If you are planning on getting an 80 series, my advice is get the newest, cleanest one you can afford. Lockers are not that important unless you plan to do a lot of serious wheeling, and even then can be added later. I like the 1FZ engine a lot, I like my air bags a lot, I like the dash on the 95-97 80 series a lot more than the prior years. Plus, even if you buy a 1997 you are almost already buying a 20 year old vehicle. If I were looking to buy one now I would wait for a white 1996-97 one. They are all over 150K miles now, many over 210K. Just be patient and be ready to snap it up when you see it come up. In my area at least (SoCal), clean 80 series with lockers (what I bought) go very very fast.
