Wasn't a fan of the front end on the LX. Preferred the one on my '99, plus the headlights are better. Solution, swap the front end. Everything will physically swap over, and it looks like the wiring is all the same, just different connectors. The wiring is my weekend project.
Am I ridiculous for preferring a Land Cruiser over a LX470? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Alex1118
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The 98-02 came in an "off-white" that is quite nice. Believe it was called Golden Pearl or something like that. It is definitely not white and definitely not metallic. I might be partial though as I own a 98
Oh, and assumptions go out the window when you armor them up
I've actually owned several 100 LC's and just went to an '04 LX and love it!! The interior is a huge upgrade as well as the noise dampening. I'm deleting the hydraulic shocks next week. Love having A-Trac too. The nicer interior, sound dampening, and A-Trac (versus no locker or just a rear locker) are worth it to me. Also like the front end more than the LC.
Make no mistake you can't go wrong with either one. Same vehicle, the Lexus is just gussied up a bit
Make no mistake you can't go wrong with either one. Same vehicle, the Lexus is just gussied up a bit
The 98-02 came in an "off-white" that is quite nice. Believe it was called Golden Pearl or something like that. It is definitely not white and definitely not metallic. I might be partial though as I own a 98
Oh, and assumptions go out the window when you armor them up
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My big reason for liking the non-metalic white (and black) is that Toyota doesn't use a clear coat on it. So the paint is thicker and there is no worry about burning through the clear which sucks bigtime. I am not aware of an easy fix for a compromised clear.
Once you remove replace the (usual) gold emblems on a LX and throw some bumpers on it, most wouldn't know that it wasn't a LC. I agree with you there.
Interesting. Didn't know about the clear coat. I know mine has been down numerous desert roads and mesquite forests on my land. I get scratches (Texas pinstripes) all over. When I wash the rig, every scratch just disappears. Always figured this thing had some seriously thick paint. It takes a LOT to scratch down to the metal. Every other car I've owned would get scratches that wouldn't buff out.
People who find out my rig is 21 years old always marvel at the paint quality. Took it to a Cars & Coffee a while back and several people were adamant that I had had my rig repainted. I was told that no car has paint that looks that good in Texas after 21 years, especially if one is off-roading as I do.
Here's a good looking land cruiser.
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
I think the Cygnus is almost the best of both worlds. All the luxuries of the LX but with the Land Cruiser nameplate since so many seem to prefer that.
Very similar to the LX aside from being RHD and many of the buttons and switches are in Japanese.
I just switched from a 00 LC to a 99 LX, don't regret it at all.
Fun fact: the Cygnus was first (about a few weeks ahead) to be publicly released for sale in dealerships in Japan than in North America as the first batch of these vehicles were loaded on a ship coming from Aichi Japan aka Toyota City.
CloudCity
LuxCruisers
I was never able to find the first year of production for the Cygnus, so they match the LX production run? It makes sense since Japan didn't have "Lexus" in their own home market until around 2005.
They (Japan) already have the UZJ100 locally pre-VVTi was mostly 1HDFTE was the popular motor. The Cygnus LC was their newest one out sporting new technology like LED tail lights nav system, etc. Cygnus was their re-vamped and considered already old at almost 10-yo land cruiser body but now with VVTi also as a marketing tool to promote gas engine (2UZFE) since 2005 was also the year Japan (on big cities like Tokyo) started putting heavy tax on diesel engine vehicles ( including 1HDFTE) and eventually putting a ban on them to-date on densely populated cities except on the outskirts of these cities. The Cygnus was Japan’s first posh luxury 100 series debut as they adapted all the bells whistles that we had here since 1998 on an LX470. Seeing a “bug eye” 100 series for them at that time was as exotic as we on the other hand see a 76 series rebirth edition here, the Cygnus was very popular there.
i think its all in theye of the beholder here in uk at the time of the 100 series it would of been difficult to sell lexus as toyota was classed as better but as we all know they are basically the same just a few cosmetic differences.also here in uk only a few were lx versions we mainly had amazons which was top spec. so as i say all in the eye of the beholderI know they are essentially the same mechanically.
I will remove AHC regardless most likely.
I really prefer the front end look of the LC. Especially the 98-02’s.
The biggest thing for me are the lights. Really don’t like the double housing look of the Lexus.
I also don’t dig the side molding on the LX.
Interior wise I’m not crazy about the wood trim. I prefer the normal gray/silver trim.
