Help me choose a rig!

[StuntmanMike]

The 3.4 is a tough motor, lacking in the overall power department it makes up for in reliability. There are folks well over 500k on theirs and still going strong. I have 310k and im getting a 22.4 average mpg. and PS the timing belt ting every 90k is a best practice but not exactly necessary.

But it seems you got your mind made up and afterall its what YOU want. Find a good one and dont be afraid to get dirty checking them out. One other thing to consider is also aftermarket support. I dont think youll have a problem with a Tahoe. CBP around here have a lot of them set up for high speed desert.

Yeah, I've seen numerous 3rd gen T4R's listed f/s with over 300k miles, even one with over 400k (miles!) on it. Dude still wanted like 5k for it, haha.

That's pretty impressive mpg you get with yours, btw. I think these things were originally rated at like 16/19.

I see you're in AZ. Maybe I'll have to head out your way to find a good 4Runner! The problem with the ones here is that the frames all rot out. I was psyched to go look at one this past sat, it was a green '99 LTD with 176k, locking rear diff, and an impeccable Carfax for 4500. That's pretty much EXACTLY what I wanted. I was super stoked on it, had cash in hand, and before I was about to make the 3.5hr trip to check it out, calmed down enough to do some research on it based on info I got from the Carfax. Turns out it's last service at the Toyota dealer it had been to all it's life was to diagnose a driveline clunk, where it was found that it had rotted rear suspension parts as well as a rotted frame. Leaky steering rack too. This thing was well taken care of, and clean. But that's what New England winters will do to a vehicle.

I've never heard of this issue on a Tahoe. I'm sure it's happened, but if so, it's not a super common issue like it is on Toyotas. Luckily with the domestic vehicles, seems like the frames tend to hold up but the rockers, bumpers, etc are more susceptible to rust, and at least those are easily visible.

 

[Smileyshaun]

That's funny, I actually saw one about the same on MA CL today, for $4,500. It looked rode hard and put away wet though. I'm not so concerned with mileage as I am general condition.

oh this one was spotless and bone stock

 

[Sgt12XU]

Pretty simple choice.

 

[StuntmanMike]

Pretty simple choice.
View attachment 52510

I would LOVE a JKUR. For a while I was set on getting a new one, but reality set in and I decided I didn't want a 600/month car note. They're nice, but just stupid money.

If I had that kind of disposable income I'd love to have one as a toy, but I don't so I cant. Which is why I set a budget around 5k ( About what I was planning on putting down on the JKU).

 

[Keboh]

XJ's are abundant in my area, but it's finding a good one - that's the challenge. They get hit hard by the winters here, or people treat them as "disposable" and they're clapped out or beat to hell.

I was leaning toward the 4Runner because I thought that it would be more reliable for things like electrics and other minor things. The 3.4 in them is supposed to be super reliable, but IMO it loses out to the 4.0 in that it needs a timing belt every 90k. I hate timing belts. And I know the SFA in the XJ would be better for rockcrawling, but I actually prefer to get an IFS vehicle at this point due the amount of on road driving I'll be doing, plus the IFs will be better for higher speed dirt road stuff.

I don't know though, at this point I'm starting to lean towards a Tahoe. The 5.3L will last forever, and if I get one without too many options it should be reliable enough. Plenty of space in one of those V8 power, and the mileage probably won't be much different than a modded smaller vehicle with a 6. My 4.0 ZJ got like 16 combined.

Tahoes are awesome. They also are able to safely tow way more than the Runner or XJ, which is really nice to have on those rare occasions. They also ride great.

 

[StuntmanMike]

Tahoes are awesome. They also are able to safely tow way more than the Runner or XJ, which is really nice to have on those rare occasions. They also ride great.

Thanks man. Yeah, I'm really leaning that way now. I was looking at one this morning at Dunkin Donuts as I walked by it, and it's big, but not huge. It was parked next to a late model Grand Cherokee, and it was bigger than the Jeep, but it wasn't like it completely dwarfed it. I think the size would be manageable offroad, and the extra interior room would be worth the extra care.

