What's the allure of older 4Runners?

Well yeah, common sense told me there was no way the 2005 Silverado had zero complaints, which is why I looked until found the other section with 300+ complaints for just the 1500, more than any of the pre-2001 Explorers. Common sense also shows that 02-05 for the Explorer, especially 02, is an outlier.

Working at a GM dealer could lead me to believe that 07-13 AFM V8s are ticking time bombs, or that 6L80s can't make it to 100k, or that the 3.6 and 2.4 are ticking time bombs, or that every part of the cooling system will fail on every 1.4T, but I know working at a dealer can skew your view of things. As many lifters, cams, timing sets, cam actuators, and transmissions as I've sold for these vehicles, I know that ultimately I'm still seeing a small percentage, and aside from oil changes, most vehicles come in because they have a problem.

The SOHC 4.0 was never the sole engine offering in the Explorer anyway. It's interesting how in this thread all Explorers are put in the same basket as the worst possible example (2002 SOHC), but we can just gloss over the 3.0 V6 heads/head gaskets in 4Runners like it never happened.
 
The 90's and early 00's were definitely the best times for vehicles. Brand new, I would've picked a 4Runner over a Pathfinder. But on the used market, you can get a much better Pathfinder than a 4Runner in the same price range. The Pathfinders were just as reliable, rode a bit better, and a tad bit more modern than the 4Runners of the same model year. The 3.5 VQ was a legendary engine.

00's Pathfinders had a common fatal flaw IIRC, someone jog my memory.
 
A widespread defect, according to the New York Times and a class-action lawsuit, affects the 2005 to 2010 models of the Nissan Pathfinder. Coolant leaks into the transmission causing transmission failure anywhere from around 90,000 to 102,000 miles.
 
It probably has a lot to do with the fact that people bought them in droves when new. They were the best selling SUV for over a decade. The numbers destroyed in the program were a small fraction of overall sales, and being drivable and continuously registered for at least a year prior were also requirements.
Oh, people absolutely did buy them in droves. Explorers were everywhere. Along comes the cash for clunkers debacle, and the majority of the ones that were still on the road were scrapped at taxpayer expense. I can't recall the last time I saw an Explorer from that era still driving around.

4Runners on the other hand which were a small fraction of the SUVs on the road then, are still everywhere today.

I went to the grocery store today, you know, to get in on the hoarding of TP or whatever it is that is being hoarded this week... and just in the grocery store parking lot, I saw these 4Runners.

2-1st gen
3-2nd gen
4-3rd gen
8-4th gen
7-5th gen

No BOF Explorers to be seen.
 
Oh, people absolutely did buy them in droves. Explorers were everywhere. Along comes the cash for clunkers debacle, and the majority of the ones that were still on the road were scrapped at taxpayer expense. around.
Cash for clunkers was a drop in the bucket, less than a million cars total
 
Oh, people absolutely did buy them in droves. Explorers were everywhere. Along comes the cash for clunkers debacle, and the majority of the ones that were still on the road were scrapped at taxpayer expense. I can't recall the last time I saw an Explorer from that era still driving around.

4Runners on the other hand which were a small fraction of the SUVs on the road then, are still everywhere today.

I went to the grocery store today, you know, to get in on the hoarding of TP or whatever it is that is being hoarded this week... and just in the grocery store parking lot, I saw these 4Runners.

2-1st gen
3-2nd gen
4-3rd gen
8-4th gen
7-5th gen

No BOF Explorers to be seen.
Obviously 4Runners are a popular vehicle where you live...sounds like half the parking lot. I haven't seen a pre-03 4Runner in person in days at least, and not many pre-Predator face models, but BOF Explorers are all over the place. Somehow it's the ones this thread is using as the example of Explorer=bad. This place is crawling with 02-05s, you can't throw a rock without hitting one. The 2001 and older ones are less common, but I still see at least a few a day.

Predator-face 4Runner is selling like hotcakes here.
 
00's Pathfinders had a common fatal flaw IIRC, someone jog my memory.
There was a recall on some frame rust in the wheel well area which could've torn a brake line. Also there was a risk of a screw coming loose on the intake of the 3.5 VQ that could get sucked into the engine.

4Runners have their own fatal flaws too, such as the lower ball joints on a 3rd gen which could fail catastrophically.

Nissans aren't half the car as a Toyota.
Not true at all. I had a 2002 Pathfinder and now a 98 4Runner. They are both good in their own regards. The Pathfinder definitely had more power and was smoother while the 4Runner is more truck like. After 2005 however, Nissan really started going downhill.
 
