hey y'all - prospective 1st time buyer, Carolinas

hey y'all - posting from Charlotte, NC area. After a lot of consideration, I'm planning on jumping in and buying my first ever 4runner. Actually, this will be the first 4x4 I've owned since 2000 so I'm looking forward to it.

I haven't quite figured out how the car buying game is played these days. Dealers don't seem to have inventory, some are jacking up prices, etc. Ugh, it's a pain.

There are 4 Toyota dealers in the Charlotte area. I sent them what I'm looking for thru toyota.com; we'll see how this works out.

I am being picky with what I want - ORP or nothing. I want blue, charcoal, or lunar rock. I am fine with any of the trim packages, but I don't want any other crap tacked on. I am not paying a couple of hundred dollars for USB ports haha.

 

Welcome from Arizona! Best of luck in your quest.

 

Welcome from SoCal. I think with the shortage of supply, you better take what you can no matter what brand you’re buying. Or you can wait until the supply catches up with the demand.

 

Welcome to the group

 

I bought my current 4Runner from Bryan Easler Toyota in Hendersonville. They sold it to me at MSRP and overall I felt like I was treated very fairly. Might be worth a little drive to see them if you dont get anywhere with the guys in Charlotte.

 

Welcome and greetings from Minnesota.

 

Welcome.

 

good choice...greetings from Memphis.

 

I live about two miles from Easler. That is where I have my service done. Decent dealership.

 

welcome. I bought my 4Runner pre-apocalypse , so supply was better but in my experience, dealerships wouldn't budge much on price. it's such a popular vehicle they didn't seem to feel the need. I bought mine (as well as every other vehicle the last 10 or so years) from a no-haggle dealership about 40 miles away. Didn't necessarily save any real coin but they treat us like rock stars and I had the satisfaction of not buying at our local Toyota dealer.

 

One consideration is dealer swaps. I got my 4runner from a dealer swap. My local dealer had a 4Runner another dealership wanted, and they swapped for the one I bought.. worked out well and didn’t have to travel! I am not sure if this happens at the larger dealerships however. I did end up paying an extra 1400 for stupid add-ons like the cargo cover, running boards, and rubber floor mats. Hopefully you are able to get what you want and don’t have to pay a ton extra!

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! Auto/truck/ suv market very screwy now, the dealership game has been "modified" presently. Approaching a dealership will vary from one dealership to another. Have fun on your quest, let the sales dept. do the work.

 

Welcome op, look at the msrp dealership thread, you'll have to put a deposit and wait, it can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Toyota is ramping up production in June

 

Update: I picked up my new truck yesterday. Looking forward to getting some mud on the tires!

 

Welcome from the center of the bourbon universe. Nice looking ORP. Any mods planned?

 

I'm going to keep it mostly stock. I will add some sliders because we are a short family and even I can use a step getting in (haha), but I want something that has offroading utility too. I am also planning on some recovery points in front and a differential breather. I think that will take care of me for a while.

I'm not into hard-core offroading or rock crawling - not yet. Maybe in a few years after the shine wears off, and probably not while I'm on the East Coast. There just don't seem to be the trails to justify it (IMO). I mean, there are challenging trails but it seems it's just for the sake of crawling over rocks. If I ever move back out west (where I was born and raised), it's a completely different ballgame.

Also, I will probably do a slide-out camping kitchen one day. That seems like exactly the kind of thing I enjoy obsessing over designing and building. I am into the overlanding car camping thing.

 

Welcome from MD

 

Beautiful truck, you’re going to love it.

 

I did the same thing. Luckily my local dealer got an allocation of exactly what I wanted. I told them I didn’t need or want any of their dealership ad ons and they removed all of the port options.

 

Let me know if you need an off-road buddy. I love getting off the beaten path and hitting some trails. Happy to show you a few around here if you have never been. Just let me know. Been wheeling my 2020 in less than 24 hours after getting the vehicle. I am near Hickory and Gastonia.

 

Definitely! I'd love to find a trail or two to get a little dirt, especially close by. I'm just south of Ballantyne in SC - not too far from Gastonia.

I am going to be a sissy with this thing for a while though. I don't want to scratch the paint just yet, and I'm not doing anything suspension or tire wise at least until these tires are done. But any trails I can do with the stock 32"s and not a lot of overgrowth and I'm down.

 

We could start with Uwharrie as there are a lot of different trails suited from easy to challenging and you can get a feel for what your rig can do. Since so many people wheel there, you won’t have to worry about overgrowth. Feel free to PM me when you want to go. It doesn’t have to be Uwharrie. We could hit up norther Georgia. I know someone I could message to hit up the trails there as well.