Buying a 200 (2013)

[Samuel Weber]

If we are buying this as our main vehicle and not a weekend cruiser... will it hold up under 15-20k miles a year with some solid road trips (1k trips) sandwiched in there?
We will take care of it and likely buy a warranty.
I already have an FZJ 80 and we can no longer take on long road trips due to it being lil unreliable (fair enough it's 20+ years old).

 

[Itsky]

I drive the 2013 with a similar use case. I bought it two years ago with ~80k.

I performed the following maintenance since I've got it:
- All fluids including transmission
- Radiator blew up in my drive way - definitely change this out
- Water Pump, pulley and belts (did with radiator)
- Starter (somewhat debatable if this is necessary, but I do remote travel so I did)
- Battery
- Spark plugs
- PCV Valve (have it, but need to do it)

I just returned from a 2K miles trip through the southwest with lots of offroading and it did great.

 

[molanginaeda]

My 2013 is my daily commute. Also my road trip vehicles. I added 15+k annually. LC is pushing 200k mark and still running strong. Good maintenance is the key.

 

[KLF]

If we are buying this as our main vehicle and not a weekend cruiser... will it hold up under 15-20k miles a year with some solid road trips (1k trips) sandwiched in there?
We will take care of it and likely buy a warranty.
I already have an FZJ 80 and we can no longer take on long road trips due to it being lil unreliable (fair enough it's 20+ years old).

How many miles on it now? Was it well maintained?

If properly taken care of, I would have no concerns about the usage you have planned. These are extremely reliable, as long as you keep up on the maintenance.

 

[umarali]

If we are buying this as our main vehicle and not a weekend cruiser... will it hold up under 15-20k miles a year with some solid road trips (1k trips) sandwiched in there?
We will take care of it and likely buy a warranty.
I already have an FZJ 80 and we can no longer take on long road trips due to it being lil unreliable (fair enough it's 20+ years old).

I have 2008 LX570 bought in 2015 at 123k miles. right now has 233k trouble free miles, i have done brakes and oil changes. besides that replaced spark plugs when bought and replaced axle fluids, coolant and brake fluid once. Have not had any issues on long trips. it is daily commuter and have taken couple of long trips 2k mile ones. we drive it for out of town trips close to 800miles trip atleast once a month. so i would say, go for it its very reliable if maintained properly before you buy.

 

[Samuel Weber]

It has low miles _ under 80k and carfax is clean. Before I buy, I will have it brought to a local Toyota dealer to inspect.

 

[TLC2013]

It has low miles _ under 80k and carfax is clean. Before I buy, I will have it brought to a local Toyota dealer to inspect.

Make sure they check for the radiator crack, coolant valley leak and for any oil leaks. These can get real expensive to fix especially at the dealership.

 

[Samuel Weber]

Make sure they check for the radiator crack, coolant valley leak and for any oil leaks. These can get real expensive to fix especially at the dealership.

Thank u. I'm also looking at getting an extended warranty. Anybody have luck with Endurance or even buying from Toyota directly? The 2013 on up seem to have a lot of electrical fun goodies (i.e., multi terrain cams, cooled seats, etc) that I could see failing.

 

[TLC2013]

When I bought my 2013 over two years ago I initially purchased a third party warranty from the Toyota dealership, I think the company was called Warranty Solutions. Main reason for the decision was that spending $40k on a used vehicle i wanted some peace of mind in case something major like The engine or tranny failed shortly after taking it home. The warranty could be canceled at any time and would be prorated back to me.

After reading the fine print which said any modification including wheels and larger tires would void the warranty I called and canceled. Got 95% of the money back and some peace of mind. What really ticked me off is that the radiator developed the typical crack and they wouldn’t honor replacing it as the radiator hadn’t fully failed. Plus there is a deductible to use the warranty. Which when you factor in the price of the deductible and the dealerships “estimate” to perform the work i was basically better off buying the radiator and installing it myself.

 

[Samuel Weber]

One thing I have no way of knowing, even with Toyota inspecting it, is how hard was this ridden, was it run hot, did they change oil. Not sure this will come up in an inspection

 

[linuxgod]

Carfax may give you an idea of maintenance history. Also if you put the VIN into the Toyota Owners portal it will show you extra info the dealer may have added. If someone took it to their local mechanic it may or may not show the history. Regular oil changes don't really confirm/deny driver behavior, but they'll let you make up a story that will put your mind at ease. For instance when I bought my truck the PO put 48k miles on it in 2 year in Houston, with regular oil changes at the dealer so my perception was that they probably did a lot of highway driving and did the regular maintenance and took care of it. But if they were doing full throttle starts from every traffic light in Houston and using it as a delivery vehicle I wouldn't know.

I have a 2013 which now has 111k on it. Since we bought it in early 2016 it's been our DD (and only vehicle until recently). We average 12-13k/year, split between heavy city (Chicago) and long road trips out west (4-6k miles round trip) where we pull a fairly heavy travel trailer. My truck has some modifications as well. So yes your use case is fine, and the vehicle will likely drive and handle pretty close to new.

