- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I think I'll preface this by attempting to explain my logic behind buying and selling my recent vehicles. When we had the RME TJ, it was great for hardcore rock crawling, but not really a family camping rig. It order to fill that void, I picked up a cheap Land Cruiser. It had to be cheap, since we already had the built TJ and a Dodge tow rig. I picked up one of the older model FJ80's for a sweet deal and over time built it for how I would use it. Fast forward over a year and a half later... the Dodge and TJ are gone and we still have the cheap family camping rig FJ80.
I sold my '92 FJ80 a few weeks ago and have been looking for a replacement. While I loved how capable offroad that '92 was, driving it on the freeway for more than 30 minutes was a chore. The 3FE and power-sapping auto transmission were a bad combo, returning 10-12 MPG and struggling to maintain 75 MPH on flat ground. Toss in a long, steep hill and forget about it. I wanted something a bit more updated, with better power and mileage.
I really liked the size and capability of the FJ/FZJ platform and after considering other options, I decided on a '95-97 FZJ would be the logical choice as the next vehicle. Trying to find a clean, low mileage FZJ within my price range provided to be difficult, they either sold right away or were priced too high. After upping my budget and looking at built and semi-built rigs, I found a few to consider.
I had my heart set on one in SLC and made an offer without seeing it in person, just pics on KSL. It had a OME lift, 34" BFG AT's, a ARB front bumper and snorkel, factory lockers, etc, etc. It all sounded very good, but I was very disappointed after driving 4.5 hours and seeing that it had been re-painted, very poorly. The paint job was flaking off in many spots and was about 15 shaded different than the original color. It looked bad, more then a few other things were questionable and the owner made no effort to mention these issues before I drove from CO to UT to buy it.
After walking away from that one, we drove around SLC looking at other dealerships for FZJ's. I stopped by Smith Family Motors off 123rd South, since they are known for quality Toyota & Lexus vehicles and usually have some very capable 4x4's in their inventory. Right away one of the salesmen came out to greet us... see, Jason was interested in the 4Runner we were driving if we were there to make a trade. He wanted Catherines 4Runner for himself and there's no way my wife would let it go. We had a laugh, then asked Jason if he knew of any FZJ's for sale. He mentioned that they didn't have what I was looking for on the lot currently, but that his personal 4x4 was up for sale. It was posted here for a while... a white & silver '97 Lexus LX450, which is a re-badged Toyota FZJ Land Cruiser.
The factory options are nice, loaded with leather and factory front and rear lockers. It's very tastefully built with a Slee 4" suspension, Hanna Quality rock sliders and a set of 315/75/16 BFG KM's. The entire vehicle is clean and has been well taken care of and it shows.
We took it for a test drive and I was happy with how it rode, drive and looked. It was what I was hoping for in the other vehicle I looked at. We made an offer and came to a conclusion we were both happy with. Ended up driving it home this morning and I was impressed with how well it handled the freeway driving and the climb over Solider Summit. I think this was the perfect upgrade after selling the '92 FJ80 and it will be perfect for future trips I have planned.
Here's some pics from today, I stopped at the top of Solider Summit in the snow for a few pics, then took a quick trip out to the local proving grounds above Fruita.
I've kept much of my overland gear from the '92, so it will find it's way into the LX450 soon enough. I'll be adding my Warn XD9000 winch, RTT, on-board shower, freezer/fridge, HID lights, CB, etc.
Just some quick impressions about the vehicle...
Factory lockers are awesome! Hopefully they'll be used to get me out of trouble more often than getting me into it. We'll see about that, good thing I kept the winch that was on my '92!
The Slee 4" suspension system is very well put together. I loved the Old Man Emu system that was on my '92, but the Slee suspension seems to be better tuned for the higher lifts. The ride quality and offroad performance is impressive.
I love the Hanna Quality sliders... they are cleanly built and beefy, including the catalytic converter protection.
The BFG KM's are good looking and beefy, but I don't know that I like them for snow & mud, like I was in today. They seem to dig, which is good and bad depending on the terrain you're on, even worse is that they lack the lateral stability that BFG AT's would provide. I'm sure I will appreciate them when I'm making my way up Rose Garden Hill, so time will tell what happens with them. If anyone has a near-new set of 315/75/16 BFG AT's, I may consider a trade.
