Used Car of the Day: 1988 Toyota 4Runner V6

by Tim Healey

Published: July 5th, 2023

used car of the day 1988 toyota 4runner v6

Today's UCOTD is a project vehicle, no doubt. That said, someone who snags this non-running 1988 Toyota 4Runner V6 could end up with a delightful off-road rig if he or she has the time and money to get it all fixed up.

As noted above, this 4Runner currently doesn't run. The odometer says it has almost 268K miles on the clock, and the seller says the engine has about 70k miles on it -- and was rebuilt less than 5K miles ago.

Here's a partial list, directly from the ad, of what this vehicle has:

TG 5" lift kit

cross-over steering

ARB lockers front and rear

5.28 Yukon gears front and rear

chromoly axles

Square Driveline

35" tires Goodyear MTR w/Kevlar. Less than a couple thousand miles on tires but Runner has been sitting.

Cobra 25LTD CB radio

JVC CD player

Rear curved window is broken out of the removable top

The asking price for this California-based rig is $5,000. Click here if this sort of thing interests you.

[Images: Seller]

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#Toyota #4Runner #Toyota4Runner #1988Toyota4Runner #UCOTD #UsedCaroftheDay #UsedCars

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

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2 of 17 comments

TheEndlessEnigma on Jul 06, 2023

I enjoy the "engine rebuilt 5k miles ago" and "it doesn't run. probably needs engine work". The only this missing from this listing is "I know what I got".

1 Reply
Alan on Jul 06, 2023

Not worth buying a flogged out 4x4. I notice no rear mud flaps. I see this in the US often. Here in Australia instant defect notice.

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Recent Comments

Wolfwagen Am I the only one who thinks that this car should be saved and resto-moded with an early 2000's VTEC? Perhaps go a little crazy and swap in the power train from an S2000?
Ger65690267 Well, the TFL guys who have a Cybertruck with even more miles have noted their tires still look fine. They drive all sorts of terrain and situations, and they haven't seen the wear, which means that guy is running his truck probably rather hard more than he cares to admit.
SCE to AUX "EVs tend to chew through tires in a way that surprises many new owners". That hasn't been my experience. My EV has 210 ft-lbs of torque on 16-inch tires, 3100 lbs curb weight. Tire life has been just like a gas car, which varies according to driving habits. So I agree with the "big surprise" headline.
1995 SC Led me down a rabbit hole to see what the OEM tires were. I was curious if they were using some sort of ultra high. performance summer tire (didn't seem to be). However it does look like you need that specific sidewall design or part of the wheel cover won't fit. Not a "feature" I'd want.
Cprescott I used to love spy shots when cars changed so often. No point now in even paying attention to them since cars barely exist and the lard butt CUV/SUV's clog up our roads