Hi, been lurking here for awhile and now I finally have a chance to post something.
In with the new: bought a 162K 2003 Cruiser last Wednesday from Thoroughbred Motors in Oklahoma City and drove 800 miles back to Chicago. Very pleased with the service at Thoroughbred, Allen answered all of my questions and gave me a live video tour around the truck covering every nick and scratch, put it up on a lift and took extensive pictures of the underside before I flew out there to buy. It spent most of its life in CA with a brief detour to OR, lot of service history at Toyota dealers, timing belt/water pump, drive belts, brake fluid, coolant, diffs, transfer case, trans all serviced within the last 40K. Has some wear commensurate with its age but overall very good shape. NO RUST. I have lived in Chicago all my life and have spent way too many hours under cars with all the wrong tools: torch, PB blaster, Dremel, vice grips, sawzall, pry bars, 4' extensions on the breaker bar.
Had a great drive home, it's the first used car I've bought where I didn't have a fixit list by the time I got home. The only thing I need is some extra keys; it only came with one master key. I already have Techstream set up so it shouldn't be an issue.
I'm going to set it up for overland travel. Tentatively planning to quit my job and set out on the Deadhorse to Ushuaia route in June then who knows where. Remove the bugflector, trailer hitch, running boards, roof rack, 3rd row seats, 60% 2nd row. Add Rhinorack load bars, hard shell rooftop tent, build drawers in the rear and middle for storage, small ARB fridge, solar. I'm looking at the Slee 1.5" Heavy suspension kit. Snorkel and breather extensions. Baseline all the maintenance I don't have records for, including the heater T's.
Out with the old: sold my M3 on Sunday. Don't let the picture fool you, it has rust everywhere. Put on Craigslist Sunday morning priced low to sell and it was sold by 3:00.
In with the new: bought a 162K 2003 Cruiser last Wednesday from Thoroughbred Motors in Oklahoma City and drove 800 miles back to Chicago. Very pleased with the service at Thoroughbred, Allen answered all of my questions and gave me a live video tour around the truck covering every nick and scratch, put it up on a lift and took extensive pictures of the underside before I flew out there to buy. It spent most of its life in CA with a brief detour to OR, lot of service history at Toyota dealers, timing belt/water pump, drive belts, brake fluid, coolant, diffs, transfer case, trans all serviced within the last 40K. Has some wear commensurate with its age but overall very good shape. NO RUST. I have lived in Chicago all my life and have spent way too many hours under cars with all the wrong tools: torch, PB blaster, Dremel, vice grips, sawzall, pry bars, 4' extensions on the breaker bar.
Had a great drive home, it's the first used car I've bought where I didn't have a fixit list by the time I got home. The only thing I need is some extra keys; it only came with one master key. I already have Techstream set up so it shouldn't be an issue.
I'm going to set it up for overland travel. Tentatively planning to quit my job and set out on the Deadhorse to Ushuaia route in June then who knows where. Remove the bugflector, trailer hitch, running boards, roof rack, 3rd row seats, 60% 2nd row. Add Rhinorack load bars, hard shell rooftop tent, build drawers in the rear and middle for storage, small ARB fridge, solar. I'm looking at the Slee 1.5" Heavy suspension kit. Snorkel and breather extensions. Baseline all the maintenance I don't have records for, including the heater T's.
Out with the old: sold my M3 on Sunday. Don't let the picture fool you, it has rust everywhere. Put on Craigslist Sunday morning priced low to sell and it was sold by 3:00.
