Off-Road Ranger I
- 2,876
- First Name
- Todd
- Last Name
- Hoffmaster
- Member #
-
4284
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KJ7CRJ
- Service Branch
- Air Force
Buy new or buy used.
- Thread starter thomas255
- Start date
There is the thought of what kind of trails are you planning on doing. I'm in the southeast, so I had a thought of building a 2009 Ram 1500 that sells for $20k, and the more I thought about it, the less appealing it seemed to run a huge truck down a trail with tight turns, thick foliage, and a ton of mud that can and will cause you to slide into a tree. So I bought a 2008 Nissan Xterra, shorter wheel base, less metal to bang up, paid $6500, and while I'm not willing to scratch or dent it, if the off chance that I did beat it up, I'm more okay with it than on the Ram.
If I was in the west, I'd run that Dodge all day long and not care too much, out in the wide open, for the most part you can choose the easy or hard line. Something to consider.
If I was in the west, I'd run that Dodge all day long and not care too much, out in the wide open, for the most part you can choose the easy or hard line. Something to consider.
Here is a nice TLC Prado Diesel with only 38k miles: https://www.jdmcarandmotorcycle.com/1990_Toyota_Landcruiser Prado Tdiesel F5_Seattle_WA_19771916.veh
they actually cannot do this it is against the law, sucks you got screwed but they have to be able to prove the modification caused the issue. modifications do not always void factory warranty, if you have an aftermarket warranty that would vary from company to company depending how it is worded.
Off-Road Ranger I
Look, I know you said it’s your opinion, but come on. No Land Rover ever? As a Land Rover owner I get a little sick of the LR hate. Do some have issues, yes. Do they all have issues and are garbage? No. There is sooo much Toyota love here and they’re great vehicles. Now here’s my opinion. They’re overpriced, they rust (certain regions) and they lack any character or interest. I have owned a 2004 Discovery II and currently a 2006 LR3. Let’s compare a 2006 LR 3 to a similar era Toyota. I paid $5500 for mine. 169k on the clock, good condition but it needed a battery and an EAS compressor. I just searched KSL classifieds in the SLC area and found similar 4Runners for well over double that. It is my opinion a stock for stock LR3 will crush a 4Runner in ride quality, build quality, off road ability and horsepower. Now maybe a 4Runner isn’t a fair comparison. How about the land cruiser? That’s a much more comparable vehicle. What do they run? 4 times, 5 times the price? And I will still contend that they are as interesting as a sheet of plain white paper. I prefer to drive a more unique and interesting vehicle, but I know I’m certainly in the minority with that train of thought.
Everyone has a brand they love. Thats great, promote your brand. Don’t go off and dismiss an entire brand when you really don’t know the whole picture.
Land Rover lives matter.
Great point and I agree....my Tacoma is not my first 4x4 love . I've owned a lot of them and by no means am I telling you to buy a certain brand. My 1993 Range Rover LWB was one of my favorites. Lost it and my 75 CJ5 in a divorce. Be smart on your purchase and there are so many great rigs to choose from. Good luck on the choice.
Member III
My point is, do not waste your money - Period! I've had lots of vehicles, including a LR and RR. I wasted ALOT of money keeping the LR on the road, let alone going off-road with it. After several expensive towing bills. I moved to Toyota and never looked back. Our 62 series LandCruiser is 30 years old, we are the original owner; it's been seriously wheeled and has 308000+ miles on it. The new 2018 Tacoma DC,SB, TRD Off-road will be the new build for overlanding. DG
Off-Road Ranger I
Off-Road Ranger I
It was NOT my intention to convince you that Toyota is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. They are, in fact a very dependable vehicle. They may kill you if the airbag goes off in a fender bender, but I digress. I was mearly defending the brand I really enjoy. Many people love to bash Land Rover because someone’s sister’s brother-in-law had a bad experience. They’re the off road brand everyone loves to hate, when they have several spectacular models over a very long history. If you’ve had a personal bad experience, I’m super curious what model and what went wrong.