So far I'm happy with the new purchase... I blew my budget out of the water, so I need to keep this one around for several years to make it worth it. I plan to keep it for quite some time, I think it will be the perfect vehicle for the places I want to go and see these days.
I sold my '92 FJ80 a few weeks ago and have been looking for a replacement. While I loved how capable offroad that '92 was, driving it on the freeway for more than 30 minutes was a chore. The 3FE and power-sapping auto transmission were a bad combo, returning 10-12 MPG and struggling to maintain 75 MPH on flat ground. Toss in a long, steep hill and forget about it. I wanted something a bit more updated, with better power and mileage.
I really liked the size and capability of the FJ/FZJ platform and after considering other options, I decided on a '95-97 FZJ would be the logical choice as the next vehicle. Trying to find a clean, low mileage FZJ within my price range provided to be difficult, they either sold right away or were priced too high. After upping my budget and looking at built and semi-built rigs, I found a few to consider.
I had my heart set on one in SLC and made an offer without seeing it in person, just pics on KSL. It had a OME lift, 34" BFG AT's, a ARB front bumper and snorkel, factory lockers, etc, etc. It all sounded very good, but I was very disappointed after driving 4.5 hours and seeing that it had been re-painted, very poorly. The paint job was flaking off in many spots and was about 15 shaded different than the original color. It looked bad, more then a few other things were questionable and the owner made no effort to mention these issues before I drove from CO to UT to buy it.
After walking away from that one, we drove around SLC looking at other dealerships for FZJ's. I stopped by Smith Family Motors off 123rd South, since they are known for quality Toyota & Lexus vehicles and usually have some very capable 4x4's in their inventory. Right away one of the salesmen came out to greet us... see, Jason was interested in the 4Runner we were driving if we were there to make a trade. He wanted Catherines 4Runner for himself and there's no way my wife would let it go. We had a laugh, then asked Jason if he knew of any FZJ's for sale. He mentioned that they didn't have what I was looking for on the lot currently, but that his personal 4x4 was up for sale. It was posted here for a while... a white & silver '97 Lexus LX450, which is a re-badged Toyota FZJ Land Cruiser.
The factory options are nice, loaded with leather and factory front and rear lockers. It's very tastefully built with a Slee 4" suspension, Hanna Quality rock sliders and a set of 315/75/16 BFG KM's. The entire vehicle is clean and has been well taken care of and it shows.
We took it for a test drive and I was happy with how it rode, drive and looked. It was what I was hoping for in the other vehicle I looked at. We made an offer and came to a conclusion we were both happy with. Ended up driving it home this morning and I was impressed with how well it handled the freeway driving and the climb over Solider Summit. I think this was the perfect upgrade after selling the '92 FJ80 and it will be perfect for future trips I have planned.
Here's some pics from today, I stopped at the top of Solider Summit in the snow for a few pics, then took a quick trip out to the local proving grounds above Fruita.
I've kept much of my overland gear from the '92, so it will find it's way into the LX450 soon enough. I'll be adding my Warn XD9000 winch, RTT, on-board shower, freezer/fridge, HID lights, CB, etc.
Just some quick impressions about the vehicle...
Factory lockers are awesome! Hopefully they'll be used to get me out of trouble more often than getting me into it. We'll see about that, good thing I kept the winch that was on my '92!
The Slee 4" suspension system is very well put together. I loved the Old Man Emu system that was on my '92, but the Slee suspension seems to be better tuned for the higher lifts. The ride quality and offroad performance is impressive.
I love the Hanna Quality sliders... they are cleanly built and beefy, including the catalytic converter protection.
The BFG KM's are good looking and beefy, but I don't know that I like them for snow & mud, like I was in today. They seem to dig, which is good and bad depending on the terrain you're on, even worse is that they lack the lateral stability that BFG AT's would provide. I'm sure I will appreciate them when I'm making my way up Rose Garden Hill, so time will tell what happens with them. If anyone has a near-new set of 315/75/16 BFG AT's, I may consider a trade.
So far I'm happy with the new purchase... I blew my budget out of the water, so I need to keep this one around for several years to make it worth it. I plan to keep it for quite some time, I think it will be the perfect vehicle for the places I want to go and see these days.
