stuzbot
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2021
- Messages
- 472
As followers of my misadventures will know, I've had a love/hate relationship with my Collie, ever since I bought it. A lot of which is down to my own idiocy in pretty much ignoring anything forward of the engine and rear of the back axle, when doing my pre-purchase inspection. Which, of course, is where all my truck's myriad problems turned out to lie.
Anyway, since moving to the back of beyond in Northumberland at the beginning of last month, I've definitely started to really enjoy driving the Cruiser a lot. I've done about 500 miles since leaving MCR for the last time and, as the saying goes it "hasn't missed a beat". It's also a hell of a lot of fun to drive on these winding [and blissfully empty] country roads, with about 4 hairpin bends on the route to dropping the missus off at work in the mornings. And, hats off to all you guys who quashed my concerns about buying my first ever auto. It really comes into its own on these kind of roads. It's like driving a giant dodgem car. But with a big comfy seat inside.
So that's the bad and the good. And, at the moment, I'm really loving driving this motor. I can't remember the last time I had a vehicle where I actually looked forward to driving it and was often disappointed my journeys weren't a bit longer.
Of course there are downsides too. Everything is so far away out here in the boondocks that I'm having to put £40 of diesel in a week. An amount that would last me about a month or more, in the city. But, by far my biggest downer is that there's no way this truck is gong to pass its MOT at the end of January. There's just too many niggling things which need fixing. So my thoughts, as to my options, at the minute:
1: Spend a couple of grand getting this one sorted. That has the advantage of starting with a known quantity and I think my engine and transmission are rock solid. However, it would mean getting the chassis welded and sorting out all the 'held together with string and snot' front end. There's also the question of the fact it pulls slightly to the left. That may just be down to the 4 mis-matched tyres. But there's also the chance it might be an alignment issue at the front, due to whatever it hit to wreck the grille and headlamp area. So I might spend all that money [chassis repair, set of tyres, front end alignment] just to end up at the place I thought I was starting from, when I bought it.
2: Now that I've got [sort of] unlimited parking [I only had one parking space at my former flat] I could buy another Collie [hopefully in better nick] and keep the current one for spares. Of course, the problem there is that they all seem to go in the same place. So that would put me back to square one, as regards finding a good one to start with. But, at least I might be able to find one where a bit of underbody corrosion was it's only major issue.
3: Go for another Land Cruiser but a variant less likely to have a chassis made of cheese. If such a thing exists? From what I read on here, it seems the 80 series was the Land Cruiser's pinnacle and everything since then has been slightly less well built. The chances of finding a decent 80 series for less than the price of a house also seems pretty remote.
4: Stay in the Toyota camp. But maybe go for something like a Hilux or a Smurf instead. Mind you, I suspect that they probably suffer from the same corrosion issues as their posher siblings
5: Jump ship and go for something like a Nissan Pathfinder, Isuzu D-Max or Mitsubishi Shogun instead.
Options 3,4 and 5 would give me more money to spend on the next truck, as I'd be able to sell my current Collie. Option 2 would leave me less to spend on the next truck. But would leave me with a donor vehicle to scav parts off.
I realise this isn't really a question as such. More like musing aloud. But I've not posted anything for a while. So thought it was time I bored yous all again, with a brain dump.
Anyway, since moving to the back of beyond in Northumberland at the beginning of last month, I've definitely started to really enjoy driving the Cruiser a lot. I've done about 500 miles since leaving MCR for the last time and, as the saying goes it "hasn't missed a beat". It's also a hell of a lot of fun to drive on these winding [and blissfully empty] country roads, with about 4 hairpin bends on the route to dropping the missus off at work in the mornings. And, hats off to all you guys who quashed my concerns about buying my first ever auto. It really comes into its own on these kind of roads. It's like driving a giant dodgem car. But with a big comfy seat inside.
So that's the bad and the good. And, at the moment, I'm really loving driving this motor. I can't remember the last time I had a vehicle where I actually looked forward to driving it and was often disappointed my journeys weren't a bit longer.
Of course there are downsides too. Everything is so far away out here in the boondocks that I'm having to put £40 of diesel in a week. An amount that would last me about a month or more, in the city. But, by far my biggest downer is that there's no way this truck is gong to pass its MOT at the end of January. There's just too many niggling things which need fixing. So my thoughts, as to my options, at the minute:
1: Spend a couple of grand getting this one sorted. That has the advantage of starting with a known quantity and I think my engine and transmission are rock solid. However, it would mean getting the chassis welded and sorting out all the 'held together with string and snot' front end. There's also the question of the fact it pulls slightly to the left. That may just be down to the 4 mis-matched tyres. But there's also the chance it might be an alignment issue at the front, due to whatever it hit to wreck the grille and headlamp area. So I might spend all that money [chassis repair, set of tyres, front end alignment] just to end up at the place I thought I was starting from, when I bought it.
2: Now that I've got [sort of] unlimited parking [I only had one parking space at my former flat] I could buy another Collie [hopefully in better nick] and keep the current one for spares. Of course, the problem there is that they all seem to go in the same place. So that would put me back to square one, as regards finding a good one to start with. But, at least I might be able to find one where a bit of underbody corrosion was it's only major issue.
3: Go for another Land Cruiser but a variant less likely to have a chassis made of cheese. If such a thing exists? From what I read on here, it seems the 80 series was the Land Cruiser's pinnacle and everything since then has been slightly less well built. The chances of finding a decent 80 series for less than the price of a house also seems pretty remote.
4: Stay in the Toyota camp. But maybe go for something like a Hilux or a Smurf instead. Mind you, I suspect that they probably suffer from the same corrosion issues as their posher siblings
5: Jump ship and go for something like a Nissan Pathfinder, Isuzu D-Max or Mitsubishi Shogun instead.
Options 3,4 and 5 would give me more money to spend on the next truck, as I'd be able to sell my current Collie. Option 2 would leave me less to spend on the next truck. But would leave me with a donor vehicle to scav parts off.
I realise this isn't really a question as such. More like musing aloud. But I've not posted anything for a while. So thought it was time I bored yous all again, with a brain dump.
.
