Compared to the Yukon XL I just got rid of, my '21 Tundra drives like a midsize (it does have best in class turning radius and an extremely short, easy to see over front end), and my LX drives like a Rav4 on steroids.
moving up from an 80 to a 200
- Thread starter Apolo
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
My 80 was lightly built with 35's and a front bumper. It weighed 5280lbs with gas and driver according to the cat scale, almost perfectly balanced F/R. LX570 is a around 1000 lbs heavier with 35's, gas and driver, no bumpers, skids or sliders. I think that's significant.
I also think the relative size is a big factor at least for me. There are some trails around here I could barely squeeze my 80 through between the trees or rocks. I'm afraid to try it in the 200. It may be doable, but not without high stress and excellent spotting. Just the experience of fitting the 200 in the garage vs the 80 is a completely different. With the 200 in there, I can barely squeeze my body around to the far side to get things off the shelf etc. With the 80, I could freely walk around. When it comes to wheeling, this is going to depend a lot on the terrain, obviously. In the desert, size doesn't matter much. In tight trails with trees, it can be the difference between a fun trail ride and expensive body damage.
I can say that in my limited wheeling in the LX, the 80 does have a noticeable articulation advantage, but I didn't measure or anything to quantify. Just seat of the pants judgement. My 80 was set up with really soft springs and long shocks and the front axle moved quite a lot. With soft stock springs, I think the 80 is also set up to allow a lot of movement up front, the limiting factor being shock length. I'm going to do some long travel mods to the LX and see how it can be improved.
My 80 had F/R lockers and I had to use them at least a few times a year. I would always try to run an obstacle open and then lock after a few failed attempts. I have tried crawl control once and decided I'd rather slip and slide through an obstacle than listen to what sounds like the truck falling to pieces beneath me.
Didn't break any birfs or CV's in either yet
I don't think it's hype/nostalgia. Watching others on the trail (jeeps mostly) and the line backs up with people getting stuck on that one tough shelf, then you come to the front of the line and just walk right up it, there's definitely something to it. The 80 is better off road than anything I've owned short of my '84 mini truck, but that thing was barely drivable on public roads.
Just this guy's $0.02
Maybe @TeCKis300 can answer but i think LC200 has better articulation than LC80 due to KDSS/AHC. Unmodded of course…so Heckraiser may be right due to mods.
CharlieS
GOLD Star
Hard to believe after seeing a bunch of both on trail. Then again, they were all likely modded suspensions. The solid front axle is a thing of beauty with situations that require the suspension to articulate without the body being all twisted up. Set up well, the front and rear suspensions articulate and the body stays relatively flat, instead of doing the lift the rear wheel like a dog peeing and make the driver feel like they are going to endo. There is one spot in a tough local trail that demonstrates this amazingly - large boulders between a ledge and a tree, where there is one line over the drop. I'll have to try to get some video this year. @JetSurfer I think you know the spot I'm talking about, slightly uphill from where we both get caught up in our wide 200 series, and I think you had some door damage last year or the year before.
This might be the spot?
This might be the spot?
Last edited:
With long trips and "cheaper" as considerations, have you looked at a 4Runner of similar vintage? Even without modifications it would likely satisfy your needs and be significantly less expensive up front and at the pump than a 200 series.
CharlieS
GOLD Star
I don't pay much attention to ramp scores - what are the stock 200 series Lc and Lx scores for comparison sake?
Somewhere around 680 for stock LC200 and 650 for LX570 I think. LC takes advantage of KDSS. LX takes advantage of thinner sway bars + AHC compensating for the thinner sways.
Don’t forget all that
heavy chrome on the LX. It adds up.
heavy chrome on the LX. It adds up.
I had a built '97. I drove it everywhere, including many of the most remote places in the US. Now I have a (little less built) '09. I fricken love it.
Things actually happen when you press the accelerator to the floor.
It is quiet, the seats are comfortable, and the steering is so much tighter. All this leads to significantly less driver fatigue on long trips.