 

[Samuel Weber]

Carfax may give you an idea of maintenance history. Also if you put the VIN into the Toyota Owners portal it will show you extra info the dealer may have added. If someone took it to their local mechanic it may or may not show the history. Regular oil changes don't really confirm/deny driver behavior, but they'll let you make up a story that will put your mind at ease. For instance when I bought my truck the PO put 48k miles on it in 2 year in Houston, with regular oil changes at the dealer so my perception was that they probably did a lot of highway driving and did the regular maintenance and took care of it. But if they were doing full throttle starts from every traffic light in Houston and using it as a delivery vehicle I wouldn't know.

I have a 2013 which now has 111k on it. Since we bought it in early 2016 it's been our DD (and only vehicle until recently). We average 12-13k/year, split between heavy city (Chicago) and long road trips out west (4-6k miles round trip) where we pull a fairly heavy travel trailer. My truck has some modifications as well. So yes your use case is fine, and the vehicle will likely drive and handle pretty close to new.

Thank u

 

[TLC2013]

Best thing to do is run the VIN through Toyota’s website. After creating an account you can plug in the VIN and get a detailed list of all maintenance and repairs performed at a Toyota dealership. This is what I did for every land cruiser And lx570 I was looking at potentially buying.
It was super helpful in identifying potential areas of concern. Seemed like earlier model years had water pump and radiator repairs. Lx570s were more prone to electrical gremlins.
This also shows what dealership performed the repair so I could quickly weed out the trucks from the rust belt or East coast. I plan on keeping my 200 For a long time and didn’t want to deal with any rust issues.

 

[Lester did that]

One thing I have no way of knowing, even with Toyota inspecting it, is how hard was this ridden, was it run hot, did they change oil. Not sure this will come up in an inspection

I wouldn't be too concerned about abuse unless you are buying one that is modded. LC drivers tend to be on the conservative side. If your concerned about it take it to a good indy shop. They will be much more indepth with the inspection than a dealer. Also you could pull samples from all the major fluids and send them out for testing. But that takes time so that would be an after thought to be done right after the purchase if you decide to pull the trigger. 80k is just broken in with these things. They are not Fords or GMCs.

I was offered a warranty on my 2009 about 3 years ago, it had 145k on it. But the cost of the warranty and after I read a little of it was an immediate no for me. Also I checked the VIN on toyota's website for the service records and they where stellar for the first five years and then nothing. The women who owned it took it to an indy dealer for everything after that. I got lucky because the original manual was in the glove box. Inside was all of the service records after the factory warranty expired. They where stellar. But they never showed up anywhere online.

The thing is with toyota website only dealers can make permanent service marks that carry over to the VIN for multiple owners or it is totaled. You have access to it as an individual and can add your own service notes but the next owner will not see your notes. When they log on and create an account with toyota they can't see what the previous owner entered. Unless it was serviced at a dealership. I kinda got around it by creating a new email account only for the truck. So if I decide to sell it to a third party the account info; username, password, email ect I can pass on to the next owner.

Besides a bunch of excessive maintenance the first year that added up a little $$$ I now have 176K. Never once broke down. 2-3 weeks ago I had to replace an emission sensor that was less than $100 and complete plug and play. I do drive it very hard sometimes for days and it never left me stranded. Also my DD.

 

[Samuel Weber]

You’re looking at the new owner of a 2015 200.
Black. Toyota certified with 57k miles.
Bought Toyota warranty to cover through 125kish miles
Pics coming.
It’s just stock though
-Sam

 

[iwashmycar]

You’re looking at the new owner of a 2015 200.
Black. Toyota certified with 57k miles.
Bought Toyota warranty to cover through 125kish miles
Pics coming.
It’s just stock though
-Sam

Congrats! I am getting the itch to try and basically find the exact same thing (if that interior is black ). I am just having doubts about wanting to drop the coin on it and would miss my FJC I think.

 

[Samuel Weber]

Congrats! I am getting the itch to try and basically find the exact same thing (if that interior is black ). I am just having doubts about wanting to drop the coin on it and would miss my FJC I think.

Interior is indeed black.
Seems in good shape.
Some basic surface rust undercarriage that I’ll sand away and spray is all.

 

[stonepa]

If we are buying this as our main vehicle and not a weekend cruiser... will it hold up under 15-20k miles a year with some solid road trips (1k trips) sandwiched in there?
We will take care of it and likely buy a warranty.
I already have an FZJ 80 and we can no longer take on long road trips due to it being lil unreliable (fair enough it's 20+ years old).

I put about 30k miles on my LC a year, maybe 5k pulling a trailer and 10k taking long trips. Pre-covid, these included trips twice a year to Baja and southern mexico, central america. Lots of gravel / washboard driving. The more you drive it the better it gets.

 

[Samuel Weber]

I put about 30k miles on my LC a year, maybe 5k pulling a trailer and 10k taking long trips. Pre-covid, these included trips twice a year to Baja and southern mexico, central america. Lots of gravel / washboard driving. The more you drive it the better it gets.

Question on towing - what gear do you drive in when towing off-road versus on-road?

 

[stonepa]

Question on towing - what gear do you drive in when towing off-road versus on-road?

I just hit the ECT power button and forget about it. In 35 years of towing ive spent zero time obsessing on specific gears to tow in. Ive found it just doesn’t matter. Im sure plenty of people will disagree with me but to each their own.