GX550 Opinions from 80 Series Owners?

[Rednexus]

My 80 drives great on road. Perhaps you could consider keeping the 80 and adding an economy car to the stable if there's room for two rigs at your place. Depends how much southwest desert exploring miles you accumulate per year I guess.

These look pretty f-ing sweet:

Toyota 80 Series Restorations - Proffitt's

All of our 80 Series Restorations are custom built and tailored to its owner's desires. Check out these recent restorations, they are all unique but look closely at the pictures,

www.resurrectionlandcruisers.com

Looks like the lowest tier price tag is well into GX550 money, even if the vehicle is already owned and does not need to be purchased. Considering the number of hours involved the cost is not surprising. I've DIY'd a bit of an interior and mechanical refresh (a couple of rungs below a resto) on my GX470 and it's a huge amount of time.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

These look pretty f-ing sweet:

Toyota 80 Series Restorations - Proffitt's

All of our 80 Series Restorations are custom built and tailored to its owner's desires. Check out these recent restorations, they are all unique but look closely at the pictures,

www.resurrectionlandcruisers.com

Looks like the lowest tier price tag is well into GX550 money, even if the vehicle is already owned and does not need to be purchased. Considering the number of hours involved the cost is not surprising. I've DIY'd a bit of an interior and mechanical refresh (a couple of rungs below a resto) on my GX470 and it's a huge amount of time.

That shop does good work. No doubt it's very expensive. They also have a series of videos with some interesting content. Proffitt's Resurrection Land Cruiser TV - https://www.resurrectionlandcruisers.com/land-cruiser-videos/

This level of work is only for rich guys IMO. My approach is to do the minimal necessary.

 

[cryorunner]

This: "In my experience, you're never going to "love" any replacement for a 80, they just aren't the same. I really love our 460 but the closest I've found for replacing the "love" I have for the 80 is a 200/570."

That's what I was suspecting and worried about, so appreciate the input. Though I will say that the size bloat of the "real Land Cruisers" (tongue in cheek, nobody get mad) would make it harder to navigate some trails I do. Even the move from my old 2nd gen 4Runner to the 80 was a shock in terms of width on the tighter sections. I did think of building from a LX570 at first, but all the 200s are so expensive on the used market here, just didn't seem to make financial sense compared to the GX550.

My 80 drives great on road. Perhaps you could consider keeping the 80 and adding an economy car to the stable if there's room for two rigs at your place. Depends how much southwest desert exploring miles you accumulate per year I guess.

It's only been a weekend toy for the last 20 years I've had it, so have other practical vehicles for daily driving. But unfortunately around here it's 2+ hours to even the closer spots I want to 4x4, so have to drive the 80 for some distances. It's not horribly bad, and I know you can't have both ultimate luxury and off-road capability in the same vehicle, but it's definitely more work than my IFS 2nd gen 4Runner it replaced. I did the lift (2.5" with castor correction) and the tires right after I got it, so not sure how much of it is inherent in the solid-axle 80 vs. my fault. But for instance it really hunts the road crown and takes a lot more active steering effort than anything else I drive or its predecessor.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

That's what I was suspecting and worried about, so appreciate the input. Though I will say that the size bloat of the "real Land Cruisers" (tongue in cheek, nobody get mad) would make it harder to navigate some trails I do. Even the move from my old 2nd gen 4Runner to the 80 was a shock in terms of width on the tighter sections. I did think of building from a LX570 at first, but all the 200s are so expensive on the used market here, just didn't seem to make financial sense compared to the GX550.


It's only been a weekend toy for the last 20 years I've had it, so have other practical vehicles for daily driving. But unfortunately around here it's 2+ hours to even the closer spots I want to 4x4, so have to drive the 80 for some distances. It's not horribly bad, and I know you can't have both ultimate luxury and off-road capability in the same vehicle, but it's definitely more work than my IFS 2nd gen 4Runner it replaced. I did the lift (2.5" with castor correction) and the tires right after I got it, so not sure how much of it is inherent in the solid-axle 80 vs. my fault. But for instance it really hunts the road crown and takes a lot more active steering effort than anything else I drive or its predecessor.

I also own a 2nd gen 4Runner in Hawaii. It has a good ride but the 80 is better IMO. Drives straight as an arrow with no effort. Both have stock suspension. 31" tires on the Runner, 31.6 on the 80. (265/75r/16)

 

[cryorunner]

Update:
I guess this is getting complicated, because my opportunity for the GX550 may be coming up a lot faster than I thought.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

There may be no perfect answer, but maybe I'll just buy the GX and hold the 80 for a little while and decide for myself. Worst case I could throw away a lot of taxes paid on the GX550 (probably more than the LX450 is even worth) and just sell the GX at a loss. Even best case I'm not even sure how to get any value out of the 80 anyway, as the only thing "special" about it is the supercharger, and that only matters for it being California legal, which means a small market. I can't see many of the local buyers even being enthusiast enough to care about that detail, and will just be comparing it against the other 80s available. But it would be a big pain to keep it, so will have to sell one or the other.