I dig the soccer mom vibes. I've come to hate the overland/off road brawny look more than ever (4runners/Tacos with 16 pointless amber lights, every angry eyed Wrangler, most Broncos, all Raptors...). I like how the stock 200 makes almost zero effort to stand out, and I think it's hilarious considering underlying capability. Long live the Highlander XL! (Not to say the 80 was particularly offensive in this regard, just a general observation about car culture these days).
I think the traction control/vehicle stability is great in the snow. It's sort of impossible to get it to go sideways without disabling those. I could do donuts in the 80 on snow. This is not really what I want for multi-hour drives in poor conditions on the highway. I like the stability.
Crawl Control is sick. It sounds like a cat playing with one of those springy door stops. But it's also neat to just point the wheel and let it figure it out.
The secret electric cabin heater makes it heat up much faster on a cold morning.
And if I want a solid front axle, 5 speed, beautiful and classic 4x4, I drive my FJ62 daily
Things actually happen when you press the accelerator to the floor.
It is quiet, the seats are comfortable, and the steering is so much tighter. All this leads to significantly less driver fatigue on long trips.
I dig the soccer mom vibes. I've come to hate the overland/off road brawny look more than ever (4runners/Tacos with 16 pointless amber lights, every angry eyed Wrangler, most Broncos, all Raptors...). I like how the stock 200 makes almost zero effort to stand out, and I think it's hilarious considering underlying capability. Long live the Highlander XL! (Not to say the 80 was particularly offensive in this regard, just a general observation about car culture these days).
I think the traction control/vehicle stability is great in the snow. It's sort of impossible to get it to go sideways without disabling those. I could do donuts in the 80 on snow. This is not really what I want for multi-hour drives in poor conditions on the highway. I like the stability.
Crawl Control is sick. It sounds like a cat playing with one of those springy door stops. But it's also neat to just point the wheel and let it figure it out.
The secret electric cabin heater makes it heat up much faster on a cold morning.
And if I want a solid front axle, 5 speed, beautiful and classic 4x4, I drive my FJ62 daily
-------------------
IMO, off-road is many things. I don't doubt the 80-series modified, is a better extreme rock crawler.
Not everyone is crawling extreme technical obstacles, of which a modified 200-series is going to be quite capable on too. Comparing many dimensions and measurements, a well modified 200-series on 35s can wheel at the level of a Bronco Sasquatch, and broach potentially close to what a Bronco Raptor is capable of in some regards. While being a stronger payload and HD platform. That's well enough for me.
What the 200-series is going to do way way better than an 80-series, outside of the most extreme obstacles, is literally everything else. Where most of us spend 99% of the time unless the goal is to create a dedicated rock crawler. On-road, highway, overlanding tracks, high speed baja, towing, and comfort into pretty serious crawling - the 80-series is not even close in these more likely use cases.
do plan on doing a lot of initial baseline maintenance. I bought a 2011 lx 570 with 140k miles on it. Everything seemed fine and working when I bought and used it but will list the things I needed to take care of after I bought it:
1. Flush all fluids (transmission, differentials, AHC), this takes quite some effort if you are DIY, unless you know a good shop.
2. Valley plate leak - I had to fix mine
3. Radiator cracks (although my year is not in the faulty radiator year/model, eventually at 150k miles, I have a small crack which I should take care off soon)
4. spark plugs, tires and brakes are considered regular baseline but points 1,2,3 are something you need to expect for 200 series with around that miles.
bloc
SILVER Star
The radiator PSA thread with the year range got started back when even 2013s didn’t have enough mileage to crack, which explains the inaccurate initial year range in the title. But those 10-13, 15, 17… radiators will as well.
If a US market 200-series was built before late 2018 it WILL need a radiator somewhere before 150k, usually before 110 and sometimes as early as 80k. Anyone looking at an 08-early 18 200 that hasn’t already been swapped should plan for this repair.
