New Lumber Hauler

Vaughn McMillan

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Staff member
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ABQ NM
Ha! Who am I kidding? I've got a pickup with a lift gate...I ain't hauling no lumber in my new toy...

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It's a 2010 4Runner Limited, with the full assortment of bells and whistles. I got 13 years out of my little Lexus RX 300 SUV, but it was starting to have some electromechanical issues. (It still ran strong and drove like a dream. Most comfortable vehicle I've owned so far.) The last straw was when the Lexus started making a constant clackity-clack-grinding noise under the dash about a month ago. I'm guessing it's something to do with the climate control, but I wasn't interested in tearing out the dash to find out. This new one has more cargo space for hauling band gear, and it gives me some off-road and snow capabilities the Lexus didn't have. But i think I'll save the lumber hauling for the pickup truck. ;)
 
You can't go wrong with a Toy-san... I've got a '96 Avalon that we bought in 2000 ... It's got over 300,000 miles on it and still runs like new... only done routine maintenance until earlier this year and had to put in new CV joings... only other problem, which isn't a problem for me, but Mama wants her tunes in the car... the antenna on the radio won't go up and down when the radio is shut off... it just stays up and sounds like the gears on the servo might be stripped... radio works fine.
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to be real happy with it. I'm planning to take a day trip tomorrow to get some highway miles on it, and I'm hoping to also find some hills and dirt to play in a bit. I don't intend to do any serious off-roading with it, but I'd like to get a feel for its capabilities. This is the fifth 4x4 I've owned, and I always like to find out what their limits are.

I do plan to take good care of this one and hopefully get a lot of miles (and years) out of it. My next-door neighbor has a 4Runner with 300K miles on it and it's still running strong. (He's also a mechanic at a shop that specializes in Japanese cars, so he's maintained it well.) I've done some detective work on this one based on paperwork I found in the owner's manual, and it looks like it owned by an elderly lady in the Atlanta area. I suspect it's been driven pretty gently, and seen virtually no off-road use.

Good choice. How was your Carmax experience? Satisfied?

Suhweet! Yeah, I'd be interested in hearing about how the whole carmax thing went too.

I'm sold on CarMax. This is the second vehicle we've bought from them. There's no haggling on the price, there's no pressure to buy, and the cars are thoroughly inspected before they'll put it on the lot. They claim that only 1 in 3 cars passes their inspection. They guarantee straight frames and no rust or flood damage. You can see a vehicle history report on all of their vehicles (similar to CarFax) free on their website. They also have full service departments. Plus, they're a nationwide network, so if you see a car on their site in another town, they will transport it to your local CarMax (for a fee).

A while back we got an Acura RSX for LOML to replace the one that was wrecked by a drunk driver a couple of years ago. She loved her old RSX, and has never really liked the Honda Accord we replaced it with. Acura stopped making the RSX in 2006, and they've become very hard to find in stock condition. (They're popular among the Japanese car hotrodders.) We ended up finding one on the CarMax site and had it shipped from El Paso TX, about 4 hours away. It cost us about $100 to have it shipped, so we took a chance and tried it. The car was in great shape, and the issues we did find with it were fixed quickly with no hassle. LOML didn't like the tinted rear window, so they removed the tinting. I noticed the hood wiggled about 1/4" up and down when latched. They replaced the latch, and also the radiator mounting bracket it was attached to. I also noticed a bit of noise in the steering, and they replaced the power steering pump. All of the work was done under their 30-day warranty. (We also bought extended warranties for both vehicles. These days it doesn't take many trips to the shop to pay for a $1000 - $1200 warranty.)

Similar story with my new one. Used 4Runner Limiteds in my price/mileage range are hard to come by. I've been shopping locally, and everything was either much more than I wanted to spend or they had more miles than I was willing to start with. (4Runners hold their resale value remarkably well.) This one was in Bristol TN, and I had been watching it on their site for a while. It had everything I was looking for, but I was initially not interested in it, because it would cost me about $600 to ship it to Albuquerque. I was also watching a few others that were closer to me, but they were all higher priced (lower mileage) and they ended up selling pretty quickly. When my Lexus started making the racket under the dash, I decided to roll the dice and get this one transported to me before someone else bought it. First time I've ever paid $600 for a test drive, but based on our earlier experience with the RSX, I was pretty confident this one would be in great shape. So far, I have no regrets. :thumb:

Nice looking ride, Vaughn. I have a feeling someone else might have something to say about you hauling wood in it. :D

Nah, I don't think she cares what I end up hauling in it. She knows I got it for carrying cargo. ;) The 4Runner seems huge and intimidating to her, so she's only going to drive it if she's forced to, like when her RSX is in the shop. She's also welcome to drive my Ranger pickup, but she has no idea how to operate a 5-speed manual transmission, lol. :rofl:
 
Sounds like you had a good experience with carmax too. I've not bought from them, but sold them my 2006 chevy back in 2009 and felt like they gave me a good deal.

