Decided not to go see the one with 220k on it.
This just popped up this morning. A little over an hour away. Really not a fan of
another silver car but a 1 owner, non-nav '00-'02 is what I am looking for. Price seems ~$1500 too high. Guess I'll know it when I see it...
2001 Toyota Land Cruiser 1-Owner 4WD Clean Title&Carfax Loaded . EXC
That Cruiser looks solid. One thing I think people do not value, quite enough, is really clean cars. You should not get as stuck up on the price, if it has been maintained well, and in good condition. More often than not, you would be better suited to spend a few $1,000 extra on a really clean model, that saving some dough on one that has been abused/neglected. Simple things like windows, sunroof, heated seats, body damage, or torn seats costs a ton to fix. You may say, "Not a big deal, tear in the driver seat" now, but 2 years down the line, when you want to reupholster it, it may be $1,000+ (may be an exaggeration), or a new sunroof is $2k, etc. At that point, you would have been better off getting the 2002 with 165k miles for $15k (perfect shape), vs a 1999 with 185k miles for $6,500 (poor shape).
I also disagree with a lot of people who say "offer X amount minus necessary repairs/needed maintenance." When a Cruiser is 10+ years old, and has 150k-200k miles, one should assume that the car will need some work, to baseline it and ensure it is good for another 100k. The fact that it may need some work (maybe new CV joints, TB, etc), does not necessarily mean that the car is not worth the asking price, and you should not walk into a deal expecting the seller to cover all the cost of the work needed.
Example from above, where they said "offer $6,700 minus necessary repairs". You should not expect a seller to give their truck away, simply because it needs some work. You may get lucky and find someone who will, but even if that Cruiser needed $3k worth of repairs, $3,700 would not be a fair price, for the seller. The Cruiser is worth that in parts.
Very often, if the seller had done the work already, they should be asking MORE for the car, but they have already discounted the price, knowing it will need some money put into it. Obviously, it never hurts to try and lower the price, but don't walk away from a clean Cruiser simply because it needs new CV Joints, or brakes, and the seller doesn't want to pay for it themselves.
Most importantly, though, since these cars are so reliable, and don't typically need major mechanical repairs, try to find the cleanest interior/body you can. That is what gets harder and harder to find, and is worth paying extra for (unless you plan on abusing it yourself, of course). It seems that most of these Cruisers with 200k miles run perfectly, but most do not have perfect interiors/exteriors.
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