Your thoughts on buying a 80 series in 2025 (2 Viewers)

[80t0ylc]

Ok first of all thank you all for the comments.
@voodu3, Ya Ryan rebuilt the 3rd members in my FJ60 when I had it. Great guy. No issues going to him, a little far but well worth it.
For you 80 guys, a little on me.
I have had many unique vehicles over the years and I am crazy.
2 FJ60 (drove both across the country a few times and rebuilt one of them)
2 BJ42's (when I was in Canada)
2 Land Rover LR3 (gluten for punishment)
1 newish Discovery
1 LR 109 Series 3
2 CJ's (a 7 and a 5)
1 FJ Cruiser
Couple of Jaguars, Austins, etc. (why oh why the British vehicles?)
Few trucks
Lots of cars (1960's to 2000's....so many of them).
Currently restoring a 1968 Mustang and have another '79 CJ5 sitting in pieces waiting its turn. North Eastern......rust and I know each other very well, rust normaly looses our battles, but there have been a few times......
Vehicles are a hobby and all in all I am over 70 owned at one point in time and all were insured and registered (add another 20 for the ones I have stripped down).

Yes I am crazy, I drive my wife up the wall.

Fuel economy is not something I have ever thought about. For the most part the vehicles are ones I like or enjoy. If I was worried about fuel efficiency I would buy a soulless Honda of some sort. That is not me. When fuel hits $6 a gallon maybe, but not now. My '07 F150 took like 40 gallons on a long range tank, I never got more than 15MPG with that and it would tow all day at 10MPG.

I am more worried about being stranded on the side of the highway. Land Rovers and most British vehicles suck for that, and any vehicle that has limp mode needs to be crushed. My LR3 left me stranded 3 times, I bought the '19 Discovery at the time for some unknown reason (i was out of it I swear) and my older son wanted the Jeep, he now drives a '09 Mustang GT. Hated the Discovery and will never own another British car....Ever.
My wife has a fancy Cadillac Escalade for our daily use, while she can drive manual, she prefers not to any more. Just a little thing, never buy a newer Cadillac they are garbage, she loves it (happy wife......) had we not had a warrany, it would have been over 16K in repairs starting with the typical GM dropped lifter.

What I am looking for is something enjoyable to work on, something that will always get me home (ya nothing is bulletproof and I have AAA but still) something that is not to modern but still modern enough. (Modern Utilitarian I guess). Something that is not a massive computer controlled nightmare and you need to be a Electrical Engineer to figure it out. I like buy spares so I do not have to wait for parts (like waterpumps, seem head gaskets will need to be purchased and I am guessing a spare fuel pump will be in order). Rock Auto is fun to shop.

I am less worried about the age of the vehicle, I can sort any issues it may have out. Hell worse case I can get the engine redone and have a great vehicle to drive. I am more concerned with parts avalibility. Nothing like having to wait 6 months for a part from Japan (or in many of my cases the UK).

Speed may be a factor, but I am slowing down these days on my driving, it seems not on my vehicles, I am only 56 so I guess I should at some point.
Sorry for any typos.


So back to the question. 2025, buying an 80 series as a DD/ camping/ any rig. Concerns, issues, worries, am I completely crazy for even considering this. Should I be institutionalized??

So, now we all know that you have some interest in becoming an 80 owner. Looks like you've been subscribed to Mud since 2007, owning at least 1 60 series. You must have been checking out the 80 section before now. What took you so long?!!! Being a 60 owner you must have compared it with an 80 in the past. What can we tell you that you probably don't already have an idea formulated in your mind? I think it would be more beneficial for you to drill previous 60 owners that now own an 80, than to try to make any 80 owner help you decide if you want to make an 80 work for you. No disrespect intended, just trying to get you the info and help you need, since you have some Land Cruiser experience.

 

[CharlieS]

I've had a bunch of cruisers of different generations - if you're looking for a modern daily driver, I'd recommend the 200 series. I love my 80, but am constantly working on it. It wouldn't make a reliable daily driver.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I am crazy.

Lets see . . .

2 Land Rover LR3

1 newish Discovery
1 LR 109 Series 3

1 LR 109 Series 3

Couple of Jaguars, Austins, etc. (why oh why the British vehicles?)

Yep, crazy checks out!

Should I be institutionalized??

