New Landcruiser ute

I have a 70 series ute (2010 VDJ79R) that is a little over 18 months old. Very happy with it and have a comprehensive blog on why I chose the ute and what I have done to it.


Building the dream off-roader



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Cheers Mick

Hi Joihn,
I have a VDJ79R 2008 model Cab Chassis. (76 is the station wagon) The V8 has plenty of power in its standard form and only gets better with an after market exhaust etc. They are a great tow/load carry vehicle. As I understand it the gearbox has been improved as well and can cope with being left in 5th much more due to a few internal changes.

Check out LCOOL.org (Land Cruiser Owners On Line) which is a goldmine of information and has a whole section on 70 series vehicles.

Cheers

Hi John,
We bought ours in December 2010 and have changed the exhaust and fitted chip and changed snorkel intake. We go 6tonne when van on have toured Tasmania and Queensland with van now has60k on clock the thing I like is the only time I need to change gears when starting and stopping. Inhave been as low as third in couple of occasions . I am averaging around 15lts to 100 klms and main down side has to be turning circle and the suspension which has now been replaced.

Have a 79 series purchased 2011 and plated March 2011. So far so good. As regards load towing I am not sure what you mean but I tow an off road van that would come in close to 3tonne. Ute has about 15000klm on it, a third (about) of that towing the van. Uphill over the Toowoomba range was okay as was down hill. Been thru the corner country as well as down the south coast of NSW. Browns mountain to be exact. Okay under load both up and down.

As for 4/5th gears up hill at high speed with a load as you say. Well it will never be done in this ute. Gears are gears for the use of.... as they say. But I do tow in 5th gear which is a bit different from the previous 80 series.

Speaking to a truckie on the way up Toowoomba range he advised he had a similar ute and had chipped it and added a three inch exhaust which greatly improved pulling and efficiency with his caravan. He said it enabled pulling up the range in 3rd. I found myself alternating between second and third. But had a fair bit of traffic around me.
Hope that helps.
Jim

John,
Most know what I think about the new 70 series vehicles and many disagree with me.
This is how it is from driving and being around tojo's for many years. This is a round up on the V8 utes.

Gearboxes are great.
Diffs are good
Driveline is good
Body- not as good as the old 75/78 series. They don't last as long in harsh environments.
Radiator- Again doesn't last as long in harsh environments as the old series..
Air/con- is the same as above and the condensers are not the same quality as the old ones.
Alternators- fail where they are mounted if used for what they are designed for.
Engine- get yourself a coolant level alarm. Trust me.
Starter motor- don't do one in the scrub, 8hrs to change and that is if you have all the gaskets and a spare.
Some use oil and some don't, Toyota monitor and will fix. They fix but see nothing wrong with one using .5l to 1l a 1000k.

This is not a Toyota bagging. It is just an accurate account of what they suffer from or what happens over time. The vehicles I refer to are mine vehicles and all you do is get an excelerated look at the life of the vehicles. These are washed twice a day and serviced once a week.

In our application they use the same amount of fuel as the old 1HZ's.

RA.

John,

Don't have one of the latest V8's, but there is a bloke in town(Winton) that must have got one of the first ones available, what 5 or 6 years ago?

He drives flat out everywhere, has had some big expenses (read here lack of maintenance generally) but has just clocked up 500K!!! To my knowledge, he has had no trouble with the engine, and doesn't use an abnormal amount of oil.(well maybe he didn't check it between services???)

It would have to be the best advertisement for Landcruiser V8's in the country.

Bob.