I was planning to search for a newer one with them, but a friend that works for Ford gave me a family/friend discount code (X-plan), which saved me a few thousand right off the bat. He gave me the name/number of his dealer that his family deals with. When I went in, with our credit ratings we qualified for 0% through Ford and I was pretty dead set when I went in to take the 0%, but the sales guy started crunching numbers and talked me into going with a little higher percentage rate (What? :eek:), however, that came with about $6,600 in additional rebates off the top, making it about $2,000 cheaper in the long run. He then said to go to the local credit union and refinance it as soon as I've got it registered with the state, they are at about 2.6% now, so should save me another $1,200 in the long run.

I hadn't thought about that approach, but glad I listened to him. He also said to skip buying the warranty for now, they would still sell them as long as I buy it before 36,000 miles and he should be able to get me a cheaper price then. The 60 month/100,000 miles starts at the time you buy the extended warranty, so if I wait to buy the warranty and don't put the miles on the truck, it should last me for about 9 years.
 
Congrats! Vaughn. That looks like a sweet ride.

I remember that pickup. I am sure you will never part with it. I was lucky enough to use it with the lift-gate on couple of occasions.
 
Originally Posted by Vaughn: "She's also welcome to drive my Ranger pickup, but she has no idea how to operate a 5-speed manual transmission."

That's what I have - a 2010 - and my wife refuses to drive it. She learned on a 'three-on-the-tree' and has had several four and five speed cars over the years, but somehow the (little) truck intimidates her.
 
Hey Vaughn,
Dianne has been hinting for a new car for a few years now... I've resisted as long as I could, but the Avalon has 307,000 + miles on her, even though she still runs almost like new. But since Dianne's more or less incapacitated with her back we need something to haul her little scooter around and I didn't want to hang a carrier on the back of the car. After reading your review of CarMax, we went shopping there and found what Dianne wanted... she's been wanting a KIA SOUL ever since they came out. It's a nice little car with enough room in the back for the scooter and she can get in and out easily, which was my most important criteria. We found a 2015 with under 6,000 miles, so it has 54,000 miles or 3 years warranty left and is in showroom condition.... only negative is the former driver (it was a company car) was a smoker... we'll get rid of the smell eventually, but meantime, lots of fabreeze and air conditioner vent gizmo's ....

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We financed through our local bank as their interest rate was a full point lower than CarMax's, but only made a difference in the payment of a little over $5.00.... Was the easiest car buying experience I've ever had... all the CarMax people were super to work with, friendly and helpful. Even suggested we do the finance through them but with a 3 day delay in filing the paperwork to give me time to finish up with my local bank. We picked it up on Sunday when my son was home to drive the truck home while I brought the KIA home. Thanks for the review and giving me idea to use CM.
 
My daughter bought her latest vehicle from CarMax. There have been some problems with it that CarMax has fixed under warranty, but she didn't check the basic things like tires, spare, battery age etc. before she signed the contract. Six months later she realizes the tires all need replacing because of dry rot and tread life. We have no experience with them, but understand that they will do some repairs and upgrades to sell you the car. This was an interesting thread on Garage Journal. The OP was complaining that the car was overpriced and the CarMax people don't negotiate, but there were some interesting observations later in the thread.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367346&highlight=carmax
 
I've decided that the 4Runner needs an alignment. It's pulling slightly to the left. Carmax has told me they'd be glad to fix that for free, as I would expect. But I've also decided that I want to replace the front shocks with a specific model from Bilstein (the 5100) that will allow me to lift the front end slightly (a bit less than an inch) to level the vehicle out. Every shop I've talked to about installing the shocks has also recommended doing an alignment afterward. The shocks that are on the vehicle now are not the factory shocks. They are fairly new non-adjustable Bilstein 4600s.

So a couple of days ago I called Carmax and asked if they would be able to install the new shocks for me (on the setting that raises the front by .85 inches), and also align the front end. Since I'd be modifying the vehicle from factory stock, I told them I'd expect to also pay for the alignment. But the Service Manager told me they wouldn't install the shocks at anything other than the default factory height, and even then, he warned that it might void the extended warranty. Well, I think he's blowing smoke about the warranty. Carmax has no idea what shocks are on it right now, so if I show up at a later date with different shocks up front, they'll have no way of knowing whether or not they were on it when I bought it. At worst, they might refuse to service the front end in the future, but I seriously doubt they're going to deny warranty coverage on other drivetrain components or electrical systems just because the front shocks are a different color than the ones in the rear. If they do, they'll have a fight on their hands.

Long story short, I'm going to find a local shop to change the shocks and align the front end, and take my chances with the warranty. ;) I may also get a new set of tires at the same time (I suspect the current wide street tires won't do very well in the snow), and there's a decent chance I can get the alignment done for a reduced price in the process.
 
...Long story short, I'm going to find a local shop to change the shocks and align the front end, and take my chances with the warranty. ;) I may also get a new set of tires at the same time (I suspect the current wide street tires won't do very well in the snow), and there's a decent chance I can get the alignment done for a reduced price in the process.

My local Ford dealer has always had the best price on tires. Maybe you oughtta check yours. :huh:

Last time I took my Subaru in for tires they (Ford dealer) had a package deal that include a 4 wheel alignment. It was only about twenty bucks more than just the tires. If I's just come in for the alignment, it would've been more like eighty bucks. On top of that, I even got a $60.00 rebate from Goodyear on the tires, and a $25.00 discount card for future services (which I used for an alignment on my Ranger).
 
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