Too many Landcruiser's ?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

jfarsang

jfarsang

Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Threads
13
Messages
105
Location
Vancouver, BC
I've noticed an extremely large increase in the amount of HDJ81's in BC at local dealers and with private sellers.

Prices seem to fluctuate between 15-20k mark for decent condition one's.

I started looking for an HDJ81 last fall and to be honest, I've seen the same LC's sitting at local dealers/prvt seller's for months and a number of them over 6-8 months.

Why are they not moving ?

Overpriced due to people importing on their own ?

Too many in the current market now and not as much demand ? If so, then the prices should start to drop.

I'm also wondering if it has to do with the price directly. You can buy a good condition FJ80 locally for 1/3rd the cost of an HDJ81. Some I've spoken with over the last few months say that they just bought locally (gas model) because it would take some of them 5-10 years to make up the price difference between the gas/diesel.

I'm a diesel guy and will continue the hunt for an HDJ81.

However, I'm just curious if anyone else has seen this trend.

HDJ81's sitting on the market and not selling.

Jesse
 
Just remember, you get what you pay for. Cheap cruisers are cheap for a reason. These are very expensive vehicles to bring up to snuff if they are not there when you buy them. Most of the "bargains" turn out to be far from bargains once all the repairs are done not to mention the time and frustration.

Also, with the price of fuel going skyward, the payback going for diesel may shorten very dramatically in the next few years.
 
Martin White said:
Just remember, you get what you pay for. Cheap cruisers are cheap for a reason. These are very expensive vehicles to bring up to snuff if they are not there when you buy them. Most of the "bargains" turn out to be far from bargains once all the repairs are done not to mention the time and frustration.

Also, with the price of fuel going skyward, the payback going for diesel may shorten very dramatically in the next few years.
Click to expand...

I understand you get what you pay for.

I'm just wondering why there are more and more coming in at a fast rate when there's already quite a bit of stock not moving. I've noticed this both with dealer/private sellers.

From my own experience in going from one place to another and viewing one's for sale in the lower mainland/island area, there are more sub-par LC's than good, clean one's.

Just seems that a lot of dealers/private sellers are bringing in the low-end auctioned cruiser's and marking them up a few thousand.

I just don't see any moving.

The one's I do see that are selling are from higher end sellers (outback/wayne/etc..).

Just wondering if I'm the only one seeing this in the last year or so since last spring/summer.
 
Ok, I understand your point now. I think perhaps the possible buyers of these vehicles have come to understand that "bargains" are NOT bargains at all. Once you do the repairs and get these vehicles up to snuff, you will have spent WAY MORE on your "bargain" than if you had just purchased a higher end unit from a known importer. I have seen that with about 10 of these vehicles, including some friends of mine who were going to save huge money and got their own bargain unit.

By the time they were done they had dumped close to 10K into their truck. It still had problems to deal with. These are not foolish people - he knew his stuff, but did not know the 80, which is a complex vehicle with many systems that cost $ to fix. They later sold their truck for about a 12K loss and were completely fed up trying to get the thing fixed - and it spent huge time at a very well known local repair facility. Not to mention the inconvenience of having all that down time to deal with. What is your time worth?

I actually bought a very nice truck but even that turned out to need far more work than I had anticipated and I had it inspected.

So in a nutshell I think this is coming from buyer education at work. The bottom line is that an HDJ81 is NOT a cheap vehicle, and it's not really for people who can't feed and nurture the vehicle, either with time, money, or both. Unless of course they spend the $ up front and buy a certified premium unit. So that leaves places like Luxury and Outback. I know there are a few others but I focus on the Wet coast as I live here.
 
flood the market and you will have units sitting on lots...

i have watched the market for Land Cruisers drying up over the last 2 years...there are only so many buyers for RHD units

plus...

when everyone has one where is the "cool" factor?
 
Martin White said:
The bottom line is that an HDJ81 is NOT a cheap vehicle, and it's not really for people who can't feed and nurture the vehicle, either with time, money, or both.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting for one that gives me a good 'gut' feeling. There are quite a few different styles/models/..condition,etc.. so we're patient.

I'd like to get one this summer, but I'm not holding my breath. I haven't seen one that 'does it for me' yet. I'm ready to nurture it with both time and monopoly money.

Martin White said:
I think perhaps the possible buyers of these vehicles have come to understand that "bargains" are NOT bargains at all.
Click to expand...

Part of that was the point I am trying to make. I won't name and 'names', but I recently looked at 7 LC's in the 17-19k range.

I also looked at 3 'considerably' cheap/lower priced one's.

To be honest, there wasn't much of a difference.

I'm not wet behind the ears either. I brought my toyota expert with me. He works on old LC's and Toyo's on a weekly basis.

We may be heading up to Cowtown in a few weeks. If we can make it, I will try and see Wayne and lay my eyes on what should be a proper import. :)

Jesse
 
Martin White said:
They later sold their truck for about a 12K loss and were completely fed up trying to get the thing fixed - and it spent huge time at a very well known local repair facility. Not to mention the inconvenience of having all that down time to deal with.
Click to expand...

