Over Labor Day weekend, my wife, three boys, dog, and I took our trusty 1992 4Runner to Utah's San Rafael Swell to go camping and exploring. The 4Runner with 215k on it did fine as always. We drove so great roads. Saw some cool sights. Basically had a great time. When we pulled into the driveway at the end of the trip, my wife said we can't do these trips in the 4Runner anymore. She'd been riding in the back seat and had to unpretzel herself out. I think her back hurt from the ride for a few days. Five people, a dog, and camping gear are now too much for our old 4Runner. I think in the first few minutes we were home we decided we needed a Land Cruiser with its extra space and third row of seating. In 1992, when we bought our 4Runner we seriously thought of buying a Land Cruiser. Many of our friends had 60-series LCs and they were great. When we started shopping for a new vehicle to replace our unreliable 1988 Subaru, our first stop was the Toyota dealer to look at the new 80-series Land Cruisers. We liked everything about them except for the fact that Toyota had stopped selling them in the U.S. with manual transmissions. At the time, a four-wheel drive with an automatic just seemed wrong if you were going to really drive it off the pavement, so we went and bought a nice 4Runner with a 5-speed manual transmission.
I think the night we returned from our trip to the "Swell", I started looking online for Land Cruisers. The 100-series seemed to be the one to target getting. This forum was a great help in things to think about. I came across a low-mileage (75k) 2000 Lexus LX470 that had spent all of its life in southern California and Arizona (all highway driving and no salt). I almost flew to Phoenix to look at it, but decided I didn't want to deal with the AHC if I wanted to upgrade the suspension someday. We looked at a higher mileage 2000 LC100. It had seen better days and needed more work than I want to do. Then I came across a 2005 LC100 at a local used car lot. It was more $$, but only had 104k on it. It had also been a southern California car. The underneath looked new - no rust or scratch on anything. I'm sure it was just a status vehicle for someone. It is loaded - rear DVD system, etc... Its interior is much like our Pruis and Highlander. The color is Atlantis Blue Mica. I took the family to see it, they loved it, and we bought it that day.
The first mod, or maybe just maintenance, was to replace the hood struts. This forum pointed me to Mr. Lou's. A well spent $40. The dealership wanted $180. I did buy and install the Toyota hitch receiver the day we bought it for our bike rack.
We have owned it for two and a half weeks now and have had it off the pavement twice. What a great ride. Last Friday I took it to explore the Cedar Mountains in the Utah west desert. I had to use low range twice and was worried about the running boards a few times. We had some steep, rocky two-track. There were some large mud puddles (it had actually rained out there early last week). As expected the Land Cruiser did great on everything. I just need to learn how to drive an automatic 4x4. I think the first mod will be to get Toyota front mud flaps and take of the running boards for trips in the country. Someday maybe 285 tires and an OME lift. One of my sons wants me to get bumper and sliders. We'll see. I worry about all that stuff just rusting away with our salty winters.
Below are some photos of our trip to the Cedar Mountains:
Horseshoe Spring
White Rock in the Southern Cedar Mountains
Two-track north of White Rock
I think the night we returned from our trip to the "Swell", I started looking online for Land Cruisers. The 100-series seemed to be the one to target getting. This forum was a great help in things to think about. I came across a low-mileage (75k) 2000 Lexus LX470 that had spent all of its life in southern California and Arizona (all highway driving and no salt). I almost flew to Phoenix to look at it, but decided I didn't want to deal with the AHC if I wanted to upgrade the suspension someday. We looked at a higher mileage 2000 LC100. It had seen better days and needed more work than I want to do. Then I came across a 2005 LC100 at a local used car lot. It was more $$, but only had 104k on it. It had also been a southern California car. The underneath looked new - no rust or scratch on anything. I'm sure it was just a status vehicle for someone. It is loaded - rear DVD system, etc... Its interior is much like our Pruis and Highlander. The color is Atlantis Blue Mica. I took the family to see it, they loved it, and we bought it that day.
The first mod, or maybe just maintenance, was to replace the hood struts. This forum pointed me to Mr. Lou's. A well spent $40. The dealership wanted $180. I did buy and install the Toyota hitch receiver the day we bought it for our bike rack.
We have owned it for two and a half weeks now and have had it off the pavement twice. What a great ride. Last Friday I took it to explore the Cedar Mountains in the Utah west desert. I had to use low range twice and was worried about the running boards a few times. We had some steep, rocky two-track. There were some large mud puddles (it had actually rained out there early last week). As expected the Land Cruiser did great on everything. I just need to learn how to drive an automatic 4x4. I think the first mod will be to get Toyota front mud flaps and take of the running boards for trips in the country. Someday maybe 285 tires and an OME lift. One of my sons wants me to get bumper and sliders. We'll see. I worry about all that stuff just rusting away with our salty winters.
Below are some photos of our trip to the Cedar Mountains:
Horseshoe Spring
White Rock in the Southern Cedar Mountains
Two-track north of White Rock
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