LC vs. Sequoia

[waterweber]

Klierslc I am happy for you. You may have gotten a good one. I got the lemon.

I am not an idiot by the way. Every time I tow the OD is turned off. That doesn't help when you are going down the freeway at 70 (not towing) in the middle of ********* nowhere and your transmission grenades from a known week link. Then you get left out to dry in terms of warranty. Apparently they upgraded the gears in '03 so they realized it was a problem. No need to recall though when we are happy to pay
There is just so much nickle and dime stuff on top of the the transmission that drives me crazy! You pay more for a Toyota so you dont have to deal with this kind of stuff.

I am just giving my experiences. Take them for what you will. I will never own another American made Toyota again. It pains me to say it.

 

[Pskhaat]

Toyota is too big for their own good now. When you get into high-volume cars, every last $ counts bigtime and I'm sure things like gear costs were weighed heavily and spec'd picked to reduce the bottom line.

 

[yeti_in_ga]

I think to get a feeling of high mileage and issues with the LC you need to jump over to mud and read about the 100s. You will find that a well maintained LC over 100k miles has a lot going for it.. As for a choice I would say , are you going to wheel it ever ? If you plan to then there is no choice.....

only negative is you may become addicted to Land Cruisers...

 

[Klierslc]

Klierslc I am happy for you. You may have gotten a good one. I got the lemon.

I am not an idiot by the way. Every time I tow the OD is turned off. That doesn't help when you are going down the freeway at 70 (not towing) in the middle of ********* nowhere and your transmission grenades from a known week link. Then you get left out to dry in terms of warranty. Apparently they upgraded the gears in '03 so they realized it was a problem. No need to recall though when we are happy to pay
There is just so much nickle and dime stuff on top of the the transmission that drives me crazy! You pay more for a Toyota so you dont have to deal with this kind of stuff.

I am just giving my experiences. Take them for what you will. I will never own another American made Toyota again. It pains me to say it.

It is impossible for any car maker to make ALL good cars. I am sorry that you got the lemon of the bunch. There are Land cruiser Lemons too. The reason that I will buy almost any toyota is that the chances of it being a lemon are much lower than with any other MFG.

I didn't mean to sound condescending, some people don't know about towing.....

 

[Tony]

Thanks for all your replies, gives me a great deal to chew on.

I would be considering a 1st gen sequoia or a 1998 - 200? UZJ100 series LC.

My mods would be pretty tame, if any. Currently my offroading is limited to running around the deer lease, and but it can get hairy in parts.

Thanks again.

 

[waterweber]

It is impossible for any car maker to make ALL good cars. I am sorry that you got the lemon of the bunch. There are Land cruiser Lemons too. The reason that I will buy almost any toyota is that the chances of it being a lemon are much lower than with any other MFG.

I didn't mean to sound condescending, some people don't know about towing.....

No worries
You are right about playing the odds. You gotta take the good with the bad. Good luck on the decision.

 

[Memphislex]

never buy a toyota that's vin# doesn't start with a 'J' with that said dont buy anything but a landcruiser

The new 5.7 ones are nice though for highway cruising!

 

[iigs]

Hello. Sequoia owner here (late first gen: 2006).

Thoughts:

Insofar as reliability is concerned, my advice would be to get the newest vehicle you can afford. This probably means the Sequoia. My opinion about Toyota is that they jumped the shark in 1998, and selecting one newer is like playing a game of minesweeper -- you have to do a lot of looking to not pick the wrong combination, and sometimes you have to just guess (and might wind up losing). The good news is that Toyota didn't de-content these vehicles over their lifespan and did improve them most years.

Justifications for newer models:

As others have mentioned, the early 100 series LCs have a weak front differential.

The early year Sequoias (< 2003?) have a frequently failing VSC/TRAC computer module.

The Sequoia dashboard lightbulb problem was solved post-refresh with LEDs.

