Best Cruiser for my family

XJ Guy

New member
I have been reading this forum from time to time and currently own a 2000 Jeep XJ that I have put through hell and back. My Jeep spends all of its time on 4 and 5 rated trails and is more of a trail rig than a daily driver and not particle to haul my growing family around. I have had a love for Land Cruisers since I was a kid my Dad had a 1985 FJ60 that he sold when I was in high school and I have forever missed that Cruiser and have looked for it ever since the internet was invented. I have a family of four and one on the way and my daily driver is a 2008 Nissan Rouge with 200K miles on it and so I will be needing a replacement soon and I am looking for a Cruiser with third row seating. My Wife wont let me get anything older than my jeep so I am looking for a 2000 and up Cruiser between $10,000 and $15,000. Which Cruiser is the best bang for the buck and what should I be on the look out for when inspecting it. Thanks for the help in advance.
 

ChuckB

Expedition Leader
I'm a family of 5 now and I'm on my second 100-Series. With your budget I would go with a '03-'04, if you can swing it.
 

MarcFJ60

Adventurer
'03 got the 5 speed transmission and '05 (or '06?) got the more powerful engine.

It seems the newer the cruiser the more likely it will have AHC and integrated radio/nav/HVAC. In fact, I would imagine any '03 and newer will have the integrated radio/HVAC/Nav. Not a huge deal, but I'm not a fan and you can't swap radios and makes IPod/USB integration more difficult. Neither of those would probably outweigh the advantages of the 5 speed or VVti motor.
 

p nut

butter
How old are your kids? The 3rd row is pretty tight on the LC's. Even for smaller teens.
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Personally, for a family of 5, I would look for a Sequoia, Suburban, Yukon with 2nd row captain chairs. Easy access to the back. More room behind the 3rd row to haul cargo. Then search out a 60-series for yourself.
 

D90Rovin

Observer
Two Words of advice: TEST DRIVE

Figure out what you like and see what is going to be important for your family and needs.
I recently picked up a garaged 99 100 Series with full records from an older couple that finally decided to let it go and they purchased a newer LX470. It was never offroad or in snow and just used in SoCal. The chassis looks new and the interior is great.
It has higher miles but water pump/timing belt was just done within the last 8k miles. Valve cover, alternator, and some other work was just completed within 1k miles of my purchase. They used low KBB to price it and it was undervalued for my market.

I welcomed it to the family by taking a trip up to the NW Overland Rally and did 3k miles. I'm very impressed and while our family has owned a lot of Toyota products, I now see what the fuss is about on these 100s. Amazing build quality.

It has the 4 speed and tows my Adventure Trailer just fine (no change in MPG but I'm sure the 5spd would be a plus for heavier towing as others have mentioned)
No Navigation which I actually prefer
Less Power but everything is fast compared to my Rover :)

Don't rule out an older LC/LX if you find a gem that you like.
 

XJ Guy

New member
How old are your kids? The 3rd row is pretty tight on the LC's. Even for smaller teens.
-
Personally, for a family of 5, I would look for a Sequoia, Suburban, Yukon with 2nd row captain chairs. Easy access to the back. More room behind the 3rd row to haul cargo. Then search out a 60-series for yourself.

I have a 10 year old, 2 year old and one on the way. Is the Sequoia decent off road ? does it share parts with the Cruiser ?
 

ekapel

Member
The Sequoia is based on the Tundra and is built down to a price. The Land Cruiser is built to a higher standard.
There is more info on IH8MUD on the 100/LX470 series that will more than answer your questions.
 

XJ Guy

New member
'03 got the 5 speed transmission and '05 (or '06?) got the more powerful engine.

It seems the newer the cruiser the more likely it will have AHC and integrated radio/nav/HVAC. In fact, I would imagine any '03 and newer will have the integrated radio/HVAC/Nav. Not a huge deal, but I'm not a fan and you can't swap radios and makes IPod/USB integration more difficult. Neither of those would probably outweigh the advantages of the 5 speed or VVti motor.

