Dangers of buying a secondhand prado

[su888 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close su888]

Guy, looking at salary sacrificing a 2010 Land cruiser Prado, its got 66k on the clock for $51 or there abouts - its main appeal is it has stuff i would be looking at putting on such as:

- Bullbar
- Spotlight
- Towbar
- Snorkel
- BFG tyres.

So its about another 6k of extras that already on the car, (extras dont add much value on the secondhand market).

On one hand its 3 years old, done bit on the high side ks (would have even more after 4 years and another 100,000ks on top of it) and is 'second hand'.

The other side of me says, well if it was new fitted out I would be looking at around $67k so there is $16k saving there, that can go to a lot of other things.

Just wondering others who have been in my position, how did they justify a new or secondhand purchase and what the overwriting factor that helped with their decision.

[tassie tiger Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close tassie tiger]

I am too tight to ever buy a new car. Always late model second hand.

We just picked up a Corolla Ascent Sport. 28000ks. Faultless condition. 18mths old it was $19000. New $26000.

Thats $7k in my pocket and if you lined a new one up you couldn't tell.

My last 100series was 3yrs old ex fleet. New price $68000. I paid $32000 with 80k on the clock. Thats $36000.

Even if I wasn't a tight wad and had the $$ I would still vomit handing the $$.

[JPH Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JPH]

SU888, I was in a similar position last year, was looking at spending around $35 k on a 120, then found an early (Nov 09) GXL 150, very stock had 78,000 on the clock for $50k but well maintained. It would have cost me at least another $10k for a new one, but then I could've claimed back a tax incentive later. I just couldn't justify the extra money for a new one that will depreciate nearly that much as soon as i drive it out the gate. I don't do massive kms so I was happy with my purchase. At the end of the day being a Toyota it will hold more value at resale than a Pajero for instance.

Cheers

Josh

[vxcruiser08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vxcruiser08]

I was looking at similar deals to yourself to save $ on all the mods. My budget was about 50k. However factory warranty and something newer tied the knot on the deal for me. Ended up getting a 12 mth old gxl for 53k with 2 years remaining warranty. Klm's were a little high @ 43,000.

IMO your better off with the factory warranty than the mods which you can get around to later

[Heath74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heath74]

Su888 I'd be inclined to ask a dealer for best price on a new one, including towbar, and say snorkel. You might be surprised. For mine I'd much prefer new, with full warranty. Six moths down the track you can always put on a bull bar and lights, etc. But you can't wind back 100k, well you can but you shouldn't!:-)

[JPH Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JPH]

And if you do buy 2nd hand ensure you get more than one key fob, I only got one with mine, spoke to the previous owner several times and he couldn't find the other one. It ended up costing me $450 or $500 for another one.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

And if you do buy 2nd hand ensure you get more than one key fob, I only got one with mine, spoke to the previous owner several times and he couldn't find the other one. It ended up costing me $450 or $500 for another one.

What??? Are they made of gold or unobtanium or something?

I'm guessing they can only be obtained from Toyota?

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

Double post

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

At the end of the day being a Toyota it will hold more value at resale than a Pajero for instance.

Cheers

Josh

Be interested in some numbers of original cost versus current value comparison if you have some?

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

How is 20,000km a year high km!?

[su888 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close su888]

Interesting points raised!

Just curious seems to me the factory warranty is something ive never thought about, and didn't really think it was worth the paper written on. But also, 2010 year plated car there is 3 years warranty on it (so might be a few months left) however, wouldn't i be covered under statutory warranty as well?

[JPH Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JPH]

What??? Are they made of gold or unobtanium or something?

I'm guessing they can only be obtained from Toyota?

Being remoteless entry you can only buy genuine Toyota Fob's, a lot of people have done the homework and haven't been able to find anything else, Wooley was nearlly on to the ultimate key fob a watch from Japan but from memory wasn't compatible. Some people don't like the idea of the proximity key, but I reckon it's great, I curse everytime I jump in to my ute and then realise the keys are still in my pocket.. You need to be wary of losing all your keys, then you are looking at over $3000 to have it rekeyed / computer replaced.

Be interested in some numbers of original cost versus current value comparison if you have some?

Mate jump onto carsales, trading post, redbook, loads of examples there. WHen I was looking at second hand Hilux's you could buy a new Triton for nearly the same price. Toyotas have always held their value, yes a bit dearer at the start but you do get what you pay for. MY outlaws have a new Pajero, they can't even open the back door properly with a trailer or caravan on as the spare wheel hangs down too low.. but that's a whole other story..

Josh

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

If you can salary sacrifice, then have a look at leasing, on paper it looks more expensive but bere in mind that it will include all running costs, so infact will be cheaper in the long run as you do not pay GST on the purchase price of the vehicle

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Just wondering others who have been in my position, how did they justify a new or secondhand purchase and what the overwriting factor that helped with their decision.

My first Prado (2005) I was looking for a low KM second unit. After checking out a few we accidently stumbled into the new section of CMI Toyota in Adelaide, at the time they were running a deal on New Prados GXL's for $50K drive away no more to pay, that worked out at about $200 more than most of the other 2 year old 40k on the clocks models we were looking at........... No brainer for that one, and I got them to throw in a tank of fuel as I live in the country and rego was cheaper!

Bought the second new one in 2009 as I wanted the last of the 120's rather than having to downgrade to a 150; and I already had 8k worth of accessories to transfer.

Despite having bought 2 new Prados (the only new cars I have bought) I wouldn't hesitate to buy a good second hand example, as you say the money saved goes a long way. With both of my new Prados the warranty hasn't exactly had a workout, one very minor issue with number one that was a about half hours work and $5 of parts. Number 2 I had a bizarre isssue with a hole in the transfer case, warranty was denied and I argued, eventually I paid $200 towards a $700 repair bill but if it was out of warranty I could have fixed it myself for not much.

Cheers Andrew

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Both my last Prado and my current one have been low K examples bought 2nd-hand through a dealer. My '02 VX V6 bought in '03 (it was 10 months old at the time) only started costing any big $$ fairly recently when the water pump and radiator both gave up the ghost, we decided to replace the timing belts, etc at the same time. After 10 years and 100,000KMs of service that's not bad.

My current Prado is an '09 Kakadu V6 Auto bought late '12 with 43K on the clock has been trouble free so far (apart from the well known tailshaft clunk issue). It came with some fruit too (bullbar, roof bars, towbar, AT tires) which made it a good buy. No way could I justify (or afford) paying $90K plus when a low K late model was $30K less. With the K's we do we'll probably get another 10 years out of this one before we even consider upgrading.