I looked at the dims for the 4Runner, and the cargo area is shorter than in my Volvo, and isn't much different cubic foot wise. The 'ho is longer, wider, taller inside than my car, so I'll notice the room.

And I think the towing is a good point too. It occusrs to me that being able to tow 7k (or is it 8?) may come in handy if I ever need to help my friend with her boat or if I go on an extended trip and decide to bring along a camper.

And if I'm honest, there really isn't much wheeling near me anyway. All the trails I see photos of online are fairly rough, and you need a built Jeep (and membership in the Jeep club just to access a lot of them). Anything good for that stuff is going to be a sh!tty driver on the highway.

My one real concern with the Tahoe is the front suspension. Originally I was thinking I could just throw a set of torsion bar keys in for an easy 2" lift, but the more I research the less of a good idea that seems like. I only want to lift 2 or 3 inches and run 285's, so I'll have to explore other options.

 

[StuntmanMike]

You might be surprised, @StuntmanMike at what you can get for $4,000.

I bought a '98 Chevy Express van once, with extended body, long wheelbase, 6.5 diesel and a mess of miles for only $2700 and drove the hell out of it all over America, from coast to coast and north to south for several years. Had over 500,000 miles on it when I sold it. Wasn't the prettiest thing ever (had the faded name of a delivery service on the sides still for years, and a couple dents that had been made from the inside out), but it ran like a champ and provided a ton of cover and storage possibilities. Vancamped in it, stealth-camped in the city, lived out of it for literally months at a time while working and traveling around the country.

Looked almost exactly like the one I have now, which is an '08 GMC Savana. Here's a long post I made about my current van--showing a few images of possible set ups--for another forum user wondering about vehicles for long distance travel.

So, I bet you could find a decent enough Chevy Tahoe or Suburban, especially in these days of being able to search craigslist nationwide or using other online resources like eBay (where I found my current van). Good thing about Chevy/GMC is parts availability and that most shade-tree and small town mechanics can work on what you might not be able to.

Bought my current one over six years ago from a guy who bought several from Penske Leasing, where it had been leased to Netflix or Redbox in the south. Very light use hauling DVDs, had had only one driver and was only a few years old. Penske is legendary in their maintenance of their fleet.

There are good deals out there.

EDIT: That said, instead of going for a newer 4x4 vehicle now, I'm investing more in what I have to make it more capable for getting further off-road into the willow-wacks of North America. Good advice from the other posters in this thread. Volvo wagons are pretty cool. I had one of those once, too, though of much older vintage.

Was reading back through this thread and realized I had never responded to this.

Thanks for the insight! The van you bought sounds like a great deal, and the pics of your current van look awesome! I actually did a search for vans, I looked up AWD vans for the heck of it and found a few GM's. One was even hallway converted to a stealth camper, he had made the front seats swivel to face the rear of the van. I thought that was pretty trick. They're not cheap though, this particular one had north of 100k on it and was $12k. I almost think that if you're going to go that route, why not go even further and go school bus? Whenever I see one of those van based short busses I always think how cool it would be to build one of those out as a camping/bike hauler type vehicle. I saw one a few months back, a Chevy, that was AWD for 6k. In retrospect that was prob a GREAT deal.

Apart from a vehicle like that, I'm def leaning toward the big GM suv's now. You make good points about parts and repairs, and they have pretty bulletproof drivetrains in general anyway.

If I don't get anything, I WILL be using the Volvo in the meantime. I have a few cheap/simple upgrades in mind that I think will help a lot. Now that it's *hopefully* getting warmer here in NE I can start working on it soon. Though it was near 60 this weekend and then we had snow yesterday :/

 

[Road]

Was reading back through this thread and realized I had never responded to this.

