Faults:

Everything had been replaced by the previous owner except for the head gaskets. Timing belt, tires and etc. were done.

Two things that were wrong that the gentleman selling the car jibed us on was the battery and the starter. That was about $600 to fix.

General Comments:

The car handles nicely for an SUV, feels a tad top heavy.

The 4 wheel drive is a dream for the snowy winters here in the northeast.

I don't feel obligated to wash the truck when its dirty.

The leather seats are comfortable.

AWFUL leg room.

Average fuel economy, 13-15 around town, 20-22 on the highway.

A lot of storage in the rear.

Faults:

Blown head gasket is what is seems... reading the 100's of reviews, you can mark me down for another one biting the dust.. Calling tomorrow to see if it's on recall; oh wait, I can't because it's VETERANS DAY. If it is the head gasket, it has probably already been replaced.

Nice to know my money used from my blood, sweat, and tears while serving overseas went into this vehicle.

My fault for not checking into it I guess, or is it Toyota?

$6250 1 year ago - about $3000 grand at its best now... good job Toyota.

General Comments:

Looks great on the outside, but runs like crap!

Faults:

At around 85,000 miles, I started leaking coolant out the aluminum bypass tube. Then, all sorts of corrosion began to appear. I had it flushed several times ($125 a pop), and then ultimately got a new radiator and had everything flushed again. But the damage had been done.

Coolant electrolysis and possible engine material design defects was corroding everything in the engine. The head gasket was blown. I find out that Toyota had a very quiet head gasket "campaign" (not a recall... they didn't have to contact you I guess). I went to the dealer. It seems I missed the VIN serial # date by about a month, which is ridiculous. Toyota knew full well my car should have been part of the campaign, but it was not honored. Anyway, by using coolant additives, my car limped along for another 20,000 miles but now is dead.

I replaced engine oil frequently, but I did not use the same care for the coolant. But yet, should this have happened? I don't think so.

General Comments:

The Toyota 4Runner was a great vehicle for me until this event. Only other problem... a torn half-axle boot.

Yet I think Toyota should honor the head gasket campaign. My mechanic says that the local Toyota shop handled dozens of headgasket replacements -- and even swapped out complete engines to repair the extensive damage.

I do not know if I will buy another Toyota. At this point, my car could be a total write-off. It depends if Toyota is willing to do a trade-in, but my mechanic has advised me that the dealer will not deal with trade-ins for 1995 4Runners. I'll have to check that out personally.