Both vehicles pre-refresh have 4 speed automatics, post refresh have 5 speeds.

Comparing the LC and Sequoia:

If you care about the third row, check out the difference. If you don't care about the third row but might need to maneuver tight trails, check out the length and overhang differences. (Honestly if this is a serious concern you might rethink either of these in favor of something smaller. Both of these vehicles are very big.)

I'm not convinced the engine or transmission are materially different between these vehicles (I could be wrong). The transfer case / 4wd system definitely is. The Sequoia system allows 2WD / 4WD (open diff), 4 Low, and a differential lock (usable in high or low). I wouldn't be surprised to find out the innards of the LC100 transfer case are tougher, but as far as I know neither are known for grenading.

My experiences:

The only annoyance I've had with my vehicle is wind noise around the driver door seal at > 80mph vehicle speed with a > 50mph head/cross wind in the winter on I-80 in Utah / Wyoming / Nebraska. It annoyed me for hours (and hours and hours) but I'm not sure how much to blame the engineering / vehicle and how much to blame my right foot.

The leather on the side bolster of the driver's seat had wear cracks/tears on the outside when we bought it at 55k miles. The leather grade isn't as nice as that in my 1998 GS400. It's probably about as nice as the leather in our pickup.

I don't have any LC seat time to compare, but compared to our 2000 GM pickup I can't get over how smooth and refined and powerful the Sequoia is. Even after well more than a year of ownership I still comment to my wife how impressed I am with it. She's probably getting tired of hearing about it.

 

[hoser]

Serious question, besides towing and interior room, what are the advantages of the 1st Gen Sequoia over the LC100?

 

[mountainsoul]

I recently drove a late model 1st gen Sequoia and have to say that I came away impressed. I did not expect to like it before getting behind the wheel. For such a large truck it's driving dynamics were exceptional. It drives much smaller than it actually is. And it was very smooth and refined, both drivetrain and ride. Obviously passenger and cargo space were not an issue. If I was in the market for a true fullsize 7 seater it would be near the top of my list.

 

[Pskhaat]

@hoser=We drove dozens of Trees before re-settling on our current LC100. I was REALLY leaning towards the Seq as it has a measurable amount of space behind the 3rd row. For really mild off-highway, capacity and price was the sole reason IMO for Tree vs. Cruiser.

 

[CSG]

I asked about Sequoias a couple years ago in this forum. When the time finally came to get a rig I found I preferred the LC on all counts.

 

[iigs]

Serious question, besides towing and interior room, what are the advantages of the 1st Gen Sequoia over the LC100?

The trees are cheaper -- partly because they don't carry the prestige, and partly because they're available in far more modest configurations. Looking at new models you can get a minimally configured Sequoia for just over half the starting point of a LC. Put a stripper/cloth interior into a LC and it's called the "poverty pack" and carries extra snob value... put a base interior in a Sequoia and save thousands.

The Sequoia is available in 2WD. That's probably not an advantage for anybody on this forum, but if you have no need for the parts why pay to move and maintain them?

The current base Sequoia is slightly more fuel efficient than the current LC. I assume that held true for the First Gen / LC100 as well. Either way they're still dreadfully thirsty.

If your idea of an outdoor adventure goes as far as pulling a boat, and/or your tire selection criteria weighs noise before off-road traction, the Sequoia is the way to go. If your best fun in a river involves being in a vehicle with a snorkel, the Sequoia won't be a convincing sell.

 

[hoser]

Looking at the '04's of both the Sequoia and LC.. it's about a $6k difference which is substantial. Funny you say that about the poverty pack as it is very true though it might have much to do with uniqueness in the States.

 

[washington taco]

I am thinking hoping that all the grief that TOYOTA took that they might fix things. That being said my current TACO has 250,000. I dont feel confident that my next Mexico built Taco will do the same. Not because it is built in Mexico but because TOYOTA went LOW COST BIDDER!?!?!?!?!? Who would have thought? Flame on!