I think I might know that "repair facility". :crybaby: :crybaby: :crybaby:
Valley Fuel Injection? Won't see me there again even if I have to tow my truck to Richmond or Surrey.
 
Martin White said:
Also, with the price of fuel going skyward, the payback going for diesel may shorten very dramatically in the next few years.
Click to expand...

Martin, I disagree. One of my brother in laws is a chemical engineer for a big oil company in the states and more of the crude oil that was redfined as diesel is being converted into gasoline so diesel price is going to remain high. I have been paying in Quebec the same as medium grade gas in the summer, and as much as premium and sometimes more in winter.

The main advatage of diesel is it's still cheaper to run than gas (about 20% at this time, used to be 50%) but that davantage is disappearing fast. The only long term advantage to me is the possibility to make your own fuel from waste oil and be rid of foreign and multinational corporation dependencies, the source of all our present day conflicts and misery. Can't do that with a gasoline engine.

In the long run, I believe that we in Quebec should be looking at electric vehicles. Our electricity is plentiful and does not consume any fossil fuel. Plus electric engines are inherently 3 times more efficient than IC engines foe the same energy output. It's a win-win situation for us, I can't understand why our leaders (Hydro-Québec in particular) are so stupid and so blind to these facts. Then again, what do you expect from a a province that has more public sectior employees than the whole state of Califiornia, for 1/7 the population.
 
Sorry, but electric is not the cats meow. Even with a very large set of batteries, you won't get very far before you need to recharge. Also, I think if a careful environmental study was done on the electrics, you would find serious problems created by the acid lead batteries which don't last all that long. The lead acid battery is 100 year old technology. Until a better energy storage system is designed, the electric car is not going to be anything more than a neat conversation item. My money is on fuel cell in the long run and biodiesel in the short run. Eventually we in NA will flip to the preference of diesel just like the rest of the world.
 
Yes, fuel cell electric is the way to go. That's what I meant. Hydropower to create the hydrogen (electrolysis) required for the fuel cell. Very efficient energy use (>65%) Biodiesel for the short to medium term (>30% and between 0% [ethanol from plants] an 20% [methanol from fossil fuels] greenhouse gas emission ). Of course, that does not take into account the fertilizer needed ( usually from fossil fuels) to produce the soy bean or canola.

In any case, I agree with you on both in principle.
 
Fair enough, and who really knows where diesel prices will go? I agree they'll be tied to gas and both are likely to go up. In the GVRD right now, diesel is about 15c per litre less than gas, but until recently it was actually more. So you could be right. It will be interesting to see what happens with pricing.
 
the other issue that coudl be causing the slump in sales is the fear mongering the goverment has instilled with the "RHD are unsafe" statements.
sad to say there are many people in Canada that believe any lie that comes out of the governments mouth...

flooding of the market place
reselling of the units already here
loss of "cool" factor
fear caused by unfounded accident stats

any of the above...
 
Martin White said:
In the GVRD right now, diesel is about 15c per litre less than gas, but until recently it was actually more.
Click to expand...

Actually Martin, I have owned and driven my '82 BJ60 since 1989 (I lived in Surrey from 1990 till 2004) and typically diesel was cheaper. About 5-6 years ago it began to creep up in price and surpass gasoline but that is not the typical situation historically in the Lower Mainland.
 
Use to buy diesel 12 years ago for something like 35 cents a litre, my little 1984 BJ42 was cheap cheap cheap too drive.

Use to fill up over on the corner of 64th and Scott road.


cruiser_guy said:
Actually Martin, I have owned and driven my '82 BJ60 since 1989 (I lived in Surrey from 1990 till 2004) and typically diesel was cheaper. About 5-6 years ago it began to creep up in price and surpass gasoline but that is not the typical situation historically in the Lower Mainland.
Click to expand...
 
I ran jet a1 in mine, got it for 29 cents a litre.

I think we are definatly seeing saturation of JDMs as well, its a supply/demand thing.
And, I think Transport Canadas smear campaign against RHD and imports has definatly affected us. Bitches.
 
Just came back from my contract of the day, and at the parking of the bank, was stopped FOR ONE HOUR by Ooglers. Not one, but three of them, then suddenly, a group of 6 young rice runners joined for a while and saying, 'c'est capoté!... Not that I dislike it, but I missed the post office deadline... ;) I know, the price of fame ;)

Loss of Cool Factor? Not in Québec!!!
 
Radd Cruisers said:
Use to buy diesel 12 years ago for something like 35 cents a litre, my little 1984 BJ42 was cheap cheap cheap too drive.
Click to expand...

Those were the good old days!
 
canucksafari said:
Just imagine if you had a Nissan Safari - you'd never be able to get anything done. :D

BTW, I have noted the the prices for Safaris are on the way up both in Japan and Canada. I wonder why?
Click to expand...

People are realizing they are excellent value for the money!

If it wasn't for my steadfast appreciation of tha Landcruiser, I would have certainly looked at the Safari. My importer has one and although he drooled over the HDJ81 while he had it (not long, I can assure you ;) ), he appreciated the Safari for its thrift (non turbo and manual tranny) and the double size sun roof :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom