Hate to admit it, but the Ranger Raptor will destroy Taco/4R TRD Pro/Trailhunter sales

Maybe this is a very recent thing, i hadnt heard of it here locally where i am.
Two months ago Toyota was at like 7.5% for anything over 48months with perfect credit. Kinda crazy that local banks and credit unions were beating them by a fair margin. I think Toyota was like 8+% for the longer terms like 72mo. They are doing their own financing, they can control the rate, they would make more money dropping the rate and selling more vehicles than they would having the rates high and not selling as many.
I think the thing was, thru 2022 and 2023 people were buying vehicles as fast as they could hit the lots. Didnt matter if a truck showed up with 6 new vehicles on it to the dealer per week, pretty much every one of them was spoken for and picked up within 2 days. Dealers across the country were bare on inventory thru late fall last year. Interest rates kept creeping higher and higher and people started buying less and less. Eventually it got where people were not buying and dealer lots started filling up. I personally think people have spent themselves broke lately and cant afford anything, every new car on the lot is $700+ a month unless you are putting money down. Folks have spent themselves to a point they dont have anyting in the bank accounts and cant afford these notes. Its crazy every time i see someone in a big money vehicle, friend just took his 2024 F250 Tremor with all the bells and whistles sticker was $96,000. He put $10,000 down and still has a $1300+ note a month. Its really crazy how much people are spending on a vehicle.

 

My Jack in action, baby towing, nothing serious

 

Yes it’s very recent, maybe a week ago. It went from like 9.5% to 4.99% on 36, 48, and 60 months, and 5.99% on 72 months. Two Toyota employees told me that I was mistaken, then after putting me on hold they were like Damn you’re right lol

 

There's a YouTuber who pulls cars with his 4Runner,
not to mention all the Jeepy wheeling that he does on the trails.150,000 miles and still running strong lol. This truck is truly the best jack of all trades

 

It is crazy how people get themselves in huge debt over cars. I just can't do it or play those keeping up with the Jones' games. If I don't have the cash I'm not getting it; especially with current interest rates and I plan to keep anything I bought till it dies so I try to make the best researched car buying decision I can.

 

What? You could get under 2% on a new car a few years ago.

 

8 pages… I guess there are a couple posts about Ranger Raptor vs Taco.

the Ford looks like a nice truck and the price is definitely attractive compared to the elevated cost of new Tacomas.

 

4Runner financial is garbage by default. I never understood why certain vehicles are brutal rates?? For some reason RAV4s and RAV4 hybrids are at a certain rate…but like 4Runners the RAV4 Prime was at a much higher garbage rate. I don’t get it. Right now I do know that Subaru has 1.9%. I think that Toyota rates are never that great, I mostly saw 4.5% on their stuff right now.

 

You guys know you don't have to finance through the dealer or manufacturer, right?

 

Somewhat related to this, my dealer would only honor their quote on the condition that I submit a signed statement that the cash for my purchase didn't come from a third-party loan.

 

When they dropped to 4.99% they went from worse than my credit union to better than them.

 

That’s scummy. Not even sure if that is legal.

 

I've seen worse. At least I got my price, and it was a true statement.

 

Long thread. Lots said... There are always examples of cars that have had minimal issues for each manufacturer but I think the law of large numbers says Toyota is head and shoulders above most. Yes, there are people who have owned Fords and not had a ton of problems and there are others who could not wait to get rid of them with the average experience being that they are not as reliable as Toyotas. Anecdotes don't equate to useful facts to rebut large trends. It's not some fluke but rather a very purposeful and strategic design philosophy and even culture. Commitment to a design and iterating on it, the amount of testing before prod, the willingness to have less flash and panache in terms of bleeding edge design in an effort to keep things functioning more reliably. If you want the coolest designs and a manufacturer that's willing to push the envelope with features and all-out specs, you go with Ford, GM or Stellantis. Those three are sort of vying for the same consumer. Biggest tires, highest lifts, most power, flashiest interiors, best on paper specs.... If you care about things working as they should, being created to a reasonable spec balancing livability and comfort with all-out performance secondary to reliability and resale value, etc you don't tend to easily cross-shop between Toyota and the domestics. I do agree that the latest pricing strategy is really really aggressive by Toyota so we will see what happens with these latest gen models from a commercial perspective, but not many will just run out and buy a Raptor instead of a Toyota.

 

Yeah! I think.

 

These are typically the same people that think since their AWD lets them get up to 70 easily in a blinding snowstorm its safe to drive just like a dry sunny day....

 

Owners manual reccomends trailer brakes for any trailer over 1500lb. I added brakes to my small cargo trailer (cant be over 2k even fully loaded) and installed a Redarc. Many folks would call that overkill but Im a lot more comfortable driving it now, its stops as if its not even back there.

 

He edited it, but it also is simply not true. My Tacoma TRD Offroad cost 32,000 in 2014. 50k is not 2x 32k. and thats over 10 years, not 4....

 

NOt, only that - you can freely refinance auto loans. I often get better deals negotiating a lower price in exchange for offering to take their crappy financing. I have my own lined up in advance with a credit union and refinance before hte first payment. Or write a check and pay it off.

Makes the paperwork at the dealer easier...

 

Yeah, that's actually the pro move.

 

It looks very attractive for the price but in the end, it is still a Ford. I have never understood why Toyota doesn't triple lock their flagship 4Runner or Taco especially now at $65k.

 

Trucks and cars are not quite double but they are not far from it
There are LOTS of things that are double
There are TONS of things that are triple
How'bout dem interest rates? 0-1% in 2020 and early 2021 and where are we now?

 

Doesn't matter to the average buyer, only we bitch and moan about reliability because we own 4Runners... literally one of the most bulletproof vehicles ever built. The Ranger Raptor will kill Taco/4R TRD OR/TH sales, period.

 

I think it will probably outsell the top trims. But, I don't think it's going to kill sales on the OR.

Unless you meant the PRO?

I'm curious how pricing is going to be adjusted over the next few years if sales suck.

 

My bad, I meant Pro

 

Even so, I'm not sure I totally agree.

I think it will pull sales from the Tacoma, but not from the 4Runner so much.

And, with the Bronco Raptor being ugly as fuck, and $90K, I don't think it will be a problem for the 4Runner, either.

 

NOPE

 

Wouldn’t touch a Ford at even half price….there is a reason they are inexpensive.

 

Where are you getting $72K?

 

Oh, yeah. The discussion earlier was that the Raptor was going to kill TRD PRO and Trail Hunter sales.

Edit: the ranger Raptor looks pretty attractive. But, the Bronco Raptor looks like a couple of Beverly Hillbillies got a hold of a Bronco and zip tied some four wheeler fender flares onto it.