Bought my brand new second hand Land Cruiser on Friday.
About the truck:
- 1998 model year
- Silver with grey interior
- 134,050 miles or 215,168 Km for us Canadians
- One owner
- Has rear locker and 3rd row seats
- Everything works, I mean everything, I checked everything, it all works after 20+ years!
- Lady driven by 2 wives (1 ex and 1 trophy), 1 nanny and 1 daughter
- Always parked in garage
- Owner was working in Texas when he bought the vehicle so first 3 years no snow or salt
- Clean Car Fax
- All maintenance at local Toyota dealer, they printed the service record for the last 10 years, they claim the records older than that are deleted
- Last 10 years was only 30,000 miles
- Recent work includes tires, windshield, exhaust, rear brakes & rotors, antenna, timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, CV boots, transmission, diff & transfer case oil change, new key/remote, repack front bearings, front end alignment, 2 new lower control arms, fuel sending unit
- Since truck is over 15 years old the insurance company requires a safety inspection and the only thing found is both outer tie rod ends need to be replaced
My story.
My daughter is back from university for the summer and my son is ready to get his drivers licence. So I figured it was time to add a 3rd vehicle to the family fleet. I put the word out to family and friends to see if anyone had a good used car for my kids to drive. I was thinking small SUV or maybe a Subaru. You know something good on gas, all wheel drive and easy to park.
Our friend from Australia (G’Day Jason!) has a Land Cruiser. He went back to Australia last Fall and parked the LC at my sister in-laws and she mentioned that he might be interested in selling the truck. A quick email and it turns out he is not selling. Before learning that Jason was not selling his LC I started doing my online research. So for the last week I have found myself reading about Land Cruisers and checking the prices online. On Thursday evening I checked the updated listings on Auto Trader and saw my future truck. Seller was 3 miles from my house. Price was great and after a 30 minute talk with the PO I decided to buy. Committed to buying for the asking price conditional on a test drive and safety inspection. Friday at 10:00 met PO and did a walk around. Every corner had some slight parking, low speed damage. PO pointed to each dent and explained which one of the 4 ladies did what. It was “Lady Driven” as advertised. He pointed out the rust – 3 locations, no holes. Under carriage was clean and mostly rust free. No signs of abuse or off road use. I asked if it was ever off road and PO said he drove on gravel roads a few times other than that this truck was a pavement princess. Took a short test drive, my first time in a LC, and was impressed with the solid feel and lack of noise. There are no rattles or squeaks on this 20+ year old truck. Amazing! PO dropped truck off for the safety inspection and by 4:00 PM I was the happy owner of a brand new second hand Land Cruiser. Ran it through the car wash and vacuumed the carpets on the weekend. Filled up with premium and went for a ride. Could not be happier with my new truck.
The future.
After driving this truck I am having serious second thoughts about turning it over to my teenagers. Reading the posts on IH8MUD and seeing the potential of these trucks I think I might have inadvertently fell down a very dangerous rabbit hole. Was up until 2:00 AM on Friday night reading the IH8MUD posts. I am impressed with how active this group is on detailing everything about LC and the GX trucks. The amount of knowledge that is available seems endless.
On Saturday I bought enough Mobil 0w40 and Mobil filters (on sale 50% off) to do the next 3 oil changes.
Picked up the gaskets for the engine drain plug and ordered the outer tie rod ends at the Toyota dealership today.
Ordered Weather Tech floor mats at the 4X4 store on the way home. Spent some time browsing. Just looking. If you know my wife do not tell her I was looking – she would not be happy.
Also dropped in to a local auto audio store and came home with a Pioneer AVH-601EX head unit and back up camera. I figure a back up camera might keep my ladies and son from doing more parking lot damage. Seems like a wise purchase.
Planning on getting the YotaMD key repair kit to fix the second key that is held together with tape.
Looking at the options for replacing the heater tees. They look fine but the service records do not say they were replaced when the timing belt and water pump were done in 2016. I am thinking that using stainless tees would be better than plastic. Any reason to go with the plastic over stainless?
Been looking at roof platforms, roof top tents, a suspension lift, front locker, LED interior light upgrade, snorkel, front and rear bumpers, bike rack, winch, new rims, larger tires, off road lights, extra fuel storage, rear drawer units, dual battery, CB radio, on board compressor, new paint – I like the Toyota orange on the 2018 Tacomas. Any advice? Did I miss any upgrades? This could be a very expensive!
Still looking for a good used car for my kids to drive. I was thinking small SUV or maybe a Subaru. You know, something good on gas, all wheel drive and easy to park. Maybe I’ll check Auto Trader. First I need to read up on the stereo/rear camera upgrade. Another trip down the IH8MUD rabbit hole! Going to be a late night.
