Sad goodbye to a true friend

Smergen

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Jun 8, 2014
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Oops. You score One point out of a possible 3, and that's for fleet deal white ... but you loose that point and and extra point for not being able to follow up on your guarantees ;)

Well... bloody hell. A Landcruiser... And a troopy at that. Some times life does surprise you.

What I like is that it's a bit of a blank canvas. In it's raw form a bit of a pig. But good bones. Once you trick the bits up that make it comfortable you've got a ripper tourer.
 

Drover

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Well... bloody hell. A Landcruiser... And a troopy at that. Some times life does surprise you.

What I like is that it's a bit of a blank canvas. In it's raw form a bit of a pig. But good bones. Once you trick the bits up that make it comfortable you've got a ripper tourer.

Thats what I have always liked about them, like a 110 you can screw and drill to your hearts content, mostly flat panels........a real DiY 4x4.
 
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Crusty181

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Well... bloody hell. A Landcruiser... And a troopy at that. Some times life does surprise you.

What I like is that it's a bit of a blank canvas. In it's raw form a bit of a pig. But good bones. Once you trick the bits up that make it comfortable you've got a ripper tourer.
To be honest its not my first Toyota or Landcruiser, and it actually drives and rides surprisingly 'adequately'. Our issues have always been flying very close to the weight line, and compromising even then to still be marginally over. Heading toward semi-retirement with very clear travel plans, my long term vehicle choice criteria was proven task related reliability, strength, longevity, significant payload, capable and stable towing platform, storage, 4x4 capacity and resale. The list of contenders dwindled incredibly quickly. Payload knock out most very early. The last man standing was repeatedly the 70 series. We did struggle (particularly the Princess), and we agonised over that because it was difficult to come to terms with the fact the spartan 70 series could not be trumped. Every "if and but" we threw in, it kept coming back to the 70. It's a truly great vehicle no doubt, but its very VERY expensive, and very VERY basic. A brand new almost $80k 2019 model looks much the same as a second hand 80s model worth $10k

The wagon went, due to payload. The single cab went due to ... being a single cab. Leaving the twin cab and Troopy. Twin cab lost out due to tray and box weight eating into GVM, reduced storage, but importantly because of the massive rear cantilever, which I just couldn't ever be comfortable with. Every twin cab also always looks nose up with its ar$e is dragging on the ground. I was prepared to just hang out and wait for an alternative, when we wandered past a Troopy in the surf beach car park on the mid north NSW coast at Xmas. Id never considered it and the first thing I notice was the acceptable cantilever. A light bulb moment of clarity, and I think it probably right then that I was sold on the Troopy; its far from ideal, but its way closer then anything esle. Troopy seemed to make so much sense .... but not quite enough sense to stop me from thinking about it for 5 months before I signed up

So there you have it. A vehicle that ticks every box twice for our initial list of criteria, and not a signal box for anything else.
 
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Drover

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Damn I have to agree with you entirely, came to that conclusion years ago just my wallet didn't come to the party..... Came close a few years back at Emerald though, my dream truck was there .......
 
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MDS69

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Bit of a win yesterday, picked up a brand new GME XRS370c UHF for $250, it does all sorts of crap Ill never use. The original RRP $550 seems a lot to pay just for truckies and other road users to be able to abuse me

You can here and get all the abuse you like for free
 
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Crusty181

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If only Toyota had an auto option on the 70 series. Easy fix apparently, hand over another bucket of money and do this
https://automatictransmission.com.a...tip-tronic-automatic-transmission-conversion/
I thought manual would be a little onerous after many years enjoying autos, but after swapping around through a series of borrowed manual vehicles of various descriptions I don't think it will be too much of a inconvenience.

The thing I will absolutely miss, curse and maybe even shed a tear over is climate control
 

Drover

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Your such a whooze, it has climate control , they are called windows ?????? If its cold outside so are you, only a fool turns on the Toyota Furnace, they melt the sole of your boots.....
 

Crusty181

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Your such a whooze, it has climate control , they are called windows ?????? If its cold outside so are you, only a fool turns on the Toyota Furnace, they melt the sole of your boots.....
I set my wonderful Nissan climate control twice, once in 2009 and again in 2014. Never touch it again and rode in computer controlled comfort for 10 years. Id evolved ... now im forced to wrangle heater controls, a weird long stick poking out of the floor, and an extra pedal. Two feet, three pedals ftw is that about
 
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crackacoldie

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I set my wonderful Nissan climate control twice, once in 2009 and again in 2014. Never touch it again and rode in computer controlled comfort for 10 years. Id evolved ... now im forced to wrangle heater controls, a weird long stick poking out of the floor, and an extra pedal. Two feet, three pedals ftw is that about
The heater controls are easy to use, they are the same as my grandfather had in his 1975 Cressida. Lol
 

Bluey

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As far as your question about @mfexpanda you can talk to him and others ........be nice to all ...... but on the road just overtake them all somtimes a raised finger outside the drivers window helps to rub it in
 
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Crusty181

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As far as your question about @mfexpanda you can talk to him and others ........be nice to all ...... but on the road just overtake them all somtimes a raised finger outside the drivers window helps to rub it in
@mfexpanda's flagship would look quite nice dragging along behind a LC79 ..... I suspect that could only be a matter of time
 

Drover

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Found some memories ...............................

Nav1.jpg ......thats why they speed, full of it............................ nav2.jpg for wishing they had Big Brother..



The Navara Mans Toolkit........................ navtoolkit.jpg


Keep looking folks for the memorable quotes of Navara Man...............
 
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Crusty181

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Crusty181

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@mfexpanda's flagship would look quite nice dragging along behind a LC79 ..... I suspect that could only be a matter of time
Better look at jumping onboard @mfexpanda, Toyota have announced a brilliant plan to ditch the V8 and update the 70 as a matter necessity due to emission issues ... in laymans terms that translates, like all manufacturers before them who think they can go one better, theyre about to bugger it up.
 

Crusty181

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Better look at jumping onboard @mfexpanda, Toyota have announced a brilliant plan to ditch the V8 and update the 70 as a matter necessity due to emission issues ... in laymans terms that translates, like all manufacturers before them who think they can go one better, theyre about to bugger it up.
.... the mighty V8 200 series Landcruiser may even end up 12v soon enough. Sounds awesome, might as well buy a Jeep :behindsofa:
 

DRW

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.... the mighty V8 200 series Landcruiser may even end up 12v soon enough. Sounds awesome, might as well buy a Jeep :behindsofa:

lol I did, actually I could buy 2 for the price of a land cruiser, and both together would use less fuel with the climate control ON, but as my brother keeps telling me, if you can afford a cruiser you can afford the excess fuel bill
 
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Crusty181

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lol I did, actually I could buy 2 for the price of a land cruiser, and both together would use less fuel with the climate control ON, but as my brother keeps telling me, if you can afford a cruiser you can afford the excess fuel bill
Got ya covered. Toyota have introduced Toyota Access Finance which will help a lot of people, almost as much as it helps Toyota. People are killing each other to get it, and people who cant afford a new Landcruiser can still have one. Toyota's rock solid promise is to buy back the car at way under market value, bonus; and then resell it at a huge profit which is suprise surprise market value. You on the other hand, of course end up with nothing but the under valued buyback cash, but on the bright side you only have to finance half the value of the car to end up with nothing. You get to borrow the car from Toyota for 4 years, feed the families of Toyota Finance staff and then Toyota get to sell the car twice, once to you and again to you if you like .... whats not to like about that.