Ready to make my purchase

[MoJ]

I disagree about the cash part. Handing them a check already made out for the amount I'm willing to pay has gone a very, very long ways for me. Although they may make more through financing incentives they know it'll be a no bull****, minimal paperwork, deal. One in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Same goes for when I purchase real estate. The cash offer with a guaranteed quick close backed up by a nice chunk of earnest money is hard for anyone to turn down.

 

[Pitbull]

rtyson, where you at in Missouri. I'm down in the Springfield area.

 

[MoJ]

Cool, another MO guy. Didn't even notice.

BTW -- Howdy Pit - hadn't seen you around in awhile.

 

[rtyson]

The Eagle may have landed

OK, the dealer indicated that he would provide me with a Toyota Certified Vehicle
6yr/100Kmi limited powertrain warranty(also 24hr roadside, so what).
You guys probably no how this song goes :
Engine Components - Timing Belt, gears Exhaust manifold, seals, gaskets.........
Manual Transmission - Clutch master cylinder, gears, shaft seals, gaskets.........
Automatic Transmission - ......... , Axle Assembly Components - .........

I viewed the components covered by the Toyota Certified Limited Powertrain
Warranty, I thought it was somewhat comprehensive.

So, I believe that my time has come. The carfax checked out OK on the vehicle as well

RtysonInMissouri possibly RtysonOutOfMisery

BlackJack/Florissant, MO to be exact.
Hey Pitbull I've seen some of your postings before, refresh me, what rig do you sport?

I currently drive a 96' Isuzu Trooper(189Kmi), had the tranny replaced, wouldn't
you no it that the damm tranny was a GM part!

 

[Pitbull]

Rtyson, I would buy it that's a good warranty and with 60K miles any problems should show up while you are under warranty. I had a 1995 LC and now have a 2004 V8 AWD 4runner. I'm sure I will get another LC some day but it may end up being battery powered.

 

[e9999]

I would look seriously into whether this certified warranty is the real deal. As mentioned above, I'm pretty sure you can only get those up to 60K.
E

 

[Pitbull]

Toyota certified warranty http://www.toyota.com/html/tcuv/warranty.html

 

[e9999]

I was wrong, the FAQ
http://www.toyota.com/html/tcuv/faq.html
says it can be up to 65K for certification (or 5 model years), not 60K. Wonder if that changed recently...
Also the warranty expires 6 years from first new use or 100K whichever is earliest.
So basically, any vehicle 6 years old is out of luck.
For a 2000 (new could be Fall 99), the typical certified warranty could expire as early as Fall 2005.
Anyway, my point is to make sure they are not saying that you will have a 6 years from now warranty if it's the other kind. Btw, the certification process is pretty much trivial stuff from what I gathered, definitely not a very serious inspection.
They may be other warranties (of course, aftermarket), but I've experienced quite a bit of misinformation from dealer on this general topic, so be careful.
E

 

[jjbodean1970]

E - the 60k limit is for Lexus Certified vehicles, 65k for Toyota. big differences in coverage, too between the Lexus and Toyota Certified plans

 

[Jim_Chow]

this is true with houses and cars. The person who beats ya down(on a deal) to the last penny will be a PITA and will never be happy. the guy that pays almost full price will be happy and send you referals.

ya you can call BS on me...........but its SO damn true.

to think paying cash makes a difference is NOT right.......dealer might sell a car for cost if he can do your financing......they can make nice money on that. F&I at a dealership can be a VERY VERY well paying job

I found that dealers will often FIRST ask how you plan to pay for it. Don't tell 'em, 'cause they are less likely to budge on the price with a cash deal. If you finance and/or buy fancy dealer installed options, they are more likely to drop the price knowing the profits will come from elsewhere. Remember, they're not in the business to lose money. One way or another, they'll make their target profit. On cash deals, if they don't make the money on the sale price and don't manage to sell you an extended warranty, their profits will end with the close of the cash deal. My father haggled on the price on a new camry all day at the dealership. He was only able to get the advertised price when he agreed to buy the alarm system for $700. I haggled at a honda dealer for a couple of hours, and they only agreed upon my price when I agreed to buy Lowjack ($800).