Why cant you swap radios ?
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I sold my cherry 93 J80 and picked up a lightly used 05 Sequoia limited. Needed the seating space. That was in 2011. Today it just hit 98,000 and we just did a 2780 mile 9 day trip. Two kids two adults camping. By design I had all our gear stuffed in the truck and in a sleek roof box then our lifetime tent rig in tow. 75-80mph across NV and ID no head wind running 89 octane 16mpg. Days driving Yellowstone 21mpg and then 15mpg on the way home with a wicked head wind.

I love the LC and wanted the 100series. But the size of the 05 Sequoia has been great. Off road the Sequoia is quite good but no lockers! And no easy aftermarket option for one. I only slightly wanted a locker while doing a back country trip
With the Gwagon group just outside of the Rubicon. One rocky cross up spot took two tries given opposite corners were lifting and spinning. Outside of that the Gguys were really impressed with it on stock sized bfg allterrains even had the soccer mom running boards unscathed but I was really watching my tire placement in some spots. The 4.7 is a nice engine. I'm not sure I would go 100 series if I were to re do my decision. The Sequoia has been a nice combo and size. It's suspension is pretty good regarding travel. The full time awd and locker in the few LX models would be the most attractive to me. No locker? I would default to the Sequoia for the added space and better pavement mileage in 2wd mode.
 

MTSN

Explorer
I sold my cherry 93 J80 and picked up a lightly used 05 Sequoia limited. Needed the seating space. That was in 2011. Today it just hit 98,000 and we just did a 2780 mile 9 day trip. Two kids two adults camping. By design I had all our gear stuffed in the truck and in a sleek roof box then our lifetime tent rig in tow. 75-80mph across NV and ID no head wind running 89 octane 16mpg. Days driving Yellowstone 21mpg and then 15mpg on the way home with a wicked head wind.

I love the LC and wanted the 100series. But the size of the 05 Sequoia has been great. Off road the Sequoia is quite good but no lockers! And no easy aftermarket option for one. I only slightly wanted a locker while doing a back country trip
With the Gwagon group just outside of the Rubicon. One rocky cross up spot took two tries given opposite corners were lifting and spinning. Outside of that the Gguys were really impressed with it on stock sized bfg allterrains even had the soccer mom running boards unscathed but I was really watching my tire placement in some spots. The 4.7 is a nice engine. I'm not sure I would go 100 series if I were to re do my decision. The Sequoia has been a nice combo and size. It's suspension is pretty good regarding travel. The full time awd and locker in the few LX models would be the most attractive to me. No locker? I would default to the Sequoia for the added space and better pavement mileage in 2wd mode.

The LX470 was never available with a diff locker in the US. Only the 98-99 had an available rear diff locker in the US, but all 100s have a center diff lock just like the Sequioa. The main selling point between the 2 is more space and probably mpg in the Sequioa, but maneuverability and off road prowess goes to the 100.
 

MTSN

Explorer
Why cant you swap radios ?

You need to a do a bit more (very easy) research and it will become very obvious. There is an incredible amount of information available on the 100 series if you do just a few easy searches and read through ih8mud.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
The LX470 was never available with a diff locker in the US. Only the 98-99 had an available rear diff locker in the US, but all 100s have a center diff lock just like the Sequioa. The main selling point between the 2 is more space and probably mpg in the Sequioa, but maneuverability and off road prowess goes to the 100.
I was worried about size vs maneuverability. The Gwagon is narrower and shorter than the Sequoia. There were some tight tree'd in corners and I was really impressed with how maneuverable the Sequoia was. Side by side oddly the 100 vs Sequoia are nearly the same footprint. But the Sequoia for sure has more space. I'd say they are very close regarding maneuverability. My J80 was nice regarding that aspect but we needed more interior room for hauling a grand parent around locally.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
The 4.7 seems to be tuned with a more aggressive throttle response than the LC which has a very mellow for a lack of a better word throttle response. The Sequoia has the angry burn the tires off throttle response probably so soccer moms can keep up with the Escalade driving, yoga ladies😀
 

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