Walk with me through this (thinking of trading into a T4R)

Been thinking about this for a long time and I'm feeling like this year is the year. Kinda want to get into a T4R before they redesign it. Probably going for just an SR5 premium or maybe a TRD OR, not sure.

Main Tacoma pain points;
-I'm 6'0, rather large guy, seating position is awkward with manual seats and small cabin
-DCLB's huge ass turning radius is getting annoying.
-I'm at the point where I need to plan out the vehicle I drive for the next 7-8 years and while I could definitely make the Tacoma work as a family vehicle, a T4R would be be much better suited to a kid if that's the direction my wife and I go.
-Never really needed the bed (but it's been handy).

But mostly just want a 4Runner too.

First off, to those of you who own both or went from the 3rd gen to the T4R... what did you miss about the Taco? Any regrets? What does the T4R have hands down over the Taco?

What's the ideal "best value" trim? SR5?

Financial Questions:

For my number crunchers here's the situation; I have 2 years left on my lease and I for sure have equity, the only question is how much I can get a dealer to pay me for it.

2017 Tacoma TRD Sport premium, <30,000km (~18,000 miles), pretty clean, K02s all around with less than 6000 miles on them.

Buyout amount on the lease contract right now: $23500 USD. Used SR5s with way more miles are being listed for $33K all day in my area. What I'd like to get for the truck? At least $31K USD.

The problem is the lease-end buyout is a bargain - $14900. I can project to still be under 45K kilometers in two years and at that price I could make a decent chunk back on trade.

Another problem is the availability of 4Runners right now. There's wait lists and I anticipate they won't go much below MSRP if at all.

So a few questions;
1. What is the lowest I should settle on trade for my truck? I know these guys will turn around and list it for $35K but what can I reasonably insist on getting for it towards trade?
2. Am I leaving money on the table by not waiting until lease-end to buy at the residual price?
3. I am totally prepared to walk away from any raw deals since I have a pretty sweet truck already and I'm not desperate but is the current market on Toyota trucks likely to remain in a "shortage" situation for another year or more? When should I just say screw it? I mean dealers don't really haggle on T4Rs anyway right?

That's it for now I think, still trying to chew though some of this and not go and make an impulse buy.

 

** UPDATE

Came back from the dealer.

So first of all it'll be a 2-3 month waiting list as they have to order them from Japan at this point.

And they offered my 9000 above the payout amount for my truck. So I'd be getting $9k towards a new lease/buy on a 4Runner which is great.

But they won't budge on the price, straight MSRP for an SR5 or TRD OR...thoughts?

 

Not sure about dealerships in Canada but down in the states we play two or three dealers off each other. When I bought my taco I started with the Costco price at one dealership and then played that deal off another dealership to get a better price.

 

Problem is no one has any inventory so I don't know if any of them will do the extra work when there is a waiting list of buyers right now.

 

a 5 year lease?!?!

 

why not? I made out pretty good after 3 years in my Tacoma.

 

Have you looked at places like CarGurus? That's how we found ours. We have both a 3rd gen Tacoma and a 4Runner SR5. We use the Tacoma far more, however. They drive very similar, except the aforementioned turn radius. The 4Runner also has the 4.0L and 5 speed so some will say it drives better solely from the powerplant. Quite honestly, I don't really have one I prefer, but the Taco does get better MPG.