As long as you do not intend to move to rural Africa, central Australia or Mongolia ... stick with the 200 if it is your only vehicle
Should I sell my 200 for an 80?
- Thread starter duganrec
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
ChaseTruck
--
mudgudgeon
Resident galah
My 80 struggled to pull this trailer anytime it required going over about 45. When we went to the Rendezvous in the Ozarks the hills of Arkansas it spent most of it's time on the floor struggling to get up the hills on the interstate. I actually brought a 200 series home to test drive, was gonna sell the 80. Wife said nope put a V8 in Dino(what she calls our 80), 514hp later towing isn't a problem except for a few bugs I'm working out. If you like working on your vehicle get a V8 80, if you don't keep your 200.
ChaseTruck
--
It sounds like the 80 is a want for emotional, not necessarily functional reasons. I totally get that. I have such an emotional attachment to my 1985 K5. With locked 1-ton axles and 37s, it is fairly capable. But it's big, bulky, heavy, and does't always fit where I would like to go (and no, 42s are not the answer to my issues). I don't want to mangle the body any more than it is already mangled. I'd like to get something smaller, lighter, more capable - but I can't seem to divorce myself from the K5.
All my buddies thought I'd sell the K5 when the 80 and then the LX came into the fleet. No can do... I like the capabilities of the 80, and it's comfort. With 315s and lower t'case gears, it does really well on trails where it'll fit. Of course, it is also not the solution for the trails where I would like to go. There are good examples on what an 80 can do on this board, but I'm not prepared to mod the 80 that way. It'll still be too big and too heavy.
Can't comment on towing, or daily driving (actually, mileage the '93 80 is ~10mpg on 315s, with a S/C...), and I'm sure the 200 is superior in all those aspects.
I've come to appreciate the creature comforts of our GX. And the V8 on the long highway inclines driving north from Phoenix, or up to Salt Lake City for skiing. I'd imagine the 200 would be at least as good. I'd certainly keep it.
P.S. Apologies for the ricochet about the smaller, more exciting vehicle. The line was too tempting to resist. I admit I've added an 128i t the fleet.
COYS
SILVER Star
I had my 200 for about a year or 1.5 and piled on 25k miles bought new. It was fully done up by icon, featured at sema so totally dialed in with all their goodies.
I never think twice about it.
Good luck!
I never think twice about it.
Good luck!
IMO….
Look at what your intentions and goals are with what you have now. Will the 80 series take you beyond your goals with what you have now? As others have said, maintenance on an almost 30 yr old is going to be a priority. It may take a while, but thinking about this carefully is a good idea. Yes, I realize FOMO and YOLO are REAL and are factors.
Look at what your intentions and goals are with what you have now. Will the 80 series take you beyond your goals with what you have now? As others have said, maintenance on an almost 30 yr old is going to be a priority. It may take a while, but thinking about this carefully is a good idea. Yes, I realize FOMO and YOLO are REAL and are factors.
Bludozer
SILVER Star
95% of us in this section would be better suited with a 200
...yet we all still drive 3-decade old sleds with trip-to-the-moon level mileage
Read into that however you'd like.
...yet we all still drive 3-decade old sleds with trip-to-the-moon level mileage
Read into that however you'd like.
Francis K
SILVER Star
An 80 is past the point of being a daily driver, believe me I tried. It was fine when driving 4 miles a day each way but when my commute went to 40 miles a day each way I lasted a month until I went and bought a GX. Funny because my first 80 I owned since I was 16 and never felt that way about it. I don't know if it's just because I'm older and want more comfort and I know what I get from a modern car vs an 80 or if it's because every single other car is pretty much a sports car now but it just wasn't livable for a daily anymore. No mechanical issues with it whatsoever, it just didn't work out well.
Also one more thing, I felt bad just piling up miles on her. I put so much blood, sweat, tears and good god so much money into her that it just didn't seem right to be beating her down every day like it was a run of the mill car. I daily drove my Ferrari for a while and I felt less bad doing that than daily driving the 80, hard to explain it just felt like I was doing something wrong.
Also one more thing, I felt bad just piling up miles on her. I put so much blood, sweat, tears and good god so much money into her that it just didn't seem right to be beating her down every day like it was a run of the mill car. I daily drove my Ferrari for a while and I felt less bad doing that than daily driving the 80, hard to explain it just felt like I was doing something wrong.
