Looking for advice…

[radchad074]

I am very interested in adding a Montero to the stable, I would like to do some pretty basic mods but nothing to gnarly (yet). Lift and wheels and tires. A couple questions for you all.
1. What is your ideal starting point? Year and gen + mileage? What would you expect to pay?
2. Crazy to think of it as a daily driver? I do WFH but will want to drive it daily
3. Top few things to check for? Timing belt maintence, etc?
4. Look forward to getting to know these rigs, although I did own a 89 for about a year… I purchased it after college in 1999.

Rad. Had a good one and Thanks.

 

[PacS14]

I have a 99 with the rear locker and I really like it. I don't do rock crawling so I don't remove sway bars, and with just 33" tires is pretty capable off-road for what I do and rides very good on road as well. I do like daily driving mine. Good luck!

 

[MummifiedCircuitry]

I've daily driven a Gen2 on 35's, 4" lift, no sway bars for the past 8 years. If you're good on the tools, go for it. If you're not, maybe keep looking.

 

[nwoods]

The 91 through 2000 Montero’s will run 33” tires without a lift. The 98/99 years have a rear locker, and are called Gen2.5’s because of their blister fender design. They also got a welcome bump in power, going up from 3.0L to a 3.5L engine. Otherwise, all Gen 2’s and 2.5’s are pretty similar, especially their interiors. I daily’d mine for years until it died, I loved it.

 

[radchad074]

I've daily driven a Gen2 on 35's, 4" lift, no sway bars for the past 8 years. If you're good on the tools, go for it. If you're not, maybe keep looking.

not great with the tools but learning and too late, i just bought a 2004 Gen3

 

[MummifiedCircuitry]

not great with the tools but learning and too late, i just bought a 2004 Gen3

Nice, there's still things to look out for, so do your research. One example is the Gen3 has a HBB/ABS unit that no previous monteros had and it will likely fail at some point. The replacement unit sells for as much as I've bought entire running/driving monteros for. It's by far the single part I sell most often from a Gen3, even rebuilder cores sell for a bit.

 

[MontySquareo]

Toyota used a hbb unit similar to the Montero one, ive heard of people using Toyota parts to fix their brake booster

 

[plh]

newest model with lowest mileage from a rust free area of the country. For me as a daily, they have all aged out. Pretty happy with my 2014 Outlander GT as a daily (replaced a 2005 Limited), I've had it 11 months and already put 16k miles on it. Lots better gas mileage, better ride, more power.

 

[PhyrraM]

My personal sweet spot is the gen 2 ('94-'96) SR. It has the 3.5 motor, rear locker, and a decent axle ratio. Down side is that many consider the DOHC a tad harder to maintain than the '96+ SOHC.

 

[radchad074]

newest model with lowest mileage from a rust free area of the country. For me as a daily, they have all aged out. Pretty happy with my 2014 Outlander GT as a daily (replaced a 2005 Limited), I've had it 11 months and already put 16k miles on it. Lots better gas mileage, better ride, more power.

@plh Gotcha, yea, I will likely get something else, I also don't drive much --- just to the grocery and the trailhead to go mtb or backcountry ski. Do not have a commute or anything. The Outlander GT looks like cool little car.

 

[radchad074]

My personal sweet spot is the gen 2 ('94-'96) SR. It has the 3.5 motor, rear locker, and a decent axle ratio. Down side is that many consider the DOHC a tad harder to maintain than the '96+ SOHC.

@PhyrraM I dig the look of the Gen 2's and 2.5's. but I already pulled the trigger on a 2004

 

[alanymarce]

Too late to help with you decision, however...

Had a Mk 1 briefly (while waiting for a Patrol); didn't really do much more than local travel, although local travel where I was living (Congo) is challenging enough.

We bought a Mk IV in 2015 - the 2016 model, 3.8 L (petrol) LWB. It has done an excellent job, including 45,000 km around Australia, including GRR and Simpson Desert crossing. It's a very capable vehicle and all we've done to it is lift it 50mm with a Dobinson's suspension, add a winch, snorkel, & transmission breather, and when travelling put in a bed, fridge, and storage (and a few more minor items). It's a comfortable vehicle for street and highway use as well.

 

[plh]

@plh Gotcha, yea, I will likely get something else, I also don't drive much --- just to the grocery and the trailhead to go mtb or backcountry ski. Do not have a commute or anything. The Outlander GT looks like cool little car.

I see you got an '04, good choice! We had our '05 for 10 years and put over 120K miles on it in that time. It was a great vehicle. Keep them properly maintained and they will treat you right. Not sure where you are geographically, but rust is the devil on the Gen 3. We are in the upper midwest of USA and they salt the crap out of everything in the winter here. Took its toll on our '05, and our '93 SR as well.

 

[radchad074]

I see you got an '04, good choice! We had our '05 for 10 years and put over 120K miles on it in that time. It was a great vehicle. Keep them properly maintained and they will treat you right. Not sure where you are geographically, but rust is the devil on the Gen 3. We are in the upper midwest of USA and they salt the crap out of everything in the winter here. Took its toll on our '05, and our '93 SR as well.

@plh I am in Colorad and the vehicle has been in AZ most of its life. I am excited, should be fun to have a project. I am going to sell my 2020 Tacoma and use this primarily, we have a 2020 4Runner too and since I work from home it will be mostly a fun vehicle. I already got some new wheels, a lift and tires on the way haha...

 

[PhyrraM]

@PhyrraM I dig the look of the Gen 2's and 2.5's. but I already pulled the trigger on a 2004

Nice choice. While I've never driven a 3rd gen myself, based on prior vehicles I have driven, I prefer the IFS/IRS combo over IFS/live axle (or two live axles for that matter) for virtually everything other than scaling rock gardens.