Hello All! Newbie from Boston Here

[bchang]

Hello all, I'm in the Boston area and from Taiwan originally. I've always wanted a Land Cruiser, and have begun shopping for one.

My uncle had a FJ-70 when I was a kid, and he used to take me off-roading and some of my best memories from childhood was in a Land Cruiser

I'll be looking at 99-01 Land Cruiser with higher mileages since my budget is $17-$20k. I've been reading through the FAQ and a lot of the posts to prepare myself for the shopping process. If I can't find a good example that has been taken care of, I may have to move onto my second choice - a Mitsubishi Montero.

If you guys have any suggestions or things I should look out for, your input would be much appreciated! I look foward to becoming a LC-owning member of this board soon

 

[2garfields]

I am from Boston as well. Welcome.

 

[Dandon]

Hi and welcome!

The Montero is a very good 4x4, but it's not in the LC 100 league. It compares to the Prado (9x LC series for the former generation Montero, and /12x series for the newer one).
BTW, I didn't know that the Mitsu is called Montero also in the US. As you may know, its original name is "Pajero". In spanish speaking countries that name sounds, er, funny and it was changed to Montero.

If you finally decide on the Montero, you will be looking with sadness and envy at every LC you see passing by

 

[DCM36]

Welcome. I have been looking in a similar price range. You can definitely get a nice one maybe shortly after it's had the 90K service. FYI there are 2 on CARMAX right now in that range. Their prices seem a little higher than other listings, but you know it's been inspected etc...

 

[pint]

Welcome! You should be able to find a nice, solid, 100K mile or less 2000 or 2001 in your price range. Make sure you get one with proper service records, and ideally the 90K service done. You will not be disappointed in a LC!

 

[macneill]

Cool, more Massholes! Welcome!

 

[Drinkin40s]

Welcome! I am right across the border in New Hampshire. Locally, I would try the Want Ad for some private sale vehicles, Autotrader or Cars.com and see what you can find. The more vehicle records the better. If you get an LX they do centralize all their service records which I found important because it showed literally every servicing. If you get up to NH and want to play I have a 500 acre spread w/ lots of wheelin!

 

[KathmanduCruiser]

Welcome to Mud.

As you might be aware already, 2000 comes with the additional safety feature of ATRAC, which the previous year models do not have.

I bought a 2000 with 94K (no service records) in the low range of the budget that you mention. One thing I would look in NW vehicles is the amount of rust in the underbody. Be careful of that factor.

 

[NMuzj100]

Big safety plus of the the 2000+ is VSC which can prevent you from tipping the truck over.

But the board mostly focuses on ATRAC because it provides us with an opportunity to get the vehicle much further from help before becoming hopelessly mired in the hated MUD.

 

[bchang]

Thank you all for all the input. There aren't a lot of Land Cruisers for sale around me, so I've also been giving out-of-state cars some thought.

Craigslist only had a couple of 97 LCs, while a search on Autotrader had about 3 LCs in my price range. There is a 1999 LC with about 74k miles listed at $19,999. I've already made an appointment with the dealer, and will swing by for a test drive tomorrow.

 

[Aussie]

Welcome to Mud, you should find a great LC in that price range, even with low miles. Don't forget the Lexus Lx 470, more of a pink panty ride!

 

[e9999]

Welcome!

 

[greynolds]

Hello all, I'm in the Boston area and from Taiwan originally. I've always wanted a Land Cruiser, and have begun shopping for one.

Welcome to another Boston area member. I live in Billerica and work in Boston.

If I can't find a good example that has been taken care of, I may have to move onto my second choice - a Mitsubishi Montero.

The Montero's are actually pretty nice. I had a '95 Montero that I bought new and liked a lot. They're built like tanks and have some nice features. I really liked the 4wd system where I could choose 2H (rear wheel drive), 4H (full time 4wd), 4HL (high range, center diff locked), and 4LL (low range, center diff locked). For normal driving, switching to 2 wheel drive improved gas mileage by a couple MPG and one could switch between 2H and 4H at speeds up to ~60MPH. The big downside to the Montero is the lack of aftermarket support compared to the Land Cruiser, any Jeep, and any Land Rover and the newer 3rd and 4th generation styles are rather funky for lack of a better word . Oh, and the 3rd and 4th generations are also unibody.

After the Montero, I had a '95 Land Rover Discovery (bought used from a Land Rover dealer with ~25k on it) that would have been great IF Land Rover had something close to Toyota or Mitsubishi quality control. Despite the fact that it was back to the dealer numerous times for all sorts of things that really should never go wrong on a vehicle, it was a fun vehicle. This one got lots of off road modifications including a custom lift, real bumpers, winch, etc. and got a pretty good amount of off road use for a few years before I started running out of time to go offroading which pretty much means going out to Western MA or up to Vermont around here - this means the entire weekend is used up instead of a half day trip like some people are able to pull off in some parts of the country.

After the Discovery, I had an '05 Nissan Pathfinder which turned out to be a mistake, despite being very good in a lot of ways. It was the 1st model year of an all new model and Nissan has perhaps lost their way a bit in the quality control department as it had some problems I wouldn't expect in a brand new vehicle (even factoring in that it was an all new model).

I had the Pathfinder for about a year and replaced it with my '06 LX-470 which has so far been the best vehicle I've ever owned. It is very comfortable and quiet, has plenty of power, is great for long trips, and is obviously very capable off road for when I eventually get to the point where I would consider taking something this expensive off road (a good argument for buying a used one and not having as much $$$ invested in it).

 

[justimaginejack]

I think you will find alot of USED 100's on the market very soon, they tend to get traded in during the summer. Be very careful, as many of us can attest, delayed maintinance can cost as much as 5-10K in a short manner of time. Instead of buying bumpers, you will be paying for someone else's mistake. If it does not have complete maintinance records, I would think twice. I stress complete, in this instance, it makes sense to look at the LX, many Lexus owners maintain their vehicles at Lexus and thier records are stored in a national database. Much easier to print out than collect 50 different reciepts etc.
Welcome and best of Luck in your search, I don't think you will be dissapointed in how the 100 series handles either way.

 

[bchang]

There hasn't been a lot of choices around me. I checked out a couple of LCs at dealers. Neither had maintainence records, so that puts me off. I asked one dealer about the 90k maintainence, but he claimed timing belts aren't due for a while and "Toyota parts last forever."

I may have to start looking into LX470s, but they're proving to be even more elusive. I'm in no rush though: I'd rather take my time and find a good LC that I can hold onto for years rather than bankrupt myself with repairs.

 

[Wellcraft19]

Check out here. In the PNW (Seattle/Bellevue) there are LX 470s (and LCs) all over the place.