Why do YOU have a 100 series? (2 Viewers)

[Live to Ski]

My story:
A) have totally stock, good shape 60.
B) though kinda sorta retired, wife is still in the grind thus time is a premium.
C) trip to Moab fully loaded for 4 (white rim trail).
D) semis were passing me on the i70 eastbound grade off i15. And that is a long grade.
E) bought the 100 soon after (60 is retired to the garage).
F) wife happy, can hear the stereo @ 80mph.

 

[nukegoat]

Because they're not that common

 

[ccodeman]

I was driving a PT cruiser and got stuck in the snow on my way to Devil's head. A nice older guy stopped to pull me out. He was impressed with the condition of the PT Cruiser and had some type of complex about having a LX470 and not a Landcruiser. Because he wanted a vehicle with the name "Cruiser" in it he offered to swap me vehicles so I could get to Devil's head more reliably. We drove to the fire station on Perry Park road (south of Sedalia), filled out some paperwork, moved personal belongings, and completed the vehicle swap. For the last few years I've become a proficient mechanic as a result of guidance on this site and have enjoyed taking the vehicle camping.

 

[Kabanstva]

I was driving a PT cruiser and got stuck in the snow on my way to Devil's head. A nice older guy stopped to pull me out. He was impressed with the condition of the PT Cruiser and had some type of complex about having a LX470 and not a Landcruiser. Because he wanted a vehicle with the name "Cruiser" in it he offered to swap me vehicles so I could get to Devil's head more reliably. We drove to the fire station on Perry Park road (south of Sedalia), filled out some paperwork, moved personal belongings, and completed the vehicle swap. For the last few years I've become a proficient mechanic as a result of guidance on this site and have enjoyed taking the vehicle camping.

You traded a PT Cruiser for an LX? Is this a real story haha?

 

[ramangain]

I was driving a PT cruiser and got stuck in the snow on my way to Devil's head. A nice older guy stopped to pull me out. He was impressed with the condition of the PT Cruiser and had some type of complex about having a LX470 and not a Landcruiser. Because he wanted a vehicle with the name "Cruiser" in it he offered to swap me vehicles so I could get to Devil's head more reliably. We drove to the fire station on Perry Park road (south of Sedalia), filled out some paperwork, moved personal belongings, and completed the vehicle swap. For the last few years I've become a proficient mechanic as a result of guidance on this site and have enjoyed taking the vehicle camping.

So you both happened to carry your car titles with you for this to happen?

 

[Jram100]

I was driving a PT cruiser and got stuck in the snow on my way to Devil's head. A nice older guy stopped to pull me out. He was impressed with the condition of the PT Cruiser and had some type of complex about having a LX470 and not a Landcruiser. Because he wanted a vehicle with the name "Cruiser" in it he offered to swap me vehicles so I could get to Devil's head more reliably. We drove to the fire station on Perry Park road (south of Sedalia), filled out some paperwork, moved personal belongings, and completed the vehicle swap. For the last few years I've become a proficient mechanic as a result of guidance on this site and have enjoyed taking the vehicle camping.

I choose to believe this simply bc it is so wholesome.

 

[ccodeman]

So you both happened to carry your car titles with you for this to happen?

No I had to call my husband, he had to call his son to bring the titles down. They ended swapping vehicles too- My husband swapped his '97 Mercury Cougar for his son's 94 Volvo 850T- but that is a rabbit hole I don't want to go down.

 

[dace voit]

I went from a 60 to an 80 to, now my 100. I loved my triple locked 80 but I didn't wheel that much anymore and wanted a better daily driver. The ride and power in my '06 is WAY better than my 80. My 100 is still very trail capable if I want to access more remote areas. The 2UZ way outclasses the 1FZ, IMHO. While the A343 is a great transmission, I love the A750 5 speed.

If you can own both an 80 and a 100, then that's a nice combo for daily and toy.

 

[MongooseGA]

Sounds like you would be happy with an 80

I'd like a 60 and still want an Excursion. Like bananas, I don't like selling what I've got, just adding to it.