Yep, indubitably!

 

[smorkington]

To keep this short, If you’ve never owned one, wheeled with somebody who has one to see the capabilities, and you intend to use it as a DD, I’d have to say you’d be foolish. Those of us that have owned an 80 already know the pluses and minuses. Some research on your part through the threads on this forum is what I would suggest. Then maybe you can appreciate what you’re getting into. If you have deep pockets with a money tree in the backyard, and a lot of fertilizer, what the hell – go for it!

This exactly. If you want to do trails such as rubicon buy an 80 but if that doesnt interest you just buy a 100 series

 

[Tachycardic]

I see this multiple times from multiple owners that an 80 is not a reliable DD. I just haven’t had that experience. Did they get ones thrashed by the POs? Did I get lucky?

I would much rather drive an 80 (from a reliability perspective) than anything with a wet belt, a Theta II, Ecoboosts, N52s, boxers, the list goes on and on.

Are there issues with the 80s? Sure, but you have to remember that you’re comparing a 30 year old vehicle with ones that are generations newer. If you can live with the limitations of a 1FZ and OBD1, I think good examples are perfectly fine for DD.

 

[OrangeCrusher]

Just from my experience owning one now that is 32 years old, having had one 20 years ago that was 15 years old at the time and having looked at many examples before buying: I cannot even see how most of them would be reliable today. It's not only the things that break, but also all the things that I can look at and see that they can break anytime soon - just because of the wear on parts due to sheer age and decades long use.

It's probably something like this:
90% of 80s ever built are now gone - crashed, scrapped, etc
9% are still driving - the survivors! But had mostly reactive maintenance the past 20+ years. You could say "got trashed by PO", although I think that is too negative - they were just driven "as a reliable DD" until something broke, and likely if too many things were broken someone decided to get rid of them and get something nicer / more modern. Mine is in this category.
1% are proactively maintained by long term owners and reliable
.1% are in some type of preserved wonder state and look and drive like new

Experiences with the last two categories are disproportionately represented in this forum for obvious reasons, but the cars actually available to buy "for $12k" are from the second category.

 

[Broski]

Most new cars you just look at them and they break, no way they well be around in 35 years IMO !
I don't DD mine but I beat on it on some of the hardest trails around and find it to be incredibly reliable.

 

[Malleus]

I'm also amazed at all the 80 owners who poo-poo the fact that they have an 80.

I have three, they are all driven daily and I've never taken them off the road for more than a hour for maintenance, if I didn't want to do it. The one exception was a head gasket reaplcement and that took three days waiting on the machine shop - but that's normal for any head job on any engine. It's likely that one wouldn't have failed if it had been maintained like my other two have been.

For me, the big question is 2nd generation or 3rd. I'm personally partial to the '94, but that's just me. The engine has its quirks (AFM/PAIR) but the transmission is bulletproof.

 

[ChaseTruck]

I always think there’s some sort of a disconnect when people consider an 80 somewhat unreliable for daily driving but have no problem taking it out and run some challenging trail in the middle of nowhere. If the 80 can’t deal with nice flat blacktop, what are the chances it’ll hold up in rocks and dirt? And by the way, that issue is not reserved to 80 owners - the Chevy K5 Blazer group I used to hang out with was the same way…

Our 80’s have been relieved from daily driving duties but can do so just fine if called upon. For on-road driving, or long distance travel (e.g. to go skiing - for us that means Phoenix to Salt Lake City) we prefer the ‘04 GX470. That one just flattens long highway climbs in a way that neither of the S/C’ed 80s can. And no perma-hum from MT tires, and better mileage to boot.

I should say I actually prefer the lines of sight I have out of the 80 compared to the GX. In the GX, it seems there’s always some headrest or pillar in the way.

 

[OrangeCrusher]

Just to be clear I'm not "poo-pooing" the fact I have an 80. I love to drive and wrench on it, and also the fact that it is far more offroad capable than any modern rig other than maybe a Jeep Wrangler, that I can think of.

