Terra or underground for future sale?

IMHO, once folks get a taste of the additional complexity that Turbos and Hybrids bring and need troubleshooting/repair, a comparatively simple naturally aspirated will become attractive(again). Mainly in the 4wd market.
I know which one of my 4Runners I would prefer to fix on the trail.

 

Just referring to the 4Runner only. They whored out all of the colors for the Tacoma and tundra.

 

I love how people say “retain their value” as if color ever plays any sort of a role. People will be happy to find a good condition Pro in any color. And if it’s the color they want, how much more will one be willing to pay? $500 $1000 more all things being equal? Any more than that and they’ll go with the white one from the old lady whose husband passed on.

Also, paint condition will play more of a role. It’s grasping at straws and imagining a bizarre future.

Never did Carmax pay more for a championship white type r over any other color. And that was on a very special color car. And never will one pay for that championship white because of the color, the condition of the car and paint will drive the outcome.

You gotta have two cars side by side in identical mileage and condition and two different colors and same customers in front of both cars at the same time to conclusively conclude: ok statistically speaking, Terra has commanded $500 more.

 

Terra just screams "Nissan" to me for some reason.

Bingo. ~2017-2021 Tundras are going for near their original MSRP right now with 50K+ miles on them, what with all of the quality control issues in the new gen Tundra and Consumer Reports taking it off their recommended list.

 

I'm driving a 5th gen too, but we'll be in the minority. The majority see the 4Runner name, see the new 2025 exterior styling and an interior from this decade, get a whiff of the vastly increased torque, and never look back.

 

I disagree. As a Honda Type R guy, color definitely impacts value down the road. The US CTRs aren’t old or rare enough yet to see a significant separation between colors but it’ll happen.

Carmax plugs numbers into a generic algorithm and plops out a number. For more special enthusiast cars, it’s not always an accurate value. Even for a 3rd gen 4Runner that someone would gladly pay $10K for, Carmax sees it as just another old Toyota and offers you $2.5K whether the frame is rusted or spotless.

Crystal Black Pearl and Rallye Red FK8 Type Rs could be found for MSRP or less when new without much effort. Meanwhile, Championship White and Boost Blue cars retained crazy markups till the end. These were both unique colors to the Type R at the time while others were similar to colors you could get on a regular Civic hatchback.

In the S2000 world, the same year/mileage/condition car in Berlina Black or one of the silvers currently sells for less than a Grand Prix White or Rio Yellow Pearl.

In the NA NSX market, the same year/mileage/condition NA2 NSX in black could sell for $20K+ less than a yellow one. This most likely wasn’t the case when they were newer but flashy unique colors do better long term. The Porsche guys figured that out and getting one secondhand comes with a hefty fun color tax.

4Runners aren’t rare sports cars but the Pros have somewhat entered that desirable enthusiast category since they started the limited color thing. They will have an equally strange enthusiast market maybe not 5 years from now but definitely in 10+ years when dinosaurs like these aren’t as easy to find in good, low mile condition. Similar to when I was looking at 100 series land cruisers and purple ones were always selling higher than other basic colors.

How much of a difference? Sure, maybe only a few thousand. But like with the S2000s, a few thousand as a percentage of the car’s value just due to color is a significant difference.

 

I think bringing in the NSX and its colors to the equation (or maybe even S2000) it’s like bringing a rifle to a popsicle sticks fight. They are ultra rare cars, especially in good conditions, and certain copies in certain colors were limited out of the gate.

In the case of rbe 4Runner, they’re cars that get driven hundreds of thousands of miles. And every “special pro color” most (maybe all?) end up in lower trims down the road. It happened to solar octane, lime rush and army green. Not sure if it happened to other colors as well.

Again, I do think it has an impact, but it’s Pennie’s to the dollar and hard to quantify.

if you buy it, store it, collect it, sell it with 47 miles on the odo in BAT 20 years later, I’d agree. It would command reasonably more than the same car on BAT in black. But the minute this car hits the real high road and gets sold with thousands of miles, the difference is negligible.