Last edited:
mudgudgeon
Resident galah
Still got the 80?
Francis K
SILVER Star
Still got her, still need to sell her and quite honestly I'm not really putting in the effort to do so because I half don't want to. But I need to and I will, want her to go to a good home. I'm not in any hurry because I have garage space at the moment but I won't soon enough....
mudgudgeon
Resident galah
Don't know whether to thumbs up, or thumbs down that.
I just paid a fortune to ship my 80 halfway around the globe. Really makes no sense, but I couldn't leave it behind
COYS
SILVER Star
I just ordered white knuckle 20 degree sliders for an 80 that’s only seen gravel at worst to exercise factory lockers at an abandoned lot adjacent to an LAX runway.
80 ownership hurts so good. 200? Zzzzzzzzzz
80 ownership hurts so good. 200? Zzzzzzzzzz
Francis K
SILVER Star
I get it, my first one broke my heart to sell and I know this one will too. It just is what it is, I don't have room for 3 cars and I'm not going to keep one outside here in Michigan and I'm not going to let it rot in storage.....
Since you're regularly towing a trailer and live in the lower 48 states where everyone drives very fast on the highways, my advice is NO.
I drive two 80's interchangeable daily, love driving them both, but I live in flat terrain at Sea level and don't tow. Recently however spent time driving on the East Coast (US) with hills/mountains at an average of ~2500' up to 4000' above Sea level and noticed a small decrease in power but also the fact that I was using the go pedal a lot as the roads were much more hilly, up, down, up, down. Point is it became a pain having to stomp on the accelerator, racing the engine up to 4000 rpms going up some hills, something I never have to do at Sea level. Made me think more about adding a Turbo or even an engine swap for at least one of the 80's.
Echoing what others have said, if you don't enjoy working on your own vehicles you would need to find an experienced Land Cruiser mechanic and pay him well. It sometimes does get to be a pain after spending dozens of hours servicing (mostly preventive maintenance), this, that, or the other system but then once it's all finished you can enjoy tens of thousands of miles of worry free travel. Just finished a 5000 mile trip in my 97 FZJ80, not one issue other than adding a quart of engine oil.
FWIW
Echoing what others have said, if you don't enjoy working on your own vehicles you would need to find an experienced Land Cruiser mechanic and pay him well. It sometimes does get to be a pain after spending dozens of hours servicing (mostly preventive maintenance), this, that, or the other system but then once it's all finished you can enjoy tens of thousands of miles of worry free travel. Just finished a 5000 mile trip in my 97 FZJ80, not one issue other than adding a quart of engine oil.
FWIW
Last edited:
We have both here at the house. They both have big roof racks. The 200 is still mostly stock and unarmored (sliders sitting there waiting to go on); it gets called for comfort duties. The 80 gets used for particularly dirty or gnarly duties. I only keep seating for 3 in the 80. Full 3 rows still in the 200. The dogs go in the 80 most of the time. The 80 goes to remote secret spots in Baja and pulls a cool off-road camp trailer. The ladies in the house usually ride in the 200. We took the 200 to go skiing this winter, involving muddy and snowy roads and carrying lots of people. The 200 does not go where it might get scratched (yet). The 200 will get called on to tow a camp trailer the 80 can only dream about pulling; this is main reason why we bought it... I can not see parting with either at this point; though we have some obvious redundancies. The boss of the house is smart enough to not suggest we only keep the 200, though that is what she is thinking (funny though, she misses my old 60 and she wishes I still had it). I drove the 200 to work today, though the EV gets the DD miles the vast majority of the time. Cheers.
Last edited:
Small and exciting is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think 80 either
Honestly dude it sounds like your needs are way better met with the 200. But I get that we want what we want.
One more vote for "in addition to" rather than "instead of"
A few of us local 80s guys were just talking about what maintenance pigs they are now. Its worth it for the capabilities they offer (I believe the 80 - especially the diesel variant- is a pinnacle vehicle), and when you come from a BJ74, an HDJ81 feels like a 200
Mine suits my needs perfectly, but I have a ****box car to pile junk miles on, and a 74 for fun. I would love to get a 200 one of these days. Maybe when the 200 guys all get get tired of them and get new 250s or whatever the new hotness is
Would be "in addition to" though.
