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Hi everyone.
I thought I'd share my experience purchasing a new 2025 Toyota 4Runner Off Road Premium Hybrid (yes Hybrid), here in Ontario Canada.
Sorry if it's a long read. TLDR at bottom.
I currently drive a Rav 4, and have been since about 2017. I bought the car used and I've managed to keep this car in great condition and been overall really happy with the vehicle. I wanted something different now that I've hit middle age (midlife crisis?). I've got no kids, zero debt, married and thought a 4Runner may be a fun vehicle to own. I started hunting around for a 4Runner in early 2025 (I would probably say in late January, early February). I decided to put a deposit down on a TRD Off Road Premium (any colour), gas model at a local dealership.
I drove up to the dealership and walked right up to the closest sales guy, and did the whole small talk, chit chat and sat down to crunch the numbers with the intent to purchase. I understood that there was a $1000 dollar deposit required at this particular location, and I had no issue with that. At some point, the salesguy tried to get me to sign a credit app, and this was before any dollar amount or out the door price was given. I knew there was no negotiation on the base MSRP because of the high demand, so after some arguing about the credit app I finally got the pricing down on paper as a cash sale. I'm new to buying vehicles and this was an obvious red flag now that I think about it, and I should have just walked out right then and there to save myself the hassle.
I wanted to also provide my current Rav4 as a trade-in. The sales guy performed the inspection/walkaround for an estimate of trade-in value and they gave me a number of $8000. I thought it was pretty low to be honest, so I said I would sell it privately but would consider it when the vehicle was allocated and on the lot.
Anyhow, after some more discussion on the vehicle with available options, the dealership couldn't give me an estimated date of arrival for this order. They guessed around 6-12 months for the TRD ORP in most likely the Heritage Blue (Gas model). There was a waiting list (and a long one with people who were pre ordering mid to late last year). I finally left with my cash order paperwork, less $1000 for my deposit and the cost turned out to be about $75k with taxes for the Off Road Premium (gas model). I was happy.
A couple of months go by, and I get a call from the sales guy saying that they have a new TRD Off Road Premium in Heritage Blue coming by that Friday, and that he was offering the vehicle to me. I was pretty excited, until he sent the "revised quote" with of course a $4200+ add on ($3499 Bodygard Sharkskin - with APEX exterior - New (surface) and a $699 protection plan.). The sales guy would not budge in removing these extras. He told me that I didn't have to take this vehicle, and that I could wait for another vehicle without those options, I was confused and asked why they put those add ons on a vehicle that they get sooner, rather than the ones that come in later? Is this tactic for desperate customers? Their answer was basically they need to maximize profits - and I thought that was pretty disgusting of them. I didn't want nor need those addons. Truthfully, if they were left off the deal to begin with, I would have been more incline to purchase extras if it was on my own terms, not theirs. The sales guy brought up my trade-in value of my car and basically said that my Rav4 would have to go to some sort of "auction" because it was an older model with higher mileage and that they would find it difficult to sell. Mind you, this was the first time that I heard about this "auction" thing so if anyone has any info on that I would be interested to hear what that's all about. I argued with him and said I wanted $10k minimum for my vehcle as a trade in, he said no.
This was a discussion all by phone, and ultimately I told him I would not be paying anything over $75k and I wanted the value of my trade-in vehicle, and that I would like my refund back. I requested them to do so, but I was forced to go into the dealership to get the refund as it was done on a credit card.
That same day, I drove to the dealership, and on the way there I received another call back from him, and he counter offered with 8k as a trade in to my car, no auction. I said I would speak to him when I get to the dealership. I get there, we sit down, and I told him I want $10k and no dealership addons just how he proposed on the first cash order. He said he couldn't do it. He asked me what he did wrong to lose the sale, I told him that he changed the price on me last minute and tried to sell the vehicle out of FOMO. I walked up to the front, got my refund and left.
I was pretty bummed by that point, but quickly felt like I somehow won the lottery as I still had the money sitting in the bank that I didn't spend on a new vehicle. I knew my car would last me many more years and was still a great car.
Between April and early May I would ocassionally call dealerships around my general area and inquire about stock/availability on various 4runner models/trims, colours, etc and at this point most of the lots had TRD Sport gas trims sitting on their lot as a demo / not for sale units. So I was out of luck on that, but kept on waiting and calling around. Some dealerships were getting inventory, but often it would be out of cancellations. This is most likely due to the fact that the 4runner is super overpriced for what it is, and people just don't want to swing the cost.
I have to mention, surprisingly I ended up checking another local dealerships website as they had a new inventory ad for a TRD Off Road Premium in Heritage Blue for sale (gas version) - exactly the one I wanted. I was excited, and quickly phoned to speak to a sales guy. Happiness short lived, they were only willing to sell for $83k, no negotiations on any of the addon's. Mind you, this was 8k over MSRP, bloody ridiculous! I phoned them a second time a week or two later as the ad was still there on their website, and the second call they said they just sold it the day prior, but they had another one coming in. I asked for the price, same deal - they wouldn't budge - I hung up and gave up on that location.
