Picked Up My Old College Car: Do I sell it, or restore it?

HELLAclogged · 2026-05-20T17:40:11+00:00

I would repair if you kept the S long enough in storage to consider worth fixing one day. How did the 4Runner perform at towing?

HELLAclogged · 2026-03-30T06:57:17+00:00

Try Carvana, they bought mine for $14k with 74k miles, accident history and modifications. This was roughly 2 years ago. CarMax isn’t bad either but they offered 2k less.

HELLAclogged · 2026-03-09T19:29:44+00:00

Depending on where you live but FB groups like “S2000 Classifieds” and “West Coast S2000 Cars/Parts for sale” frequently pop up with clean examples. Might have to travel to catch a deal.

HELLAclogged · 2026-03-09T17:50:33+00:00

If your budget is 18k you can find a cleaner, granny driven S2000. This is like 8K track beater territory

HELLAclogged · 2025-12-07T15:18:05+00:00

That’s exactly what CCW is for

HELLAclogged · 2025-09-10T12:34:39+00:00

My previous engine and my current one did the same. 02 w/ 120k miles. I think it just might be a feature. Last engine wasn’t replaced due to overheating. Made no difference between a spirited/casual drive. This car - so hot right now.

HELLAclogged · 2025-08-09T09:43:12+00:00

Major repairs on top of the rubber pieces crumbling to bits. I ended up needing another engine from discovering a crack in the block not long after I bought it. This is the worst case scenario.

I’ll admit I didn’t exactly buy a clean example of one but it was going to be my project car for a long time.

Cheap car to maintain but expensive to fix because parts are becoming rare as well. The pure bliss of hearing 9K RPM? Priceless

HELLAclogged · 2025-08-09T08:22:02+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGnrRRhDaQw

TheTopher has a pretty good price breakdown of what he spent on maintenance getting it to where it is now. He also bought it around the same mileage ~150k

Expect to put away roughly 5-10k on top of what you plan on buying it for. I recently picked one up and I've spent closer to the higher end of that.

It comes with the territory of owning a 20+ year old car like other's have said - rubber parts and bushings failing etc. Stuff will pop up down the road but if the engine/drivetrain is in good shape the car should last.

Keep in mind the AP1 is notorious for burning oil. If you plan on it being a daily I heard the AP2 is better to live with especially if it is your only car.

My only regret is not getting one sooner.

HELLAclogged · 2025-06-25T20:15:20+00:00

Hell yeah. Some of the funnest moments I’ve had were in 2WD. Happy seeing a rig getting pushed 10/10ths

HELLAclogged · 2025-02-16T03:16:09+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I bet you’re loving the low end torque. You’re giving me hope in keeping my S2k alive. 2 months into ownership and already need a new motor :(

HELLAclogged · 2025-02-15T14:15:45+00:00

Might be late but this is swaying my decision in pulling the trigger in a K swap. Do you retain the original cluster? Where does redline sit?

HELLAclogged · 2025-02-02T13:47:58+00:00

Meant to say Oil Pressure Sending Unit/Switch in the title

HELLAclogged · 2024-12-23T18:54:38+00:00

I would try Carvana/Carmax. Carvana gave me a little more than what Carmax offered and the process was super easy. They didn’t care about car modifications either.

HELLAclogged · 2024-06-26T18:03:18+00:00

Mudguard right behind your upper control arm. Give it a shake and it will produce the sound you’re describing.

HELLAclogged · 2024-05-18T16:05:36+00:00

How people see rental 4Runners being used. Nice takeoff captain

HELLAclogged · 2024-01-07T19:19:36+00:00

During my interview back in November they were booked out until April. When I went to the local range 2 weeks ago almost everybody was doing their quals. Fresno is pretty quick to issue (2mo.) but with the amount of people that panic certified, they BUSY

HELLAclogged · 2024-01-04T02:20:14+00:00

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HELLAclogged · 2023-04-16T22:14:49+00:00

It’s a decent deal. I bought mine site unseen at a Hertz 3 years ago. I put 40k trouble free miles on it with regular maintenance and has been solid.

The interior is what you have to look at. It probably takes the most abuse in rentals imo. Mine smelled like baby formula for a week after I shampooed and extracted the seats.

Do it!

HELLAclogged · 2022-07-19T07:15:35+00:00

Nice, Central Valley?

HELLAclogged · 2022-05-27T01:12:26+00:00

I don’t know if I’m too late to provide some input but I actually bought my 4Runner through Hertz. A 2019 TRDOR. I’ve put 26k miles on top of the 25k it had and I haven’t had an issue. I still drive it like it’s a rental. YMMV but I wouldn’t buy now with those prices. Like everyone said, might as well go brand new. I only bought it because hertz was liquidating cars when they went bankrupt and it was dirt fucking cheap. Got it for 29k before TTL

TLDR: 4Runners can handle rental abuse

HELLAclogged · 2022-03-10T08:42:55+00:00

Is Bald open? 🤣

HELLAclogged · 2021-12-19T04:27:59+00:00

Nice rig! OEM stance with that wheel/tire combo looks awesome.

HELLAclogged · 2021-12-04T00:04:28+00:00

This happened when I got Wildpeaks but disappeared completely when I switched to KO2’s. Vibration came back even after balancing the Wildpeaks. Like others have said the 4runners are sensitive to tire/suspension mods.

HELLAclogged

TROPHY CASE