Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry
Gave up on a Landcruiser?
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Not entirely... but I'm getting frustrated by a search in that category. I've seen my share of them the last 2 weeks here in town.
General impression is that they are very solid vehicle - love the solid feel that they have. I drove a '91, '92, 93, '94 and '96. I can surmise so far that the '93 and up with the 1KZ engine have the best drive characteristics for me. The '91/92 drive well around town but as soon as they see an uphill drive they start dogging and you have to flog them pretty good to keep up with traffic - that means constant downshifts and having the engine roar at near top of its range to maintain speed... didn't feel good driving the '91 or 92 though I know they have a solid reputation of being overbuilt and targeting 3rd world countries with bad fuel, etc. I test drove a really clean '92 this past weekend and thought about it but I decided against it - I don't think I can live with its sluggishness up hills - and that's where I do a lot of my driving.
So I've been focusing on finding a clean looking '93 or '94 or '95 - the frustrating part is that I've seen some really clean cars advertised by local dealers but they want TOO much money for them - I mean $7K and upwards of $8K sometimes for a clean looking car with 248K miles on it!
There are plenty of 'dogs' for $2300 - $6000 range. One truck I looked at in Arvada ($6K firm) was so packed with junk that the guy couldn't even open the tail gate lest he risked losing its entire contents to the pavement below - we didn't try.... I was literally shocked that one would even try to show a car in that condition. They don't wash them, they don't vacuum them (ever) - they don't give a s&^t but they want $6K for 'em... sure.
Wish I could buy this one for around $4K - that would be a nice find:
http://denver.craigslist.org/ctd/2018119265.html - but he wants $8K for it!
So it's been frustrating. I've been thinking about looking out of state, but I'm not sure I wanna make a track to pickup a vehicle and drive it across the country at 11mpg..

- which even makes me wonder at times if an LC even makes sense for me. I though that if I could get around 20 in an ML that may be a good way to go... so here we are.
I suppose I should take a look at this one here and see if I can get them down to like $6K - $6500.... maybe.
James