New Land Cruiser

RVR OVR

RVR OVR

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2004
362
115
IL
Blue said:
You know what’s different about a Rover vs a Toyota or Lexus?

The other morning I was taking my boys to summer sports camp and I’m driving along drinking my coffee out of an old Land Rover coffee mug. I thought to myself, I’d never bother buying a Lexus mug.
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That says it all. I just had my garage repainted, or I would take a picture as proof and I am too lazy to find an old one. On my garage wall, there were large 3 foot wall decals for KTM, Land Rover, and Triumph, a KTM Clock, and a cool tin sign that says "Land Rover Parts and Service". All vehicles I buy and enjoy with my heart instead of my head.

After I repainted, I put the KTM Clock back and Land Rover tin sign back up. I thought I should have something Toyota or Lexus on the wall considering 4 of the 5 cars on the family are Toyota or Lexus. I made a note to shop for it, and forgot about it until now. That was 4 weeks ago.
 
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Grum.man

Well-known member
Mar 2, 2024
48
22
Sanford NC
It is funny that even the Toyota faithful I know don't collect Toyota branded stuff like the domestic and European people tend to. Obviously they make reliable products and the Toyota's at least look pretty good. And the trucks and SUV's are pretty much designed and built in the USA so I don't mind them on that front. I personally have never gotten along with Toyota/Lexus products. I've tried several times and they just aren't for me. I think the previous generation Tacoma was the worst vehicle I have ever had the displeasure of driving. I went through a streak where I was consistently getting them as rental vehicles and eventually got to the point I refused to accept them. I prefer the way the Altima drives over the Camry granted the Camry is much better looking. I crossed shopped Lexus with my Lincoln and it was just no comparison. The Lincoln rode better, had a nicer interior, better tech, lower NVH, sterro, and was priced lower. I've never had a car that gave enough troubles to make me swear off the brand or have a desire to switch to Toyota just for the "reliability". I have that in quotations because I believe it's vastly over rated. My family extended family has owned two Toyota's. I had a second gen 4runner that was a turd and my sister had a Prius which always needed something. My Disovery II is a toy and I do all the work my self. I enjoy it, I expect it, and I want more! ha
 
RVR OVR

RVR OVR

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2004
362
115
IL
I think part of the problem is the logos. The old TOYOTA text does look better on cars that have the TRD package or whatever, but that is because the Toyota logo is just plain lame. Lexus doesn't have much history, and the logo screams snobbery louder than anything else it might whisper thanks to the marketing behind it.

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That being said, I still have 4 of them. One bought with 8k miles and 37k today, so many, many more to go. One bought with 38k miles and currently at 147,000. Both of those have only seen expected maintenance items and have given zero problems. I can see them both outliving me. I bought two beaters for the kids - an FJ Cruiser at 240k miles, now up at about 260k, and a Lexus RX at 190k miles that is now at over 200k. Both have only needed expected maintenance items and run and drive very nice and are cheap to maintain at the local shop.

For a new car or a car with lower mileage that I didn't plan on keeping until death, there are a lot of brands to look at. But for the 200k+ mile category to buy a cheap car or to plan on keeping one that long, there is no other brand I would consider. Too many dead cars or cars that would need repairs beyond their value at 150k or less miles that I have owned or witnessed.
 

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StangGT5

StangGT5

Well-known member
Feb 4, 2019
319
151
Atlanta, GA
Blue said:
I enjoyed the LR4 interior except for all the cheap plastic silver rings around all the vents and knobs. The sun glinting off the glove box latch and parking brake latch drove me nuts. I had black electrical tape on the glove box latch to prevent the glint. The rings around the vents pop off in your hand and the little slats in the vents are constantly falling out (there's one missing in the round vent above the start/stop button in my photo). I had to replace the start/stop button because of course the black and white paint wore off. All the other silver trim pieces are cheap junk too. If you every take your dash apart...for instance, to fix the junk audio/infotainment system when it craps out....you'll see how cheap all these pieces really are. Clips breaking left and right. I had planned to take all the silver pieces and paint them flat black but alas I sold it before it came to that. I did like the steering wheel and the fixed tach and speedo though. The digital info screen in between is straight outta the 90s. The touch screen is straight outta a rental car. Seats were great, doors slam like a bank vault, build quality was good, dials and controls always worked, except the Harmon Kardon uber-fancy ultra stereo system that shit the bed when my battery died. Turns out is was just a bad satellite module but I wasn't paying the dealer their quoted $5,000+ to fix that shit.

The GX interior is simple and, to be honest, not quite becoming of a $70k+ vehicle. I can see why lots of people talk smack about it not being luxury. I like the simple, black, right-angle design. I can't stand all the old school Lexus beige leather and chrome or gold accents, curves, and super-shellacked wood everywhere. When I first thought of maybe buying this new GX, I thought it would come with one of those cheesy wood steering wheels.

The GX does have a bit of live-rear-axle bobble over bumps or pavement breaks but it's not too bad. In sport mode or sport+ it's amazingly tight. It's definitely peppier than my LR4 but also remember that I had several hundred pounds, or maybe closer to a thousand pounds, of skid plates, steel bumpers, winch, roof rack, and larger tires on mine. I also had E-rated 275/65/18 (32") tires. With the GX I'm going from the stock SL-rated 265/70R18 Toyo Open Country AT3 to a C-rated 35x12.5x17 AT3.

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Thanks for the detailed response. I thought Florida was rough on cars but the Arizona heat must be hell. I've bought D2s and a RRC from there, but nothing newer. I've never experienced the issues with my LR4...I should stop before I jinx myself haha.

I don't have kids, so women are my only gauges. The funny thing is most passengers think the LR4 is really handsome and have no idea it's 10+ years old. European cars tend to hide their age I guess. It always cracks me up how different women are geographically though. In Florida, girls love the Raptor. In Buckhead (N Atlanta), they dig the hell out of the kitted LR4, and they couldn't care less about the Raptor.

Sometimes I think about selling everything and buying a linked 90s Bronco. Then I'd be on the side of the road with a bad distributor module.
 
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RVR OVR

RVR OVR

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2004
362
115
IL
Blue said:
I agree, both those logos are just plain lame. The Toyota logo looks like a whale's vagina. And you're welcome, because that's all you will ever think of again when you see the Toyota logo.
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At least the fun button is clearly outlined up top taking out all the mystery.
 
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4Runner

4Runner

Well-known member
May 24, 2007
698
130
Boise Idaho
Blue said:
I agree, both those logos are just plain lame. The Toyota logo looks like a whale's vagina. And you're welcome, because that's all you will ever think of again when you see the Toyota logo.
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I would love to hear the story on how you acquired that frame of reference. 🤣
 
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Blue

Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,195
1,021
AZ
Saw a new Land Cruiser in a parking lot the other day. It is literally the same truck as mine, just a different front end. Of course I knew this but it appears smaller when driving down the road. Maybe it's the massive Lexus face that makes the difference. I know some people hate it (Peter) but it's kind of growing on me. I still want to drive a new Land Cruiser, really curious to see how the hybrid 4 cylinder feels now that I'm used to the GX. My GX is in the shop for a little work.....will be picking it up this afternoon. Peter's going to just love my new wheel & tire choice!
 
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