[coconut_crab]

This is why I love my 80 series Land Cruiser (carb, not EFI), it's really simple that a lot of maintenance can be done with just wrenches. And the charm of having almost no electronics[1] on the car control is that if something is wrong, you will know it by the sounds it makes, and you will have a lot of times to fix it before it's completely toast. I have heard of horror stories about newer cars with electric ABS accumulator that stopped working on the high way, not with my FZJ80[2].

[1] The so called 'emission computer' unit on the car is a simple pulse counter/comparator that activates a VSV on the carb to reduce backfire while descending downhill with the foot off the throttle.

[2] My brake booster is leaking a little bit, but at least it won't suddenly gives up on me while I'm riding, still looking for a replacement.

[geocrasher]

Those are excellent vehicles indeed. Unfortunately they're also very expensive to maintain. As for a brake booster, I once swapped a booster from a 1990's Toyota pickup into a FJ55. Would you believe it bolted to the firewall? Might be a worthy swap in your FJZ80.

[coconut_crab]

OEM parts can be really expensive, but there are also choices of buying aftermarket ones (mostly made in China) or salvaging from another ones. Near where I live there is a guy who salvages Land Cruisers for a living, he has more than hundreds frames lying around in his yard. Since most of the Land cruisers here have 3rd world spec (carb-ed and detuned engine, part time 4WD, mechanical gas pump etc...), the used parts are often in very good condition. Take the dreaded blown head gasket for example, I rarely see that here because 1FZ-F doesn't run as hot as 1FZ-FE. Or the Birfield, most people just run on RWD mode so they are often pristine.

(of course for something critical such as brake booster I would only use OEM).

[atourgates]

Really? My '95 FJ80, now over 200k miles, has been one of the cheapest and easiest to mantain, and most reliable vehicles I've ever owned.

Overall cost of ownership is rough due to terrible MPG, but maintenance hasn't been an issue at all.

[fy20]

What kind of fuel consumption do you get on that? I've been considering getting an older vehicles exactly for that reason (and you can easily tinker with it), but I'd imagine the fuel consumption is a lot higher than a modern vehicle, to the point where you are not saving anything by being able to fix it yourself.

[adamdevigili]

My 1997 LX450 (4.5L I6) with armor (front/rear bumpers, sliders), a roof rack, other random accessories with a 2.5" lift and 33" tires gets about 11 MPG highway, and maybe 7-9 city. I take it off-road often, and on trails I get maybe...4-6?

It does come with the territory though, and anyone owning an 80 (and probably a 100 series) at this point isn't doing it really to "save money" imo.

That being said, the recently outgoing 200 series LC didn't really do all that much better[1], and neither does the new 300 series.[2]

[1] https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2021_Toyota_Land_Cru...

[2] https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/45010.shtml

[toast0]

Would depend on the size of the engine I'd think. Old SUVs are going to have big engines and eat gas. My '78 Scout II had a 345 (5.6L?) v8 and did 12 mpg when it was running well. But if you get a smaller car with a smaller engine, you can get better mileage. My wife's '86 Civic doesn't fit the no engine electronics ideal (and it did have electronics problems that required replacing the engine control module (module sourced from a junkyard worked fine though)), but it did around 40 mpg in normal driving, 60 for cross country highway driving with A/C off. No modern safety equipment isn't great if you get in an accident, but curb weight is a lot less.

If you get an early Civic or VW Bug, you're going to get pretty good mileage as long as the engine is well adjusted.

[atourgates]

This is the achilles heel of the FJ80 we get in the US with a gas engine.

The official EPA rating on my 1995 is 12MPG city, and 14MPG highway. Real world, I'm more often in the 10-12 MPG range. If you add heavy offroad accessories, expect that to drop further.

The Diesel engine you can get in other parts of the world can get 20+ MPG in the same vehicle.

[coconut_crab]

I get around 12.5 l/100 km (19 mpg?) if I got easy on the throttle, and around 18L/100 km (13 mpg) on a rough road. There is no feedback loop since it uses on carb, so as long as I keep the throttle steady it isn't that bad. Of course it can't compare with modern SUVs but not too terrible either.

Economically wise, a 2 years old mid sized SUV here costs around 40000 USD, meanwhile I bought my FZJ80 with 6000 USD (with 200000 km on the ODO). Even if I drive 1000 km a month it will take me more than 30 years of driving to start losing money compare to buying a modern one.

[justinator]

More "Earth Fucker" than, "Land Cruiser" when it comes to MPG.

[adamdevigili]

I have an 80 as well (1997 LX450) and another positive aspect of owning it is that when maintenance items become due, a lot of them can be fun[1] and enjoyable to tackle, and very very rarely will you run into an issue that doesn't have threads and discussions talking about the best ways to fix it. One downside to that is that you normally have to do a little bit of legwork to filter out the noise caused by other owners also looking for how to solve that particular issue.

[1] I've had to do the PHH on a rusty-ish 80, not fun: https://youtu.be/WQabGr4KY5g?t=158

[bayouborne]

Starter replacement on my strait-six LX450 took ~1 hr. Pull the wheel and you're practically looking at the unit. OTOH the Birfield Joints are kind of like prehistoric CV joints and have to be rebuilt in-situ. I love mine, 400k+ miles, still going strong and slurping fuel at 14 mpg.

[abruzzi]

mine had a leaky rear main seal. That was not a fun job. Fortunatly, my brother is an experienced auto mechanic (with ~$50k of SnapOn tools). So we were able to get it done, but there is no way I could have done it myself. The vehicle had 300k on the odometer and ran perfectly when I sold it last year for more than I paid. The reason I sold it was that the plastics had got brittle from the UV in the new mexico sun, so much of the interiod was falling apart.

[smackeyacky]

I wouldn't be sure about that brake booster. They can fail spectacularly, feeding a pile of brake fluid into your intake and leaving you with a huge cloud of smoke / clogged exhaust valves and ports and no brakes.

Get it fixed ASAP.

[coconut_crab]

I'm not sure how can it spill brake fluid in my vacuum line since they aren't really connected together (the booster has a push rod that connects to the master cylinder). But yes, I will get it replaced soon for my safety.

[geocrasher]

Can you give an example of this mode of failure? I've never heard of this. Ever. The worst I saw on a YT channel recently (JustRolledIn) was a booster that exploded from a backfire. But never have I heard of one failing in such a way that it sucked the fluid right out of the (sealed) master cylinder.

Now, could a master cylinder and a brake booster fail this way? I suppose if the brake booster was already failed and leaked vacuum at the booster/cylinder interface, and then the master cylinder seal at the main plunger also failed, that this could happen. But I don't see one causing the other.

[megablast]

And all the pollution you spread everywhere you go, from gas and micro-plastics from your car tires. What is not to love?

[Swenrekcah]

These are all genuine and critical problems, but the solution can really only come from governments and industry, with more emphasis on public transport, better city design and industry getting greener.

We can praise those who organise their lives in such ways as to not be too much of a burden on the planet but I don’t believe it’s effective to shame those that don’t, or do it in different ways than you expect.

It is effective to put pressure on governments and industry though.