My Journey for a new 6th gen Platinum

[Nodak]

so i am going to document my journey for buying my 6th gen 4Runner Platinum.

1. the initial allocation reserve request was initiated back on 13-dec-2024 and doing the associated dealer paperwork. the only good/bad part (depends on how you look at it) is that the deposit is non-refundable unless they cannot fulfill the allocation reserve request within 4 months. not really an issue since they will guarantee invoice pricing at time of sale. plus i dont just arbitrarily go and deposit and buy a new vehicle unless i really need/want to, so in my mind its a mute point on the non-refundable deposit. i am already committed to buy the vehicle, might as well get the benefits of doing this at invoice.

as part of the non-refundable deposit i get a letter stating i get invoice for when the vehicle comes in as shown below

2. they let me decide with FIO and PIO that i want on my vehicle at the same time i do the paperwork above (there is more pages of stuff i signed but its not needed to be shown). originally i only want, all season floor liners (option code 63), mudguards (option code MF), paint protection film (option code 3P), dark chrome front emblem (option code 2L), power running boards (option code KG).

3. today (21-aug-25) toyota finally picked up my allocation reserve request to be fulfilled. left work early (need to burn off some use or lose leave anyway) and went down to my dealer and updated my PIO options (FIO options pretty much are locked in, so no point in trying to redo them since i really didnt want the tailgate led lights from the factory, but i didnt want to fight it and have to be put back into the que for when another blue 4R plat would be built and then get allocated to my dealer)

4. i updated my PIO options from #2 and added, connected services 2 additional years (option code 1Y), rear cargo lamps (option code 43)

5. now that toyota has finally picked my allocation reserve request to be fulfilled, i can now see a pipeline status of my vehicle, see attached pics. surprisingly, the projected build date is tomorrow 22-aug-25. if that holds true, it will take roughly 3 days to load that vehicle onto a RORO from japan and then roughly 4 weeks sailing to get to the portland port. once it lands there, it will take x many days to install all the PIO items. after that it will be loaded to a railcar for transport to a regional port/railcar unload location for transport via a 3rd party trucking company to my dealer. most likely it will be the same location as our 23 tundra platinum over somewhere in MN or IL i think. it took roughly 1-2 days to transport from the railcar unload to dealer delivery.

i will update this post and/or add more info as i get more pertinent info to post.

anyway on to the pics you are wanting to see ... (btw the penciled number is the invoice price/final price after everything of the vehicle with the new added PIO stuff and the cost of the vehicle i will be paying, just have to work the trade in deal since the vehicle price is locked anyway)

so i save roughly $4700 from the msrp of $67,843 down to $63,114 (for those that are skeptical, i added the info and pics from our 23 tundra deal that was done the same way as my current 4R deal at the end of this post.

for those that are skeptical of the dealers intend, here is the same deal i got with them when we bought our 23 tundra platinum

window sticker price and the actual dealer paperwork showing the invoice price of the tundra. its was msrp of $67,782 and actual sale price was $62,758

update 2025-10-13 bill of sale showing invoice pricing and trade in amount vs window sticker.

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[Nodak]

i will update this post as needed to help everyone see the process and what happens during the build, transport, dealer delivery process. i have already outlined this process in the sticky thread with my info incorporated into someone else's post.

https://www.4runner6g.com/forum/threads/2025-4runner-ordering-and-allocations-explained.1233/


23-aug-2025 update :

went by the dealer today and talked with one of the sales manager (they know me pretty well since this will by our 21st toyota from them between me, wife, daughter, son.

new status is that the 4R was built on 22-aug-25. here is an updated pipeline status with an estimate of between 5-oct and 29-oct delivery to dealer (just be mindful, the estimate are very very conservative).

