This is our family's long-lived lax/hockey/fishing/gear-hauling beast. It's been great to us but it's now showing its age and we're letting it go cheap as a result . . . selling several thousand below blue book value to leave room for the items required to pass MD inspection.

The vehicle:
2003 Toyota Sequoia SR5 with many 'limited' upgrades, including all leather seating, heated seats, power mirrors, sunroof, grill guard and more. Updated Jensen AV system includes onboard navigation, am/fm, cd and usb, iPhone and other multimedia inputs/outs. Automatic trans with 4.7 L V8 with 4wd. 163,000 miles.

This is Toyota's flagship full-size SUV and it's served us extremely well through the years. We've owned it for more than 10 years now, with the first owner a S. MD attorney/mentor who gave our young family a good deal on it way back when. It's been religiously maintained by Toyota shop or local import experts. All electrical components work. No tears or rips in seating or headliner. Clean carfax. Seating and seat-belts for eight -- and in comfort. Front and rear a/c and heat controls. Includes Yakima powder-hound roof racks -- for two snowboards, wakeboards, four pairs of skis or nearly a dozen fishing rods.

The Good:
• New BF Goodrich tires with lifetime puncture/road hazard warranty (installed 5 mo's ago).
• New battery
• New steering rack and steering components -- and all new high-pressure power-steering lines.
• New exhaust from engine back to tailpipe in the last year -- including catalytic converter.
• Timing belt at 56k and 106k.
• Always synthetic oil changes at regular intervals

• Kelly Blue Book is more than $8000...you'll steal it for thousands less than that - I need room in my garage and driveway and don't have time to tinker with this.

The Bad:
To pass MD inspection:

Needs front brake calipers and rear pads and rotors.
Needs one rubber boot.
Needs rear shocks.

Other items unrelated to inspection:

Rear window latch is broken so you have to lower the window to open the end-gate -- we've done this repair twice previously (these are prone to failing). About $250 -- we've just lived it with it that way since it was mostly driven by our college-age son the past year.
4x4 button blinks intermittently -- been told it's the 'actuator' switch that needs cleaned and serviced. 4x4 seems to work though so we live with the blinking (or just tape over it?).
Car enjoyed a couple of operator error incidents -- once backing out of the driveway into a trailer and 'smooshed' right rear bumper and part of lens and once which mushed left rear fender. Result of these miscues is that the truck has been painted. Because these all occurred in the past year and we didn't want to run up our insurance tab with our new driver we let him attempt the repairs. Result of that effort is a bit of a bondo, Duplicolor, wet-sanding experiment. Pics don't look bad but truth is that you can see the defects in person and in the daylight -- some areas are worse than others. All are operationally meaningless but aesthetically marginal. Interior of truck is in excellent shape though and engine is immaculate. In fact, truck has clean Carfax (see pics for actual report...and save yourself $54).
Truck also has a divot in roof from loading the otherwise-excellent Yakima roof-rack, result is that the sunroof won't open all the way -- again, no harm-no foul unless you desperately need a full opening roof.

So, there you have it, warts and all -- our long-term leather-seating chariot has to find a new home -- and probably with someone who can turn a wrench or wield a paint gun (or know someone who does). Of course, if you're just using it to beat around town or the farm and don't mind the 'warts' then put some brakes and shocks on her and enjoy the inexpensive path to a great new ride.

Super low reserve, literally thousands below online blue book 'fair' condition value. We just need to make room in the driveway...but please no offers to pay with bearer-bonds or Nigerian prince sheckels (although might consider partial or compete trades for boat or jet skis).

Thanks for looking, any questions, please ask!

Auto Services in Maryland

Wiygul Automotive Clinic ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Used Car Dealers, Automobile Parts & Supplies

Address: 630 Grant St, Potomac

Phone: (703) 435-3000

Ware It`s At Custom Auto Refinishing ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service

Address: 206 Banjo Ln Ste B, Wye-Mills

Phone: (855) 407-0292

Vehicle Outfitter ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Accessories

Address: 5625 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville

Phone: (410) 744-7181

Tire World ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Parts & Supplies, Tire Dealers

Address: 5702 Industry Lane, Frederick MD, 21704, Point-Of-Rocks

Phone: (301) 698-9200

T & D Automotive Inc ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Parts & Supplies, Automobile Accessories

Address: 328 Beards Hill Rd, Fallston

Phone: (410) 297-8400

S A Best Tires Inc ★★★★★

Auto Repair & Service, Automobile Parts & Supplies, Tire Dealers

Address: 4405 Belair Rd, Kingsville

Phone: (410) 325-2077

Auto blog

Toyota vows to fix poor Camry crash test result that irked Consumer Reports

Tue, 10 Dec 2013

Many Toyota vehicles haven't been performing well in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) small overlap frontal crash test, and the Camry is one of them. The 2012 and 2013 Camry both received "Poor" ratings, IIHS' lowest rating, in the test, which spurred Consumer Reports to take the car off its "Recommended" list. In response to the low ratings in the small overlap frontal test, and in a bid to maintain its best-seller status, Toyota will make changes to the Camry to improve its IIHS safety rating and to enhance its design, The Detroit News reports.
The Camry performed well in the moderate overlap frontal, side, roof strength and head restraints and seats crash tests, receiving "Good" ratings, IIHS' highest rating, in all four tests. That was enough for IIHS to award it a Top Safety Pick rating, just not TSP+.
Bill Fay, head of Toyota's US division, reportedly says, "It's still a five-star car. It still does very well in all the IIHS tests. It did not in [the small overlap frontal crash test], and we're busy making the necessary adjustments so that we can address that."

Jay Leno goes offroading with the legendary Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart

Mon, 17 Nov 2014

Jay Leno takes a step outside of his cavernous garage for this latest video for a jaunt into the desert to get a little dirty. He meets up with off-road racing legend Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart, who has multiple Baja 500 and 1000 wins in his motorsports career, to play with a Toyota Tundra in the sand.
Unfortunately, Leno doesn't get to interview Stewart too deeply about his long history in racing, but Ironman does talk a little bit about reading the trail while speeding through the desert. In lieu of a great conversation, there is a ton of high-quality footage of the Toyota bounding through the desert.
This clip feels more like a marketing effort than the usual output from Jay Leno's Garage, but it's still great to see Stewart behind the wheel sliding a truck, just like old times. The two of them even take the truck on a somewhat humorous journey at the end of the video.

Toyota recalls 209,000 FJ Cruisers over seatbelt issue

Sat, 16 Mar 2013

Toyota has announced that it will be issuing a substantial recall of the FJ Cruiser for a problem that could cause the front seatbelt retractors to separate from the vehicle body. This recall will apply to all FJ Cruisers - from 2007 through 2013 - totaling around 209,000 units.
The problem stems from the FJ Cruiser's pillarless door opening design that has the front-occupant seatbelts attached to the rear doors. Toyota says that when the rear doors are "repeatedly and forcefully closed," the retractor could completely separate from the door frame.
While there is no information about this recall from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yet, Toyota says that there have been no accidents or injuries associated with this issue. No specific fix or recall date are given, but the official press release is posted below.

Toyota Sequoia Sr5 4x4 -super Low Reserve Family Owned Suv -$4k Below Book Value on 2040-cars

Toyota Sequoia for Sale