80 vs 100 series at altitude (3 Viewers)

[formerSubaru]

I recently moved to Denver and sold my lifted forester before leaving on the move. My daily is a 2023 GR86 and I have really been missing the fun and opportunity associated with having something capable off road. A LC has been a bucket list car for me for a long time. So, I am looking at older Land Cruisers for trips deep into the mountains to campsites and trailheads.

A friend of mine (who owns an 80) led me to the 80 series as a good place to get the classic Land Cruiser vibes without the extreme age of the older models. I’m mostly sold on it. However, some other off roading friends are telling me I’ll be miserable climbing mountains at 10,000’ and I’ll seriously be regretting the choice. They say the 100 series is far more pleasant for the trip to the trail and will go everywhere the 80 series does for less money.

How poorly does the 80 series do at altitude? I know it will be slow but how miserable is it really lol. To be clear, I don’t have a family and I’m keeping the ‘23 GR86 as a daily. It would just be an off road toy and occasionally be used to haul things. Any thoughts on the choice between the two?

 

[JoeCova]

It’s not miserable but there are variables based on weight, tire size, gearing etc. the only time my 80 has been tapped for power is the long climb up the Ike and in that case you just downshift and drive slower.

The 100 will generally be more comfortable as it’s more refined and more modern, comes with a more modern V8 but the engine is not dramatically more powerful as a friend of mine complained and eventually sold his 100 because of it.

As far as offroad capability, in stock form they are probably comparable due to tire size limitations and ground clearance. However the 80 is easy to modify for 35+ tires while the torsion suspension on the 100 is much more limiting, I think most roll with 33s.

So really depends on what you want to do. I know plenty of people camping and off-roading in 100s just fine.

Modified 100 will get you most places you want to camp while the 80 may get you to a few more remote places like wheeler lake or chinaman

 

[pawnthatdude]

With my 80 I lived in the mountains and I also drove I-70 countless times (and every other road) It's not dangerously/miserably slow, but you will be in the right lane on the long climbs.

The worst is eastbound to the tunnel. For that I put it in 2nd gear and floored it for 5 minutes straight in the right lane, every time, at about 55mph/3300 rpm. Mine was heavy though. The most annoying part is not really the speed but the constant gear searching between 2nd and 3rd. That's why you lock in 2nd and just chill.

If your radiator and fan are not ancient, coolant temps are less than 200 degrees unless it was a hot summer day.

I haven't driven a 100. 200 is great on the climbs though.

 

[LandLocked93]

My 80 is heavy. Never been miserable at <14,000ft. Beyond that tho...
Really depends on your expectations.
Recent manufacturer advertising suggests that offroading can only be done at high speed, over everything in an instant, and anything less speaks directly and proportionally to your manhood.

Reality dictates that the truth is far from that, notably requiring mechanical sympathy for best results.

 

[ppc]

A friend of mine (who owns an 80) led me to the 80 series as a good place to get the classic Land Cruiser vibes without the extreme age of the older models. I’m mostly sold on it. However, some other off roading friends are telling me I’ll be miserable climbing mountains at 10,000’ and I’ll seriously be regretting the choice. They say the 100 series is far more pleasant for the trip to the trail and will go everywhere the 80 series does for less money

As long as you keep in mind:

91-92 models with the 3FE motor is 155 HP and 220 torque
93-97 models with the 1FZ-FE motor is 212 HP and 275 torque
Early 100 series models is 235 HP and 320 torque and over time up to 265 HP

By changing gears and tire sizes can have a big influence on performance

 

[formerSubaru]

Sounds like for a lightly modded vehicle (say 33” tires and a 2” lift) there isn’t much difference off road but there is more mod headroom with the 80 series?

212 vs 235 isn’t exactly a transformative difference tbh. What years did the LC100 get the power bumps?

 

[Desert Dino]

I am coming to 3 week vacation that starts picking up a rented Jeep Wrangler in Denver, so mainly Colrado, Utha Wyoming and may be Idaho mainly mountains backroads and wilderness and small towns. My friends in LC80 club are afraid that when I will come back to Israel I will sell my 80 and bay Jeep Rubicon. LOL not going to happen.