should only take 1-2 weeks (typical is 1 week, depends on how long it take to fill a RORO for depart) to load onto a RORO transport ship, 2-3 weeks ship travel time (weather dependent, typical is 2 weeks), port processing is usually 1-3 weeks (typical is 2 weeks depending on PIO options and parts delay), railcar transport from portland port to a regional port railhead is usually 1-2 weeks (typically 2 weeks for me since the railhead is right on the border of the west region port, portland. otherwise it goes to newark on the east coast). then its usually 1-2 weeks truck transport from railhead to dealer (usually 1-3 days time frame unless they dont have a full carrier, then they wait until it is full to transport to the same or multiple dealers within the area. our 23 tundra took 1 day transport).

that will put us roughly around beginning of october for pickup (guessing 1st or 2nd week of october).

attached it the updated pipeline status printout ...

 

[Nodak]

its loaded on a ship now, Sakura Leader, expected to land in portland oregon port on 14-15 september. added ship status also

so when this ship lands in portland oregon at the toyota logistics port you can see a pic below. as you can see this port is fairly large at around 100 acres based on roughly 4500 ft long by 1000 ft wide.

as you can see in this picture below, the big white building is actually where they install the PIO options on a vehicle. the first circle is the actual loading ramps onto a 2 level rail car carrier. its adjustable up and down to accommodate which level you want to load. once they are loaded then a train comes in from the rail head (circle 3) and they move them thru (circle 1) to attach them to a train engine. after that they head off to different regional unloading ports to transfer the vehicle from the rail car to a freight truck that serves within a 1 state boundary area.

in my case mine should be delivered to lordstown, ohio regional port as seen below, then freight trucked to my dealer in ND, should take roughly 2-3 days by semi to get to the dealer.

this is a huge guess since i am basing this off the process my 23 tundra went thru. it could be totally different coming from portland vs texas. i will update if i get any conflicting data on which regional port it unloads from the railcar.

and in case you are wondering, that is why the date to dealer is so conservative.

also google link to the same location

https://www.google.com/maps/search/lordstown+rail/@41.1765744,-80.8752556,786m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

update 2025-09-16

well she finally made it to portland toyota logisitcs berth location. she is now in the process of turning around to get the vehicle unload platform lined up to the pier with help from a 142t tug boat columbia and a 325t tug boat willamette.

it only took about 12-14 hrs to go from arrival outside the channel entrance to the pier mooring. with about 3-4 hrs of just sitting at the mouth of the channel and then the slow creep down to the pier mooring spot. the original projection was to be moored by 10 am local time on the 15-sep-25 but as we can see she finally arrived at 11:30 pm. right now its 1/2 way to delivery. now the timeline is very volatile since installing the PIO items, loading to a railcar, then rail transport can be so variable. on our tundra it was put into QC hold for 2 months during the middle of transport. so take all dates outside of the actual truck transport to dealer as a grain of salt so to speak.

 

[Nodak]

stealing my previous post to give better detail tracking and the process.

update 2025-09-25 : finally on a rail car. transport to regional rail head, daytons bluff, mn. (its about a 10 hr drive)

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Dayton's+Bluff+toyota+logistics/@44.9423577,-93.0462267,439m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkyMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

same location they dropped it off for my 23 tundra. only took 1 day truck transport.

update 2025-09-30

update 2025-10-03

i went up to the dealer today to get an update, pipeline status hows it is now at dayton's bluff, mn as of 11 am today, which is the unload location for ground transport to the dealer.

now i just have to wait for the truck to get loaded with enough vehicles for them to actually leave and deliver vehicles.

also if you want to see my actual costs here is the invoice prices vs the msrp prices.

they are selling it to me for $63,114 and they evaluated my trade at $19,000. $500 more than i thought.

so waiting for 10 months saved me $4,729 off MSRP.

update 2025-10-06

looks like it finally got unloaded from the railcar, just waiting now for ground transport to dealer

update 2025-10-09

this will be my last dealer daily update. looks like today or tomorrow truck transport (it changed from 10-6 to 10-10 status to 10-9 to 10-10 status

update 2025-10-12


finally arrived at the dealer this afternoon, sometime between 2-5 pm today.