Finally, the LC looks less pretentious. This isn’t a knock in any way towards LX owner’s....I just prefer the ‘yuppie’ look as stupid as that sounds.
My fear is I will run across an incredible clean LX470 and be faced with a decision. I’ve bought cars in the past where there was this immediate ‘what if’ or ‘i Wish’ feeling.
Does anyone have any any experience rebadging and reworking the front end to look like a LC?
I will say I plan on adding an ARB front bumper. Will hide the front end a lot.
Can you take the side and read moldings off?
Anyone else ever been in this boat before?
atnolan94
I'm Your Huckleberry
I’m by no means saying an LX isn’t a cruiser, because it’s basically all the same....and all of us know that. I love @DirtDawg LX and he got me into cruisers. In fact if I bought an 80 I would 100% want it to be an LX450.
but at the end of the day, a Land Cruiser will always be identified as a Land Cruiser, no explaining that it’s “the same as a land cruiser”
but at the end of the day, a Land Cruiser will always be identified as a Land Cruiser, no explaining that it’s “the same as a land cruiser”
But at the end of the day, 99% of people just see an old Toyota, so....
atnolan94
I'm Your Huckleberry
“Why do you spend so much money on a 20 year old 250k mile Toyota?”
If I had a dollar for every time... haha
I had dinner with my cousin last week and we were joined by a married couple friends of his. Husband is a cool guy, career computer programmer. Wife is Canadian and kind of a bitch (not related). During the meal, husband was really excited to tell me about his new to him VTECH Del Sol. Wife was going on about her Honda Pilot.
When we got to a place for ice cream after, wife asked me why I said I had a truck when I just have a girl's car because it's a Lexus. I tried for about 2 seconds to give some perspective, explain that wives drive GXs and that I had a Land Cruiser, but decided it wasn't worth it since I wasn't the one going home in a Del Sol that night.
Some people are just idiots or blissfully ignorant.
When we got to a place for ice cream after, wife asked me why I said I had a truck when I just have a girl's car because it's a Lexus. I tried for about 2 seconds to give some perspective, explain that wives drive GXs and that I had a Land Cruiser, but decided it wasn't worth it since I wasn't the one going home in a Del Sol that night.
Some people are just idiots or blissfully ignorant.
Yep, I've had several acquaintances comment that they didn't know I had an old 4Runner
When I bought my LC I needed a small loan so I went to a small local credit union that is fantastic to work with. They actually said almost exactly that. "You want a loan to buy an 18 year old Toyota with 200k mikes?" I said yes and they said well, it's you're money and gave me a small personal loan to cover what I needed.
I always refer to my LX as a LC to the non educated, they can't tell the difference.
Anyway... give me memory seats, auto dimming mirrors and all auto windows any day
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Umm.... clearcoated paint is FAR better than single stage paint in every way for durability and real world use. The ONLY things I can think of that make single stage nicer is the ease of touchup and re-paint and if you like the non-metallic look then single stage is the way to go. You can juts as easily "burn" or strike through single stage paint as metallic/solid clearcoated paint. I've done hundreds (probably thousands by now) paint corrections since I do this for a living for a well known shop in the Chicago area, single stage is actually harder to finish down to a swirl free/haze free finish since they are much softer paints and you don't have the metallic flake to "hide" that last bit of 5-10% haze that you might not otherwise see with the naked eye on a metallic paint.
There's a reason you don't see any auto manufacturer using single stage anymore, to my best knowledge.
I see this comment here alot that you guys have the difficult task of having to "explain" to everyone what you drive and what an LX is.
How do you even find yourself in those kind of conversations? Why do you talk to non-car people about cars? I work in the automotive field and we have several contractors that we use that come out to our shop and do work for us, half of them are not even hardcore car enthusiasts but they all know what my LX is when they see it.
I never once had to tell someone " oh it's basically a Land Cruiser", as if it wasn't a Land Cruiser, it's by default a crap vehicle and not worthy of being talked about. That's some silly stuff. Plenty of other 4x4s that can do all the same trails a 100 series can. My friend did trails in his bone stock 97 4Runner with almost 300k miles and stock suspension easier than I did in my much newer LX with less miles, bigger tires and in High setting. His 4Runner also cost $2,800 lol. Too many people here care about their image and think they are kings or something if they drive a "real" Land Cruiser. Some of these guys need a serious reality check.