The LX isn't going anywhere, though. Not unless... *knocks on wood*

 

[2020 Rocks]

Because I can't afford a diesel troopy. I do love it, sort of pine for a solid front axle, but in reality it suits me an my family well. We have derg and 2 two kids plus pop up camper, it's our swiss army knife on wheels.

 

[MongooseGA]

Because I can't afford a diesel troopy. I do love it, sort of pine for a solid front axle, but in reality it suits me an my family well. We have derg and 2 two kids plus pop up camper, it's our swiss army knife on wheels.

Would you rather:

Solid front axle

-or-

5.7

 

[2020 Rocks]

Would you rather:

Solid front axle

-or-

5.7

SFA, the 4.7L is fine for what we tow. Still want a diesel troopy though.....

 

[Travis Bickle]

I was initially looking at 4Runners or a Sienna with a kid on the way, found a fixer upper 100 in my budget and went to town. Ended up flipping it for a good profit and buying another fixer upper 100.

I ride a bike to work 4 days a week so that keeps the fuel consumption at bay.

When family is in from out of town it's so great having the third row capability.

Super comfy and capable, built like a tank.

Also I worked on them when they were new at the dealership and dreamed of being able to afford one so I guess theres that nostalgia factor as well.

I'm not a typical rich dude 100 series owner but thanks to mileage, age, and mechanics specials has gotten me in the club. Basically it does everything I need in a vehicle.

 

[ToyotaIsLife]

1. Ride quality everywhere.
2. Part-time 4WD.
3. Most comfortable and enjoyable manual trans.

 

[CBeckFJ]

Teenager, wanted a reliable, extremely safe vehicle without breaking the bank, and have been 4wheeling and into Land Cruisers for as long as I can remember. My dad also stated "the only vehicle I want you in is a Land cruiser" so it just came naturally.

 

[NoTempoLimit]

I had a '97 3rd Gen 4Runner, bought new (used ones were WAY overpriced then, just like now). It was the most reliable vehicle I had experienced up to that point. I drove it for 210k miles / 13 years but paid off the loan in 4. That meant 9 years of reliable payment free driving. Eventually the s***tiness of South Florida caught up to me when an A-hole kid rear ended me and totalled the 4Runner.

When I moved to L.A. I had a full time job and didn't need to haul gear (cameras for movie shoots), so I scratched the BMW itch (see sig). I owned 3 of the best driver's cars they ever made: The E39 528i, E46 323i Wagon and E92 335i. All were Sport Package cars, all but the E46 (a craigslist special) were manual trans.

Greatly enjoyed the engines, ergonomics and handling of those BMW's. And they were GREAT road trip cars. But they were all PITA for maintenance, usually due to what I called "Infinite Teutonic Wisdom" of using cheap plastic parts in critical areas, ruining otherwise great engineering.

Every once in a while when I would get frustrated with my German cars, I would do a search on "most reliable and durable cars". Land Cruisers always came up. And I had been eyeing them even before I got the 4Runner (considered 62's and 80's).

I sold the E39 and E92 at good prices. I was down to my 19 year old E46 3-Series Sport Wagon. Did a ton of work on the thing, replacing lots of parts including a plastic coolant pipe brilliantly located under the intake manifold... Huge job. Then one day I shift into reverse and.... and... nothing.

Turns out the '99, '00 and '01 3-Series auto trans had an inherent defect: The reverse clutch drum fractures. $100 part, but $2500 job. If my 3 Series Wagon had been a manual it would have been worth about $4.5 - $6k (It only had 100k miles). But an auto with a bad trans, no matter how good the rest of the chassis and engine were, was worth just above scrap value.

That's when thoughts of Land Cruiser turned into action. I was already planning to leave L.A. (SO glad I did) so the cost of fuel would not be a major issue. Despite my weakened financial condition (due to the financially extractive nature of life in SoCal) I managed to stretch when I found a 2006 L.C. The P.O. was a good guy... he had the maintenance history and even agreed to take my 3 Series Wagon as a trade-in (project car for his son).

