When deciding on what to replace my 80 series with, I read tons of forum threads and reviews from those in the same predicament. So I thought I would write up this post as a data point for anyone that may be faced with a similar decision.
Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the 80, but the maintenance was increasing and my wife was getting more nervous about the lack of safety features when traveling with our young children. My short list was essentially down to a new 4runner trail or used 100 series. I live in Utah and most of my off road driving is forest roads/trails to get to camping and fishing spots. Maybe once or twice a year I will do a dedicated “four wheeling” outing with friends. So my requirements were basically comfort for long distance dirt road driving, durability/reliability, and general family duties.
After checking out a few 100 series, it seemed the ones that were reasonably priced needed more work than my 80 to get caught up on maintenance so we focused on the 4 runner. My wife and I made a few trips to the dealership and did some test drives, but neither of us really loved the vehicle. Unfortunately, in the US market, there just aren’t a lot of options for body on frame 4x4’s (I used to have a built Jeep and wasn’t going down that road again)…but I didn’t want to drop $40k on a vehicle that we weren’t really in love with. So the Toyota salesman we had been working with suggested we check out a used 200.
I wasn’t too excited about that either since most of what I had read online had been negative towards the vehicle… “not really a landcruiser”, “why the 200 is the worst selling suv in america”, etc. etc. We did however give a look over and take it for a drive. Although a bit larger than the 80, it was definitely a landcruiser driving experience…except it was quiet, comfortable, powerful, and smooth. With mud tires and a magnaflow exhaust, the 80 hits about 78db in the cabin at 75mph, not exactly helpful in the driver and passenger fatigue department. What I also liked about the 200 was everything was pretty familiar to the 80 (in terms of layout), just updated and improved. Looking underneath, the frame and drivetrain again were similar in build quality to the 80 and a definite step above the 4 runner. I was getting sold.
When a 2014 CPO came up in the area that was salsa red (my 80 is medium red) and in our price range, I went down and checked it out. Made the dealer an offer and drove it home that night.
A few weeks after the purchase, we decided to take the 200 instead of the 80 on our trip to Ouray. The kids were excited at the prospect of watching a movie on the rear screen and the wife was excited for a little more quiet and comfort. The 200 handled the miles really well and we netted about 18mpg which was impressive considering I’m usually happy with 14mpg hwy with the 80 and 160 less hp.
We ran governor basin, yankee boy basin, engineer, and imogene while in Ouray and the 200 handled them all extremely well in stock form. My 4 year old actually slept the entire way up Engineer. Engineer was actually the only place I felt the ATRAC kick in as it was raining pretty good and some of the rocks were slick.
The only interesting experience I wasn’t expecting is that there were lots of let’s say “concerned citizens” out on the trails. A guy in an FJ flagged us down on the way up yankee boy and told us he wouldn’t have made it up without his locker and made sure we had a low range available (guess he thought it was a highlander J). We made it up yankee boy without even engaging the center diff lock. On engineer we had a number of Jeeps warn us about how rough the road was, I just thanked them and continued on. My wife was wondering why this didn’t happen last time we were in Ouray…well we were in our 6” lifted, long armed Jeep so we “looked the part.” Anyway, I thought all the comments were funny and took it as a testament to the unassuming capability that all stock landcruiser wagons possess.
All in all, the 200 was extremely comfortable on 6 hours of highway driving, ran all through the Ouray trails with absolutely no issues. The front and side cameras were an awesome feature for tire placement and also provided a little more confidence on the shelf roads. KDSS is also impressive as we never came close to lifting a tire.
Some downsides…the 200 is large with poor departure angle and the rocker height is quite low…but this is true of all the wagon cruisers. My 80 has horrible departure angle and the rocker height is also relatively low compared to more offroad oriented SUV’s. Just like the 80, sliders will be one of my first mods. I would have liked to have the option for lockers, but honestly there are only a handful of trails that I use the rear locker on my 80 and there’s only really one time I can think of that I really needed the front locker. I’m hopeful that the ATRAC and crawl control features will be adequate for my uses. Also, the interior is a bit dated for a vehicle in this price range although it is functional for the most part. I would like to see the center stack under the radio be opened up for phone/junk storage instead of the ash tray/cig lighter combo. The tech interfaces aren’t state of the art, but again functional. I am also noticing a bit of rust on the frame that I’m going to have to deal with. I’m not sure what Toyota did to the 80 frames, but that thing lived in Michigan for a lot of its life and it is just now starting to rust on the welds after 23 years.