My friends that have a Jeep Rubicon tray to convince me to get Jeep Grand Chyroky instead.

We do not this height of Israel what we have is a step claim from Dead sea Valy (lowest place in The world) to Jerusalem. It is an extremely hot place 107F in the shade. The car and paved road in direct sunlight can reach 175 F , I am with 33 with 4.56 and it will be most of the way on 2 gear. engine temp (OBD1) will be on 210F with peak 217 (Alarm) .

 

[Broski]

I am coming to 3 week vacation that starts picking up a rented Jeep Wrangler in Denver, so mainly Colrado, Utha Wyoming and may be Idaho mainly mountains backroads and wilderness and small towns. My friends in LC80 club are afraid that when I will come back to Israel I will sell my 80 and bay Jeep Rubicon. LOL not going to happen.

My friends that have a Jeep Rubicon tray to convince me to get Jeep Grand Chyroky instead.

We do not this height of Israel what we have is a step claim from Dead sea Valy (lowest place in The world) to Jerusalem. It is an extremely hot place 107F in the shade. The car and paved road in direct sunlight can reach 175 F , I am with 33 with 4.56 and it will be most of the way on 2 gear. engine temp (OBD1) will be on 210F with peak 217 (Alarm) .

Desert Dino
I well be in Ouray Colorado the first week of Aug with a bunch of Land Cruiser guy's
If your near there PM me for a meet up !!

 

[Malleus]

Sounds like for a lightly modded vehicle (say 33” tires and a 2” lift) there isn’t much difference off road but there is more mod headroom with the 80 series?

212 vs 235 isn’t exactly a transformative difference tbh. What years did the LC100 get the power bumps?

The 4.7L V8 produced (as advertised) 235 HP in the 1998-2002 models and 265HP in the 2003-2007 models. Same engine. Mostly. The major difference was the transmission. The first generation had the same A343F 4-speed that the 80 series had; the second generation had the A750F 5-speed. This change was not made to improve the output torque or horsepower - it was done to meet CAFE requirements.

Note: the North American Land Cruiser/LX570 (2008-on) did not have the 2UZ-FE.

I've driven (and owned) both, although not at altitude above 3,500-ft (that's the eastern continental divide - it's all we have here), and I couldn't see a difference offroad.

 

[Broski]

For off road and trails the 80 is far superior!!

 

[NaoTheOne]

Hello:

I´m from the Colombian mountains, here Toyota is the offroad best-seller brand.
From my personal experience on my cars and as a technician in a city over 9850 feet to sea level, the best offroad experiences for offroad terrains are on cars with engines with low HP and High torque, for that reason, the worldwide best seller is the Toyota Prado and Hilux 3.0 1KD-FTV and the 2.7 1GD-FTV diesel engines, unfortunately, both are not sold in the USA.
If we return to Gasoline engines best engine is the old 2F, but the carb option is not the best for the environment, so the 3FE is the upgraded 2F and works well and the 1FZ-FE works excellently.
The V6 and V8 options are the worst, too much HP, too much speed, always new owners that never drove on hills have accidents, on old automatic transmissions don't allow the control, and when cars are down, even on 4 low, are dangerous.

 

[80t0ylc]

The 1FZ-FE has always impressed me for off road use. One thing about it is it produces 3/4 of its rated torque at idle. Torque, not HP, is what matters the most in off road use.

 

[Pierce]

My dad has a 100 series and my family owns a 80 and 200 series (I know a 200 wasn’t on the list). The power difference isn’t that substantial between the 80 and early 100 series in my opinion. The ride in the 100 is more comfortable than the 80 and the 100 is more convenient in most every way (besides the timing belt). They are both slow. If you are financially capable skip the 100 and go straight to the 200. The 200 is better in every way.

All that being said, the 100 and 200 are just tools. If the 200 gets totaled I’d say “that sucks” and get another one. The 80 gets in your blood. I’d feel like I lost a member of my family if something happened to it.

