Going to buy 4Runner Trail, convince me otherwise!!!

[thejuice]

I owned 2 LR3's. The first one was totaled when a van full of illegal immigrants ran a red light and I side swiped them. Long story short, my passenger and I walked out without a scratch, while a bunch of unlicensed, uninsured, illegal immigrants ended up in the ICU with head trauma. (nothing like their medical bills getting passed on to the hard working, tax paying americans, and the driver of the unregistered vehicle being acquitted from all charges with a slap on the wrist of $40). thanks asshole, you almost murdered me... sorry, i digress.

My second LR3 was pretty much the same thing. Loaded. I did tons of beach driving, some aggressive offroading up int he hills, put a few proud battle scars on the truck, but then had to sell it when I went back to grad school because I couldn't afford the payments.

Right now, I'm driving a jetta that, even with the most aggressive snow tires, gets dug in on fire roads like it's cool, and can't plow throw an inch and a half of snow. I need a truck.

Let me be perfectly clear... I LOVE rovers and would buy another in a heartbeat if I could afford it, but working as a research scientist cut my salary in half, and I need more a reliable, lower cost-to-maintain vehicle. I'm not thrilled with the yota's, but my uncle who has hunted his whole life swears by land cruisers and 4runners, and wouldn't take anythign else out into backcountry canada. He doesn't feel very strongly for rovers given their reliability.

So my question is - the LR3 has been out for 6 (or 7) years now. I'm sure there are 150k mile LR3's driving around. If anybody has one, what was the maintenance like? Any major $3k repairs? For full disclosure, neither of my two rovers had over 40k miles when I lost/sold them. I did have to have my second LR3 towed because the transfer cage gasket blew and leaked out all its fliuid.

Should I buy a reliable but infinitely less awesome 4runner, or take my chances with an LR4, the truck I really want, and suck it up when I get hit with a major maintenance invoice?

thanks in advanced for you responses!

 

[craiglud]

Sorry about your first rover and glad you got thought it safe! I have just over 100k on my 05 LR3. Like you said it gets you where you want to go. To be realistic though you will have repairs that need to be done, on any vehicle. The repairs on the rover will most likely be more expensive than for a toyota. It is also harder to find a qualified shop to do your repair and normal maintenance. I accept this and love driving my rover and know that it takes me just about anywhere i want to go. I have also owned a 4Runner and a couple of Jeeps as well. They also needed work and it was generally cheaper to repair that the rover.
I dunno, i'd feel prettily loyal to a vehicle that protected your life and family so well, and gets you where you want to go in style!

 

[dominicbeirne]

Easy answer - stick with the green oval. Find a good diesel somewhere and run it until it dies.

Cheers

Dom

 

[CMGRover]

I'd look at Jeeps... I loved all of mine. Or the LR3 route.

 

[ryan-in-oregon]

The 4Runner is kinda small compared to the lr3. I would lean towards a land cruiser if you go the Toyota route. Never been to found of the Chrysler products I have had two myself and drive a third for work. They are all cheaply built. I do not have any experience with the newest models however.

 

[thejuice]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I agree, the 4runner is small. That's a major drawback, as well as a handful of other drawbacks, like the trail edition doesn't come in leather, so I'd have to put down $1-$2k to have the seats wrapped in nice thick leather.

The land cruiser is good size-wise, but the cargo area doesn't fold flat. And they cost well into the $80k's new, and burn fuel like it's cool. For that price, I'd definitely get a rover and save $20k for repairs down the road.

Is there a way to drop a diesel into an LR3 in the US?

Anybody else have rovers over 100k miles? I think I'm less concerned about the motor failing, and more concerned about the supercomputer that controls the suspension, and the locking 4x4 system. I guess now that Ford is tossing some of the same technology into the F150's, parts will become cheaper and bugs worked out..

 

[bgsntth]

The 4-Runner Trail intrigued me when I needed more offroad capability than my GTS, and prices for both 2008+ pre-owned LR3's and new LR4's were in the realm of ridiculous (Fall of 2010). I had a prior GX470 before my LR3.

I wanted to like the Trail, but the interior was really cheap for a $40K truck, I needed about another 1.5" of headroom, the rear seat space is worse that a compact, and I would have to have the car serviced at a Toyota dealership (i.e., WalMart). Plus, besides a few quirks, I did "like" my GX; but, it had no character or "soul". There is something about Land Rovers that is very satisfying - the drive, steering, functionality, capability, ruggedness - who knows? A leather-clad British gentleman's tractor.

I ended up buying a 2008 RRS S\C, because I wanted to sample it until they offered the LR4 in a diesel - I've got another 18 months on the warranty, come-on LRNA.

 

[Houm_WA]

x2 on the GX. I test drove one while I waited for my LR3 to be delivered from the UK (I pre-ordered) and it was, well....boring. It was a fine automobile. Everything was as it should be...as you'd expect for a Lexus, even. ...but it just didn' t the "cool factor" that the Rover did.

I bet they do okay for mild off-roading, too.

 

[bgsntth]

The GX does fine offroad, but for a few quirks. I never liked the rear suspension, as it was always bottoming out into the bumpstops, my '03 had a nondefeatable traction control whereby if no wheels had traction (i.e., spinning) then the vehicle would "shut down", and I hated the gated shifter (i.e., non-intuitive - have to look). I actually did experiments between my '05 Outback XT and GX on slippery wet grass hills. The GX would shutdown - back down and get a running start, but the OBXT would spin its wheels a bit and proceed up the hill. Not confiedence inspiring, which is why I got the LR3.

 

[Houm_WA]

...what do you mean by "shut down?"