First truck purchase

Going to check out a 2023 SR5 CrewMax Friday listed for $43k. Only 20k miles on it. I confirmed it’s still the original engine. With this being the first truck purchase for me, thoughts on the deal, and from what I have read in my research thus far, might be worth some “free miles” waiting until the engine comes up for replacement? Door sticker shows manufactured 2/2023. I haven’t seen it in person or driven it yet. I live 2 hours away—so just trying to get some experienced owner opinions.

 

I would 100% make sure it’s in the recall. If you have the VIN put it in here https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

Sounds like an ok deal with lower miles and really good if you get a new engine in it.

 

Run the VIN thru the NHTSA website to see if it’s under the recall - if so, you’ll get a free engine. I paid about the same for a vanilla spec sr5 4x4 in January of last year with 34k miles, so the pricing seems right. Some things I would pay attention to on the test drive / checking it out:

• Any odd noises or wind noise at speed?
• Any whining around 40, 60mph (some people have had bad differentials replaced, search in the forum for more info)
• Is the driver seat plastic cracked (idk if you care about that but could negotiate that into price maybe)?
• Any body damage or broken clips on the front bumper area?
• Does it come with two keys? (If it doesn’t, you might be able to get a free one thru Toyota if the second key was never issued)

One thing I would also try to find out is if it was a trade in or did they buy it at auction? Mine was bought at auction and turned out to be a rental in its previous life - this means the head unit is in guest mode and you can’t connect the Toyota app (gonna have my dealer try to reflash the head unit, doesn’t bother me though). I also used car edge to see if the price was right - you can search across the whole country and if you pay a small fee you can also see what you should target for negotiation. Seems like a good deal if the engine is under the recall - best of luck!

 

I think for that price, at least in my market, it should have some add on packages (leather, big screen). I would also confirm that it hasn’t had a short block replacement, not sure if that’s what you meant.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/vdp.action?listingId=404823337#listing=404823337

 

One other thing - if it has blind spot mirrors then it also has the 32 gallon gas tank. If it doesn’t, it has the 22 gallon gas tank.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

The cutoff build date for the engine recall is mid-Feb 2023, so this truck may, or may not, be included.

As said, run the VIN to make sure. If this truck is under the recall, I'd be very leery of this dealership, since they are required by law to disclose the recall status.

 

Must be too early, I read that wrong