 

[Ahmad310]

Interesting to see differences between ours being so close to each other build date wise. Mine was built on 8/19, due to be on ship today and estimated dates for it to arrive at dealer are 9/26-10/18

 

[Nodak]

Interesting to see differences between ours being so close to each other build date wise. Mine was built on 8/19, due to be on ship today and estimated dates for it to arrive at dealer are 9/26-10/18

mine isnt suppose to ship out until 3-sep-25. i imagine its due to waiting for a ship to come back, doing port maintenance before sailing off again with a new load. plus probably waiting for vehicles to be built to be loaded for usa bound. not too many toyota's are being built in japan to be shipped to usa

lexus sales in usa in 2024 was 380k

only stat i can find for toyota in usa is a combined toyota lexus number of 2,332,623 for 2024

and i imagine most of those toyota sales are from usa production not japan.

not too many toyota models are built in japan anymore. 4Runner, Land Cruiser, GR86, GR Corolla, Corolla Hatchback, BZ4x, RAV4 Plug In, Prius, Crown, thats all i can think of off the top of my head.

most of the lexus models are from japan with a very small nich amount in usa i think.

and toyota doesnt have too many RORO bound for usa to keep a steady flow of ships enroute or coming back. so vehicles can pile up quite a bit on the loading area before they can load a RORO to send off not to just usa but worldwide.

i mean if you look at the holding lot for toyota to load to a RORO, its ungodly huge.

i put a scale bar to give an idea how big it is, this it the famous tahara plant

 

[Nodak]

just noticed, they put up big windmills in the holding zone now. they were not there a few years ago.

 

[Nodak]

updated previous post with shipping status as of 4-sep-2025

https://www.4runner6g.com/forum/threads/my-journey-for-a-new-6th-gen-platinum.5917/post-75381

 

[Nodak]

Interesting to see differences between ours being so close to each other build date wise. Mine was built on 8/19, due to be on ship today and estimated dates for it to arrive at dealer are 9/26-10/18

did you ever get a pipeline status of what ship and estimated port arrival?

 

[Ahmad310]

did you ever get a pipeline status of what ship and estimated port arrival?

Yes mine is on "Poseidon Highway" headed toward Panama Canal now, per the status report estimated arrival in Port (Newark i believe?) is 9/20. Estimated Processing 9/25 and Arrival to dealer 9/26-10/16.

 

[Nodak]

Yes mine is on "Poseidon Highway" headed toward Panama Canal now, per the status report estimated arrival in Port (Newark i believe?) is 9/20. Estimated Processing 9/25 and Arrival to dealer 9/26-10/16.

ah, so technically i should get mine before you since mine arrives 5 days earlier to port.

 

[Nodak]

Yes mine is on "Poseidon Highway" headed toward Panama Canal now, per the status report estimated arrival in Port (Newark i believe?) is 9/20. Estimated Processing 9/25 and Arrival to dealer 9/26-10/16.

shows 7 days out from panama canal

 

[Ahmad310]

ah, so technically i should get mine before you since mine arrives 5 days earlier to port.

Yeah, you would think so! I have no idea how accurate their projected dates are, the dates on the ship tracking site I'm using show it arriving to port a few days earlier than Toyota says so we will see what actually happens. I'll start getting excited when it gets off the boat haha! Mine is being delivered to West Virginia dealership so no telling how long it will take get from Port to there.

 

[Nodak]

Yes mine is on "Poseidon Highway" headed toward Panama Canal now, per the status report estimated arrival in Port (Newark i believe?) is 9/20. Estimated Processing 9/25 and Arrival to dealer 9/26-10/16.

here is naval map of where its at, the big circle is the ship location

 

[Ahmad310]

here is naval map of where its at, the big circle is the ship location

Yeah I've been watching it creep along daily (even paid for tracking app/site to get more details lol)

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