Hello everyone, after lots of resource I decided I wanted a 2003-2006 montero limited, Thanks to all the folks that have shared their thoughts and have given their input.
Then the fun part began, finding one with low miles and in good condition with a good service record, here is where being patient pays off, it took me 3 months to find this one.
I used car gurus, ISEECARS, Carsforsale, cars.com and craigslist, finally I was down to 5 that looked good on paper so I ponied up and paid the 50 bucks for a carfax that left me with 2 options, one in Nebraska and the one in NC.
Nebraska didn't answer the phone so I called NC, they answered the phone and have been great to deal with, their listing didn't have actual pics or mileage listed.
The salesperson sent me these with in the hour
The interior was in good condition also, the carfax report showed that this one had been well maintained, so I made arrangments to do a fly and drive, my trip was from Columbia,MO to Farmville,NC.
Flew out of St.Louis to Charlotte from Charlotte to Greenville and the dealer picked me up at the Greenville airport, after a test drive........This was the first time I actually test drove a Montero Limited........but I was impressed. After some negotiating the Montero was mine :elkgrin: and then began the long trip back home.
The first tank full it averaged 21 mpg the 2nd tank it averaged 23 had it set on cruise a lot, didn't want to push the new baby to hard and I had plenty of time to get back to Columbia, first thing i did to it was change the oil and filter, 2 days after arriving home I was back on the road headed to Metropolis,IL that was another 500 plus mile round trip.
Now it was time to really clean it up, the previous owner had what looked like spilled some coffee on the center console that got down into the gear shift area
Lots of elbow grease but in the end it was worth it
will update the thread as time allows, a teaser, baby got new shoes yesterday :elkgrin:
Then the fun part began, finding one with low miles and in good condition with a good service record, here is where being patient pays off, it took me 3 months to find this one.
I used car gurus, ISEECARS, Carsforsale, cars.com and craigslist, finally I was down to 5 that looked good on paper so I ponied up and paid the 50 bucks for a carfax that left me with 2 options, one in Nebraska and the one in NC.
Nebraska didn't answer the phone so I called NC, they answered the phone and have been great to deal with, their listing didn't have actual pics or mileage listed.
The salesperson sent me these with in the hour
The interior was in good condition also, the carfax report showed that this one had been well maintained, so I made arrangments to do a fly and drive, my trip was from Columbia,MO to Farmville,NC.
Flew out of St.Louis to Charlotte from Charlotte to Greenville and the dealer picked me up at the Greenville airport, after a test drive........This was the first time I actually test drove a Montero Limited........but I was impressed. After some negotiating the Montero was mine :elkgrin: and then began the long trip back home.
The first tank full it averaged 21 mpg the 2nd tank it averaged 23 had it set on cruise a lot, didn't want to push the new baby to hard and I had plenty of time to get back to Columbia, first thing i did to it was change the oil and filter, 2 days after arriving home I was back on the road headed to Metropolis,IL that was another 500 plus mile round trip.
Now it was time to really clean it up, the previous owner had what looked like spilled some coffee on the center console that got down into the gear shift area
Lots of elbow grease but in the end it was worth it
will update the thread as time allows, a teaser, baby got new shoes yesterday :elkgrin:
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