Maybe I am particularly incompetent or have a particularly bad example, but I am spending a ton of time fixing things on it. Based on this, I would absolutely not recommend it for someone who is primarily looking for a reliable daily driver. I don't think the OP is of this type, but you are seeing messages in the forum as well with people wanting to get rid of their 80s because they had it for a year, put >$5k in it, and now there is yet another issue and they're disappointed the vehicle hasn't been "reliable" as they have been told, and want to get rid of it.
So, just get into it with open eyes

 

[Azca]

Absolutely agree with ChaseTruck, Malleus, and Broski. I take mine out into the middle of nowhere, often by myself or just a passenger. I can't afford a breakdown as it can be a 20 to 30 mile hike just to get back to a some sort of road. Cell reception can be very spotty without a good hike to the top of a hill overlooking a cell tower that could be 30 or 40 miles from you. I bought mine 13 years ago and it has been proven to be dead reliable after I base lined it. These are extreamly reliable rigs. Are they the most reliable (when maintained), who knows. But for pure durability and performance in the harshest of environments, you will be hard pressed to find something that will equal the 80 series. It just shrugs off punishment.

I no longer DD mine and don't want to. She is just a good old friend I enjoy spending quality time with in her natural environment where she can truly stretch her legs, I love the rig and love driving her. The reason I don't recommend it as a DD? Keeping the miles off her now will hopefully extend her life. I personally don't mind the maintenance or repair bills now, but used to as when I first bought her; money was very tight. I put on parts that were not Mr. T stuff and had issues with those repairs or PMs until going back to OEM. I understand that many will drool over an 80 series but, if you are someone with limited funds, or money is tight, this may not be the vehicle you want, especially if you don't intend to use it like it was designed to be used.

 

[77mustard40]

My '97 was my Dad's from new and it took all his abuse in far west Texas so no rust. I got my chance at it once he reached the stage of life where he could no longer drive and my Mom wanted it gone, so I sent a truck, helps to start for free. I've owned two 40's and also have a 100 but this was my first 80. It was a basket case when it showed up and it took about a year for me to get through everything I wanted on it to have confidence in driving it regularly and the bond was formed. I gave my Trail 4Runner to a daughter and have been DD'ing the 80 for about three years now. I had to jump on head gasket a couple of years ago but otherwise its been bullet proof. It's not the fastest, gets the typical 13-15 mpg's but otherwise goes where pointed on and off-road, its an amazing platform. There's always a couple of things that I want to do with it but for me that's half the fun of ownership. If you find a good one and take care of it then the darn thing may outlive you.

 

[Marco Lau]

my 91, yes its a 3F-E and it will never be for sale. I have owned it for over 10 yrs now and bone stock when i picked it up. It is a TANK and it will outrun and outlast most 1FZs IMO. I have Daily it for years, put over 80k miles on it now and it mostly see dirt on weekends.

Cheers.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Just from my experience owning one now that is 32 years old, having had one 20 years ago that was 15 years old at the time and having looked at many examples before buying: I cannot even see how most of them would be reliable today. It's not only the things that break, but also all the things that I can look at and see that they can break anytime soon - just because of the wear on parts due to sheer age and decades long use.

It's probably something like this:
90% of 80s ever built are now gone - crashed, scrapped, etc
9% are still driving - the survivors! But had mostly reactive maintenance the past 20+ years. You could say "got trashed by PO", although I think that is too negative - they were just driven "as a reliable DD" until something broke, and likely if too many things were broken someone decided to get rid of them and get something nicer / more modern. Mine is in this category.
1% are proactively maintained by long term owners and reliable
.1% are in some type of preserved wonder state and look and drive like new

Experiences with the last two categories are disproportionately represented in this forum for obvious reasons, but the cars actually available to buy "for $12k" are from the second category.

Just curious if you have a citation (reference) for these facts or if those percentages are just assumptions on your part? I assume by the judicious use of “probably” that these are your assumptions. We have had our 97 since around 2004 with 117k. Daily drove it for a long time and two sons drove it while in college. Has something like 280k now and we have never done anything other than normal maintenance since purchased other than the initial modifications and maintenance that I did when purchased (shocks, springs, front bumper, winch, and full maintenance).

 

[OrangeCrusher]

@WarDamnEagle I don't have any concrete numbers, and not claiming my numbers are precise by any means.

