Toyota Land Cruiser v Mitsubishi Shogun
Discussion
Carrying on from my earlier thread I’m looking at buying either a Land Cruiser or a Shogun.
Budget is £3-£5k as it stands. It would need to be able to cover several thousand miles across a few weeks without any hiccups. The car will have a full service and once over on all major components prior to the trek.
Any reason why I should pick one over the other?
Budget is £3-£5k as it stands. It would need to be able to cover several thousand miles across a few weeks without any hiccups. The car will have a full service and once over on all major components prior to the trek.
Any reason why I should pick one over the other?
nickod said:
DoctorX said:
Land Cruiser for sure if you can find a decent one. Shogun’s perfectly good car but always associate them with, er, you know who.
I like both. I'm also looking at these. Do Shoguns have a bad image? I wasn't aware. Fair point. I’m after a petrol car and there are very few petrol Land Cruisers on sale compared to the Shoguns.
Did some research and seems a few brave folk have taken regular saloons on the same route that I’ll be taking so maybe a 4x4 isn’t essential after all but I’d prefer to take one. Time to find a Shogun/Pajero owners forum.
Did some research and seems a few brave folk have taken regular saloons on the same route that I’ll be taking so maybe a 4x4 isn’t essential after all but I’d prefer to take one. Time to find a Shogun/Pajero owners forum.
As mentioned you’ll get a proper leggy lancruiser for £5.5k and it will be absolute bottom of the price range, I’d also say that the prices won’t drop, the most unbelievable car that come to second hand value, they depreciate so slow it’s not even worth worrying about.
A shogun would be a good bet, I’d imagine you’d get quite a nice example for £5.5k body rusts under all 4 arches and esp behind the rear doors on LWB versions, mainly just a bug bear rather than an issue as it’s all hidden away apart from when you open rear doors, rest of the car is pretty billet proof, suffer rusty fuel filler pipes and they contaminate the fuel tank and then kill the diesel pumps, timing chain tensioner on top of engine is also another weak point but costs £15ish and is a doddle to change, also do the valve clearances whilst your at it as it makes a massive difference to the running of the engine and usually gets forgotten about, that’s the DID engine.
I’ve had a friend that run a few GDI’s and only issue he came across was hydraulic tappets or cam issues iirc, but when looking recently I think they know the cause and how to fix now but it should be looked for and you’ll know as the engine will tick when running at most revs iirc.
Body wise they are pretty solid, all the stuff inside just keeps working as it should but is a little basic inside, auto gearbox just needs normal servicing to keep it on form and make sure you run through the transfer box regularly to stop it seizing up as it’s electrical, also another common issue with the box is the switches on top that tell it what position it’s in will fail and the center transfer light will flash on the dash, you can pick up a full set of switches for £70 and are pretty easy to replace, manual gearbox on diesels is a pain as the DMF isn’t man enough apparently, not sure how it’d behave with a petrol engine though.
I run one as a daily at the mo, been brilliant, just get in it and drive, but it’s just too thirsty and I do a lot of mileage so I’m going to be reluctantly selling it fairly soon, shame as it’s also very comfortable, my friend migrated onto landcruisers and loves them but they command such huge prices second hand that I just couldn’t justify it for a work car even though they are good value for money,
A shogun would be a good bet, I’d imagine you’d get quite a nice example for £5.5k body rusts under all 4 arches and esp behind the rear doors on LWB versions, mainly just a bug bear rather than an issue as it’s all hidden away apart from when you open rear doors, rest of the car is pretty billet proof, suffer rusty fuel filler pipes and they contaminate the fuel tank and then kill the diesel pumps, timing chain tensioner on top of engine is also another weak point but costs £15ish and is a doddle to change, also do the valve clearances whilst your at it as it makes a massive difference to the running of the engine and usually gets forgotten about, that’s the DID engine.
I’ve had a friend that run a few GDI’s and only issue he came across was hydraulic tappets or cam issues iirc, but when looking recently I think they know the cause and how to fix now but it should be looked for and you’ll know as the engine will tick when running at most revs iirc.
Body wise they are pretty solid, all the stuff inside just keeps working as it should but is a little basic inside, auto gearbox just needs normal servicing to keep it on form and make sure you run through the transfer box regularly to stop it seizing up as it’s electrical, also another common issue with the box is the switches on top that tell it what position it’s in will fail and the center transfer light will flash on the dash, you can pick up a full set of switches for £70 and are pretty easy to replace, manual gearbox on diesels is a pain as the DMF isn’t man enough apparently, not sure how it’d behave with a petrol engine though.