Thanks for the insight! The van you bought sounds like a great deal, and the pics of your current van look awesome! I actually did a search for vans, I looked up AWD vans for the heck of it and found a few GM's. One was even hallway converted to a stealth camper, he had made the front seats swivel to face the rear of the van. I thought that was pretty trick. They're not cheap though, this particular one had north of 100k on it and was $12k. I almost think that if you're going to go that route, why not go even further and go school bus? Whenever I see one of those van based short busses I always think how cool it would be to build one of those out as a camping/bike hauler type vehicle. I saw one a few months back, a Chevy, that was AWD for 6k. In retrospect that was prob a GREAT deal.

Apart from a vehicle like that, I'm def leaning toward the big GM suv's now. You make good points about parts and repairs, and they have pretty bulletproof drivetrains in general anyway.

If I don't get anything, I WILL be using the Volvo in the meantime. I have a few cheap/simple upgrades in mind that I think will help a lot. Now that it's *hopefully* getting warmer here in NE I can start working on it soon. Though it was near 60 this weekend and then we had snow yesterday :/

You're welcome, @StuntmanMike . The thing I like more about vans over buses of any size is that you can usually get them through fast food and ATM lanes and into parking garages a lot easier, and can park them legally--even my long wheelbased van--on any city street parking spot. A good clean cargo style van is also a lot easier to stealth park in cities than a bus would be.

All things to consider when getting another vehicle and depends largely on how and where you're going to use it. I use mine all over the country, in and out of cities, back country, everywhere, so appreciate having as much versatility as possible.

Hope you find just the right thing for you!

 

[StuntmanMike]

You're welcome, @StuntmanMike . The thing I like more about vans over buses of any size is that you can usually get them through fast food and ATM lanes and into parking garages a lot easier, and can park them legally--even my long wheelbased van--on any city street parking spot. A good clean cargo style van is also a lot easier to stealth park in cities than a bus would be.

All things to consider when getting another vehicle and depends largely on how and where you're going to use it. I use mine all over the country, in and out of cities, back country, everywhere, so appreciate having as much versatility as possible.

Hope you find just the right thing for you!

Thanks! Good point about the bus's size and lack of stealth. I don't have time to take long enough trips to necessitate being "that bus guy".

Just take care when in your van around parks! True story... some guys from work were meeting at a local ball field after work to play, and one of them drives a white Chevy panel van (he uses it to haul his Harleys around). He drove around the block looking for a spot, and next thing he knows there's a town cop inquiring as to what he's doing in the neighborhood, haha.

 

[Road]

Thanks! Good point about the bus's size and lack of stealth. I don't have time to take long enough trips to necessitate being "that bus guy".

Just take care when in your van around parks! True story... some guys from work were meeting at a local ball field after work to play, and one of them drives a white Chevy panel van (he uses it to haul his Harleys around). He drove around the block looking for a spot, and next thing he knows there's a town cop inquiring as to what he's doing in the neighborhood, haha.

Oh I've had that happen, even in a parking lot outside an Arby's simply eating my lunch. The white cargo van thing is all urban myth, needlessly hyped up further by stupid media and tv shows because it makes good copy and perpetuates the myth. It's been disproved over and over. Before the Washington Sniper was caught, news reported he was thought to use a white panel van. Ended up being a black Chevy Caprice or something. When there was an anthrax scare up and down the east coast it was reported to have involved a white van. Ended up not so at all. And on and on.

Australia even did a study on white vans because of the rumors, and found that even though a large number of cases were reported to have involved white vans, the actual number was lower than other types of vehicles. Truth is, white vans are simply one of the most plentiful types of vehicles in the world as most every business, contractor, moving company, etc etc etc employs white vans.

Generally, though, I've had little problem in using white vans for almost twenty years. People who fall for stupid stereotypes are, well, stupid.

One huge advantage of traveling in a clean white cargo van is that you can drive through town late at night in most big cities and local law enforcement assume you're on the job, working for a utility, are a long-distance delivery, or local newspaper guy, etc. Keep your ride looking clean, in good repair, and obey all local laws, and you really won't have a problem, no matter what you drive for van. Unless it is one of the 70's - 80's conversion vans with bold graphics or murals of mountains or seashore and has velour seats. Then you deserve to get stopped.

