Buying a 100 series landcruiser

Hi Pete
Toyota have a good reputation in their rust proofing technology, if the vehicle has been well looked after, regular washes, maybe has been garaged etc, I think they would be worth a look, they are a great vehicle.

Yes, most coastal areas are poor places to buy a used vehicle - particularly if the area also has strong prevailing winds off the sea.

In W.A., the coastal area from Mandurah to Albany is a shocker for rust-infested vehicles.
The best areas to buy used vehicles from are the drier mid-to-Northern latitudes, inland at least 100kms, and where rainfall is much lighter.

Vehicles seem to be built with improved drainage from panels today - but salt moisture penetrates spot-welded seams, no matter how well you care for a vehicle.

In my experience, front floors on Toyota 4WD's are the first place to look for rust. They are terrors for rusty floors. Always pull up the carpet or floor mat of anything you want to buy. Way too many 4WDs are regularly waded through water halfway up the doors, and that does nothing for vehicle lifespan.

Hi Peter,
I live in Gladstone Qld. and have had five cruisers, present one is ,05 vintage and has covered just over 200000klms. I would doubt if you could find a spec of rust anywhere on the body. It is washed on a regular basis and is garaged.
For what it is worth,
Cheers, Nev.

Hi you don't say what model landcruiser you are looking for.
What do you classify as coastal? One could argue that Sydney is coastal however it extends almost to the blue mountains not much salt out there. There are plenty of cruisers which reside near to coastal areas that are not affected by salt.
Most are family vehicles that never leave the blacktop. The condition of the ones that have been used regularly on beaches will be obvious. I have two cruisers an 80 series with 476000 ks it has resided on the central coast area of NSW all its life the only rust I can find is a minute ammount of surface rust where stones have chipped the paint. I also have a 100 series with 220000 ks it also has lived its life in a coastal area nil rust.

Am no expert on the 100 series, but I thought some model/years were better than others, in both petrol and TD?

If this is true perhaps you could pass the info onto Peter.

Thanks for all the replies.

The ones I were looking at are a 98 and a 2000 model HZJ105R GXL and are both right on the NSW north coast.

I think I will cast my net a bit wider and look interstate.