So far I've put almost 24,000 miles on my 100, including the 3300 mile trip from L.A. to Portland, ME. I've done nothing but routine maintenance on it. Still working my way through the "baseline maintenance list".

To sum it up for the '06-'07 100 Series:

PRO:
Exceptional durability: 25 year vehicle design life, at least 300k miles. I plan to drive indefinitely.
2UZ-FE engine is known for durability
VVT-i version has adequate power for the LC's weight
IFS makes it as road-friendly as the 4Runner
AHC turns out to be useful - I haven't had problems with it yet (fingers crossed)
Confidence inspiring in bad weather driving
Smooth and mostly noise/vibration free. Doesn't tire you out out on long drives.
Excellent cargo capacity
Good towing capacity
I really like the motorized rear vent windows.
Reasonable fuel economy (I get 15 MPG overall, pushing 17 on highway driving).
Brakes are much better than the 80. I have a neighbor with a nice '96. He keeps having problems with his brakes.

CON:
Ergonomics are no where near as good as the Germans. The climate control drives me crazy, some buttons are real, others are "virtual".
Toyota could have tuned this engine for around 315 HP without any compromise in durability
Wish they hadn't eliminated the rear Diff limited-slip or locking
Wish the truck was lighter
Wish the suspension would control body roll better (heard this is an AHC issue).
Wish I had HID projectors (all my BMW's had them), although the LC halogens are adequate

 

[Kabanstva]

I had a '97 3rd Gen 4Runner, bought new (used ones were WAY overpriced then, just like now). It was the most reliable vehicle I had experienced up to that point. I drove it for 210k miles / 13 years but paid off the loan in 4. That meant 9 years of reliable payment free driving. Eventually the s***tiness of South Florida caught up to me when an A-hole kid rear ended me and totalled the 4Runner.

When I moved to L.A. I had a full time job and didn't need to haul gear (cameras for movie shoots), so I scratched the BMW itch (see sig). I owned 3 of the best driver's cars they ever made: The E39 528i, E46 323i Wagon and E92 335i. All were Sport Package cars, all but the E46 (a craigslist special) were manual trans.

Greatly enjoyed the engines, ergonomics and handling of those BMW's. And they were GREAT road trip cars. But they were all PITA for maintenance, usually due to what I called "Infinite Teutonic Wisdom" of using cheap plastic parts in critical areas, ruining otherwise great engineering.

Every once in a while when I would get frustrated with my German cars, I would do a search on "most reliable and durable cars". Land Cruisers always came up. And I had been eyeing them even before I got the 4Runner (considered 62's and 80's).

I sold the E39 and E92 at good prices. I was down to my 19 year old E46 3-Series Sport Wagon. Did a ton of work on the thing, replacing lots of parts including a plastic coolant pipe brilliantly located under the intake manifold... Huge job. Then one day I shift into reverse and.... and... nothing.

Turns out the '99, '00 and '01 3-Series auto trans had an inherent defect: The reverse clutch drum fractures. $100 part, but $2500 job. If my 3 Series Wagon had been a manual it would have been worth about $4.5 - $6k (It only had 100k miles). But an auto with a bad trans, no matter how good the rest of the chassis and engine were, was worth just above scrap value.

That's when thoughts of Land Cruiser turned into action. I was already planning to leave L.A. (SO glad I did) so the cost of fuel would not be a major issue. Despite my weakened financial condition (due to the financially extractive nature of life in SoCal) I managed to stretch when I found a 2006 L.C. The P.O. was a good guy... he had the maintenance history and even agreed to take my 3 Series Wagon as a trade-in (project car for his son).

So far I've put almost 24,000 miles on my 100, including the 3300 mile trip from L.A. to Portland, ME. I've done nothing but routine maintenance on it. Still working my way through the "baseline maintenance list".