This brings me to this weekend. I decided to take a drive to another Toyota dealership about an hour or so away to see what I could do about maybe just placing another order for a TRD Off-Road Premium and put a deposit down and wait it out - or maybe get a Limited Trim instead. Turns out the Limited models were not coming any time soon because of the mechanical running board manufacturing issues, so that was out of the question.
When I finally got to the dealership, I was greeted by a nice salesguy who was sitting at his desk since reception was MIA, he was just trying to get through the work day on a weekend. I gave him the run down of my recent experience with my previous attempt at ordering a 4Runner. Told him about my deposit, and failed purchase and that I didn't want to be upsold; I wanted to buy a 4runner, at MSRP, had cash and was willing to put the order in that day if they had allocation/availability. Of course, I checked the lot before walking into the front door and there was no 4runner in sight, nor did they have a display model/demo in the showroom. After some friendly back and forth, the sales guy said they had a TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid at the back of the dealership that they were hiding from an abusive irate customer from before. The customer kept coming in demanding they sell him the car, and the dealership just straight out refused because of the way they treated the staff. The sales guy was actually driving it to and from work for a bit, but it had not been purchased by anyone. There were a couple of others potentially interested but they hadn't closed on it yet. He offered for me to take a test drive, and I immediately did. I wanted a gas model, but was definitely willing to try the Hybrid to see how much trunk space was there, etc. This was the first time that I sat in and drove the TRD ORP, and I was pleasantly surprised.
We got back to the dealership after a quick 15 min drive, and I was interested in crunching some numbers. There was no back and forth, let me go talk to my manager, etc - he did a walk around for trade-in value of my Rav4, gave me exactly what I wanted for it (a bit more actually), and because it was a demo, it had some addons that were already added to the vehicle as it's mandatory to have, like 60/100,000 Platinum service, the GPS tag theft system and some tire warranty crap, but out the door after trade in value, the price was around $70k for a brand new TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid. Deal was done, and I am picking up the truck next week.
This last ditch effort of trying to get a 4runner ended up working out for me. I was about to give up and just keep driving my Rav until the wheels fell off (which would probably have been many years down the road), but now I can finally say I have a brand new vehicle (my first new one) and had a pleasant experience with this dealership, and this experience will be remembered for many years to come.
TLDR
Wanted to put down a deposit on a 4Runner TRD ORP Gas, spent 2 months waiting - was ultimately blindsided by a shitty sales rep, upsold at the last minute and got my deposit refunded. Drove to another dealership, had low expectations - and walked out the same day with a new 2025 4Runner TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid.
I thought I'd share my experience purchasing a new 2025 Toyota 4Runner Off Road Premium Hybrid (yes Hybrid), here in Ontario Canada.
Sorry if it's a long read. TLDR at bottom.
I currently drive a Rav 4, and have been since about 2017. I bought the car used and I've managed to keep this car in great condition and been overall really happy with the vehicle. I wanted something different now that I've hit middle age (midlife crisis?). I've got no kids, zero debt, married and thought a 4Runner may be a fun vehicle to own. I started hunting around for a 4Runner in early 2025 (I would probably say in late January, early February). I decided to put a deposit down on a TRD Off Road Premium (any colour), gas model at a local dealership.
I drove up to the dealership and walked right up to the closest sales guy, and did the whole small talk, chit chat and sat down to crunch the numbers with the intent to purchase. I understood that there was a $1000 dollar deposit required at this particular location, and I had no issue with that. At some point, the salesguy tried to get me to sign a credit app, and this was before any dollar amount or out the door price was given. I knew there was no negotiation on the base MSRP because of the high demand, so after some arguing about the credit app I finally got the pricing down on paper as a cash sale. I'm new to buying vehicles and this was an obvious red flag now that I think about it, and I should have just walked out right then and there to save myself the hassle.
I wanted to also provide my current Rav4 as a trade-in. The sales guy performed the inspection/walkaround for an estimate of trade-in value and they gave me a number of $8000. I thought it was pretty low to be honest, so I said I would sell it privately but would consider it when the vehicle was allocated and on the lot.
Anyhow, after some more discussion on the vehicle with available options, the dealership couldn't give me an estimated date of arrival for this order. They guessed around 6-12 months for the TRD ORP in most likely the Heritage Blue (Gas model). There was a waiting list (and a long one with people who were pre ordering mid to late last year). I finally left with my cash order paperwork, less $1000 for my deposit and the cost turned out to be about $75k with taxes for the Off Road Premium (gas model). I was happy.
