Are any of you daily driving their 80-Series?

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It's all good. My only point is that for most people, I feel that these old Land Cruisers are a poor choice as a commuter vehicle. But people drive whatever makes sense to them. I actually like driving something that is sportier, gets better mileage, etc. Again, it's all good.

Well I totally disagree, I love mine, it is fun economic and every day I get some sort of gestures of happiness all the time from many demographic and , I will continue to get these smiles per mile :cool:
 
Daily driving an 80 is a great way to identify what needs to be overhauled on these old trucks that are now between 20 and 28 years old. Suspension bushings are on my list, let's put it that way.
 
My company car is a BMW 3 Series Diesel. Boring car. I am allowed to use it unlimited, still I prefer the 80 or the 100.
All the new cars seem to be crap from factory. The BMW had electric, mechanical and what not issues. Hate unreliable vehicles.
 
I DD’d a built 80 (‘96 LC and a ‘97 LX) for 10 years, 35 miles one way commute. Racked up lots of miles and spent A LOT on gas. But I didn’t have a car payment and insurance was cheap. Reupholstered seats in the LX made a vast improvement in saddle time on long drives.

We added an ‘08 Tundra double cab limited this past spring to the lineup that I’ve been DD more as the LX gets some much needed love. The power of the 5.7 is not even comparable to the 1FZ, but I still prefer the 80. I personally think the seats in my 80 are also more comfortable than the Tundra, wife agrees too.
 
Well I totally disagree, I love mine, it is fun economic and every day I get some sort of gestures of happiness all the time from many demographic and , I will continue to get these smiles per mile :cool:
I think the cruiser is fun to drive too, just not on the pavement. And you think these things are economic? You jest, right?
 
50 to 75 miles a day now.
 
Thread bump. Last week traded in the LS430 on another vehicle and now the 240k mile 80 Series will be the DD. Nothing drives like an 80 and I can now actually see around things. 4.88’s help but I find that I enjoy the truck a lot more if there’s no talk about gas mileage. Logically none of this makes any sense, but I wanted to drive the 80 more and life is too short to drive boring vehicles. Plus, the dog loves it.

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Damn your rig is clean.
 
I daily drive mine after doing the math... My buddy just got a new ford plugin hybrid... It will take him sooooo many years of gas and electricity before he can say his is anywhere close to as economic...he smiled and said he knows and that he just wanted a new car... Can't fault him for that i suppose.
 
Been driving everyday since I got it, only vehicle I know that get worse mileage than my lifted 2012 Jeep rubicon unlimited with 35’s. Still loving it.
 
I base out of the house and fly most everywhere but use my 97' LX450 as a daily driver....100 miles a week or so. My wife loves it....great grocery getter.
 
I think the cruiser is fun to drive too, just not on the pavement. And you think these things are economic? You jest, right?

Well I get from 18-20 MPG and i have to drive something so might as well be my cruiser :steer:
 
18-20 you must have the new "tornado" air cleaner insert from Ronco.
 
I have a 1991 fj80 that I am daily driving. in 1991 it was the best 4x4 toyota had to offer in North America. It is now almost 2020 and my suggestion on daily driving one is understanding that you will need to wrench on it from time to time. You will need to maintain things like the diffs, engine valve lash, oils. if you live close to salty areas you will need to stay on top of rust prevention. lets face it the last year for the 80 series in North America was 1997. the fj80s are almost 30 years old. in saying this they are awesome vehicles. to me they feel more like a classic car. You don't get one because need the best car out there. You get one because you want one. Luckly for me I live on an island off the coast of North Carolina. The island I live on is only 16 miles long so 14mpg is not that bad. I am one of the few that probably takes advantage of the 4x4 in that I drive it on the beach. (don't worry I wash the frame off often and I coat the frames on my vehicles every couple of months with motor oil and linsead oil mix) if you have always wanted an fj80 get a good one and you won't be disappointed.
 
Even though these things are tough and reliable, wheeling a rig that has to get me to work on Monday seems foolish. And not wheeling a land cruiser seems just wrong. I guess that's why so many of us have backup rigs or only use these for recreation.
The benefit I have seen in daily driving my 80 is its a great way to test to see if their are any problems. I would much rather be broken down in town than way out on the side of a mountain somewhere. Especially important to get all the bugs worked out for the type of trips I plan on taking with it.
 
The benefit I have seen in daily driving my 80 is its a great way to test to see if their are any problems. I would much rather be broken down in town than way out on the side of a mountain somewhere. Especially important to get all the bugs worked out for the type of trips I plan on taking with it.
I don't think I agree with this. So you are saying that your rig is more reliable in a wheeling situation because you daily drive it? Do you even put it in 4WD when driving to work? I know the things that I've had issues with / broke while wheeling are not "tested / stressed" in commute situations.
 
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Yes I agree that wheeling stresses components more than street drives. And daily driving wont present every single weakness. But daily driving will cause issues to come up that would present themselves on the trail. So I believe it reduces problems on the trail. I learned this with my fj40. And apply it to my 80 as well. For example this year of driving my 80 I found my lspv isnt quite adjusted properly, on a extended freeway drive I had a tranny cooler line start to leak onto the cat almost causing a fire-had to get a tow truck for that-coolant temp sensor leaking coolant, and power steering pump return leak. I'm sure their is more to add to the list of issues if I thought about it more. Once I get some good daily miles on, I still am conscious that some additional issues could pop up. But I know the issues I fixed from daily driving would have been bigger issues on the trail.
 
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