After lots of thinking and reading, and a bit of test driving, today I picked up a 2010 Sequoia Limited. My criteria for this search were that it have a third row, be able to tow 4k+ safely, and be reliable, with a purchase price under $25k. Discussion thread started six months ago HERE.
I found this truck as a one owner, bought, serviced, and traded in at the same Toyota dealer just a couple miles from my office. It's really clean, almost new tires, and the interior and exterior are both in great shape. It has leather, 91k miles, bucket seats in the second row, and a DVD player for the munchkins. I first test drove it about two weeks ago, and their offer on my trade (2015 Accord) was low by $1,500, but the offer price on the truck was good. I told them to do better on the trade and we might be able to work something out.
I followed up a few days later, and they came up by $300 on the trade, and dropped the price on the truck by $1,200. I figured I had nothing to lose, and even though the trade differential was right on what I was asking for when I first test drove it, I told them they still had to do better on the trade. The truck had been for sale for about 60 days, and if I lost the deal, I would be just fine--we didn't NEED to make this change, but were ready to go when the right truck at the right price came around. At this point a 2011 with similar miles popped up at another Toyota dealer 30 miles away. I went to look at it and it was not nearly as nice. But, that dealer offered me $500 more than my ideal trade number for my Accord. Huh. Went to Carmax, and their offer was the same as the second Toyota dealer.
At this point, I e-mailed this new higher amount as my required trade amount. And they did the deal. I'm super happy with the deal
In summary, the final deal had a trade differential of about $1,700 better than what I asked when I first looked at the truck. Sweet.
Other than tinting the front windows, I don't have any plans to mod or build the truck. Maybe this is more of a Buy thread than a Build thread. Though, with how excited my kids (5 and 6.5 years old) are about playing in this thing, they will probably break something and I'll get to fix it...