Cash for clunkers was a drop in the bucket, less than a million cars total

Yes, but the majority were Explorers. The link I previously posted showed they took 6 spots in the top 10 (including the top 4 spots) for vehicles destroyed.
 
Cash for clunkers was a drop in the bucket, less than a million cars total
Yeah I remember looking at a chart of the totals a while back, and it was maybe a few thousand per year model of Explorer. They were selling way more than that in a month when new.

Rust got many in northern states. Wrecks and normal aging have probably claimed most. I mean, I literally lost a perfectly running/driving 1994 this year due to a wreck. Most of the ones on Copart are still wrecks.
 
Obviously 4Runners are a popular vehicle where you live...sounds like half the parking lot. I haven't seen a pre-03 4Runner in person in days at least, and not many pre-Predator face models, but BOF Explorers are all over the place. Somehow it's the ones this thread is using as the example of Explorer=bad. This place is crawling with 02-05s, you can't throw a rock without hitting one. The 2001 and older ones are less common, but I still see at least a few a day.

Predator-face 4Runner is selling like hotcakes here.

SUVs are popular here. Lots of other SUVs in the parking lot too. I was just curious how many 4Runners were in the lot with a quick look around. There may have been more I missed. There were a couple hundred vehicles in the lot.
 
SUVs are popular here. Lots of other SUVs in the parking lot too. I was just curious how many 4Runners were in the lot with a quick look around. There may have been more I missed. There were a couple hundred vehicles in the lot.
SUVs are popular here too, but I don't think I could find that many 4Runners at a dealer here. Maybe like 10 Predator-face ones, if I'm at a dealer. GM full size and Expeditions outnumber most things for BOF around here.

And as far as C4C, the program was targeted right at popular SUVs with bad gas mileage. You couldn't turn just anything in. Had to have bad MPG, had to be driving, had to be on the road for the previous year. I would expect the best selling SUV of the targeted era to top the list.
 
Well yeah, common sense told me there was no way the 2005 Silverado had zero complaints, which is why I looked until found the other section with 300+ complaints for just the 1500, more than any of the pre-2001 Explorers. Common sense also shows that 02-05 for the Explorer, especially 02, is an outlier.

Working at a GM dealer could lead me to believe that 07-13 AFM V8s are ticking time bombs, or that 6L80s can't make it to 100k, or that the 3.6 and 2.4 are ticking time bombs, or that every part of the cooling system will fail on every 1.4T, but I know working at a dealer can skew your view of things. As many lifters, cams, timing sets, cam actuators, and transmissions as I've sold for these vehicles, I know that ultimately I'm still seeing a small percentage, and aside from oil changes, most vehicles come in because they have a problem.

The SOHC 4.0 was never the sole engine offering in the Explorer anyway. It's interesting how in this thread all Explorers are put in the same basket as the worst possible example (2002 SOHC), but we can just gloss over the 3.0 V6 heads/head gaskets in 4Runners like it never happened
Sorry, lost this post...see reply below
 
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SUVs are popular here too, but I don't think I could find that many 4Runners at a dealer here. Maybe like 10 Predator-face ones, if I'm at a dealer. GM full size and Expeditions outnumber most things for BOF around here.

And as far as C4C, the program was targeted right at popular SUVs with bad gas mileage. You couldn't turn just anything in. Had to have bad MPG, had to be driving, had to be on the road for the previous year. I would expect the best selling SUV of the targeted era to top the list.


There would have been one more 4Runner there if we'd taken our "Predator-face" (I'm going to have to start calling it that :LOL:) 4Runner. Instead we were there in the wifes overpowered mall-crawler SUV.
 
What I also noticed was that there were a lower number of complaints on the older vehicles, probably because the information that long ago was lacking, so much less reported cases on the older model years..... so when you compare the 2005 Silverado and add together all possible models, then compare it to the same model year explorer you get a more accurate comparison. Explorers had bad transmissions for multiple model years.

Compare the same model year of a particular model to another one of the same year, then do that through several years. Like a 2002 gm truck of many different models and compare it to a 2002 explorer.
 

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There would have been one more 4Runner there if we'd taken our "Predator-face" (I'm going to have to start calling it that :LOL:) 4Runner. Instead we were there in the wifes overpowered mall-crawler SUV.
Don't get me wrong, if I could afford and had to buy a brand new SUV, it would come down to a Predator-face or the goofy new Bronco. Full sizes are just way bigger than what I need, and I just don't like the CUV things.
 
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