A couple of months go by, and I get a call from the sales guy saying that they have a new TRD Off Road Premium in Heritage Blue coming by that Friday, and that he was offering the vehicle to me. I was pretty excited, until he sent the "revised quote" with of course a $4200+ add on ($3499 Bodygard Sharkskin - with APEX exterior - New (surface) and a $699 protection plan.). The sales guy would not budge in removing these extras. He told me that I didn't have to take this vehicle, and that I could wait for another vehicle without those options, I was confused and asked why they put those add ons on a vehicle that they get sooner, rather than the ones that come in later? Is this tactic for desperate customers? Their answer was basically they need to maximize profits - and I thought that was pretty disgusting of them. I didn't want nor need those addons. Truthfully, if they were left off the deal to begin with, I would have been more incline to purchase extras if it was on my own terms, not theirs. The sales guy brought up my trade-in value of my car and basically said that my Rav4 would have to go to some sort of "auction" because it was an older model with higher mileage and that they would find it difficult to sell. Mind you, this was the first time that I heard about this "auction" thing so if anyone has any info on that I would be interested to hear what that's all about. I argued with him and said I wanted $10k minimum for my vehcle as a trade in, he said no.
This was a discussion all by phone, and ultimately I told him I would not be paying anything over $75k and I wanted the value of my trade-in vehicle, and that I would like my refund back. I requested them to do so, but I was forced to go into the dealership to get the refund as it was done on a credit card.
That same day, I drove to the dealership, and on the way there I received another call back from him, and he counter offered with 8k as a trade in to my car, no auction. I said I would speak to him when I get to the dealership. I get there, we sit down, and I told him I want $10k and no dealership addons just how he proposed on the first cash order. He said he couldn't do it. He asked me what he did wrong to lose the sale, I told him that he changed the price on me last minute and tried to sell the vehicle out of FOMO. I walked up to the front, got my refund and left.
I was pretty bummed by that point, but quickly felt like I somehow won the lottery as I still had the money sitting in the bank that I didn't spend on a new vehicle. I knew my car would last me many more years and was still a great car.
Between April and early May I would ocassionally call dealerships around my general area and inquire about stock/availability on various 4runner models/trims, colours, etc and at this point most of the lots had TRD Sport gas trims sitting on their lot as a demo / not for sale units. So I was out of luck on that, but kept on waiting and calling around. Some dealerships were getting inventory, but often it would be out of cancellations. This is most likely due to the fact that the 4runner is super overpriced for what it is, and people just don't want to swing the cost.
I have to mention, surprisingly I ended up checking another local dealerships website as they had a new inventory ad for a TRD Off Road Premium in Heritage Blue for sale (gas version) - exactly the one I wanted. I was excited, and quickly phoned to speak to a sales guy. Happiness short lived, they were only willing to sell for $83k, no negotiations on any of the addon's. Mind you, this was 8k over MSRP, bloody ridiculous! I phoned them a second time a week or two later as the ad was still there on their website, and the second call they said they just sold it the day prior, but they had another one coming in. I asked for the price, same deal - they wouldn't budge - I hung up and gave up on that location.
This brings me to this weekend. I decided to take a drive to another Toyota dealership about an hour or so away to see what I could do about maybe just placing another order for a TRD Off-Road Premium and put a deposit down and wait it out - or maybe get a Limited Trim instead. Turns out the Limited models were not coming any time soon because of the mechanical running board manufacturing issues, so that was out of the question.
When I finally got to the dealership, I was greeted by a nice salesguy who was sitting at his desk since reception was MIA, he was just trying to get through the work day on a weekend. I gave him the run down of my recent experience with my previous attempt at ordering a 4Runner. Told him about my deposit, and failed purchase and that I didn't want to be upsold; I wanted to buy a 4runner, at MSRP, had cash and was willing to put the order in that day if they had allocation/availability. Of course, I checked the lot before walking into the front door and there was no 4runner in sight, nor did they have a display model/demo in the showroom. After some friendly back and forth, the sales guy said they had a TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid at the back of the dealership that they were hiding from an abusive irate customer from before. The customer kept coming in demanding they sell him the car, and the dealership just straight out refused because of the way they treated the staff. The sales guy was actually driving it to and from work for a bit, but it had not been purchased by anyone. There were a couple of others potentially interested but they hadn't closed on it yet. He offered for me to take a test drive, and I immediately did. I wanted a gas model, but was definitely willing to try the Hybrid to see how much trunk space was there, etc. This was the first time that I sat in and drove the TRD ORP, and I was pleasantly surprised.
We got back to the dealership after a quick 15 min drive, and I was interested in crunching some numbers. There was no back and forth, let me go talk to my manager, etc - he did a walk around for trade-in value of my Rav4, gave me exactly what I wanted for it (a bit more actually), and because it was a demo, it had some addons that were already added to the vehicle as it's mandatory to have, like 60/100,000 Platinum service, the GPS tag theft system and some tire warranty crap, but out the door after trade in value, the price was around $70k for a brand new TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid. Deal was done, and I am picking up the truck next week.
This last ditch effort of trying to get a 4runner ended up working out for me. I was about to give up and just keep driving my Rav until the wheels fell off (which would probably have been many years down the road), but now I can finally say I have a brand new vehicle (my first new one) and had a pleasant experience with this dealership, and this experience will be remembered for many years to come.
TLDR
Wanted to put down a deposit on a 4Runner TRD ORP Gas, spent 2 months waiting - was ultimately blindsided by a shitty sales rep, upsold at the last minute and got my deposit refunded. Drove to another dealership, had low expectations - and walked out the same day with a new 2025 4Runner TRD Off Road Premium Hybrid.
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