I get fascinated by the darndest unicorns. Anything with inexplicably stupidly low mileage blows my mind. It has been pointed out to me by a good reader here that there are risks with buying vehicles rarely driven – seals and gaskets and assorted rubbery parts that go brittle – but I think it would not be hard to badger CarMax into replacing anything aged discovered during the purchase or initial warranty phase. If they refuse, just return the car for a refund! This 2018 Toyota 4Runner has only 676 miles as of this week. Bizarre. And it’s selling for more than a comparable 2025 4Runner. More bizarre.
The interior is pristine. As is the quaint CD player. Seat heaters in the leatherette seats. Not much else. The 4Runner showed up for 1984 as a Toyota pickup with a removable fiberglass top on the back, basically a Hilux wearing a hat. Six generations and 40-plus years later, it’s still Toyota’s go-anywhere SUV. The generation you’re looking at here, the fifth, arrived for 2010 and then stayed pretty much unchanged for fifteen years, all the way through 2024. Of personal interest, in 2003 I bought myself only my second brand-new car ever (the first being a 1980 AMC Spirit!). After much deliberation, I was down to a 2003 4Runner and a 2003 Acura MDX. I went with the MDX only because the 4Runner’s seats were narrow and every bump felt like a kidney punch. That 4Runner looked just like this SUV to me.
This 2018 4Runner’s 4.0L V6 is the same as in the 2003 4Runner I test-drove, and a 5-speed automatic stayed on long after rivals had eight or ten speeds. Toyota finally replaced the whole thing for 2025 with a turbo four-cylinder (278 hp), an optional hybrid (326 hp), an
8-speed, and the same TNGA-F platform as the new Tacoma, Tundra, and Land Cruiser.
The 2018 Toyota 4Runner SR5 Premium sold for maybe $38,515 new and is now over $4,000 more. It was bought in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, serviced once at…10 miles (probably inspection?) and vanished until now at this CarMax in Portland, Maine. Maxcare? No way. This is a pretty much new Toyota. Is it worth $43k? I’m willing to bet someone thinks so and buys it. I’ll keep you posted.
Stock No: 70218405 VIN: JTEBU5JR4J5577315
