I've seen a few of the rather rare 2nd gen 2 door 4runners, and I'm beginning to really like them....

What do you think are the pros/cons of them, compared to the 1st gen, and the 2nd gen 4 doors?

Lemmie know your thoughts...

 

pro: it's cool, looks cool and is like the Toyota version of the original Nissan Pathfinder
cons: hard to find one

 

I am under the impression that it has the same wheelbase as the 4 door, which makes me wonder if there is anything good about it other than it looks cool, seems like more of a pain in reality though, especially if you use the back. I like to store stuff in the back seat area and it is easy to access by opening the back door, with a two door you would be resetting the seatback every time and really have to lean in to get stuff in/out.

 

I think its the perfect expedition vehicle.

 

aside from the wheelbase part, i used to own a 2d Cherokee Sport. While i loved the truck the lack of two more doors wore on me. It is sold and now i have my 4r. Something to think about

 

are there any weight differences btwn the 2?

 

1st Gen the top comes off!!
nuff said.

 

No it doesn't , he's talking about the 2nd gen 4runner

 

I think he's saying

"1st [gen] the top comes off"

 

Ohhhh... Duh, I get it now. I'm a litle slow today.

 

i read it like you did...

anyway, i would never own a 2 door vehicle, but this may be the only one i could not pass on. i love the way the 2 dr 2nd gen looks.

my mom has a 98 saab 900 coupe, and its so ˟˟˟˟˟˟ annoying getting people in the back seat.

 

I've a 2 door, the wheelbase is the same as the 4 door.

Whats different about it over the 4 door? It looks less busy down the side with just one door. Theres no way my kids can open a back door by accident. Those push open windows for rear passengers. There really are huge side pockets below the window for storing lots of stuff that gets lost in there.

Why do I prefer it? Its more like my car than 'our' car

 

OOPS makes me look like a fool not to have the GEN in there.

 

So 2nd gens didn't have the child door locks on the rear doors yet?

 

Yeah, I think my 93 has them.

 

What I meant was I dont have rear doors, so theres one less thing to worry bout

 

Nice 4Runner Jackpot2! And also 3.0TD like mine

You could prepare you 4Runner like that... Typical japanese monster



Anyways... I like those clear taylights! Any ideas of where to find them?

David

 

hehe... in Japan....





lol...i have no clue...search ebay or google it... people gotta advertise so they should pop up somewhere.


The only con I really see about the 2door 2nd gen is....having people in the back would be a bit more cagelike should the truck end up in a wreck. But then again, in any large-scale wreck I guess doors wouldn't open well or at all anyhow.... so maybe it's a plus that they can't get thrown out if a door falls off? lol...

ok so maybe it's not a safety issue... but I know gettin' friends in would be a bit more of a hassle, and I would envy the 1st gens if i had the 2nd2dr because they are essentially the same in terms of use and features.

What was the deal with the "tariff" taxes or whatever? were they considered a sportscar and they added the 2 extra doors to make it a true "truck" and not a 2 door classification??

anybody know what the deal was? because i remember reading about toyota discontinuing their american and maybe global production/exports because of costs.

 

Adding two more doors would only guarantee that it NOT be designated as a truck. The original tarriffs were on cars, not trucks, and it added (If I remember right) a thousand dollars to the cost of a car. So the first year of the 4Runner (84) the vast majority of them came over with no back seats - just bare metal back there with a metal plate to make the floor flat right to the front seats. I still have one of those metal panels around somewhere... Regional Toyota import centers then had local specialty companies do interiors for them. You'll find a lot of 84s have really different interiors, unless they are SR5s. But sales were so good, even at a lot more money than the Cherokee or S10 Blazer that Toyota didn't need to keep doing that.

Tell ya how good sales were - I used to have a picture of tens of thousands of 4Runners - far as the eye could see - with no tops. Toyota totally underestimated how popular the 4Runner would be and did not have the capability ready to produce enough tops to fill the orders! If you were lucky enough to be one of the first 4Runner owners and have an Oops and smash the top - it could take a year (and WAAAY too high a price tag!) to get a top. This is one of the reasons that the 4Runner was as expensive to insure in 84-85 as a Corvette.

The 2 door second gen wouldn't qualify as a truck anyway to dodge the tariff - Toyota could only get away with that claim because the top came off, trucklike. The 2 door just went away as sales fell off - people wanted 4 doors, for the reasons state above - convenience. I would rather have the 2nd gen 2 door any day - for one simple reason - it's uncommon. Plus it just plain looks cool - it has some styling! The 4door looks exactly like 350 million other 4door SUVS - BORING!

 

Oh, and the cool thing - IN the mid 80s US Automakers (mostly Chrysler and also GM) begged the Government for protection from these cheap asian imports. Never mind that when I bought my 4Runner in 1985 the s10 Blazer and Cherokee started at $9000 and the Blazer loaded was $14,000; the Cherokee loaded was $15,000. I know because I shopped them. (I nearly bought UGH! a Cherokee.) The 4Runner started at $12,000 with no back seat, and my loaded sR5 was $18,700! And on top of that, there was more dealer profit in the American rigs than in the Toyota! (I know this stuff because my father was a Toyota dealer.)

So they got the increased tariffs. What did they do? Did they use the break to revamp their crappy cars and try to compete? No, when the imports prices went up, they raised their prices too. It would take the US Automakers another decade to wise up and realise that people pay for quality and if you want your market share you better improve your product. Do you think Chrysler gave us the K-car because it was higher quality? No, it was very cheap to produce - more profitability. Meanwhile, what did Honda, Toyota and Nissan do? They started the process of building cars in the US. Hah! Ultimately, the US Automakers hurt themselves much much more by begging for those tariffs. All they had to do was lower their profit margins a bit and capture the market, keeping the imports at bay with lower sales. Instead, they forced them to compete on equal terms. The only people who got hurt in the whole mess was the consumer. That's Big Corp America for ya!

Did you know that for a while in the 80s Toyota outsold became the 2nd largest automaker in the world? They are currently the 3rd largest.