mmarshall

We all know the Land Cruiser is durable (and, of course, expensive)....but this video explains WHY:

rxonmymind

They also had their resale value very well. In my research on the LC it seems highly respected vehicle in many countries. I only wish they would offer the basic LC here in the states not just the luxury model. From what I understand in some parts of the world prices start at $60k?
It's a beast for sure looking at it's off road capabilities online. As a side note it would be cool if they offered *cough* tire that inflate & deflate. Hehe...

snoflewis

definitely want one of these down the line...

Johnhav430

I always wanted a '98....but just yesterday as I was throwing things away, came across a '09 4Runner brochure, and the EPA was 14/17 on the V8. I don't think I could live with that despite gasoline being relatively cheap...just looked it up and the '98 Land Cruiser was 12/15, meaning in real life it may even dip below 10? To put things into perspective, we spent some time in the new Suburban and it got 24 on the highway, that's tolerable given its size and torque...

jrmckinley

I wanted a Land Cruiser ever since I was in my early teens. The dream finally came true about 2 1/2 years ago when we bought a CPO LX 570. We upgraded from a GX and the difference is substantial. What I appreciate about the Land Cruiser/LX is how refined it is on the pavement and how capable it is off-road should you need it. I've only taken ours off the pavement a few times so I was much more interested in the refinement on the road, safety for our family and the reliability which speaks for itself as it is one of the most bullet proof vehicles Toyota has ever made year in and year out.

For those familiar with the Outer Banks of North Carolina, my family had a house in Carova- which is north of Duck and Corolla and is where the paved road ends and you have to drive on the beach to get to the homes (tons of wild horses which draws tourists to that section of the island each day). Once you go about 3 miles on the beach, the dunes to get to those homes are pretty steep and have very loose sand. Driving on the beach is doable for just about anyone who deflates their tires, but what was fun to watch was how people would get from driving on the packed sand near the ocean up these gigantic dunes of loose sand to the "driveways" of the houses. Most people would try and build up a ton of speed and just let momentum carry them up and over (about 50% of them would be successful within the first 3 tries). Our LX effortlessly climbed the dune the first time every time- and significantly easier than others in my family who had a Land Rover with all of the latest technology to adapt to terrain I might add. The greatest moment happened when a family friend came over in a 1985 Land Cruiser and she made it up just as effortlessly as I did in our LX. Pretty cool to see generations of the Land Cruiser family climb the same difficult hill with ease.

And yes, I did try to buy that '85 from her but she wouldn't part with it (which was probably good for my marriage)..!

jrmckinley

The '98 body style is a beautiful LC and one of my favorites as well. You definitely don't buy those for their fuel efficiency though... Crazy to think that it would cost you double to take a trip in an older Land Cruiser than in a new Suburban. I think our LX gets around 16-18 on the highway but I honestly don't know because I have never checked it after 50,000 miles of owning it. There are some things you just don't want to know!

Johnhav430

haha '98 is in my mind, I just like it from what I can remember about it, really ditto on the '98 GS400....again I think some of the best cars were going to come out around 2004-2008'ish....

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

mom bought her 04 LX470 46k miles for $42k in 2006, today its 145k miles and still worth 17k

mmarshall

Here in the U.S., the GX currently more or less fills that role...but it is unclear how much longer the GX will be in production. Demand in the U.S. is building for a 3-row crossover Lexus SUV...and the 3-row GX is body-on-frame, truck-based, not a crossover

Johnhav430

Did I read somewhere the GX is a Prado, which is a Toyota used in 3rd world countries?

mmarshall

Yes, it is a converted Prado, re-engineered to American safety/emission standards. Here in the U.S., the Toyota 4Runner is also closely related to the Prado, using the same platform.

Johnhav430

In appearance, I have always thought it looked narrower than it should be for some reason, but never thought that of the 4Runner....it'd be nice to have alternatives to the Suburbans and the CR-Vs of the world, something really nice in-between and affordable both from a selling price and operating cost perspective....

jrmckinley

Having owned a GX and an LX, I don't personally feel the GX fills any role for someone looking for a non-luxury Land Cruiser (unless it's strictly based on a drop down in price and someone wanting to stay in the Toyota/Lexus family). The interior size and space difference of the LC/LX is substantially different from the GX. As you point out in other posts, the GX shares the 4Runner platform so it has the same skinny/narrow feel which becomes very apparent when you sit inside them. I don't know what the measurements are between the GX and Land Cruiser/LX, but the feel of sitting inside both of them is night and day.

mmarshall

I agree the GX/Prado/4Runner is a step down from the Land Cruiser/LX in physical size......I wasn't implying otherwise. But, with the LC200 and Prado not being available in the U.S., the GX and 4Runner are probably the closest things that Toyota and Lexus have here to replace them with.

Quadro

And this video explains why Jeep keeps ranking at the bottom... apparently they test their SUVs by driving them on stairs.