Cost of ownership, just gas and oil changes right?

[2001LC]

When I purchased in March 2004 with just under 60K miles. I asked a few Toyota mechanic and the parts counter associates; what they're seeing, answer: "Nothing just PM maintenance stuff" I found this to true with only a few exception.

I guess babying my LC has paid-off. I say this because in 152,000 miles the total maintenance cost is less than $.04 a mile.

$.065 per mile over last 90K miles I've driven it. That is because most maintenance begins after first 60K.

I have no doubt this per mile figure will go up with age, that's to be expected. But really I consider this very good.

Cost doesn't include: insurance, tag taxes/fees or gas which is ~ $.34 (gas is $.195 of that) per mile over my 90K miles.

 

[Muddy Bean]

I love my cruiser, but of the 15 vehicles I've owned, only two were weirdly reliable and cheap to own and maintain:

1998 Buick LeSabre
1998 Toyota Camry

The LeSabre just had zero issues from 28,000 miles through 180,000 miles. Literally nothing. 3800 series engines were pushrod design and were just solid. Most comfy car we've owned.

The Camry 2.2 4 cyl. was equally as reliable. We still own it. 270,000 miles on it and still ticking. Things that have needed replacement were cheap an easy to do. I changed the alternator in a driveway in 15 minutes. I changed a leaking radiator in the driveway in 35 minutes. And they were cheap parts. Great mileage, comfy, quiet interior. I love our old Camry.

The 100 has already cost me over $2,000 for my broken front diff. Owned the truck for 14 months now. We will see what else pops up. But I hope once the diff is repaired, we will have a couple of years to recover

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD while navigating gnarly trail. Typos are inherent.

 

[cboyd]

I'm not sharing my numbers. All my wife knows is that the LC only cost $10k to purchase! I've more than doubled that in <6 months of owning it

This. So much this!

I also don't want to see it all written out, but those posts above are pretty indicative.

But I've gone some amazing places already and met some great people with this truck. Can't put a price on that...

 

[joebattle1]

If anybody thinks they will purchase a 100 Series and drive it for 200,000 miles and never fix anything because it's a "Cruiser" they are wrong. In 2013 alone I poured roughly $7,800 into mine. That was a combination of replacing OEM parts, and upgrading from OEM to aftermarket (price was same or less than OEM). The $7,800 is not accounting for the $9,800 dollars of fuel I burned through, the $1,500 set of tires I had to replace, nor the $720 insurance check, depreciation, etc, etc, etc.

They are reliable, they are capable, they are reasonably affordable now...but they are very expensive to run.

-The truck was $59,500 new.
-12MPG and 187K that comes out to ~$79,000
-Maintenance for 14 years ~ $15,000

If you purchased new, and maintain regularly...you've dumped $153,600 into the 100 Series as of today (very rough numbers). If you wheel and modify them, go ahead and add another $5,000 for off-road wear and tear over 14 years, and whatever you spend modifying it ($1,500-$20,000)

Average Cost of a 100 Series after 14 years and some wheeling?

$160,100 - $178,600



Feeling sick yet? . That's not accounting for premature wear, off-road breakage, accidents, etc...

Guess I won't be selling my Bimmer wagon or my 60 anytime soon.

 

[yeti in ga]

I think its way cheaper to buy a good used LC and have some maintenance then buying a new truck and driving off the lot and losing 5k for passing the side walk.... Own it out right with no car payments, be prepared to fix some items and accept others. If you cant fix it yourself and you dont have 2-3k in reserve then maybe this isn't the fit. Now go out there and check your leaky boots before your CV falls apart. !

 

[m3fan]

Purchased my 05 with 116K on the clock this year. Looking back at the maintenance I'm amazed at how much the previous owners had to sink into this car- it's insane. All within the first 100K. Highlights include:

PS Rack and PS Pump at the same time
Couple Rear AC Lines (>$800) replaced
Alternator Replaced
T-Belt/WP Replacement/service
New Exhaust
CV Boots Replacement/Repack
Front Diff Seal Replacement
Sway links and bushings all around

These are all pretty major repairs and I'm really happy they are behind me on this truck. All the previous service was done at a Yota dealer so the PO had to have just been reamed on the costs, I can see why they traded it in.

When I got it I:

Replaced shocks all around (though they were actually still pretty good, barely an improvement)- Keep in mind the 8 rear washers for the shock cushions are 10.00 each for washers.
Coated the entire underside in CorrosionX, scaled away any rusty underbody areas and coated with POR15
Replaced broken deadpedal (expensive piece of plastic at 60 bucks)
Removed hideous air deflector from hood
Techstream to code some new keys (amazing)
Edit- almost forgot I rebuilt the entire parking brake system- totally fused/frozen

I got a P0420 code which I reset so I may need a Cat soon, we'll see. Also pretty sure the AC is out again, another leak.

Previous to the LC I bought a 4Runner V8 (with VVTI) and ran it 9 years without a single thing going wrong. Fluid changes and PM T-belt/WP, that is all. Original battery, even. That was an insanely low cost vehicle to run in comparison.

I've had 6 BMWs including an E39 M5 which I have pretty much been through from front to back so I'm very familiar with running costs for a hardcore DIY'er. I'd say the Land Cruiser is right up there with any of my BMWs so far on the DIY care and feeding scale and the parts certainly are not cheap nor readily available. Actually it seems like the parts are less readily available than the BMW stuff and OEM suppliers are less apparent, e.g. Lemoforder/ZF/Sachs for BMW stuff and the LC doesn't have the specialty parts houses like Pelican/BavAuto/FCPEuro, etc.

 

[adrenalinefjz80]

Occasionally you'll see owners sink a bunch of money into maintence then sell to buy a newer platform. The sweet spot is a $10k rig. You could rebuild most of the drivetrain bushings, ballpoints, starter, cooling system, etc for 10k in parts. Drive the 100 another 150k miles is $0.06/mile. My 99 insurance is 37/month. Brand new car or possibly a 200 series is approaching 100/month. Basically, $750 annual free cash flow. I had around $355 in parts expenses in 2015 for 10k in actual miles. Sure I dropped a lot more into maintenance last year, but it's a numbers game. Buy and hold to dollar cost average ownership over a decade and 150k miles is where the value is for these LC's. There's guys posting 500k or even news of a 630k mile 100 series on the forum.

Let's not forget about sales tax either if you replace a 100 with a newer 100. The long model runs for 80/100/200 is great because you buy and rebuild what you got. I could have bought an 03 with lessor miles at double the cost versus the 99 I have. However, I would be in the same scenario 4 years later whether to trade in or rebuild. Save the sales tax and rebuild until it's time for a second LC in the garage. Personally, I'm not selling mine, only looking to add to the collection

 

[2001LC]

*** My 99 insurance is 37/month. **

Who's your insurance company?

 

[adrenalinefjz80]

Who's your insurance company?

State Farm with 2k deductibles, no accident history, 7.5k annual mileage limit. I release the mileage limit typically before Thanksgiving on average once I reach the threshold. Even now, my Dec payment was 43 bucks on it.