Hey guys,
Since I can remember I wanted a vehicle in which I could cruise on the highway at comfortable speeds, take the family on vacations, have 4x4 capability, available in the Pre-Owned segment, have decent to good reliability, etc
So the vehicles in question were the either the Toyota Land Cruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero or the Suzuki Grand Vitara. Vehicles like the Tata Safari or the Scorpio I dint consider as having already owned the Safari I wanted something more from the vehicle and if I did that I would be booking a loss on the vehicle, spend another 7-8 lacs but still stuck with the vehicle that I had for the past 3 years. Also I dint want to buy new vehicle as the depreciation in the first couple of years is huge, so I decided if I buy pre-owned one the depreciation hit that I would take on my safari would be compensated to some extent on the pre-owned vehicle that I'd buy.
Now the problem was or is that there are not many available in the pre-owned segment and the ones that are, are not in that good a condition. The availability of the Pajero compared to the FJ is still better but to find a good vehicle read good condition, less abused and most importantly well cared for is still a matter of luck and chance. But anyways I was on the constant lookout and on the slightest chance I would talk to people who owned these vehicle and try to share their experiences.
So as I said that I was constantly looking for a vehicle I would also visit workshops and talk to the service advisors take their opinion on the cost of normal servicing, estimate of parts like suspension jobs, engine work, servicing etc. Further though I was eager to buy any one of the above three vehicle I was giving more weight to the diesel vehicles as I would be using the vehicle for highway and long distance driving so having a diesel compared to a petrol would obvious benefits. But as they say
beggars can't be choosers I was eager to grasp a low mileage GV anyday had I found one.
Another thing is that there are not many threads on teambhp on the above three vehicles, especially in the 4x4 section and which are updated regularly. The one that are very prominent and updated periodically are Sudev's GV thread which practically I've read all the pages, Samurai's GV thread, couple of thread on the Pajero the one that I remember and which is regularly updated is Ricky thread. But no thread on the FJ80.
EDIT: I remember there was this one thread on teambhp on the FJ80 started by IRAGHAVA but that was more of pics than actual ownership experience.
The search became even more pronounced since the day I sold my Gypsy. I think that this was in June 2010 and as I was eager to officiate in Raid 2010, but without vehicle no luck.
So as I said I would keep visiting workshops and get the opinion of people I visited this one workshop in Vasant Kunj where a friend of mine gets his FJ maintained. I went there with the intention of talking to the owner and getting his opinion on the stuff going on in my head. By this time I had decided that I would buy either the Pajero or hunt for a FJ80. The owner told me that between the two the cruiser would be more easy or same on the pocket as some parts are cheaper on the cruiser than the pajero and vice-versa.
(now guys this his opinion only, I am just a novice sharing my thoughts and my experience on what I heard and learned) My policy is if you don't know the vehicle then know the guy who maintains your vehicle and as my heart was always on the FJ80 I decided that this was it. I would buy the FJ80 only, howsoever long it takes I was ready to wait and was in no hurry. The guy assured me that in matter of sometime he would find a good conditioned, used vehicle. This was sometime 2-3 weeks back.
Since that day I started dreaming about FJ80 but the same old problem kept haunting me,
NOT MANY AVAILABLE. I would scan the classified section everyday and as luck would have it. NOTHING.
So last weekend, I think it was the 27th of August I was roaming around with a dear friend, RENEGADE, and he just mentioned to me that there is this FJ80 for sale on teambhp. I said that it can't be as I check it almost daily but he was adamant that there is one. I did a scan of the first few pages on my phone but dint find anything. I dint bother and dint think further about it. Next day Saturday when I logged on to Teambhp I again decided to see the SUV section, but this time I did a search 'cruiser' and found the following advert
Team-BHP Classifieds - Price Reduced - 96 Landcruiser 80 4.2 Turbo Diesel - Powered by PhotoPost Classifieds
As again luck would have it The advert was almost 16 months old and thing like this do not wait for that long. The owner would have sold the vehicle and forgotten to remove the advert from the site. My dream would remain a dream. But still I thought that I'd try my luck and call the owner. Then something struck me. The location city of the vehicle was Chennai and that where TRAMWAY lives too. I decided to call him and see if he knows this bhpian REDONE. I even remember the time it was between 9-10am. I called him and he was not familiar with the handel 'REDONE'. But he assured me that he would speak to the owner and try to find out the details.
He dint call me for like 30 mins and by this time I was eagerly checking the signals on my phone and check the status of the battery so that it was not off or something
Next update tomorrow...