From 1996 through 2001, I owned this 1985 FJ-60 Land Cruiser. It was the first stickshift vehicle I had ever driven and owned, and boy, those throws between the gears were long! I used to refer to it as a "UV" versus an "SUV", since there was nothing sporty about it. They had to have manual transmissions in these vehicles, or else one would die of boredom while waiting for it to get up to 60 mph. But, when the roads were snow covered, or when it was taken off road, it was absolutely in its element.
Land Cruiser 1 by onyxsax, on Flickr
Land Cruiser 2 by onyxsax, on Flickr
Ultimately, it's copious appetite for premium gas (11 - 14 mpg) and the Land Cruiser's semi-exotic nature of getting spare parts for it did it in for me as a daily driver. At this point, I was still living in my condo and had no means of working on the vehicle myself. I ended up replacing it with a 1999 Toyota 4Runner, which was one of the best vehicles I ever owned. It wasn't as good off road as the Land Cruiser, but it was a better day-to-day vehicle.
I had seen it as recently as a few years ago still in the area. There are times that I definitely miss it. Until I bought the '69 Sprite, this was probably the "coolest" vehicle I had owned.
Land Cruiser 1 by onyxsax, on Flickr
Land Cruiser 2 by onyxsax, on Flickr
Ultimately, it's copious appetite for premium gas (11 - 14 mpg) and the Land Cruiser's semi-exotic nature of getting spare parts for it did it in for me as a daily driver. At this point, I was still living in my condo and had no means of working on the vehicle myself. I ended up replacing it with a 1999 Toyota 4Runner, which was one of the best vehicles I ever owned. It wasn't as good off road as the Land Cruiser, but it was a better day-to-day vehicle.
I had seen it as recently as a few years ago still in the area. There are times that I definitely miss it. Until I bought the '69 Sprite, this was probably the "coolest" vehicle I had owned.