To sum it up for the '06-'07 100 Series:

PRO:
Exceptional durability: 25 year vehicle design life, at least 300k miles. I plan to drive indefinitely.
2UZ-FE engine is known for durability
VVT-i version has adequate power for the LC's weight
IFS makes it as road-friendly as the 4Runner
AHC turns out to be useful - I haven't had problems with it yet (fingers crossed)
Confidence inspiring in bad weather driving
Smooth and mostly noise/vibration free. Doesn't tire you out out on long drives.
Excellent cargo capacity
Good towing capacity
I really like the motorized rear vent windows.
Reasonable fuel economy (I get 15 MPG overall, pushing 17 on highway driving).
Brakes are much better than the 80. I have a neighbor with a nice '96. He keeps having problems with his brakes.

CON:
Ergonomics are no where near as good as the Germans. The climate control drives me crazy, some buttons are real, others are "virtual".
Toyota could have tuned this engine for around 315 HP without any compromise in durability
Wish they hadn't eliminated the rear Diff limited-slip or locking
Wish the truck was lighter
Wish the suspension would control body roll better (heard this is an AHC issue).
Wish I had HID projectors (all my BMW's had them), although the LC halogens are adequate

I agree with a lot of this. Never understood why their flagship SUV never had HIDs. Even my POS 01 ES300 has OEM HIDs and same horsepower lol. What is their thought process? A 3,300lb ES gets a 215/225hp motor and so does their 5,500 truck.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

I had a '97 3rd Gen 4Runner, bought new (used ones were WAY overpriced then, just like now). It was the most reliable vehicle I had experienced up to that point. I drove it for 210k miles / 13 years but paid off the loan in 4. That meant 9 years of reliable payment free driving. Eventually the s***tiness of South Florida caught up to me when an A-hole kid rear ended me and totalled the 4Runner.

When I moved to L.A. I had a full time job and didn't need to haul gear (cameras for movie shoots), so I scratched the BMW itch (see sig). I owned 3 of the best driver's cars they ever made: The E39 528i, E46 323i Wagon and E92 335i. All were Sport Package cars, all but the E46 (a craigslist special) were manual trans.

Greatly enjoyed the engines, ergonomics and handling of those BMW's. And they were GREAT road trip cars. But they were all PITA for maintenance, usually due to what I called "Infinite Teutonic Wisdom" of using cheap plastic parts in critical areas, ruining otherwise great engineering.

Every once in a while when I would get frustrated with my German cars, I would do a search on "most reliable and durable cars". Land Cruisers always came up. And I had been eyeing them even before I got the 4Runner (considered 62's and 80's).

I sold the E39 and E92 at good prices. I was down to my 19 year old E46 3-Series Sport Wagon. Did a ton of work on the thing, replacing lots of parts including a plastic coolant pipe brilliantly located under the intake manifold... Huge job. Then one day I shift into reverse and.... and... nothing.

Turns out the '99, '00 and '01 3-Series auto trans had an inherent defect: The reverse clutch drum fractures. $100 part, but $2500 job. If my 3 Series Wagon had been a manual it would have been worth about $4.5 - $6k (It only had 100k miles). But an auto with a bad trans, no matter how good the rest of the chassis and engine were, was worth just above scrap value.

That's when thoughts of Land Cruiser turned into action. I was already planning to leave L.A. (SO glad I did) so the cost of fuel would not be a major issue. Despite my weakened financial condition (due to the financially extractive nature of life in SoCal) I managed to stretch when I found a 2006 L.C. The P.O. was a good guy... he had the maintenance history and even agreed to take my 3 Series Wagon as a trade-in (project car for his son).

So far I've put almost 24,000 miles on my 100, including the 3300 mile trip from L.A. to Portland, ME. I've done nothing but routine maintenance on it. Still working my way through the "baseline maintenance list".

To sum it up for the '06-'07 100 Series:

PRO:
Exceptional durability: 25 year vehicle design life, at least 300k miles. I plan to drive indefinitely.
2UZ-FE engine is known for durability
VVT-i version has adequate power for the LC's weight
IFS makes it as road-friendly as the 4Runner
AHC turns out to be useful - I haven't had problems with it yet (fingers crossed)
Confidence inspiring in bad weather driving
Smooth and mostly noise/vibration free. Doesn't tire you out out on long drives.
Excellent cargo capacity
Good towing capacity
I really like the motorized rear vent windows.
Reasonable fuel economy (I get 15 MPG overall, pushing 17 on highway driving).
Brakes are much better than the 80. I have a neighbor with a nice '96. He keeps having problems with his brakes.

