Totaled my car, finally looking at cruisers (1 Viewer)

[Gobstopp]

I’ve wanted a land cruiser for at least 5 years. They were always a bit more then I wanted to spend. Friday I hydroplaned and totaled my 09 Honda Fit. Used market sucks ooking at cruisers, I found this gem

Autotrader - page unavailable

It looks like a good deal, but my wife is concerned about mileage. My fit was super low maintenance cost, I always do my own work, but my wife is worried it’ll be a money pit. He has a nice new economy vehicle and my commute is only 40 miles round trip, so I feel like this might be my chance to own a cruiser.
It’s close to me, thinking about going to check it out, but do you all think this is a decent deal? He’s had lots of work done to it, hope someone on here doesn’t snipe my deal though

 

[hickuptruck]

100s are about 5-10x the running cost of a fit for msintenace and repairs. Sure you can get cheap AutoZone parts for it, but you'll be ending up doing the work twice, the second time with Oem parts.

It's an enthusiast platform at this point. And I can bet your Fit will be more reliable that that 98, until you get it completely up to a baselined spec

 

[Gobstopp]

100s are about 5-10x the running cost of a fit for msintenace and repairs. Sure you can get cheap AutoZone parts for it, but you'll be ending up doing the work twice, the second time with Oem parts.

It's an enthusiast platform at this point. And I can bet your Fit will be more reliable that that 98, until you get it completely up to a baselined spec

I know maintenance will be more, the fit was basically non existent. I can manage maintenance, I have wrenching experience with my older vw’s and I have access to garage space with tools. Not sure if that auto trader link worked, I can post some of the info. It’s seems to be completely reworked in 2017
Seller Comments (VIN: JT3HT05J9W0008378)
Overland, off-road, daily driver, and long road trip ready! Full mechanical refurb in 2017-18. New tires/suspension in 2020. Runs and Drives Great!

**2.5 Old Man Emu Suspension Lift and BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 LT285/75R16 tires installed in August 2020. Driven less than 2,000 miles on new suspension and tires.

**Driven less than 17,000 miles since mechanical refurbishment by Toyota certified mechanics in Nov-Dec 2017 including:
-New Water Pump, Timing Belt, and Drive Belt.
-New Ignition Coils and Spark Plugs
-New Front Axels
-New Sway Bar Links
-New Muffler
-New Fuel Filter
-Front/Rear Brake repair/replace
-Full Service of Transmission, Transfer Case, front/rear Differentials.

**New Interstate Battery installed in October 2020.
**New CraftCustoms leather steering wheel cover installed in October 2019.
**New seat covers installed in 2016 - still looks like new.
Stock #: JT3HT05J9W0008378
I figure with this much work, there can’t be much left. But that’s also why I’m reaching out here. I’ve been a lurker for years but only kinda flirted with the idea of buying a cruiser. But now I’m in need of a vehicle. I would daily drive it around 250-300 miles a week, but plan to take it on road trips and such

 

[hickuptruck]

Tip of the iceberg unfortunately if those are the only things done and most of the rest is original/more than 100k miles old. You can get an idea on search and there's a thread on 180k mile replacement items. For starters, I think replacement of all the rubber and bushings are in order as theres no mention of that if you want a highway cruiser. Won't be a nice cruiser if you're squirreling everywhere clunking on the highway on the daily commute.

Sure it says Toyota certified mechanics, but are the replacement coils Denso? Are the cvs OEM? I'd be asking those questions.

With regards to being a money pit, none of us can answer that for you as everything is relative. One might be coming from far more needy and expensive vehicles, so it'd be peanuts to run the 100. Or someone might be coming from a new Camry, and the 100 is a money pit. I'm at 192k right now on my 2002 and I got it at 165k. I have about almost $8k in just parts and repair, all labour done by me. Parts are about 2, sometimes 3x more than 4runner/Tacoma parts for the 100.

 

[Kabanstva]

You would have to be stupid lucky to buy a used cruiser for a good deal and not have to invest a good amount into it. Most used Toyota and Lexus I’ve bought required over $5k in maintenance to get them up to my standards (that’s dealer cost parts and almost free labor because either I did the job myself or had my brother’s mechanic hook me up). If my budget is $25k for a high mileage car, I find one for around $20k because I know it will need some work (tires, brakes, suspension, random bs that nobody addresses, etc).