Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 4Runner has so many miles on it that if it were anything other than a Toyota you might think of it as a parts car only. Instead, it’s still in the game. We’ll have to see how game you are about its price.
Look, it’s plainly evident that we are not going to have world peace until we all come to the agreement that old school station wagons should have wood-panel siding. As a prima facia example, can we just drive yesterday’s 1979 Mercury Zephyr to the U.N. and plead our case? Come on, who’s with me?
That old Zephyr didn’t just have the necessary fake wood. No, it also came with a $2,750 asking price, and that was almost as universally appealing, garnering a solid 65 percent Nice Price win. That’s a double-header of awesome.
I have to say, TRD is a bit of an unfortunate acronym for Toyota’s performance parts division. It’s bad enough as it is, but totally prevents the company from marketing it with the catchy phrase “all that’s missing is you!”
Today’s 1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 comes with a TRD part—a bolt-in supercharger for its 3.4-litre 5VZ to be precise. That’s an Eaton twin-scroll pumper that boosts the intake pressure by 6 psi and supposedly ups the power from a stock 183 horses to a more aggressive 228. Torque gets a similar increase from the blower. These days this system costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,500 for the parts alone!
That’s not the case here as the ad claims the supercharger to have been bolted in back when the truck was merely a baby, just 55 miles new. It’s now been turning for more than 323,000 miles. That in itself is a substantial feat. Let’s see how everything else seems to have held up.
The truck presents in Natural White with a grey interior. It’s a somewhat institutional combo, but I think we’d prefer that to something more extravagant but less well kept. This one appears to be in amazing shape for its years of use and mega-miles.
The clear corner lamps and turn signals up front give it a bit of a just-off look, but that’s just personal taste. Everything else looks appreciably stock and well cared for, right down to the factory alloys which are wearing meaty 1-year-old tires of indeterminate make. The Nevada Doctor Who vanity plate is a nice touch here too, but likely doesn’t come with the truck.
The interior features cloth upholstery and, with the exception of some worn out factory floor mats, it all looks to be in excellent condition. There’s an aftermarket head unit in the dash and a good bit of shine on the steering wheel wrapper, but other than that you’ll find little to fault here.
Behind the blown six sits a four-speed automatic and that’s managed by way of a console-mounted beer tap shifter. This being a 4Runner you’d be right to expect it to be four-wheel-drive. These were available in 2WD, but geez, who’d want that?
This one has Toyota’s shift-on-the-fly 4WDemand system with a two-speed transfer case and an independent front end. The seller goes to great lengths in the ad to note that the SR5 with automatic never came with a locking rear diff and should you be looking for that ultimate in off-road ability in a 4Runner that you should look elsewhere.
For those who can give that a pass, the ad also notes a timing belt replacement at 195,000 miles and a supercharger service at 205K. Those were both over 100K ago so it’s probably time to start thinking about each one again.
That’s a possible reason for the truck being offered for sale. The seller claims in the ad that they had intended to ride this white pony to 500K but life got in the way and now an impending move has made it extraneous, changing those plans.
Would you like to be there when this 4Runner’s odometer runs over that arbitrary half-million-mile mark? If so, we’ll need to discuss that price.
This is a one-owner, clean-title truck and aside from those crazy-high miles, it shows as nicer than most. That all seems to be worth $5,500 to the seller. The question remains, will it seem like a fair deal to a buyer?
What do you think, is this supercharged and seemingly impeccably-kept 4Runner worth that $5,500 despite the miles? Or, do those two numbers just not add up?
You decide!
Sacramento, CA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOCP. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.