Thread: Economics of old trucks vs new trucks

I do like that these threads eventually turn into; Nissan/Toyota X with TD-KZ4x from 1978-1980 is the only vehicle that will last and everything else has some major design flaw that causes the vehicle to spontaneously combust after 300,000kms.

In reality a lot of vehicles will do stupid high miles and it's only from a decade of owners finding the common faults and things too look out for that they continue last.
IMO the most important thing with an older vehicle is rust, if you have rust forming in undesirable places then you are in for serious trouble.
Otherwise, short of a complete lemon if you have a mechanic that knows the vehicle well or you take not of the common pitfalls and do preventative maintenance you will likely be fine.

Even with Land Rovers the pinnacle of unreliability you get models like the Discovery 1 that when they first came out were breaking down every 15kms but after a few years of design updates and 10 years of private owners learning things the hard way.
You can read for hours online how the R380 gearbox and 300tdi is a piece of shit compared to the LT77 and 200tdi, yet 25 years on there are still plenty of vehicles on the road with stupid high mileage.

In my experience with Land Rovers has been that other peoples negligence or neglect is often what cost them big time, when they have been ignoring that rattle or clunk or warning message for too long and get surprised when they are stranded on the side of the road or hit with a massive repair bill.
When they don't adjust the electric park brake and ignore the warnings it throws up, or don't change the diff oil for 290,000kms, or ignore that horrendous clunk in the drive train is when things start getting expensive.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

In my experience with Land Rovers has been that other peoples negligence or neglect is often what cost them big time, when they have been ignoring that rattle or clunk or warning message for too long and get surprised when they are stranded on the side of the road or hit with a massive repair bill.

I couldn’t agree with you more @Beetroot, I think a lot of the surprise comes down to the fact that the rattle or clunk tends to happen not long after they drive away from the Land Rover dealership. Maybe some of the new owners are lulled into a full sense of security and think that the car is supposed to make that noise!

Originally Posted by Flyblown

I couldn’t agree with you more @Beetroot, I think a lot of the surprise comes down to the fact that the rattle or clunk tends to happen not long after they drive away from the Land Rover dealership. Maybe some of the new owners are lulled into a full sense of security and think that the car is supposed to make that noise!

Attachment 144572

The key to land rover ownership is knowing which rattles and leaks are normal and what ones too look out for.....