Hi, hello. I'll share some of my thoughts on this.
I had an FJ62 for my car from the age of 16-17. I hated the automatic and the 3fe's gas mileage so I wanted something diesel. Then I stumbled across a BJ75 Troopcarrier in my price range for around the same price the 62 could be sold for. From there on out that car was my daily for 3 solid years. I put around 75,000 VERY SLOW miles on it in those 3 years. Every now and then something somewhat major would break and I would be out of a car for 3-7 days. I also had very limited funds being in highschool so I learned how to fix everything that went wrong. Rebuilding the front axle, replacing wheel bearings, radiator goes out, replacing the alternator, brakes, adjusting valves, U-Joints, etc etc you get the point... I drove the snot out of this car.
When I graduated high school my buddies and I drove it from North Carolina to California and everywhere in between. Pretty much nothing went wrong mechanically in some odd 10,000 miles of driving in a month. Here's a video if you would like to see more on that
Last June my crankshaft exploded in my 3B, I put another 3B in just to have that one blow up 200 miles later... pretty heartbreaking as that sapped the last of my funds for a while to put towards it. I'm now almost a year in on an engine swap for it but its been out for a year now. Basically what I'm saying is that you never know whats gonna happen with these old cars. I turbo'd my 3B cause it was too dang slow, and downright dangerous to drive across America on any highway. That's why it blew up. If you keep your engine relatively stock then they should be pretty bulletproof if well maintained, along with anything else on these old rigs.
Basically to sum up my thoughts:
Learn how to work on your own vehicle, even just basic maintenance like changing fluids will save you a ton of money instead of having some shop do it. Alternator goes out? Shop will charge you $500 some dollars to swap it out when it would take you an hour or so and a couple tools... I learned everything about wrenching on these cars from a mix of this forum and YouTube. Didn't know much at all when I started and now I know quite a lot, if I can do it you can too.
If you're looking for a daily, go with the prado. It will have much more power and be much better on the highway compared to any 3B powered cruiser. I did drive across America in one but it was at 65mph max and we weren't in a rush...
If you do end up getting a 2nd beater car then my personal vote is on the BJ70 then, in my opinion, they have much more character and the engine would be much more friendly to wrench on for a beginner. My dad had a 1993 Prado so that's just my personal observation after driving the 2 vehicles.
You definitely can daily these old cars, it just isn't for everyone. In the downtime of my troopy being out of business I have daily driven a 1987 Isuzu Pup which I had to push start everywhere for 4 months and a 1986 4Runner... I just like old cars, rarely anything goes wrong if they have been well maintained but that doesn't mean they are immune. Nothing was wrong with my isuzu pup (other than the starter) I put wheel bearings and sparkplugs in it after it sat for 8 years and drove it 9 thousand miles trouble free. Same with my 4Runner. Something will go wrong at some point with one of them, it'll be out of service for 3 days or so and then I can put another 10,000 miles on it no issues. If some odd piece goes bad it could take a week or longer to just find the part and then have it shipped from overseas... I always had a parent's car or friend's car I could borrow in that downtime most of the time.
If money isnt that big of a deal, I second @FJBen get some reliable cheap daily and a cruiser alongside it. Better to start now before you have a wife, 3 snot-nosed kids and you're trying to run a business all at the same time. At least that's how my 20-year-old self views it. Best of luck, hope I have been some help!
If you're looking at a Prado, save yourself the headache and go get a GX470. My $.02.