I run one as a daily at the mo, been brilliant, just get in it and drive, but it’s just too thirsty and I do a lot of mileage so I’m going to be reluctantly selling it fairly soon, shame as it’s also very comfortable, my friend migrated onto landcruisers and loves them but they command such huge prices second hand that I just couldn’t justify it for a work car even though they are good value for money,
giblet said:
There a handful on AutoTrader at £5.5k, I won’t be buying one until Spring so prices should come down a little and I have access to BCA etc so can always go down that route.
Equivalent Shoguns are a grand or two cheaper which is what made me start this thread.
Ok- I stand corrected- I had a look earlier in the year and there was nothing really without paying almost double that, hence the 3.2 Shogun (if you can avoid fuel pump issues) looked the better betEquivalent Shoguns are a grand or two cheaper which is what made me start this thread.
Thanks for the helpful replies.
The Land Cruiser I was looking at is this one. The Shogun is this one.
Having said that it seems that I would need to ship the car back at the end of the trip as I definitely can’t sell it over there. Spoken with a few people who have done the trek and 4X4 may not be needed after all. Back to the drawing board!
The Land Cruiser I was looking at is this one. The Shogun is this one.
Having said that it seems that I would need to ship the car back at the end of the trip as I definitely can’t sell it over there. Spoken with a few people who have done the trek and 4X4 may not be needed after all. Back to the drawing board!
giblet said:
Only 2 third gen Range Rovers without silly mileage in budget on AutoTrader. I’m skeptical that they would survive the trip!
Maybe not a RR, but £2-5k will buy you pretty much any Disco 1/2 on the market. More reliable than a RR, still hold numerous overland records. The old 200/300tdi have the reputation for simplicity that they can be fixed nearly anywhere in the world with simple tools, just like the 'work' Land Cruisers (don't fall into the trap of buying a 'luxury' model).Depends where you are going in the world, certainly within the UK, whilst being less reliable than their Japanese counterparts, green ovals aren't exceptionally expensive to keep going due to the abundance of parts.
Can't help but also recommend, situation pending, the Suzuki Jimny. Bit of an unsung hero of many poorer countries with less made up roads, for overlanding with only 1 or 2 people they really should be considered for their simple, tough design, reliability, and, like Toyota, Mitsi and LR, their parts availability. Once again within your budget nets an abundance of clean examples.
For Shoguns, I would recommend the sport model, or L200. With the latter you pay the pickup tax, but both are very common vehicles everywhere I have been in the world, you get the simpler 4D56 diesel, which, whilst less refined, is far easier to fix with bush mechanics than the newer 4Mxx diesels. Both feature tougher body on frame designs and solid axles, features absent from the gen 3 onwards full fat Shoguns.
Personally I don't know the ins and out of the Toyota models, however, like Mitsubishi they do split their model line up into Luxury and Work models. For serious overlanding you might want to consider one of the harder models (I believe sold here as the Hilux Surf?).
At that price point I'd go shogun. The land cruiser is slightly better built/more reliable but when it does need repairs, which it will at this level, it will be far more expensive to fix.
Never had a petrol in the shogun, the 3.2 did is a fundamentally good engine, gruff but pulls well and takes abuse. The land cruiser 3.0td was a superb engine if lazy, the newer engine had issues for the first few years. The petrol should be relatively bullet proof as is usually the way with Jap petrols.
We've had a couple of petrol patrols more recently, they pull the triple axel trailer like its not there. Absolutely superb thing. Prices are slipping up, the last 2 we paid £5k for each. Still ten times better than the equivalent land cruiser amazon we would have bought at that price.
Never had a petrol in the shogun, the 3.2 did is a fundamentally good engine, gruff but pulls well and takes abuse. The land cruiser 3.0td was a superb engine if lazy, the newer engine had issues for the first few years. The petrol should be relatively bullet proof as is usually the way with Jap petrols.
We've had a couple of petrol patrols more recently, they pull the triple axel trailer like its not there. Absolutely superb thing. Prices are slipping up, the last 2 we paid £5k for each. Still ten times better than the equivalent land cruiser amazon we would have bought at that price.
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