Hello from Wa St

Hi all,

Name is Sean and my friends call me Marchy. I'm currently waiting on a 21 4Runner Venture to arrive at port, current ETA is around march 16th/17th. I've always admired the 4Runner for its simplistic ruggedness and reliability. I got a second dog back in January and my 91 single cab toyota pick-up was just getting a bit too tight for me and 2 60+lbs of labs. I always like sharing a bit of my car history in these intro thread so here's the list and I'll try and find pictures for some of the old ones.

1. 1991 Nissan 240sx: bought this car just out of highschool and I loved it, drove it for a few years in ottawa and really learned how to control a rwd vehicle thanks to my winters with this car. I will always have a special place in my heart for this car. Sadly, rust and a giant pothole claimed this car as the frame cracked and was no longer safe to drive.

2. 1992 Ford Exploder: I inherited this from my grandfather and it lived up to its name. needed a new transmission within months of owning, and since the 4x4 was electronic and didn't work, eventually the front diff failed, which caused serious front suspension damage while I was driving down the road and nearly died as the truck snap steered itself towards a big ditch and I barely navigated it in and out of said ditch. was a hell of a ride and being a broke ass college student, I sold the truck for parts and rode public transportation for a while.

3. 08 ford focus: first new car, my wife at the time owned a old corolla that overheated and died and we needed something cheap. Ford was hurting and we got this car for pennies (msrp of 19, paid 13). It was not what I'd call a great car, it wasn't pretty and it wasn't fun to drive. but it was dead reliable, fuel efficient and it served us well for 5 years and 80k miles. Sold it to a college kid for their first car and is still rolling around town today.

4. 1999 Ford Ranger: since the wife had a car, I needed something to get me to hockey and so we could do some camping. Simple truck, body was beat up but mechanically it was it good condition. Had it for a couple of years and sold it for more than I paid for it a few years later.



5. 2008 Mazdaspeed 3: So I always warned my then wife that one day I would just show up with a fun car. She always thought it was a joke until she came home from work one day and saw this car in our spot. "you didn't just buy this?" Now the dealer had let me take it home for a 24 hour test drive to convince her, and after a ride in the car, she was sold. We put 28k miles on the car that first year, took it on an epic 5000 mile road trip a week after buying it and to this day is one of my favorite cars I've ever owned. Unfortunately, I hit black ice one day and put the car into a ditch, insurance totaled it out and while I wanted to fix it, I had just replaced a turbo and was worried about the typical ZZB with these DISI engines.



6. 2013 BRZ: So with the speed gone, I needed something new and the brz/frs caught my eye because it was a fantastic callback to a simpler time, light weight, low power, great handling, it really reminded me of my old 240 but with modern tech. It was also very moddable, and while I'd been able to keep the mod bug at bay with my previous vehicles, I went all in with this car. It was an amazing car, and is truly a drivers car. It took 50k very hard miles, 30k of them tuned with a engine back exhaust, and just about every other mod you can bolt on without going FI.



7. 2008 Forester XT (the unicorn): While the BRZ was great, it wasn't the most practical and I'd always had an eye for a very unique vehicle, a forester xt, in a manual and world rally blue. Well one random lunch break on CL, I found one local to me. My wife at the time was needing something newer to replace the 03 Mazda Protege 5 that we replaced her focus with. So we got this for her, and I used the P5 as my daily since the BRZ was set up for auto-x and fun drives vs daily use. Eventually we split, she kept the P5 and I kept the matching Bluebarues. I then had to mod it, so I added a downpipe, intake and custom tune. It was a good car until it did what all EJ25 do, and ate the rings on two cylinders around 80k miles (we got it at 50ish). So it was time to part ways with my subies.





8. 2017 Golf R (currently own): So with the XT dying and sold, and the brz not being the most practical car, I needed something more suited to my needs. Needed to be fun, quick, but practical and I wanted a manual. I missed the days of my speed3 and always loved my buddies golfs. The R fit the bill to a T and its been a dream. Spent the first year stock and after that it was time to go ham. It's got everything done to it short of going big turbo and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I felt bad about not driving it much this past year, so I took it on an epic trip around montana, hit up Glacier, Yellowstone and a few other spots. Though, it did leave me yearning for something a bit more offroad capable to explore even more of these amazing parks.





9. 1991 Toyota pickup: While I love my golf, its low ground clearance made it challenging to impossible to reach trail heads I was wanting to explore with my pup. I'd always wanted a toyota Hilux after watching one not die on top gear. Again, lunch time CL perusing found me this amazing example that wasn't priced to the moon and it was perfect, OG 22re, manual, 4x4 and basically 2nd owner (son bought it from his father). This truck exceeded all my expectations, great to drive even with its age and miles (220k when I purchased) and I've driven it for the past 2 years with this last covid year it acting more as my daily than my actual daily as the golf basically stayed in the garage. This truck got me and my pup everywhere and anywhere ... I was truly sad to see the new owner from Cali drive it away last wednesday because I know I may never find one as nice as this one again.





The new dog wanted to learn how to drive


10. 2012 Boss 302 laguna seca: This car was not a planned purchase. My father bought this new and after putting 8k miles on the first summer, parked it in his garage and only put another 1200 miles on it over the next 8 years. He gave me a screaming deal as he didn't want to bring it with him on his move and I figured I'd get it sorted out, install the Laguna Seca track parts and finally use it for what it was made to do. It's a cool car, but I realized that I'm just not a mustang guy and this car just isn't for me.



11. 2021 Toyota 4Runner Venture: Pics coming soon!

 

thanks Bob! they sure are adorable and I'm hoping they love the extra space the 4Runner will afford them haha. (I know I will)

 

Welcome to the forum, that’s quite the intro. The dogs look like they are ready to roll, they are going to love the back window.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! You're livin' the dream! Keep it going. P.S.- Pet your doggies for me!

 

Welcome from Arizona. That's quite a car history!

 

Welcome from CA. Wow, yeah that’s a lot of vehicles you’ve gone through.

 

Thanks all, I do get a bit of car ADD from my father who would get a new truck every 2 or 3 years and typically a new stang in between the trucks. I think in the 15 years he was living in WA, he bought and traded over 40 vehicles with Bickford Ford. My wallet can't afford that kind of game and I'm excited to finally have a 1-2 punch that won't need replacing anytime soon. I just got an update and my truck should be showing up around the 17th and will be ready this week for sure. I am excited

 

Welcome to a great forum

 

Welcome from FL.

 

Welcome from northern NY. Great looking pups

 

Well, today was the big day!! Picked it up and traded in the Boss. It was hilarious watching every single salesman try to convince the used car manager to let them drive it. I couldn't be happier with how the color looks in person and with the truck overall. excited for our adventures and some light modding

 

first of the real mods arrived

 

nice rides....welcome to the forum....woof !