Hey Good People!
I just wanted to drop a note and introduce myself, as I just finally bought my first Land Cruiser! I haven’t been this excited about a new vehicle since I got my very first car 20 years ago - buying a Land Cruiser is the closest I’ve come to rediscovering that same sense of freedom and limitless opportunities as that first drive when I was 16.
The quick and dirty: today I bought a 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser with 146k miles. Clean CarFax, no accidents, extensive service records from mostly Toyota service facilities, and boy it looks clean, clean, clean. It’s lived most of its life in Virginia, but I bought it from a dealership in Portland where it’s lived the last couple years. I’m making arrangements now to fly out and drive it home to Tampa - a 3,000 mile shakedown cruise befitting of the name Land Cruiser.
I’m going to just share my experience briefly below, because I have to tell someone, and my wife - as incredible and supportive as she can be - is justifiably sick of me talking to her about Land Cruiser stuff, so I’m here for some new internet friends and a sense of community…
Previously I had a 2012 BMW X5 that I bought in 2019 along with an extended warranty that ended up being worth its weight in gold. But, as that warranty draws to a close and as the X5’s turbos threaten ominously beneath the plastic clad veneer of the engine bay, I began a surprisingly deep and introspective journey that would ultimately lead me to the Land Cruiser.
We didn’t have a huge budget for the BMW replacement, and the timing in this used car market couldn’t have been worse. Couple with that the bad timing for the Land Cruiser market within that…it was a double wammy. At first, back in February, I very nearly bought a new 2022 Subaru Outback. I love those things, and they’re great vehicles, but I soon learned that I was wanting more out of this next vehicle than I think I even realized at the time, and it was an unfair ask of the Subaru. Like with so many folks, my family and I had a rough run for a couple years, but we found ourselves on the other side of things and I have newfound value for durability, reliability, and things that work. We also had an itch to get the heck out of dodge after having been holed up with the rest of the world for the last two years. So it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted the most durable and reliable machine that I could find, and also one that was capable enough to take us anywhere, and we all know there’s only one vehicle that could satisfy that, and once I began to dig around the lore of the LC, it was almost like poetry how it all lined up.
I wrote this in part to just introduce myself, but also to set and share my intentions for this truck, and those are to keep and use this vehicle forever. So many things are ephemeral and expendable and me getting this Land Cruiser is a little bit of an act of rebellion against all those things. I wanted something that was built well, with intention, and something that I can repair and maintain with my own hands and teach my children to do the same. I wanted to recommit to exploring the world and showing it to my kids, and what better vehicle for that than a Land Cruiser? I know it sounds cliche, and y’all have probably heard it a thousand times, but this is absolutely more than just a vehicle purchase to me; it’s a renewed commitment to a more intentional, sustainable, and adventurous way of life and at a time when everything is changing, I just want my vehicle to stay the same through the years and start up when I need it.
Thanks for having me, and see y’all out there on the road - or beyond!
Cheers,
Andy
I just wanted to drop a note and introduce myself, as I just finally bought my first Land Cruiser! I haven’t been this excited about a new vehicle since I got my very first car 20 years ago - buying a Land Cruiser is the closest I’ve come to rediscovering that same sense of freedom and limitless opportunities as that first drive when I was 16.
The quick and dirty: today I bought a 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser with 146k miles. Clean CarFax, no accidents, extensive service records from mostly Toyota service facilities, and boy it looks clean, clean, clean. It’s lived most of its life in Virginia, but I bought it from a dealership in Portland where it’s lived the last couple years. I’m making arrangements now to fly out and drive it home to Tampa - a 3,000 mile shakedown cruise befitting of the name Land Cruiser.
I’m going to just share my experience briefly below, because I have to tell someone, and my wife - as incredible and supportive as she can be - is justifiably sick of me talking to her about Land Cruiser stuff, so I’m here for some new internet friends and a sense of community…
Previously I had a 2012 BMW X5 that I bought in 2019 along with an extended warranty that ended up being worth its weight in gold. But, as that warranty draws to a close and as the X5’s turbos threaten ominously beneath the plastic clad veneer of the engine bay, I began a surprisingly deep and introspective journey that would ultimately lead me to the Land Cruiser.
We didn’t have a huge budget for the BMW replacement, and the timing in this used car market couldn’t have been worse. Couple with that the bad timing for the Land Cruiser market within that…it was a double wammy. At first, back in February, I very nearly bought a new 2022 Subaru Outback. I love those things, and they’re great vehicles, but I soon learned that I was wanting more out of this next vehicle than I think I even realized at the time, and it was an unfair ask of the Subaru. Like with so many folks, my family and I had a rough run for a couple years, but we found ourselves on the other side of things and I have newfound value for durability, reliability, and things that work. We also had an itch to get the heck out of dodge after having been holed up with the rest of the world for the last two years. So it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted the most durable and reliable machine that I could find, and also one that was capable enough to take us anywhere, and we all know there’s only one vehicle that could satisfy that, and once I began to dig around the lore of the LC, it was almost like poetry how it all lined up.
I wrote this in part to just introduce myself, but also to set and share my intentions for this truck, and those are to keep and use this vehicle forever. So many things are ephemeral and expendable and me getting this Land Cruiser is a little bit of an act of rebellion against all those things. I wanted something that was built well, with intention, and something that I can repair and maintain with my own hands and teach my children to do the same. I wanted to recommit to exploring the world and showing it to my kids, and what better vehicle for that than a Land Cruiser? I know it sounds cliche, and y’all have probably heard it a thousand times, but this is absolutely more than just a vehicle purchase to me; it’s a renewed commitment to a more intentional, sustainable, and adventurous way of life and at a time when everything is changing, I just want my vehicle to stay the same through the years and start up when I need it.
Thanks for having me, and see y’all out there on the road - or beyond!
Cheers,
Andy