In conclusion, I’m glad I didn’t overlook the 200. It’s every bit, and a lot more landcruiser than my 80 is. When they are side by side it becomes apparent how well built the 200 is. It’s a shame that sales are so low in the US, but I can understand why. I hope to have the 200 for many years to come…oh and keep an eye on the classifieds for a locked ‘94…
Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the 80, but the maintenance was increasing and my wife was getting more nervous about the lack of safety features when traveling with our young children. My short list was essentially down to a new 4runner trail or used 100 series. I live in Utah and most of my off road driving is forest roads/trails to get to camping and fishing spots. Maybe once or twice a year I will do a dedicated “four wheeling” outing with friends. So my requirements were basically comfort for long distance dirt road driving, durability/reliability, and general family duties.
After checking out a few 100 series, it seemed the ones that were reasonably priced needed more work than my 80 to get caught up on maintenance so we focused on the 4 runner. My wife and I made a few trips to the dealership and did some test drives, but neither of us really loved the vehicle. Unfortunately, in the US market, there just aren’t a lot of options for body on frame 4x4’s (I used to have a built Jeep and wasn’t going down that road again)…but I didn’t want to drop $40k on a vehicle that we weren’t really in love with. So the Toyota salesman we had been working with suggested we check out a used 200.
I wasn’t too excited about that either since most of what I had read online had been negative towards the vehicle… “not really a landcruiser”, “why the 200 is the worst selling suv in america”, etc. etc. We did however give a look over and take it for a drive. Although a bit larger than the 80, it was definitely a landcruiser driving experience…except it was quiet, comfortable, powerful, and smooth. With mud tires and a magnaflow exhaust, the 80 hits about 78db in the cabin at 75mph, not exactly helpful in the driver and passenger fatigue department. What I also liked about the 200 was everything was pretty familiar to the 80 (in terms of layout), just updated and improved. Looking underneath, the frame and drivetrain again were similar in build quality to the 80 and a definite step above the 4 runner. I was getting sold.
When a 2014 CPO came up in the area that was salsa red (my 80 is medium red) and in our price range, I went down and checked it out. Made the dealer an offer and drove it home that night.
A few weeks after the purchase, we decided to take the 200 instead of the 80 on our trip to Ouray. The kids were excited at the prospect of watching a movie on the rear screen and the wife was excited for a little more quiet and comfort. The 200 handled the miles really well and we netted about 18mpg which was impressive considering I’m usually happy with 14mpg hwy with the 80 and 160 less hp.
We ran governor basin, yankee boy basin, engineer, and imogene while in Ouray and the 200 handled them all extremely well in stock form. My 4 year old actually slept the entire way up Engineer. Engineer was actually the only place I felt the ATRAC kick in as it was raining pretty good and some of the rocks were slick.
The only interesting experience I wasn’t expecting is that there were lots of let’s say “concerned citizens” out on the trails. A guy in an FJ flagged us down on the way up yankee boy and told us he wouldn’t have made it up without his locker and made sure we had a low range available (guess he thought it was a highlander J). We made it up yankee boy without even engaging the center diff lock. On engineer we had a number of Jeeps warn us about how rough the road was, I just thanked them and continued on. My wife was wondering why this didn’t happen last time we were in Ouray…well we were in our 6” lifted, long armed Jeep so we “looked the part.” Anyway, I thought all the comments were funny and took it as a testament to the unassuming capability that all stock landcruiser wagons possess.
All in all, the 200 was extremely comfortable on 6 hours of highway driving, ran all through the Ouray trails with absolutely no issues. The front and side cameras were an awesome feature for tire placement and also provided a little more confidence on the shelf roads. KDSS is also impressive as we never came close to lifting a tire.
Some downsides…the 200 is large with poor departure angle and the rocker height is quite low…but this is true of all the wagon cruisers. My 80 has horrible departure angle and the rocker height is also relatively low compared to more offroad oriented SUV’s. Just like the 80, sliders will be one of my first mods. I would have liked to have the option for lockers, but honestly there are only a handful of trails that I use the rear locker on my 80 and there’s only really one time I can think of that I really needed the front locker. I’m hopeful that the ATRAC and crawl control features will be adequate for my uses. Also, the interior is a bit dated for a vehicle in this price range although it is functional for the most part. I would like to see the center stack under the radio be opened up for phone/junk storage instead of the ash tray/cig lighter combo. The tech interfaces aren’t state of the art, but again functional. I am also noticing a bit of rust on the frame that I’m going to have to deal with. I’m not sure what Toyota did to the 80 frames, but that thing lived in Michigan for a lot of its life and it is just now starting to rust on the welds after 23 years.
In conclusion, I’m glad I didn’t overlook the 200. It’s every bit, and a lot more landcruiser than my 80 is. When they are side by side it becomes apparent how well built the 200 is. It’s a shame that sales are so low in the US, but I can understand why. I hope to have the 200 for many years to come…oh and keep an eye on the classifieds for a locked ‘94…
The 200 hasn't been dogged nearly as much as the 100 was when it introduced IFS to the LC platform. Then after years of depreciation and pics/threads on this forum the 100 now has a great reputation off road (and on of course).
