The Return of the Land Cruiser?

Sort of like Carhartt gear. Years ago only us hunters and construction workers wore that stuff. I wore Carhartt bibs so often my mom would try and hide them from me. Then some yuppie though it looked cool and the rest is history.

 

These are starting to get broke in
I am biased being from Michigan, and Carhart started here.

 

same with…wait for it



Tacoma’s

 

Unfortunately Toyota noticed and jacked up their prices accordingly.

 

Inflation is a problem when the prices of everything have gone up, but our salaries haven’t. I’m still being paid 2018 wages for everything.

And I have to buy and insure cars for myself, my wife, and my older daughter, and the new Cruiser is not looking very appealing after they refused to offer a non-hybrid version for less cash. Toyota is dead set on the hybrid powertrain, at least in the US.

Hopefully my 200 series will last forever.

 

Pretty much, I used to be made fun of owning “jap crap” back in the 80s. Especially in the Steel City area of Southwestern PA. Own the Big 3 or get your teeth knocked out.

 

My wife is from Michigan and she was showing me some family pictures from the 80s when her dad took her to the Chrysler plant and there was one photo in the parking lot where in the background they had parking for American/Union Built vehicles only.

 

Get 50 miles away from Detroit and it’s a different story

 

They are. But if I ever win a lottery, I am buying a G-Wagen or the Grenadier.

 

I’ve spotted a handful here in California, the only people buying this “hard-core off-roader” are the same people who are worried that their G wagen blends in too much in the Whole Foods parking lot.

Honestly, when I see it, it reminds me of the ARO.

 

Or the 90s era Isuzu trooper:



It was a great car for Alaska. Pic is not mine. Mine was pre-digital camera era.

 

I dated a girl whose father was a steel worker, he said they used to drag foreign cars out of the parking lot.

Friend of mine had one of those, I used to have an ‘02 that I paid a whole dollar for. Once you pay $1.00 for a vehicle really hard to spend much more than that on anything else. Lol! Made me realize how ridiculous the whole auto industry is, just for something to haul our asses and bullshit around.

 

Troopers are awesome, but I heard that getting parts for them is a bitch. My neighbor has a second generation Trooper slowly returning to the earth in front of his home because he needs to rebuild the engine and transmission.

Apparently there are places to order parts from, and they’re coming internationally, but there are these persistent “global supply chain shortages,” or whatever.

 

Mine was a '92. Then I had a '02 Isuzu Axiom (body style was way ahead of its time). The only weak point was the GM's transmission (I stayed ahead of trouble by changing ATF every 30K miles). But it had extended transmission and differential breathers from the factory. Crossed many streams on the way to hiking paths and salmon streams, never had a problem with it. And crash plates under the transmission, engine and center differential, from the factory. And TOD, with a real LSD, was awesome. Never got stuck in it. Used to fly thru 12"+ of snow on the highway on the way to work.

 

If Isuzu stayed in the US, we would probably have these. Perfectly adequate body on frame SUV. Only problem is that the diesel engine really vibrates when sitting in traffic.

 

Nice, very nice.

 

Mahindra just loves getting those court orders. Have they managed to get any of these sold in the US?

 

Yes they widened the hood a little to make it less Jeep-looking: https://www.tatummotor.com/UTVs-for...vehicle#page=xallinventory&vt=utility vehicle

 

It was a great no nonsense SUV, rear seats folded totally flat, nice big squared off cargo area, used the heck out of it. Owned it for 12 years, but yeah had to get rid of it because of parts. The GM trans finally gave up the ghost and decided it wasn’t worth fixing. Donated it to Vehicles for Veterans.