My .02
You may not like me, but my mom was owed some money by her second husband and he paid her with the Land Cruiser...well...she wasn't the SUV type and gave it to me (she gave my brothers and sisters cash to even it out
). Anyway, 6 years later, over 90000 miles and it is still going strong. I'm not a rockcrawler, but it is the daily driver, farm truck, tow vehicle, etc, bottom line, i drive the **** out of it.
That is 90k in addition to the 135K it had on it when I got it. I had no clue what I had when i got it, and just found this site a year ago.
I was always a new car guy, buy one, keep for a few years then get a new one. So, True Cost of Ownership? compared to new 'cheap cars' at a $300/mo payment? No way have I come close to 10k to keep her running. Considering 6 years of payments is around 21K+, I have saved a lot of $. I have gotten to where I do most of the maintenance/repairs myself so that helps on the bottom line as well, and lets me buy new metric tools every once in a while.
Future plans...I am doing a long term baseline, the more I read, the more I do, as I can afford to (have replaced a birf, removed a seized VC, replaced front/rear seals, new thermostat with Toyota red, brakes, etc).
My plan is to get it to 400,000, rebuild the engine and mechanicals with my kids, restore the body and interior, (maybe even paint it white to get the extra performance) and go for 1 million miles.
Now, if only it floated......
BTW, I think I may have my wife talked into letting me get a 95 LX or LC for Her...
Oh, and yes, that is an original Appalachian 2x10 custom wood bumper on it in my avatar, but I have a good idea of some custom future armor that may even include metal....