When I started looking for a second vehicle I had a few requirements. Most of my “adventurous” travel is by motorcycle or boat, so I did not need anything too extreme. It needed to be able to carry three people, three bicycles and a canoe, and a week’s worth of camping gear. It would have to be capable of dealing with snow and some modest off-road terrain. It also needed to be big enough to sleep one person inside overnight in a pinch, haul a lot of Home Depot goodies, and be able to do some light towing (motorcycle or small boat) occasionally. At the same time it needed to be able to handle once a week commuting (100 mile round trip) when my daily driver needs a break, get decent gas mileage, and be small enough to be parallel parked and deal with city life. Oh, yea, it would have to be cheap while still being reliable, and not a “project” – between boats and bikes and bicycles I have enough of those.
Reliability had me looking at Toyotas right away. I’ve had a few (75 Celica GT, 87 Corolla FX) and I’ve always had good luck). I looked at and ruled out first generation Tacos (capable, but too small on the inside unless you went to the 4 door version, and the frame rust issue scared me), and second generation Tacos (too big unless it is the single cab version). I also drooled over 60 and 80 series land cruisers, but the size and fuel economy ruled them out, plus they all seem to need a head gasket and I didn’t want to go down that road.
All that met in the middle with a first generation Rav4 – looks like a 5/8 scale 80 series land cruiser, rather than the Atomic Cockroach of later generations (which now are undistinguishable from all it’s competitors) Toyota build quality, modest off road ability, economical operating costs. Let’s take a look at how I did….
Reliability had me looking at Toyotas right away. I’ve had a few (75 Celica GT, 87 Corolla FX) and I’ve always had good luck). I looked at and ruled out first generation Tacos (capable, but too small on the inside unless you went to the 4 door version, and the frame rust issue scared me), and second generation Tacos (too big unless it is the single cab version). I also drooled over 60 and 80 series land cruisers, but the size and fuel economy ruled them out, plus they all seem to need a head gasket and I didn’t want to go down that road.
All that met in the middle with a first generation Rav4 – looks like a 5/8 scale 80 series land cruiser, rather than the Atomic Cockroach of later generations (which now are undistinguishable from all it’s competitors) Toyota build quality, modest off road ability, economical operating costs. Let’s take a look at how I did….