I guess one clue to see if the rig was maintained well is to open the radiator cap and see if the coolant is fresh red. If murky brown or green, I'd suspect whomever changed it mixed red w/ green...a recipe for disaster. Many shops/dealerships merely perform a radiator drain & fill and end up mixing red and green. Also, stick you finger in there to check for sludge in the radiator. Don't be fooled by an immaculate, steam cleaned engine. See if the brake fluid has a tan color to it. If so, it needs a flush. You might also check the air filter to see if it's been replaced. Otherwise, without service recs, there's not much you can do. Dealerships WILL spend hundreds on auto detailing, knowing the cosmetic condition of the vehicle usually makes the sale and fetches top dollar. Personally, knowing how people drive their cars (heavy on the gas, hard on the brake), I wouldn't buy any used car w/ more than 30K miles. Would rather settle for a lesser 4Runner V8 and have the peace of mind that the engine will be fed synthetic fluids from day 1.

--Jim

 

[jjbodean1970]

I guess one clue to see if the rig was maintained well is to open the radiator cap and see if the coolant is fresh red. If murky brown or green, I'd suspect whomever changed it mixed red w/ green...a recipe for disaster. Many shops/dealerships merely perform a radiator drain & fill and end up mixing red and green. Also, stick you finger in there to check for sludge in the radiator. Don't be fooled by an immaculate, steam cleaned engine. See if the brake fluid has a tan color to it. If so, it needs a flush. You might also check the air filter to see if it's been replaced. Otherwise, without service recs, there's not much you can do. Dealerships will spend hundreds on auto detailing, knowing the cosmetic condition of the vehicle usually makes the sale and fetches top dollar.

I would say this quote would be good, sound advice regarding any pre-owned vehicle you may purchase, either from a dealership OR an individual. Private sellers are known to do exactly these same things in order to make a sale and get top dollar.

 

[Pitbull]

"Would rather settle for a lesser 4Runner V8 and have the peace of mind that the engine will be fed synthetic fluids from day 1."

Lesser, who you callin Lesser?

 

[Jim_Chow]

"Would rather settle for a lesser 4Runner V8 and have the peace of mind that the engine will be fed synthetic fluids from day 1."

Lesser, who you callin Lesser?

My wife, being Japanese, has an aversion to buying used stuff while I prefer a LC or at least an offroad-capable vehicle, so the compromise will probably be a V8 4runner full-time 4wd (rather than a subaru wagon or something like that), as a new 100 is way to expensive (if we lived in Japan, we could get a new 100 TD w/ diff lock for $40K...I'd be willing to pay that for a new 100TD). In reality, we stay on the road during most of time w/ short trips on NF roads or that occasional creek crossing, so the LC is overkill, plus the runner weighs like 800 lbs less. I've only bought one used vehicle in my life ('84 Toy Xtracab 2wd pickup w/ 26K mi, 2 yrs old at that time). My theory is, if you buy when the car has < 30K mi on it, even if the PO did zero maintenance on it, it should still be in good condition. And at less than 30K mi, the PO wouldn't have to had change belts, plugs, coolant, and other stuff that, on a higher mileage vehicle, could have been done w/ non-OEM parts, done by Jiffylube w/ the cheapest parts available, or not done at all.

--Jim

 

[Pitbull]

Jim, I think you are right. I love my 4runner V8 AWD sport edition. It replaced my 95 Landcruiser. Now I don't use it for off road adventures, but it is the perfect size (about the same size/weight as my FZJ80) I get an average of 18 mpg combo on regular unleaded with 12K miles on my 2004 4runner. Personally I love it's looks, it is a more mechanical design with chrome accents in the interior versus the wood in the GX470 Lexus. If you get one make sure you get the Xreas shocks. I too wish I had the $$ for a new LC, but even if I did, I would wait at this point to see what the next generation LC looked like. I think the present 4runner is closer to the FZJ80 in concept then the current 100 series. JMHO