If I to get the GX550 and answer my own questions, I'll do a follow-up for anyone else who might be in the same predicament.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

 

[alabamatacomaguy]

I’m starting to see small town dealers within 100miles of me drop prices on Toyota 250s in my area. (They advertise on market place)
With the economy slow down you may want to compare prices of 550 between dealers around your location.

But I think the Lexus version is going to be the more desired model so the deals may not be out there.

 

[Clemson TLC]

Cryorunner,

I made the original comment about keeping the 80. My 80 is like an old friend, so it would be very hard to let it go. I have an Avalon hybrid as a daily driver at 40 plus MPG. I could make the LC250 my daily driver, but not the 80. So if I had to decide if to keep the 80 & Avalon vs the LC250, it would be a hard decision. The 80 plus the Avalon is a much more practical approach. I have room to keep all three plus the wife's car, but probably will ditch the Avalon at some point.

 

[TWILLY]

I was going to replace one or both 80s with a 250, but, for my use case, the 250’s low capacities disqualify it as an 80 replacement. I might consider replacing our Subaru with a 250 eventually, but I’ll probably err with another crossover for efficiency when that time comes. We just don’t have much use for a light duty off-roader, be that a Jeep, 4Runner, or now J250.

 

[scrappyslexus]

I have owned and driven. GX 470,GX460 and LX570. Still think the 2000 LX470 we still own is the best riding vehicle. Does the GX 550 rides similar to the GX 460?

 

[cryorunner]

Cryorunner,

I made the original comment about keeping the 80. My 80 is like an old friend, so it would be very hard to let it go.

Ha, thanks for checking in! I've poorly paraphrased your original comments many times as when people asked me about my potential purchase.

I've got a love/hate relationship with my 80. I feel like I know it very well, familiar with most nooks and crannies throughout the vehicle, which seems like a good thing if I have a problem on the trail. The downside is that I've HAD to get familiar with most every system on the thing, as random things have failed as it just gets older. I also installed the TRD supercharger when it was younger, which helped with some familiarity under the hood.

Time will tell if this new one is actually reliable enough to get me past that for a few years, but I'll certainly never be able to work on it the way I did the 80.

I'm still not sure what to make of the GX550 and its quirks as a replacement for the 80 yet, but I guess it's telling that I haven't even bothered to go get the 80 smogged yet (required in my state to sell a vehicle) must less list it anywhere. Going to give myself a little time I think to see if I'm in your camp about favoring the 80 (though eventually just don't have the room to keep both in addition to my daily driver).

 

[calokie]

Ha, thanks for checking in! I've poorly paraphrased your original comments many times as when people asked me about my potential purchase.

I've got a love/hate relationship with my 80. I feel like I know it very well, familiar with most nooks and crannies throughout the vehicle, which seems like a good thing if I have a problem on the trail. The downside is that I've HAD to get familiar with most every system on the thing, as random things have failed as it just gets older. I also installed the TRD supercharger when it was younger, which helped with some familiarity under the hood.

Time will tell if this new one is actually reliable enough to get me past that for a few years, but I'll certainly never be able to work on it the way I did the 80.

I'm still not sure what to make of the GX550 and its quirks as a replacement for the 80 yet, but I guess it's telling that I haven't even bothered to go get the 80 smogged yet (required in my state to sell a vehicle) must less list it anywhere. Going to give myself a little time I think to see if I'm in your camp about favoring the 80 (though eventually just don't have the room to keep both in addition to my daily driver).

We will all have plenty of time to ponder the subject, the GX550s are selling like hot cakes. Availability is extremely sparse and options are a plenty, so if your like me and set on your options/colors etc....its gets very difficult to find that special one. Same goes for the LX600. Both models are usually sold before they breach landfall.

 

[cryorunner]

We will all have plenty of time to ponder the subject, the GX550s are selling like hot cakes. Availability is extremely sparse and options are a plenty, so if your like me and set on your options/colors etc....its gets very difficult to find that special one. Same goes for the LX600. Both models are usually sold before they breach landfall.

Unfortunately the call from the dealer last week had the exact set of options I was asking for, so didn't have any excuse to keep pondering. Now slowly trying to answer the questions from my original post myself. But also now have both GX550 and LX450 taking up the driveway, so will have to come to a decision sooner than later. But not sure a sale of the LX would even pay for the taxes paid on the GX I'd just be throwing away if I sold it so soon, never mind the hit just driving it off the lot. So probably inevitable decision. But plan on spending part of the weekend doing some more detailed comparisons side by side.

 

[SanJuanJ]

My usual default response....but....any reason a 2022-23 GX460 is not on the list? Nice old-school, totally sorted Toyota engineering and tech but low miles, and much cheaper than a new GX550.

In my case it's because they are just too butt ugly. But of course that's totally subjective.

 

[Rednexus]

In my case it's because they are just too butt ugly. But of course that's totally subjective.

Fixed easily enough with an aftermarket bumper