1998 Ebay Prado info

[HJ60 Cruiser]

Hi, Just wondering who owned this (If they are on here) and if they would be willing to chat about it, I'm interested to buy it if its got no gremlins in trans or engine etc.

 

[Lancashire Cruiser]

I saw this on EBay and if I didn’t already own a Colorado I would definitely looking at this. The MOT history looks good and pretty sound underneath. It looks really well cared for.

 

[HJ60 Cruiser]

yes its pretty well looked after, my last one rusted to bits, just a bit weary on this as my trans went at 140k too.

 

[Lancashire Cruiser]

Was that an auto box? I was led to believe that the Aisin box was pretty bomb proof if well maintained.

 

[AdventureWagon]

It's a bit slushy like any 80s/90s tech auto but reliable. Only trouble mine has had was the cooler and with dickheads over filling it.

 

[stuzbot]

Hi, Just wondering who owned this...

@HJ60 Cruiser Did you [or anyone else] ever go to take a look at this Prado? And, if so what was the verdict?

I wasn't really on the lookout for an auto. But the manuals seem to be as rare as hen's teeth on eBay. And, as much as you can judge from the photos, this one does look well maintained. About 200 odd miles from me though, so not the kind of thing I could nip over and have a look at on a whim.

 

[AdventureWagon]

I think the Japanese have a similar love affair for autos like Australia does.

 

[stuzbot]

I rung up about this one, seeing as nobody here seemed to be making a move on it, and spoke to the guy selling it. He said somebody had already put a deposit on it but that he had another one he was similarly prepping underneath by sanding down and treating with rust preventative. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing: good thing because he was treating the chassis to keep it corrosion free... or bad thing because the photos of that Land Cruiser are slightly misleading, as they're showing the underside after it's had a bit of a going over.

In any case, it still looks like an impressive wagon for its age. But looks like someone else has bagged it. Anyone on here, I wonder?

 

[Lancashire Cruiser]

It did look in good condition and if the underside was done well it could have been a good buy but I would have wanted to have a look myself while it was up on a ramp .

 

[stuzbot]

Yeah. It did look really good. But, to be honest, I was slightly relieved when he said it was taken. I've not got any transport at the mo', having sold my previous motor to get the pennies to go Land Cruiser hunting. So I'd have had to get the train down from Manchester to Slough to see it, which would have been about £200 return [or £120 if I wanted to be optimistic and just buy a single]. And I'd have been gutted to have forked out that amount of cash to go and see something and it turn out not to be as good as it looked in the photos.

I must say though that the advent of the intarwebs [sites like eBay and Gumtree] and the DVLA's 'Check MOT History' feature are a real godsend when it comes to vehicle hunting these days. I'm old enough to remember the days when hunting for a new motor meant getting hold of a copy of AutoTrader, going through pages of small ads, circling likely candidates and then spending a day ringing round trying to arrange viewings. And then --as now-- half the time what you went to see bore no relation to how it was described in the ad.

But at least now, we can ask to see photos of things like the underside and the 'Check MOT History' is brilliant for exposing bullshit such as "Maintained regardless of cost" when you can see that some £5 part has showed up as an advisory on about half a dozen previous MOTs and obviously never been attended to... or "Brilliant rust free example" when the MOT history is littered with advisories for "Underbody corrosion".

One advert I saw bragged about how the Land Cruiser in question had "Sailed through its MOT". When I checked the history, it had failed miserably a couple of weeks previously, and then passed a week later but still with a list of advisories as long as your arm. Methinks the vendor confused the words "sailing" and "scraping"!

 

[Lancashire Cruiser]

I was at one point interested in a 2000 Colorado for sale at a garage on the South coast some 300 miles away. Nevertheless I contacted the garage and they agreed to send me a video of the underneath claiming that it was “sound”. The resulting video showed a chassis with serious corrosion and a back axle diff pan which looked porous. The MOT history had declared some chassis corrosion but it was much worse than expected. Anyway saved a long trip to end up disappointed.

 

[stuzbot]

It must be Sod's Law that puts every Land Cruiser I'm interested in is at opposite ends of the country. I've lost track of the number of times I've looked at the 'Newly Listed' ones on my saved search on eBay, seen one that looks and sounds good and then looked at the location to find it's either on the south coast or the north of Scotland. And, if I do see one for sale within a decent radius of where I live, I inevitably need to put sunglasses on to read the MOT History, because of all the glowing red 'FAIL's on it.

It wouldn't be too bad if I wasn't in the Catch22 situation of having sold my previous motor to fund the purchase of a Land Cruiser. So, whereas before, I had the means to get places but no money to buy one. now I've got the money to buy one but have to depend on the train to get to see them. Speaking of which; what the hell is going on with train fares these days? I keep thinking I've accidentally enquired about travelling first class on the Orient Express, every time I look up the fares to the places all these nice sounding Land Cruisers are hiding out!

 

[Gav missin]

Put locations of any trucks your interested in on here. More often than not theres a member in the area who would take an initial look for you to check over the basics and advise if a viewing is a waste of time or not. Its been done many times. There a helpful bunch on here!

 

[stuzbot]

Put locations of any trucks your interested in on here. More often than not theres a member in the area who would take an initial look for you...

I'd feel a bit cheeky doing that. But I might give it a go, next time I see one in a far flung corner.

There a helpful bunch on here!...

Yes. I found that out pretty quickly. I've picked up so much from this forum, in the couple of weeks I've been asking my dumb newbie questions, that I feel quite knowledgeable about 90 Series Land Cruisers now --in spite of the fact I've never even sat in one!

 

[Lancashire Cruiser]

I eventually did buy mine at long distance and bought it without a physical viewing which is not really the best way to buy a vehicle, however the MOT history was excellent, it was a one family owned LC and the seller kindly sent me several videos of the underneath, interior and the engine running. I had a couple of long conversations with the seller and he showed me lots of documentation pertaining to the vehicle. In the end I felt fairly confident that what I was seeing was a good honest LC which when delivered turned out exactly as described. Another plus point was that the car had spent a lot of its life in Portugal as the owners had relatives and property there, hence the underneath was excellent.
Its not the way I would usually recommend to buy a car but it worked for me on this occasion.