Tired of Old Junk but no Interest in Newer 4x4s

ThundahBeagle

Well-known member
In my experience it's cheaper to keep an older car going. My sister has a shiny new audi she's paying on, she also has a 4 thousand dollar repair bill coming on her few year old reliable car. I have an old 67 jeep that hasn't seriously broken down ever and a 03 Toyota that I've put over a grand into maintenance and repairs in the past year and am planning on spending another grand this month on.
So the oldest rig in the "fleet" is the cheapest to maintain.
But even the Toyota at 2 grand in repair and maintenance over a year is vastly cheaper than a monthly payment and I like to be able to afford the gas to take the trucks out in the woods more than I want to make a monthly payment.
I guess the best thing is to keep the older rig, invest in tools and learning how to do the stuff yourself.

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Tell me you would take that 1967 Jeep on a 3,000 mile round trip road trip at highway speeds, say NYC to Orlando and back within a week, and I'd have to give you a little side eye.

The 03 Toyota - sure. If maintained at all, that should do it.

To me, Audi is not, and never has been a typical motor vehicle. They are expensive, not terribly reliable for the money and cost a lot to maintain. I've felt that way since the 90's. So I'm not sure that particular comparison holds water
 

OSV

Adventurer
these anecdotal tales are hilarious... talk about having to work on vehicles, back in the '80's i used to daily drive air-cooled vw's on so cal freeways, including a 2110cc with dual dellortos and a 2007cc blow-thru turbocharged rig... i got really good at adjusting valves :-0 and did several engine rebuilds.

12 years ago i got an '86 4runner with a solid axle swap and a bunch of expensive gearing, and then threw more money at it; the biggest problem with those trucks was the weak axle housings that bend too easily and the undocumented wire splice crimps that the dealers did to the 22re engine harness... the connections corroded and it was an intermittent troubleshooting nightmare; 3vz-fe is better but have you ever adjusted the valves? it's a long convoluted procedure that uses different thicknesses of discs to make up the clearance :-/ that's why nobody does it.

one big problem these days is the lack of parts for both new and used vehicles... there are literally hundreds of brand new broncos parked on lots, rotting in the sun while they wait for chips... i looked up the cheap relays that i used to fix the rear window motor circuit board on my 4runner, it's a very common part but none of the component houses like mauser had it in stock... several weeks ago the ignitor for my 22re died, it's used on brands besides toyota and it's listed under a dozen different part numbers, but OOS everywhere... etc. etc.

toyota was way ahead of gm in the mid '80's, the 22re had port injection while the gm 350 engines used that primitive and inefficient tbi well into the 90's... jeep used carbs until 1991, with a fuel return line like you have on efi, and a spagetti nightmare of hoses, with intake and exhaust both on the same side of the motor :-0 who engineered that disaster?

where modern toyota fails is with computerized complexity, like all modern cars, but also with butt-ugly body styling... the current boxy macho front end design just doesn't work, first-gen tacoma was the last good-looking truck that toyota did... toyota is not alone with that, you'd have to go with some of the new ev truck designs to get a good body style.
 

billiebob

Well-known member
Any new 4x4 is a $50K plus investment and for me, they include a thousand things I do not want. They even too complex for trained dealership mechanics to trouble shoot. If they die you need a deack truck to a dealer.

Go to Bring a Trailer with a $50K budget and buy what fits yer fancy.

Last week,,,, hard to get more basic, field fixable, reliable than this....

 

Kevin108

Explorer
A new Subaru will give you new Subaru problems. The 2007 FJ Cruiser I had for 5 years was the most trouble-free vehicle I've ever owned, after a 1987 Chevy V-10.
 

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
Any new 4x4 is a $50K plus investment and for me, they include a thousand things I do not want. They even too complex for trained dealership mechanics to trouble shoot. If they die you need a deack truck to a dealer.

Go to Bring a Trailer with a $50K budget and buy what fits yer fancy.

Last week,,,, hard to get more basic, field fixable, reliable than this....

I bought a near new 1973 Landruiser. Rust on the gutter rails in less than a year,squeaks,manual steering that beat me to death offroad and when Japan copied the GM inline six they must have raised the compression ratio as it HATED Mexican Pemex and it took starting fluid to get it to fire up on wet coastal mornings down there. Myself and three others bought '85 Toyota small trucks and they ate 2.5 qts of oil every 3K oil change. Toyota said "within specs." Conversely,I drove a Hino medium duty truck at work for 240K grueling start/stop miles with maxed out loads. 4 banger with a non-electronic Allison. Hands down the most reliable vehicle I've ever had the pleasure to drive. Overbuilt to the max. I traded in the truck for a 1989 Chevy 3500. Antiquated TBI and Turbo 400 auto. Many,many Mexico runs and it never had an issue. They all have their strong and weakpoints.
 

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