Narrowing it down

I believe I'll go with another 4runner, 3rd generation (1996-2002). My wife drives a 4runner and it's been practically trouble-free. For a little while there I was leaning toward a 2002 or 2003 Ford Explorer, but research turned up too much risk of major shit going wrong. My father-in-law's '02 had its transmission replaced after 65,000 miles, at a cost of $3500. He claims the '03 had an improved tranny, but other reviews indicate that that year is iffy as well.
4runners, on the other hand, have very little criticism other than fuel economy, which I don't really mind since I don't drive very many miles a week anyway, and I don't give a shit about carbon footprints and all that hippie Al Gore crap.

I've found an ideal candidate, asking $3900, a good price for a '96, but it's in Raleigh, and I already have plans to go to the beach this weekend. Between haggling and trading in my Vic, I may be able to get it for 3 grand. There's a risk that it'll be snapped up before I can get there to look at it. It's in great shape except for a tear on the driver seat, but I can just cover it with a towel until I can do something about it. Interior has tan leather interior with woodgrain trim, exterior is forest green (which nearly matches my Barbour jacket). The disadvantage over the Explorer is that the radio sits lower in the console, so if I wanted to put in a DVD player, the screen would be too low for me to enjoy a movie on long drives.

The other major drawback is that, as a Japanese car, I would never be able to make it look like an "official" vehicle. No amount of antennas or lights would fool anyone into thinking it was a guvmint car-uh. I can't really explain my obsession with having an official-looking car. I have this ridiculous vision of gaining access to an otherwise restricted area or thoroughfare just by having a black American SUV with big antennas and wearing a white shirt & necktie, or parking illegally without getting ticketed or towed. I gradually found that doing such with the Vic was too much of an attention-getter from civilians and cops alike. If I were to park it illegally, with my luck a cop would show up and hang around until I returned, then give me the works about being an impersonator and all that. With a plain Ford SUV, I'd probably just be ticketed. In my fleeting moments of sanity, I know that such a need will never arise. It's time to grow the fuck up and get real, but it sure is difficult.

I have concluded that I'm an SUV man. I prefer the higher ride, commanding presence, and the ability legally to have the back windows as dark as I want them. I love tinted windows. They make any car look better and keep out both sweltering sunlight and prying eyes. An additional benefit with this car is that it generally flies under the po-po's radar. It looks too big and heavy to be speeding, and bears no resemblance to a drug dealer or gangbanger hooptie.

Oh, to have an attractive 1996-vintage vehicle, from those halcyon mid-to-late-'90s. I would have adored this vehicle when I was in high school. I'd probably put in another replica inspection sticker, possibly even my old high school parking permit, and of course some Surge bottles. Why did N.C. have to switch to those damned eyesore red-digit license plates? The blue-digit ones had been around since the early '80s. If I get this '96 4runner, I'd be stuck with red-digit plates, a blatant anachronism.