4wd spare parts and maintenance

Hey Colonel,

my 2 cents worth,
I'm in the spare parts game for trucks and deal alot with mines with toyota's and some nissans, as far as parts for toyota's v Nissan the majority of the contractors or mines use Toyotas so parts for them are carried everywhere and there's a huge range of aftermarket alternatives,

i guess it depends where you want to head, If you stay local and have problems it wouldn't take much to get it fixed, but if you head to remote areas, the chances are there are landcruisers somewhere or someone that knows how to work on them

price wise, i wouldn't have a clue on the cost of servicing but from experience of the parts i've supplied to my customers, toyota parts tend to be cheaper

Colonel

Your question is very wide.

I often maintain that my thirsty petrol Patrol is lower cost to run because petrol represents only 6% of running cost in first 5 years of operation , and it requires no maintenance an owner can't do.

So these costs are almost irrelevant compared to depreciation.

Perhaps you could narrow down your question to give some idea of age or likely cost range of the cars you might consider.

Some months ago I linked in a document shown Rovers and Jeeps post year 2000 were the most costly to maintain and have issues.

I drive a TD5 Discovery 2a - and I am quite happy with my service costs. Neither this vehicle or my previous Land Rover have let me down other than a flat tyre in my drive way - but that is because I make sure they are maintained properly.

I'm not sure what the Toyota service intervals are - but a TD5 Discovery is meant to be serviced every 12,000 (most will tell you 10,000)

This shows you what gets done: Maintenance Schedule

Pommy vehicles need to be serviced religiously and IMHO you need someone with Land Rover experience to do the job properly. Having a Land Rover serviced by Joes Garage down the road is like rolling a dice, Landy's are quirky and plenty of mechanics either have no idea what they are doing with them.. or simply don't want to do it right.
Dealers aregenerally the expensive solution... I use an independant Land Rover specialist that doesn't rip me off and looks after my vehicles well.

As said, particularly if you are planning or seriously remote travel, parts for a Toyota are probably more easily sourced - but there are still no guarantees of that either.

To get an accurate answer to your comparison - you are going to need someone with experience of both vehicles.... not so likely.

Maybe you could get a clearer idea by visiting specific Toyota , Nissan and Land Rover forums and asking the same questions of owners.

For Land Rovers I'd recommend AULRO

I suspect the Land Rover will not be the cheapest to run and maintain.... but then not many of the things in life I really enjoy are....

Good luck with it...