 

[BAJAJULIO]

Hello...and my 2cents are....Yes you could do a rig for your initial outlay...but realisticaly for super reliability and off road performance...your budget will get you vehicles that have come ...gone...and been run from here to Mars. As for brand...You can do no wrong with a TOYOTA. Cheers.

 

[StuntmanMike]

Hello...and my 2cents are....Yes you could do a rig for your initial outlay...but realisticaly for super reliability and off road performance...your budget will get you vehicles that have come ...gone...and been run from here to Mars. As for brand...You can do no wrong with a TOYOTA. Cheers.

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking I may have to up the budget. I CAN find something in my budget, but I'm noticing anything in that range is going to need immediate maintenance. OR, have questionable mods done by previous owners. I recently found a really nice 04 Suburban for under 4 grand sitting on 1k worth of new, larger tires and a lot of recently performed maintenance, but it's been lifted questionably and has all aftermarket exhaust that I'm pretty sure will NOT pass my state inspection. Why someone would bother putting long tube headers and a catless Y on a 5.3L Suburban is beyond me. That motor is not hitting the RPM or moving enough air in that application to warrant those exhaust mods, and even if it did, nobody is going to notice +/- 20hp in a 6k lb vehicle.

Anyway, going Toyota may be the way to go. I was looking up 100 series Cruisers, but those may be out of the question as the price is pretty high for nice ones. Unless I want one with a list of problems or a quarter million miles, I'm not finding one for under 10k.

I see a nice one at a local dealer, 03 with 166k miles with a mild lift, BFG A/T's, and a ARB front bumper. Besides being gold, it looks really nice, but ouch, 15k for a 15 y/o vehicle. I don't want to outlay that kind of cash, and I can't see obtaining financing on a vehicle that old.

Another option I was thinking of is a first gen Sequoia or Lex GX470. Gotta do some research on them.

(I still like the Tahoes, but not seeing many nice ones out there for decent money)

 

[GeoYota]

Anyway, going Toyota may be the way to go.

You will pay more upfront for a solid well maintianed Toyota...because they are engineered to run longer requiring less back end repairs.

I've tried to stray away from the Toyota brand...but just putting new tires on every 50K, changing the oil at manny spec's, and installing new brake pads every few years keeps me coming back.

If that type of maintenance bores you...well might I suggest a Nissan?

One other Toyota consideration...availability of aftermarket (quality) parts, and pricing of those parts. I recently sourced a set of brand new headlight housings/lenses for my 03' Tacoma...on Shame-A-Zon for $43!

And, they came with bulbs!

I also sourced an O2 sensor there as well, the one time my Tacoma threw a code/CEL.

Dealer price: $456, installed.

I sourced and installed the O2 sensor myself for $92.

Older Toyotas just run forever...yes entry fee into the Toyota Club is higher, BUT you get what you pay for IMHO.

3rd Gen 4Runner FTW!

 

[BAJAJULIO]

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking I may have to up the budget. I CAN find something in my budget, but I'm noticing anything in that range is going to need immediate maintenance. OR, have questionable mods done by previous owners. I recently found a really nice 04 Suburban for under 4 grand sitting on 1k worth of new, larger tires and a lot of recently performed maintenance, but it's been lifted questionably and has all aftermarket exhaust that I'm pretty sure will NOT pass my state inspection. Why someone would bother putting long tube headers and a catless Y on a 5.3L Suburban is beyond me. That motor is not hitting the RPM or moving enough air in that application to warrant those exhaust mods, and even if it did, nobody is going to notice +/- 20hp in a 6k lb vehicle.

Anyway, going Toyota may be the way to go. I was looking up 100 series Cruisers, but those may be out of the question as the price is pretty high for nice ones. Unless I want one with a list of problems or a quarter million miles, I'm not finding one for under 10k.