It is impressive you have had yours for such a long time, and maintained it well! Congratz! I'm somewhat jealous

However, I would still suggest that situations like yours are the exception. The more typical situation is that someone bought it new, sold it after a few years, someone else bought it because it's affordable and reliable vehicle (which it absolutely is, particularly when they were newer!), then someone else bought it because now it's even more affordable, etc pp. None of these owners ever joined ih8mud bc it was just a reliable vehicle for them, not their hobby. All this went on for 30 years, and only the ones that didn't crash, rusted out, or totally wore out, are still here! And the reality is just that after all this time and use, many many parts are just finally getting tired

A concrete counter example - I grew up with a 1991 HDJ80 in my family. My dad bought it in 1994 from some type of business that used it to haul trailers (lease return). It had 100k miles after those 3 years. Then it was used over a decade as both family vehicle, as well as workhorse for a small business. In that next decade, it did another 300k miles, out of which at least 100k hauling medium to heavy trailers (2t - 3.5t). In that entire time, it was extremely reliable. My family sold it in about 2005 bc it was just completely worn out (rust, interior stinky, frame broke around the steering box, etc) and quite frankly out of date with it's capabilities (the rear drum brakes and no ABS are rather sketch when towing heavy trailers). The vehicle was then bought by some foreign farming business that was going to haul water melons or something with it.
I have no idea what happened to it now, and am sure it has done a lot more good work in the past 20 years - but is also most likely scraped by now.

I'm not claiming my story is what happened to all 80 series, but I am absolutely convinced that many, many more will have done hard work like that - because they have been built in such a reliable and capable way - and either died somewhere along the process, or are just really really tired now.

 

[OrangeCrusher]

It's probably something like this:
90% of 80s ever built are now gone - crashed, scrapped, etc
9% are still driving - the survivors! But had mostly reactive maintenance the past 20+ years. You could say "got trashed by PO", although I think that is too negative - they were just driven "as a reliable DD" until something broke, and likely if too many things were broken someone decided to get rid of them and get something nicer / more modern. Mine is in this category.
1% are proactively maintained by long term owners and reliable
.1% are in some type of preserved wonder state and look and drive like new

Actually, one way to back up my numbers:
- there are about 3,300 posts in the "80series registry" thread here on mud. Not all of these are real entries, there are also a lot of comments in there. Let's say there are 2,000 real registration posts
- total global production was about 550,000 according to this thread

So this means 0.3% of total production are "registered" on mud. Now I'm sure there are people driving these rigs today who are not on mud, but I would suggest that a significant share - maybe 20% ? - of the owners who are putting in the effort to maintain an 80 series in great condition in 2025 are actually active here. So this supports my initial claim of "about 1% proactively maintained by long term owners and reliable"

 

[mudgudgeon]

I think it was @cruiserdan who said the 80 series will tolerate a lot of neglect for a long time, because it's both over built and well built.

I think this is really relevant to these conversations. Once that neglect catches up, then reliability starts to suffer.

Add to that, the age of these vehicles means a lot if stuff is just degraded through age, or mileage, or lack of use, or both

Find a low mileage cruiser, you can have issues crop up from extended lack of use.

If you're someone who's capable, and happy to put in time and money to get ahead of all the overdue PM and all the age related deterioration, and stay ahead of it with regular maintenance, then yes, they can be absolutely reliable and dependable as a daily driver, or a touring rig.

My current 80 has spent more time off the road than in use during my ownership, and by previous owner who had the vehicle sitting as a boat towing vehicle that lived at their second house.
Once I owned it, i started knocking out as much critical neglected PM stuff as i could.
I daily drove it for ages. Took off on 1000km road trips with just a quick check of the basics many times.
But time off the road for me was inevitable due to some big breakdowns, alternator, starter, head gasket, etc etc, and work and other commitments making it hard to find time and motivation to get sh!t sorted.

I think with any old vehicle there always some degree of tinkering required to keep neglect at bay.
Some of us are better suited to that than others.

I think purchasing one without being prepared to do all the tinkering leads to unreliability, and dissatisfaction.

To purchase one thinking you'll pay someone to do all the work is misguided.
Firstly, it's not easy to find a trustworthy shop to take care of what will be a bit more than an oil change and fitting a new belt occasionally.
B, what shop is gonna willingly dick around with all the little bits and pieces?
3, if a shop will do an the tinkering, is gonna bleed you do
IV, you need deep pockets to fund all of the above.

 

[Tachycardic]

I think it was @cruiserdan who said the 80 series will tolerate a lot of neglect for a long time, because it's both over built and well built.