 

I think the passing down of the 4R Pro "special colors" the following year started with the Army Green in 2020, then Lunar Rock, Lime Rush and Solar Octane. I think it does diminish the appeal or value of the special Pro color, but it doesn't bother me. I like what I have and I plan to have it for 15 years or more! I didn't buy this vehicle or any vehicle based upon thoughts of it's resale value. It's just a vehicle of which there are many thousands to choose from!

 

I just used the NSX as another example that color does matter. Rio Yellow Pearl was also not exclusive to the NSX, it trickled down to both the ITR and S2000, yet commands a premium. The S2000 isn't even all that rare, way more were produced than even the FK8 CTR. Yet color can still impact the value by thousands of dollars on a clean car that can be found now for $25-30K.

But yes, the 4Runner as a whole is a mass produced SUV. Not sure how many Pros per year/color were made but even in a year where they sold 100K total 4Runners in the US, what percentage are Pros in a specific "exclusive" year color? Even 5-10% makes it somewhat limited for a future 4Runner buyer looking for that color Pro model.

Not saying these are collectible trucks, they are long term daily drivers. But just like the Heritage Edition FJ Cruisers and other top trim TRD Toyota truck models, trim/color definitely play a role in their long term value. Especially after they started making more limited TRD trims/colors for various truck models. For the 5th gen, the Pro should show the same pattern, with the year-specific color ones holding their value best imo. I'd bet even the currently controversial lime rush Pros will be surprisingly desirable in a decade.

In a world of infinite government money printing and easy to access debt, I don't see the trend of cars being treated as "investments" going away. Who would of thought that an early 2000s Civic Si would become "collectible"?? Or even a Land Cruiser that hauled someone's kids around for decades lol. Just my $.02.

 

Back to the OP question. They are specifically thinking about re-sale in the future - 5 years from now. If Terra was not so controversial (like if we were talking about cement, ag or lunar rock), I would say get it as the "exclusive" color. In theory it should pull more value than underground - which is not considered exclusive for 2024. However, Terra is not as bad, but it is very close to lime rush in terms of let's say "likability"/polarizing effect, so might not get as good of a result.

Also, like I said before, underground will end up being an "exclusive-for-2024" PRO color, because it is last year of the 5th gen. Meaning if you see a PRO in underground you will know it is a 2024. Same as if you see a Terra. If you see a PRO in MGM, white or black, it can be any year since when PROS started. It is a though call, but I also agree with others that in the end the difference might be negligible. The real pull will come from being a last-year-5thgen-PRO.

 

Try finding a 2002 Imola Orange NSX.

 

Just for the record, I currently own a Rio Yellow Pearl 2005 S2000, and owned a Championship White FK8, since I’m naming cars and it’s irrelevant, I also own an ND2 Miata in Machine Grey Metallic with the BBS/Recaro package. I know about special cars, and colors, etc. But also own, have owned, and have sold special cars and for the vast majority of use cases, the color gets you $500-1000 max, you’re not gonna see a dramatic resale value on a used daily, unless it’s a garage queen and 10-20 years down the road, not the typical case of 4Runner buyers. You will however, see a strong resale value of 4Runners in general regardless of color.

 

2017 Tundra selling for its original MSRP means it depreciated by 27% when inflation is taken into account. (Inflation was negligible several years ago. Now it isn't.)

 

Nope. A 2017 Tundra selling for the same dollar figure in 2024 as it did in 2017 means it has lost 27% of its value: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 

Yes, "depreciate" was a poor choice of words on my part. It's more like lost value. Depreciating $0 dollars means it has lost value equal to the cumulative inflation.

 

I am in SWFL and I am in the process of looking at upgrading my white 21 TRD ORP to a 24 Pro and was on the fence about both of these colors. I really liked Terra, a dealer had a Tundra in Terra, but damn those darker colors really bake in the Florida sun. So for me I am probably going to stay with Ice Cap White.

 

I hope you don’t work in accounting….

 

Underground

 

No. I look at the bigger picture Why do you think interest rates exist?