I couldn’t buy a 62 series LC, or 80 series where I was from, they’ve all rusted away from the MN winters. I do t mind having an old car with a million miles on it, as long as it isn’t rusty. My LR3 is 12 years old and has 190k on it and I wheel it as well. I did just have to replace the front air struts at 185k due to a leak in one, they were the originals... Hardly a sign of poor quality.
If your advise is to not waste money, encourage people to not buy new. On average, a new vehicle loses 75% of its value in 5 years.
I’m not picking on Toyota, just trying to stop LR the hate. Land Rover lives matter.
Last edited:
Member III
M_Lars, I'm not hating on LR's or RR's. Or Fords, Chevy, Jeeps or H2. Buying new, especially if you intend to keep it 20, 30 Years like the 62 Series. It's an investment BECAUSE you know all of the maintenance, recall, emergency services, damage you've done. Mine isn't a creampuff, as a said in an earlier post she's been wheeled hard, and have the rock rash and dents to prove it wasn't a grocery gitter... DG
Off-Road Ranger I
I think you need to re-read your posts. Don’t waste your money on a Rover doesn’t sound positive.
I still would like to know what model you had and what happened to require expensive towing bills. You make it sound like a recurring issue, inquiring minds want to know.
Last edited:
Member III
I re-read your post, this was a Dealer Leased 1985 Defender 110, 9 seat, wagon. No not a recurring issue. An on-going de-construction. Oil filter not tighten - and ran the motor on about 1/2 oiling. Engine got so hot, we got afraid of the blown head gasket. 150+ mile tow bill from the campground to the Dealer. Starter failure - out 50 miles off highway. Removed it, cleaned it, check it while out of vehicle, put it back in, still would not engage for Fly-shaft. Yet another tow build. I could go on - but I won't. I don't share this bad vehicle experience, unless asked. I am amazed that 88 110's are being resold at 100K. When the Lease was done, we turned it in, with less than 20K on the OD. We initially Leased the 88 62 Series LandCruiser, from the San Bruno Toyota Dealer . In the first year it had 28,000" miles on it, 2nd year 40K 3rd 52K -
We were on our 2nd set of tires. It was an easy roll-over purchase, because we knew all the service, maintenance, recalls and damage done. As I wrote above, we are it's original owner and has 308K+ original owner miles on it. The LC has the original engine, transfer case, axles & drive-lines. I replaced the Auto Tran's with a spare about 50K ago, after I toasted the original, heat related clucth pack failure. . .
DCG
Off-Road Ranger I
Well, that’s a bummer. Too bad faulty service ruined the entire brand for you. I’m not sure how any brand would do if you pump out most of the oil. They’ve come a long way since the defender, even though the defender itself didn’t change much.
Not following the logic that a new vehicle purchase is a good investment just because you plan on keeping it after it's paid for or that you know how it's been treated. There are too many pre-owned and hardly used vehicles sitting on dealer lots to justify that line of thinking. How many 4x4's are actually used/abused? I'd rather pay 1/3 price for a 5 year old mall crawler than fork over MSRP on a truck that will have the same issues eventually. I could replace the entire drive train in my truck for the same amount as 3 or 4 new truck payments.
I've never understood buying a brand new truck ether, for all the points that have already been laid out, but also because newer vehicles have so many electronic do-dads that I will be suprised if they age half as well as most older vehicles. Buying a newer truck is cool right now because everything works, it's all shinny, and makes you feel cool. But it's way more expensive to modify and repair, and like I said, I doubt they will age well so you'll end up having spent money on top of money and looking for a new rig anyway. I'd say to buy something at least a little older because it'll be cheaper to repair/build than to just buy a new rig. Lastly, those Tacomas are a dime a dozen. Everyone and their grandma has one.
They're very pretty, always freshly washed and waxed lol my point was, though, that they aren't original anymore. I'm sure they are great vehicles, but there're so many other 4x4 vehicles out there that are just as capable as well as a bit more unique. I'm just saying it's over done. And let's be honest, most people don't get them to do anything but mall crawl and post about it. It's a fad no different than kids and their WRX's, each of which has the same damn mods lol