About the truck:
- 1998 model year
- Silver with grey interior
- 134,050 miles or 215,168 Km for us Canadians
- One owner
- Has rear locker and 3rd row seats
- Everything works, I mean everything, I checked everything, it all works after 20+ years!
- Lady driven by 2 wives (1 ex and 1 trophy), 1 nanny and 1 daughter
- Always parked in garage
- Owner was working in Texas when he bought the vehicle so first 3 years no snow or salt
- Clean Car Fax
- All maintenance at local Toyota dealer, they printed the service record for the last 10 years, they claim the records older than that are deleted
- Last 10 years was only 30,000 miles
- Recent work includes tires, windshield, exhaust, rear brakes & rotors, antenna, timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, CV boots, transmission, diff & transfer case oil change, new key/remote, repack front bearings, front end alignment, 2 new lower control arms, fuel sending unit
- Since truck is over 15 years old the insurance company requires a safety inspection and the only thing found is both outer tie rod ends need to be replaced
My story.
My daughter is back from university for the summer and my son is ready to get his drivers licence. So I figured it was time to add a 3rd vehicle to the family fleet. I put the word out to family and friends to see if anyone had a good used car for my kids to drive. I was thinking small SUV or maybe a Subaru. You know something good on gas, all wheel drive and easy to park.
Our friend from Australia (G’Day Jason!) has a Land Cruiser. He went back to Australia last Fall and parked the LC at my sister in-laws and she mentioned that he might be interested in selling the truck. A quick email and it turns out he is not selling. Before learning that Jason was not selling his LC I started doing my online research. So for the last week I have found myself reading about Land Cruisers and checking the prices online. On Thursday evening I checked the updated listings on Auto Trader and saw my future truck. Seller was 3 miles from my house. Price was great and after a 30 minute talk with the PO I decided to buy. Committed to buying for the asking price conditional on a test drive and safety inspection. Friday at 10:00 met PO and did a walk around. Every corner had some slight parking, low speed damage. PO pointed to each dent and explained which one of the 4 ladies did what. It was “Lady Driven” as advertised. He pointed out the rust – 3 locations, no holes. Under carriage was clean and mostly rust free. No signs of abuse or off road use. I asked if it was ever off road and PO said he drove on gravel roads a few times other than that this truck was a pavement princess. Took a short test drive, my first time in a LC, and was impressed with the solid feel and lack of noise. There are no rattles or squeaks on this 20+ year old truck. Amazing! PO dropped truck off for the safety inspection and by 4:00 PM I was the happy owner of a brand new second hand Land Cruiser. Ran it through the car wash and vacuumed the carpets on the weekend. Filled up with premium and went for a ride. Could not be happier with my new truck.
The future.
After driving this truck I am having serious second thoughts about turning it over to my teenagers. Reading the posts on IH8MUD and seeing the potential of these trucks I think I might have inadvertently fell down a very dangerous rabbit hole. Was up until 2:00 AM on Friday night reading the IH8MUD posts. I am impressed with how active this group is on detailing everything about LC and the GX trucks. The amount of knowledge that is available seems endless.
On Saturday I bought enough Mobil 0w40 and Mobil filters (on sale 50% off) to do the next 3 oil changes.
Picked up the gaskets for the engine drain plug and ordered the outer tie rod ends at the Toyota dealership today.
Ordered Weather Tech floor mats at the 4X4 store on the way home. Spent some time browsing. Just looking. If you know my wife do not tell her I was looking – she would not be happy.
Also dropped in to a local auto audio store and came home with a Pioneer AVH-601EX head unit and back up camera. I figure a back up camera might keep my ladies and son from doing more parking lot damage. Seems like a wise purchase.
Planning on getting the YotaMD key repair kit to fix the second key that is held together with tape.
Looking at the options for replacing the heater tees. They look fine but the service records do not say they were replaced when the timing belt and water pump were done in 2016. I am thinking that using stainless tees would be better than plastic. Any reason to go with the plastic over stainless?
Been looking at roof platforms, roof top tents, a suspension lift, front locker, LED interior light upgrade, snorkel, front and rear bumpers, bike rack, winch, new rims, larger tires, off road lights, extra fuel storage, rear drawer units, dual battery, CB radio, on board compressor, new paint – I like the Toyota orange on the 2018 Tacomas. Any advice? Did I miss any upgrades? This could be a very expensive!
Still looking for a good used car for my kids to drive. I was thinking small SUV or maybe a Subaru. You know, something good on gas, all wheel drive and easy to park. Maybe I’ll check Auto Trader. First I need to read up on the stereo/rear camera upgrade. Another trip down the IH8MUD rabbit hole! Going to be a late night.
