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Thread: Goodbye to Old Friends

  1. #1
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    Goodbye to Old Friends

    After nearly four years of Landcruiser ownership, it finally came to an end today as my wife and I said goodbye to our grey 200 series, having sold the white one a few months earlier.

    I can't say I ever loved either of these cars, but I greatly appreciate their capabilities. They were bought out of necessity of living in isolate places where we both had to drive for extensive periods on our own for each of our jobs. Between them they've hit hundreds of kangaroos, 30 or so emus, and any number of sheep, dingos, eagles etc and nothing other than cosmetic damage ever really occurred. Even with a driving light through the front grill and into the radiator my wife still managed to make it 200km home with only a light flashing on the dashboard - not an advisable move but the incident that lead to the light through the radiator happened at 9.30pm when she was on her own on a 330km dirt stretch of road that you could more often than not drive on and not see another car.

    As I never loved them I wasn't too said to see either of them go, needless to say owning them was expensive and running them in the urban area we now live in means we were constantly filling up the tanks which was really annoying. A company car has ensured we still have a Prado, not too bad a four wheel drive really, but we also don't pay a cent for it or the diesel so it's actually fantastic.

    We will need another car though and I hope to deal with that in the next week or two, nothing exciting, just something small and cheap for around town that won't use a lot of fuel - something in a Swift, Alto, Mazda 2 or Fiesta area I think.

    In conclusion if you need or want a four wheel drive you'll never be sorry you bought a 200 series Landcruiser - more power than you'll ever need, even with a full 4 horse float, and interior wise it was never too different to the Vogue as both were whisper quiet, however the Vogue and later the Defender broke down CONSTANTLY. Between both Landcruisers they travelled about 250 000km and never had an issue. Bravo Toyota
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  2. #2
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    That thing is a freaking beast! What do you use it for? Because the only people who would need a SUV like that are presidents and VIPs.

  3. #3
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    Wow, that looks like a locomotive scale cow catcher.

    Toyota makes very capable off roaders, there's a reason why the UN uses them.

    I have emotional attachment to my family's cars too, I know how you feel.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by 250gto boy View Post
    That thing is a freaking beast! What do you use it for? Because the only people who would need a SUV like that are presidents and VIPs.
    Basically it's only a precautionary measure and as a result of living in remote, inland Australia. A big kangaroo can be over six feet tall and weigh 150-200lbs and if you have to drive somewhere at night you can get unlucky and hit ten of them, they also travel in packs so if you get really unlucky you can hit ten of them at once. The golden rule here is hit and don't swerve because if you hit it you might damage your car, but if you swerve and roll... that's where things can get truly unfortunate.

    The other thing I should point out (although I foolishly never took any photographs of it) is that my cars weren't unusual - the community events in several of the towns I've lived would consist of the carpark being full of nothing but Landcruiser wagons and Landcruiser utes and everyone of them had a giant bullbar.

  5. #5
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    That's really wild man, i remember going to the zoo last week and thinking how cool the 'roos really were and wondering how they could be such pests on Australia. I didn't know the magnitude of 'roo splatters was that tremendous! I think i've said it before on another thread but they've got to be worse than deer here in the states

  6. #6
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    That is one hell of a 'roo bar, Vogue Man. Understandable, animal strikes with big critters are often fatal. Bet there's quite a cottage industry making those things.

    Well, mule deer are pretty big and you don't wanna hit one while on the interstate. And in Newfoundland moose were introduced for some reason... they're not native to the island, and without natural predators now there's over 150,000 of 'em. The government is being sued by residents for all the accidents the moose cause. Extra hunting permits are being provided now.
    Last edited by csl177; 06-04-2011 at 10:08 PM.
    Never own more cars than you can keep charged batteries in...

  7. #7
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    If you don't have a 'roo bar and you find yourself driving through the country at dawn or dusk (most roo activity is then) the trick is to drive up behind a road train - let them get the roos out of the way.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  8. #8
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    Those probably don't drive that quickly though, right?

  9. #9
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    Road trains are [supposed to be] limited to 100kph. General countryside speed limit is 110kph. Given the damage caused by roos, it's worth slowing down for.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    That is one hell of a 'roo bar, Vogue Man. Understandable, animal strikes with big critters are often fatal. Bet there's quite a cottage industry making those things.

    Well, mule deer are pretty big and you don't wanna hit one while on the interstate. And in Newfoundland moose were introduced for some reason... they're not native to the island, and without natural predators now there's over 150,000 of 'em. The government is being sued by residents for all the accidents the moose cause. Extra hunting permits are being provided now.
    Then they should introduce a massive pack of timber wolves to Newfoundland to control the population.

    And add 1000 pumas just for fun.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by NSXType-R View Post
    Then they should introduce a massive pack of timber wolves to Newfoundland to control the population.

    And add 1000 pumas just for fun.
    Not a bad idea, considering predators aren't usually stupid enough to run into a moving vehicle. At least not to the same extent. Only downside is you might get mauled if you pull over for a piss lol.

  12. #12
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    IIRC, there is discussion of re-introducing wolves to Newfoundland. Kinda funny, they had been exterminated as dangerous, but apparently less a threat to humans than moose. Not to hijack the thread but a bull bar wouldn't help much. Consider these things are 6-7 feet tall, 300-500+ kilos, coming through your windshield at speed. Glad I live in the tropics.
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    Never own more cars than you can keep charged batteries in...

  13. #13
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    It's all in the design of the bar, you'd have to set up the bullbar to knock the moose downwards. That'll only work on an off-roader though, a sedan is obviously too low to be able to do that. Even then though, at 6-7 ft tall and top heavy, it'd be pretty hard to get that to work I guess.

    Or, again, find a truck to tail. They're definitely tall enough to deal with things!
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    Glad I live in the tropics.
    That reminds of one of the stories my grandparents had about one of their road trips back from Florida (they have a winter home they live in about 4 months of the year). They said they saw a lot of armadillos run over on the side of the road. I assume they don't splatter like a regular possum would, how much damage will they do to a car?

  15. #15
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    Not sure about armadillos, but a sizable wombat can do a fair bit of damage to a car. They're dense things, but very awesome.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

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