Toyota Land Cruiser: £5k vs £100k challenge

[Admin]

Price & Value​

• £5k Old Cruiser:
  • Likely an 80-, 90-, or 100-series with high mileage.
  • Already fully depreciated — you won’t lose money if you keep it in decent shape.
  • Can be fixed with a hammer, duct tape, and parts from a scrapyard.
• £100k New Cruiser (300 Series / Lexus LX):
  • High-tech luxury SUV with all the toys.
  • Will lose tens of thousands in depreciation the moment you drive it out of the showroom.

Reliability & Maintenance​

• Old one:
  • Legendary bulletproof diesels (1HD-T, 1HD-FTE, etc.).
  • Easy to service yourself, but rust is your main enemy.
  • If it’s been looked after, it’ll probably outlive you.
• New one:
  • Still Toyota-reliable, but much more electronics = more things that can fail.
  • Dealer servicing is expensive.
  • Needs proper diagnostic tools if anything goes wrong.

Off-Road Capability​

• Old Cruiser:
  • Pure mechanical 4x4 systems, locking diffs, and no fear of scratching paint.
  • Narrower and lighter than modern SUVs → actually better in tight trails.
  • You will get muddy, and it will keep going.
• New Cruiser:
  • Crawl control, terrain modes, KDSS suspension, all the gizmos.
  • Superb in sand dunes and long expeditions — if you trust the electronics.
  • But would you really take your £100k luxury SUV down a scratchy forest lane?

Comfort & Daily Driving​

• Old Cruiser:
  • Comfortable in a utilitarian way, but you’ll get wind noise, 90s plastics, and no Apple CarPlay.
  • Slow by modern standards (0–60 in “eventually”).
• New Cruiser:
  • Plush interior, air-conditioned seats, adaptive cruise, safety tech.
  • Feels like a luxury limo that happens to have insane off-road ability.

Verdict (aka the “Top Gear challenge” angle)​

• The £5k Land Cruiser is the one you buy if you want to prove the point that old Toyota engineering is unbeatable. It’s for expeditions, farm tracks, and for people who love the idea of “forever cars.”
• The £100k Land Cruiser is the one you buy if you want comfort, tech, and status along with the reassurance it’ll still cross the Sahara without blinking. But you’ll probably cry at the first scratch.

The real “challenge” is this: for the price difference, you could buy the £5k old Cruiser and a brand-new GR Yaris or Hilux for fun — and still save tens of thousands.