We have been putting off replacing our venerable ‘07 Sequoia because my wife and I could not stand the ‘08 and newer model Sequoia’s. Not only did we dislike the body style but preferred the use of space and materials inside our “old” SUV. Additionally, we needed a third row and my incredible wife refused to drive or own a minivan. She had to have a Toyota (smart even though she married me) so we had considered the Highlander and 4Runner but both were too small. I have for years yearned to purchase a TLC and had at many points seriously considered purchasing our “dream ride” a TLC 100 series, preferably a 2003-2005 model. Unfortunately I discovered that finding clean examples to purchase, that were plentiful 6 or more years ago, were no longer plentiful and were more like finding hen’s teeth. So I had been passively considering the 200 series TLC but wasn’t convinced that they were as “good” as the 100 series. I even test drove a couple examples but pricing seemed to be out of reach and we just kept driving our old (175K miles) Sequoia. Then as if by providence, we needed some work done to the ‘07 and our local dealership couldn’t get us in for several days, but another dealership 20 miles away could so I scheduled an appointment. As is my usual tendency, I begen looking for coupons on their website and clicked what I thought was “Manager Specials” from the service department but it was in fact the Used Vehicle specials. There, just at the bottom edge of the screen was a 2014 TLC for a reasonable price and had less than 100K miles on it. I stared at the screen in disbelief. I checked CARFAX and pondered this fortuitous turn of events and decided that I would mention this potential option to my wife before leaving to drop off our beloved Sequoia. She was surprised but dismissive and said “...we’ll see...”. The service department called and I had been putting off some repairs but didn’t think that the mild maintenance issues had gotten “that bad” but after getting a 4K quote and discussing the driving characteristics of the vehicle it became clear that the “time” had come. We got an offer from the Used Car Manager and it was within a couple hundred dollars of private parity value on the ‘07 Sequoia so we decided to take the weekend to think it over. Monday arrived and we negotiated a price on the ‘14 TLC. We brought it home 7/16 after saying goodbye to our beloved “old” SUV. My wife and children cried and secretly I was jumping for joy. Glad to be part of the “200 series TLC club”.
)
