My 89 has 290K on it and I too still would love to have an 80-series...
But, now that I've read all of SchottsCruisers
unbelievably insightfull posts I'm rethinking my whole plan... I'm going to give up my extremely well-built, reliable, prefect wheel-based, trail machine and replace it with a defunct, less-then-idealy designed, hard to see out of, product of image lust GM product...
Oh wait no I'm not... But I would still love to have an 80 Series. Or better yet, I make the 1st Gen do as a DD for another few years then I import a 70 Series to serve as my DD/Expo rig and turn the 1st Gen into a purpose built trail-toy... yeah, now THAT sounds like a great plan... Oh how I dream of one day having a 70 Series here in N.America!!!!!
Anywho, back on topic: I really don't think you can go wrong with a 4th Gen 4Runner OR an 80 series, but IMO I think the 4th Gen would make a better all-around "EXPO" rig because of it's superior ride quality and the added power and milage you get from the V8... The 80-series is one AWESOME truck and probably one if not THE best 4wd's ever offered on our shores, but with their solid axles and glorified tractor motors they're better on the trail then the highway. Better still, swap the UZJ100's V8 into an 80 (like the Slee converted truck that was recently posted) and have the best of both worlds. Now THAT would be one FINE do EVERYTHING well rigs eh. No matter what yuou choose, don't letSchottsCruisers steer you away from the 4th Gen 4Runner as it really is an AWESOME truck with TONS of potential and it's a Toyota so it's not only a great performer, but it'll still be on the road (or trail
) when it hits 300K miles unlike some other trucks mentioned in this thread... YES, the 4th Gen moght be the lowest most "mall-crawler" of the 4Runners STOCK, but there are some easy, proven remedy's for that and they're great rigs...
Cheers
Dave