Imagine having a car that can do literally everything you want.
You want a car that’s a car, but also it’s a truck. (HOW DO YOU KNOW?) Do you want something that can go over anything but also something that’s comfortable for thousand-mile cross-country road trips? Of course, it’s got to be reliable but also it needs to have plenty of power to merge onto the freeway.
I give you the 2004 Toyota Sequoia.
Maybe you have a bunch of kids that you need to transport, or just a bunch of friends. In any case, you’ll need seven seats and a payload sufficient enough to move those people around safely. And what about a raft? Do you need to tow a raft? Is that something that you’d like to do? Do you want to put gear for seven people on the roof and tow two fully loaded rafts down to the river for a 10-day river trip? Yep, the Toyota Sequoia can do all of this.
So, just buy a Toyota Sequoia and stop messing around in the used car market. I did it, and it’s been great.
Gas mileage
The only downside, in my opinion, is the gas mileage this vehicle gets—so I’ll start here. Normally, I average around 16 or 17 miles per gallon, but maybe closer to 19 on the highway. However, that’s with all-terrain 32-inch tires and a little bit of a leadfoot on my part. It’s not crazy to think you could get 20 miles per gallon on the highway with highway tires, but if you get highway tires why did you get a truck.
Highway driving
Imagine if you took a Lexus LS400 and combined it with a Ford F150 and then made a car out of it. That’s basically what this car is like to drive on the highway. It’s smooth, fast, capable, and quiet best of all. It rolls a little bit on hard corners, and can lose traction at a certain level of grip, but it’s such smooth ride, so just drive slow!
Off-road capability
So, I’m not a serious “offroader”, but I have taken this truck up some sketchy trails and it performs really well. I’ve taken it to Moab, snowy mountain trails in Colorado, and up hunting trails in western Colorado when the roads are all but washed out and completely muddy. All you do is reach down and press the four-wheel-drive button, and you’re good. No more jumping out and going around to the front two wheels and making sure your hubs are locked and then getting back in and switching the differential lock from open to closed… None of that shit anymore. Even more, there are outlets all over this thing, so if you need to air down for off-road driving, you can do that from any corner of the vehicle. I know it seems like an I’m introducing a new car but mine is 20 years old, has 220,000 miles on it, and is still running like a champ.
Running cost
So, as I said this is a 20-year-old car so there are going to be some running costs. I track all my automotive expenses with receipts and an app called Truebill. It seems like the average running cost per month is $300-$350, and that includes my $130 a month insurance bill, gas, and everything else. If you’re commuting in this car, just don’t, but if you are — you’re going to be spending a lot more money on gas… Something around $304 a month only on gas. As far as maintenance costs go, it seems like every year I’m spending $1,000 to $2,000 to keep it running, but I do everything and I make sure it’s done by a qualified mechanic and make sure it’s done well.
I figure, so long as I’m not buying a brand new car I’m basically making money.
These numbers come from CarEdge.com, click here for a more detailed breakdown of Toyota Sequoia depreciation.
A brand new sequoia will depreciate to around $21k 10 years, assuming about 12,000 miles are driven per year. Compare that to a similar Volkswagen Atlas, which will cost a measly $12k theoretically after 10 years under the same driving conditions. I feel I need to defend this pairing: 1.) Similar starting prices 2.) More upscale than base model 3.) pretty well appointed 4.)Seats the same amount of people, 5.) used for similar buying groups. Don’t agree? Let me know down below.
This is from CarEdge.com, click here for more info.
While you’ll be spending more in gas with the Sequoia, you’ll also be spending less to maintain the vehicle. So, if it’s your second car, you don’t have to look at it in the driveway and think “That thing is just hemorrhaging money as it sits.” Instead, you’ll say:
Gosh dayumit, we best be takin some ventures in the ‘ol girl
Brand new Sequoia cost breakdown
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Brand new Sequoia cost breakdown 〰️
Resale value
So, this is going to be a depreciating asset just like all cars out there, but in my estimation, the Toyota Sequoia depreciates far slower than almost any other car out there. You’re going to be losing money driving this car, but you’d be doing that with every car in this one will let you do all of the outdoorsy fun things that you want to do anyway. The great thing is that first-gen Sequoias are reaching the point where they are going to be considered “vintage”, or “cool”. This means they are actually going to go UP in value! Hold fast boys, we may make some money after all.
Believe it. Here are some examples (4/21/22)
14 Grand for a 224k mile truck? You’re crazy
It’s a 15-21 year-old car that still holds 30% of it’s original MSRP. Toyota fever is crazy in Colorado, but anywhere in the country you’ll get similar numbers.
Camping
This is the best camping car. OK, I’m biased, but still. I’m 5 foot 11 and I can stretch out completely without taking out the middle row of seats. Just trundle them forward, set out your sleeping pads and then you and another person can stretch out completely in the back of the car and have plenty of headroom. If you’re going solo, you’ve got plenty of space on one side of the car to put your cooler your camping gear, whatever food you decided to bring along with a snowboard on top or skis, and then throw a surfboard on the roof—you get the picture. There are outlets all over the vehicle, so if you want to hook up a lamp or charger device or plug in a heater or something like that, you can do that with this vehicle and you don’t need to go get a $10,000+ overland build put together for you.
This is the best camping car.
It’s basically a Land Cruiser
Yes, you guessed it. This is basically a land cruiser because it shares an engine with the venerable Land Cruiser, shares a lot of the running gear, and a lot of the components are taken directly from the Land Cruiser line. I know I’m going to piss off a lot of Land Cruiser enthusiasts here, but if you want to Land Cruiser but just don’t wanna pay 20 $30,000 for one, then just get a Sequoia.
The benefit here is that you can keep the Sequoia in rear-wheel drive for most of the driving so you can save gas and get more power to the ground if you are towing something heavy. Then, switch easily to 4wd so you can get out of a tight spot, or hit some dusty trails. Yes, you won’t have front and rear locking diffs like the Land Cruiser, but for 99.9% of the driving you’ll do, you don’t need those parts. Furthermore, you can get locking differentials for the Sequoia from our friends over here.
Thanks for reading, cheers y’all
Al
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