 

[White Stripe]

The 265hp 100 series with vvt wasn't available until 2005 I believe. In Colorado at elevation you lose about 40% of the engines rated power due to thinner air. So 200hp becomes 120hp at elevation. Personally I would get the vvt 100 series. However if your single I would go to a 3rd gen 4runner. They are a better size for Colorado trails and the 3.4v6 is a great engine and are easy to supercharge. An 80 series and 100 series are a bit tight in Colorado.

 

[Pierce]

The 265hp 100 series with vvt wasn't available until 2005 I believe. In Colorado at elevation you lose about 40% of the engines rated power due to thinner air. So 200hp becomes 120hp at elevation. Personally I would get the vvt 100 series. However if your single I would go to a 3rd gen 4runner. They are a better size for Colorado trails and the 3.4v6 is a great engine and are easy to supercharge. An 80 series and 100 series are a bit tight in Colorado.

I can second that. 3rd Gen 4 runners are fun and have a good power to weight ratio. They’re also easy to work on (all the Toyota SUV’s are actually). Maintenance may be less expensive too. The Achilles Heal is the “milkshake” when the radiator fail’s internally, mixes coolant and trans fluid, and then kills your trans.

I miss that thing.

 

[Broski]

The 265hp 100 series with vvt wasn't available until 2005 I believe. In Colorado at elevation you lose about 40% of the engines rated power due to thinner air. So 200hp becomes 120hp at elevation. Personally I would get the vvt 100 series. However if your single I would go to a 3rd gen 4runner. They are a better size for Colorado trails and the 3.4v6 is a great engine and are easy to supercharge. An 80 series and 100 series are a bit tight in Colorado.

To be clear the 100 is a bigger truck then the 80 and harder to navigate on tight trails.
The third gen 4Runner is about the same size as a 80 but lacks a solid front axle

 

[White Stripe]

To be clear the 100 is a bigger truck then the 80 and harder to navigate on tight trails.
The third gen 4Runner is about the same size as a 80 but lacks a solid front axle

I think the 3rd gen is about 5" narrower. I could be off though. There are a lot of upgrades to the ifs available. Since it has a taco front end a solid axle swap is also a pretty easy addition. I think the rear overhang is less too. Ive had a couple 3rd gens, the size difference was noticeable to me. I realize the 100 is bigger, but the v8 I think would make it more useful for hauling stuff. The 4th and 5th gen 4runner is almost exactly as big as an 80 afaik.

 

[Broski]

Sweet build !!

 

[CruiserDave]

I have both the 80 and 100, 96 lx and 98 lc. I've said this before if you are doing easy offroading ie dirt roads, easy trails the 100 is a better vehicle drivability-wise all around. Much more modern feeling. If you plan on doing harder more abusive trails the 80 is Superior. The 100 feels like just about every new style vehicle made today. The 80 IS SLOWER and underpowered compared to the 100. Paper says not much difference but believe me it is significant. Now the 80 is 100% more robust. I don't not wheel with the 100 series and will always choose the 80 to off-road in. Just an opinion from an owner of both vehicles.

 

[ozarkmud]

3rd gen 4Runner is definitely smaller than the 80 series. It's a great car. I thought it's Achille's heel was the lower balljoints. Terrible design, although for most people not a big deal. Hadn't heard of the radiator milkshake issue. Another reason to buy a manual (if you can find one!).

One metric about how durable a Toyota will be is whether or not it's sold as a global market truck. Torsion bar IFS pickups, yes! Solid axles, yes! Coil spring IFS? Nope. It's durable by most standards but not as durable as their other offerings.

I've never driven a 100 series, but most people don't seem enamored with them. I'm sure it's peppier, but not tremendously.

The biggest issue, speed wise, is people throwing on 33" and 35" tires and then expecting it to climb mountains at altitude. It's going to be miserable with those expectations. If you run stock tire sizes, expect it to be slow but survivable at altitude. If you run larger than stock tires without regearing, it's going to be very slow.

I personally have a general preference for the 3FE over the 1FZ-FE. I'm definitely one of the odd ones out on that. Up there I might change my mind, though.

You can do manual swaps, especially on the 3FE. This may help some. I think the rigs are quite capable in stock form but it depends on what you want to do with them. Part time 4WD modification would help climbing the hills in the summer, a little bit, and give you better gas mileage. But keeping the AWD option for winter is very nice.