I think this is really relevant to these conversations. Once that neglect catches up, then reliability starts to suffer.

Add to that, the age of these vehicles means a lot if stuff is just degraded through age, or mileage, or lack of use, or both

Find a low mileage cruiser, you can have issues crop up from extended lack of use.

If you're someone who's capable, and happy to put in time and money to get ahead of all the overdue PM and all the age related deterioration, and stay ahead of it with regular maintenance, then yes, they can be absolutely reliable and dependable as a daily driver, or a touring rig.

My current 80 has spent more time off the road than in use during my ownership, and by previous owner who had the vehicle sitting as a boat towing vehicle that lived at their second house.
Once I owned it, i started knocking out as much critical neglected PM stuff as i could.
I daily drove it for ages. Took off on 1000km road trips with just a quick check of the basics many times.
But time off the road for me was inevitable due to some big breakdowns, alternator, starter, head gasket, etc etc, and work and other commitments making it hard to find time and motivation to get sh!t sorted.

I think with any old vehicle there always some degree of tinkering required to keep neglect at bay.
Some of us are better suited to that than others.

I think purchasing one without being prepared to do all the tinkering leads to unreliability, and dissatisfaction.

To purchase one thinking you'll pay someone to do all the work is misguided.
Firstly, it's not easy to find a trustworthy shop to take care of what will be a bit more than an oil change and fitting a new belt occasionally.
B, what shop is gonna willingly dick around with all the little bits and pieces?
3, if a shop will do an the tinkering, is gonna bleed you do
IV, you need deep pockets to fund all of the above.

Agree with all you said. I’ll just add that these issues are not limited to 80s. There are a bunch of people in different forums (Patrols, Pajeros, Land Rovers, Jimnys, etc.) that are discussing the same thing as we are. The condition of the vehicle you receive will largely affect your views of its reliability.

 

[cruiserdan]

I think it was @cruiserdan who said the 80 series will tolerate a lot of neglect for a long time, because it's both over built and well built.

I think this is really relevant to these conversations. Once that neglect catches up, then reliability starts to suffer.

Add to that, the age of these vehicles means a lot if stuff is just degraded through age, or mileage, or lack of use, or both

Find a low mileage cruiser, you can have issues crop up from extended lack of use.

If you're someone who's capable, and happy to put in time and money to get ahead of all the overdue PM and all the age related deterioration, and stay ahead of it with regular maintenance, then yes, they can be absolutely reliable and dependable as a daily driver, or a touring rig.

My current 80 has spent more time off the road than in use during my ownership, and by previous owner who had the vehicle sitting as a boat towing vehicle that lived at their second house.
Once I owned it, i started knocking out as much critical neglected PM stuff as i could.
I daily drove it for ages. Took off on 1000km road trips with just a quick check of the basics many times.
But time off the road for me was inevitable due to some big breakdowns, alternator, starter, head gasket, etc etc, and work and other commitments making it hard to find time and motivation to get sh!t sorted.

I think with any old vehicle there always some degree of tinkering required to keep neglect at bay.
Some of us are better suited to that than others.

I think purchasing one without being prepared to do all the tinkering leads to unreliability, and dissatisfaction.

To purchase one thinking you'll pay someone to do all the work is misguided.
Firstly, it's not easy to find a trustworthy shop to take care of what will be a bit more than an oil change and fitting a new belt occasionally.
B, what shop is gonna willingly dick around with all the little bits and pieces?
3, if a shop will do an the tinkering, is gonna bleed you do
IV, you need deep pockets to fund all of the above.

This pretty much covers it.

 

[cartercd]

I've owned my 1997 since 2004 and have been meticulous on maintenance, keeping up the aesthetics, and sprinkling in some modern conveniences (stereo, back up camera, etc). If I was to buy an 80 today for around $10K, I could easily spend another $15K to make it comparable to my current rig. These trucks are far beyond baseline maintenance and often need major refreshes on the cooling system, brake system, steering components, EGR systems, birfields, and the list goes on. The interiors are often in poor condition as well. Sorting this all out to have a reliable and comfortable daily driver adds up very fast, not to mention the labor involved. For me the 80 series is best as a weekend warrior. It's an incredible vehicle, just know what you are signing up for.