I'd appreciate your advice. We're looking to replace our sweet 5-speed '99 highlander, which was so nicely set up with supercharger, rear diff locker, bilsteins and springs. Let's just say I'm glad "WE" are replacing it and not just ME! It was a nasty wreck but trucks are replaceable, good husbands aren't!
We will continue to use our future Runner for desert and mountain off-roading, in search of great places to camp and hike. We don't deliberately rock-crawl and such, but we've put ourselves in places where we're sure glad to have the locker...and we continue to challenge ourselves on each trip out.
My question: do we really need to stick to 5-speed, or can I look for an automatic tranny? It's also my daily driver in San Diego, and my trick knee sure would appreciate an auto around town, as well as on the trail. But I don't want to sacrifice our ability to do the Rim Trail in Canyonlands someday, too!
And if you know of anyone in So. Cal looking to sell their '99 or '00 'Runner...send 'em my way!
thanks!

Sounds like an auto is for you. It is really a matter of preference. If the auto is more comfortable then it is the right choice.

An auto might be good for you since you are complaining about your knee.

Regarding going slow on the trails, it's easier to use an auto off-road than a manual. If you have a manual, depending on the difficulty of the trail it might necessitate other modifications such as lower gears in the diffs or a crawler box behind the transfer case. So the manual might require a few thousand dollars of other modifications to go as slow as you could go with an auto. So it's much more economical to get an auto anyway. You might add a transmission fluid cooler and then you're set with the auto. Compression braking when going down steep hills is still acceptable with the auto. The only disadvantage you'll see on a daily basis is the auto usually gets 1 mpg less.

I think you'll be happy with an auto especially if you got knee problems and having to deal with the daily traffic crawl..

I have two off roading worlds, my own in my 2000 auto, V6 4Runner doing mild off roading and cross country treks... and with a '67 Bronco that I helped a friend build up.. We do serious rock crawling in the Bronco and have broke more parts than I care to think about, in some part attributable to the manual tranny...

The problem with the manual is finesse either in roll backs when you didn't quite make it up a boulder or when teetering on a boulder and one little wheel spin will slip the vehicle sideways, or ever which a way, and put it down high centered on the frame or frequently the driveshaft on the edge of a boulder..

Perhaps if we had the equivalent of a dual transfer case for really low gearing this wouldn't happen, but I seen too many times an automatic come behind us and really finesse it due to never breaking the wheels loose and staying exactly on a perfect track through the obstacle..

I regularly do two foot driving with the auto even in the mild stuff, one on the accelerator and one on the brake using them simultaneously for really precise control and like it..

Ouch, there's a difficult one to replace. I shopped forever for my 2000 e-locked 5-speed 4Runner. You will find a few on Autotrader, but you should be willing to travel because most of the locked 5-speeds seem to reside here in California and a very high number of them in Colorado as well.

As others mentioned, the auto will be easier to drive off-road. Off-road is the only time I wish mine were auto; but of course the on-road driving experience is much better with the 5-speed. Keep in mind that *when* you supercharge the automatic 4Runners, you'll need to spend about $600 on the transmission valve body upgrade; something that you obviously don't need to do on the 5-speeds.

Sorry for your loss, but we look forward to seeing its replacement.

I see them out on fleabay all the time. Also check craigslist and autotrader.