CON:
Ergonomics are no where near as good as the Germans. The climate control drives me crazy, some buttons are real, others are "virtual".
Toyota could have tuned this engine for around 315 HP without any compromise in durability
Wish they hadn't eliminated the rear Diff limited-slip or locking
Wish the truck was lighter
Wish the suspension would control body roll better (heard this is an AHC issue).
Wish I had HID projectors (all my BMW's had them), although the LC halogens are adequate

This resonates with my BMW ownership too. I used to have an e39 manual wagon among a lot of other BMWs. I still have an '17 X5 as my other ride. I still find myself reaching out for the keys of my LX over X5, even though, it is far more thirsty, has far less power, is far less comfortable ride, has much more body roll and far noisier.
It just feels like an old friend who can be an a****** at times but is always there when you need it and while your wife begrudgingly acknowledges his endearing qualities, she also gets mildly upset when you spent too much time with it!

 

[collk22]

Why? Because I wanted a reliable, safe 4x4 that could facilitate adventure for my growing family.

My story:

I had been thinking about a 100 series for a while and when I moved to Colorado we decided to pull the trigger. At the time of purchase I owned a 2005 Nissan Frontier (nismo) and 1989 FJ62.

The carseat for my first was a pretty tight fit in the back of my frontier and the 62, while reliable, is still a 62 in Colorado which means I'm not going anywhere fast. I started to have some safety concerns with having a baby along too so we began car shopping. I sold the

I zeroed in on a 100 series in no small part to Hundreds in the Hills (no joke). At the time it looked like a really fun event and being in Colorado somewhat 'local' to me (as a 2x attendee it is SUPER fun and I have no regret over purchasing a vehicle in part to be able to participate). Also when looking, I determined that the 80 series wasn't a significant upgrade over the 62 (for my needs) and a 200 wasn't affordable.

I bought my 100 series off another mud member (did a fly and drive) and it's been an incredibly reliable vehicle for me over 4 years of ownership. I've had to do some maintenance (steering rack and starter have been the most expensive to date), but nothing I wouldn't expect for a 1999 with (now) 216K miles. I'm hoping to get to at least 300K (~6-8 years based on our annual mileage) before I have to get another 4x4.

 

[NoTempoLimit]

I agree with a lot of this. Never understood why their flagship SUV never had HIDs.

It is possible that we may get LED lamps that can take the place of the halogens. I prefer projectors but they need to be linked to a leveling system.

This resonates with my BMW ownership too. I used to have an e39 manual wagon among a lot of other BMWs. I still have an '17 X5 as my other ride. I still find myself reaching out for the keys of my LX over X5....

Very cool! E39 manual wagons are super-rare cult cars! I would have bought one IF I could have found one. But as nice as the E39 is to drive, the have lots of complex systems that require near constant attention. That said, if you can keep up with the maintenance and it has 3 pedals, they can go 300k+ miles. I had 180k on mine when I sold it.

Now that BMW no longer makes any manual cars, have stopped selling their Diesels in the U.S. and they have voluntarily signed up for the plan to eliminate the I.C. engine, I have lost interest. They don't care about me. The dropped us die-hard auto enthusiasts in favor of the virtue-signaling mandarin class. I guess they are more profitable as customers since they trade in every 3 years making perpetual payments.

The Landcruiser was won me over. Sure I miss being able to take on ramps 30 MPH faster and without having to lean over the center console. Sure I wish I could hear that V8 more. But all that can be dealt with down the road.

The best cars ever to be made were made between 2003 and 2013 with a few exceptions that are still being made.

Eventually the only choice to buy new will be either a glorified golf cart or an electric luxury car (which few will afford). In between we'll see SUV's with 1.6L 4-Cyl engines with 20 lbs of turbo boost that last 100k miles.