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  #1  
Old 9 Feb 2011
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Location: Bucharest - Romania
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Post Buying a Land Cruiser
Hello,

I didn't quite know where to raise this question so I chose to make a new thread, I hope that's ok. I'll get right to the point:

I'm planning on taking an overland trip with a '90s Toyota Land Cruiser 3 years from now. The plan is to buy the car at least one and a half years in advance, so I have time to make all the required changes and get used to it. I have been prospecting the market so as to get an idea of what Land Cruisers are available for sale in Romania (where I live) and what the prices are. I came across a great car whose price dropped from 8000 euros to 6900 euros in the past few weeks. It's a '98, 2989 cc, 126 hp, diesel Land Cruiser and it's registered in Romania, which is a big plus, considering the aberrant first registration tax over here. It has 170.000 km (110.604 miles) and basically has all I'm looking for.
I could buy it now but I have no place to store it, I would have to keep it in a parking lot and pay the annual car tax, which is 250 euros per year. That means that I would basically lose 500 euros if I buy it 2 years (1 and a half actually) earlier than I planned.
My questions are:
1 - Would being kept in a parking lot for almost 2 years (I would most likely drive it every other weekend, but still) do a lot of damage to the car?
2 - How will the market change? The number of '98 Land Cruisers is obviously limited, so I'm concerned that if I don't buy it now, I'm going to have a lot more trouble finding one (not to mention one with all the advantages of this particular one) two years from now. I'm wondering what most people leaving by car will use after the world runs out of '90s Land Cruisers.

Here is a link to some images of the car. The text is in romanian but you get the point:Toyota jeep 6900 euro inmatriculat ro - Automobile: Pagina rezultate detaliate

Basically, I'm asking if it's best to buy it now or wait a while longer.

Thank you,
Miruna.
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  #2  
Old 10 Feb 2011
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 88
negotiate the price down to 6400 and buy now.

That gives you the 500euro for the tax

A LC doesn't mind being parked.
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  #3  
Old 10 Feb 2011
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 9
Reasons to buy it now:
You will have more time to get to know your truck and how it feels. I find that I often "feel" when something starts going wrong on mine, then I fix it before it becomes serious and leaves me at the side of the road (not happened yet).
There will be more time to do some maintenance and repairs yourself - it is always better to do something for the first time when it is planned and you are in a comfortable unstressed situation, rather than the middle of nowhere with no access to mechanics/advice/the correct tools/etc...
You will have time to do some offroad driving to build up your experience before your trip.
Having lived with my 90 for a few months now, my wish list of mods & repairs has changed quite a bit.
You may not find another truck that you like, when the time comes to buy.

Reasons to buy later:
The price of the newer D4D's will have dropped a bit more, so you might get a better deal on one of these.
Ummm... nope, that's it

We won't be leaving on our trip for at least another 18 months, and I bought my truck 6 months ago.
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