I see a nice one at a local dealer, 03 with 166k miles with a mild lift, BFG A/T's, and a ARB front bumper. Besides being gold, it looks really nice, but ouch, 15k for a 15 y/o vehicle. I don't want to outlay that kind of cash, and I can't see obtaining financing on a vehicle that old.

Another option I was thinking of is a first gen Sequoia or Lex GX470. Gotta do some research on them.

(I still like the Tahoes, but not seeing many nice ones out there for decent money)

Hello....I have a Tahoe that have been thinking of selling. 2008 4x4...set up for Adventure. 88k miles.....rack...bumper...4 recliner seats...etc. etc. take 11k for it. ....will post picks tomorrow. Need to figure out how.

 

[StuntmanMike]

You will pay more upfront for a solid well maintianed Toyota...because they are engineered to run longer requiring less back end repairs.

I've tried to stray away from the Toyota brand...but just putting new tires on every 50K, changing the oil at manny spec's, and installing new brake pads every few years keeps me coming back.

If that type of maintenance bores you...well might I suggest a Nissan?

One other Toyota consideration...availability of aftermarket (quality) parts, and pricing of those parts. I recently sourced a set of brand new headlight housings/lenses for my 03' Tacoma...on Shame-A-Zon for $43!

And, they came with bulbs!

I also sourced an O2 sensor there as well, the one time my Tacoma threw a code/CEL.

Dealer price: $456, installed.

I sourced and installed the O2 sensor myself for $92.

Older Toyotas just run forever...yes entry fee into the Toyota Club is higher, BUT you get what you pay for IMHO.

3rd Gen 4Runner FTW!

Going to look at a 3rd gen tonight! '00 SR5 with 127k miles. I'm hoping it has the locker!

 

[AZBubs]

Going to look at a 3rd gen tonight! '00 SR5 with 127k miles. I'm hoping it has the locker!

I noticed you said something about Toyota’s with a quarter million miles on them. Not EVEN broke in yet[emoji846].



Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[StuntmanMike]

I noticed you said something about Toyota’s with a quarter million miles on them. Not EVEN broke in yet[emoji846].



Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

My buddy from T4R.org was nice enough to check it out for me as he was in the area. Like pretty much every 3rd gen 4Runner in the area, it looks clean topside, but has frame issues. Moving on.

I wonder if I'd have better luck with a Gen 1 Seqouia? Or perhaps I need to up my budget to spring for a GX470.

 

[GeoYota]

My buddy from T4R.org was nice enough to check it out for me as he was in the area. Like pretty much every 3rd gen 4Runner in the area, it looks clean topside, but has frame issues. Moving on.

I wonder if I'd have better luck with a Gen 1 Seqouia? Or perhaps I need to up my budget to spring for a GX470.

Just keep searching...its out there. I met with and checked out nearly a dozen Tacoma’s before I pulled the trigger on my truck.

Patience will be rewarded.


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[Smileyshaun]

unless it was regularly washed and coated most everything on the east coast is going to have some rust , it's just the nature of the beast . but that being said if you find one you like run the vin to the dealer to see if a frame recall is still available. And if it is use the rusty frame as a way to talk the price way down and then get a new frame slapped underneath it

 

[StuntmanMike]

unless it was regularly washed and coated most everything on the east coast is going to have some rust , it's just the nature of the beast . but that being said if you find one you like run the vin to the dealer to see if a frame recall is still available. And if it is use the rusty frame as a way to talk the price way down and then get a new frame slapped underneath it

I hear ya, but I don't want to deal with frame replacements on a 4-5k dollar truck. I doubt Toyota would either.

It's not a matter of surface rust, you're right about the east coast, heck you can go to a new car lot and find rusty driveshafts and steering components, etc on BRAND NEW vehicles. What gets them out here is the rot, I've seen some examples where the lower control arms mount is completely rotted and separated from the rest of the frame, or the frame just rots down the middle of the frame rail right along the rail. Scary.

I need to find one from down south or out west. I'll be in Moab mountain biking next week, I'm going to keep my eyes open out there.