Imported Landcruiser

hi Neil,
have heard that insurance can be an issue, ring nrma or similar and check 1st, you may get a nasty shock....

G'day Neil,

I heard of a bloke up here in the Top End buying one (private sale - original owner had imported the vehicle) and when it came to a rego roadworthy check he couldn't get anybody to look at it. He had to put it over the pits with MVR who knocked it back because of various non - compliance to ADR's. It cost him a fortune to bring it up to compliance.

Diesel1

thanks for those two comments hadnt even thought it may be a prob GONE WOOP-WOOP

I gather you are talking about a pre 1988 60 series and it has been imported under the 15 year rule?
If so they are pretty much the same as aussie delivery vehicle of the same vintage, trim and some of the chrome bits are different, many have PTO winches. The biggest difference is that they are 24v electrics which apart from sourcing things like starters and alternators isn't a problem. 24v systems are usually more reliable than 12v, current flows are halved and there is less wear and tear on switch contacts in general.
As far as fitting 12v accessories that is no problem if you fit a REDARC Charge Isolator. This little box sits across both batteries constantly floating them at the same charge level. This allows you to drain 12v from one or either battery without damage to either battery. I have had one fitted to my 24v Humvee for over 18 months with absolutely no problems. I'm running a Barrett HF, 2 x Cb's, stereo, GPS, laptop and frig on 12v with no probs.
Fit 24v globes to any campers, trailers etc and you'll have no probs.

Neil
In NZ the cruisers would run at 75% used import and 25% new
When they enter NZ they are checked for compliance and if they pass they can then be registered. That is a permanant record
As a rule the imports are better equiped than the new to NZ
I not sure where your cruiser are assembled but in NZ all the trucks new or used are built in Japan.
The major parts are all the same and so are most of the smaller items, and if you work from the genuine w/s manuals they cover all the variants
I currently own 3 80# and have owned many others all used imports and have not had any problems with any of them even after 300,000 ks
Hope this is of some help
Ray

Yep, I had a drive of one of these vehicles it was a 89 model VX Landcruiser which even had seat heaters, PTO which (dozer blade), Turbo diesel and auto - hope the manual goes better as this was pretty slow - my Surf would kill it, though I have the same motor as the Prado - Oh yeh - some of the earlier Surfs may have had problems though I can tell you from my trips in a 97 model it has been 100% reliable except for a leaking rear axle seal - don't bag all Surfs. Anyway you may find speedo wind back in imports. From people I have spoken to in the past about imports and so a good impoter would be SVI imports - do a search for them as they will import you one and will garantee no wind back and you can request them to search for a vehicle with the options you want and the right colour. Go have a drive of one at the car yards first then go import one thru SVI. I would go another import - except the cruiser I found was a bit outdated and slow compared to what I have now.Cheers, Beddo
Surf KZN185
<- Yengo NP, Central Coast NSW