a year or so, the next model they will focus on for hybrid is the Sienna.

rsholland · January 2003

Toyota FJ Cruiser concept

It's been known for some time, that Toyota is going to market a vehicle to go head-to-head with the Nissan Xterra. This could well be a hint of what they have in mind.

http://www.wieck.com/public/*2PV_047175

http://www.wieck.com/public/*2PV_047174

http://www.wieck.com/public/*2PV_047173

http://www.wieck.com/public/*2PV_047167

Bob

goltgo · January 2003

rsholland, thanks for putting up those links. The view from the front is great. Dunno about the large rear pillars, though. Overall, I think the vehicle's lines resemble what a H3 might look like.

mrwhipple · January 2003

The shifter fork problem led to intermittent hesitation. But it progressively got worse to the point that I was fighting to get it in & out of 2nd gear. That was the worse gear change.

fngfish · January 2003

thanks for the posting that is sweet looking

mrwhipple · January 2003

Looks like GM got a hold of it.

toddgreen · January 2003

Needs more cladding!

And Toyota really needs a SIXTH entrant in the SUV market ...

drummerdaveb · January 2003

Hey,
I just bought a 98 4-Runner SR5, and Im looking for sites where I can find the following.

1) A maintenance schedule, It didnt come with one.
2) A bug shield - for cheap.
3) A new Rear Bumper - some damage to one of the corners.
4) A cargo cover - you know the shades behind the seat that pull out and cover the crap in the back.
It didnt have that either.
5) A cargo mat (preferably made of rubber - like the one I had in my Subaru)
6) Good enthusiast sites on 4-Runners.

Thx,
Dave

rsholland · January 2003

http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshows/articles/83142/page042.html

olrocker · January 2003

...in my '03 LTD, too. Wasn't there when I bought it, started out small, now it's big (you can hear it over the slightest bumps in the road.) Hope they don't have to tear out the headliner to fix it!

Toyota 4Runner

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