Hi Bruce, welcome to ExPo :wavey:
bhowe said:
Found a very clean '01 Trooper with 107k suburban miles on it.
Is it worth the time and money to start building up a vehicle with that kind of mileage?
That is really a personal question and comes down to what you are comfortable with. Pop over to planetisuzoo.com and get a feel for the kinds of problems people are having with Troopers with that kind of mileage and see for yourself. That said, I bought mine with about 115k on the clock and have been very happy with it.
Asking $6k, what do you think it's worth? What I'm really asking is: how low can the offer be without being insulting. There have been no offers in 2 weeks.
I think that is reasonable if the vehicle is in excellent condition.
What kind of real world around town and highway mileage should I expect if it is unladen, using stock size tires and driven with a light foot (60 - 65 mph max)?
If the vehicle is in good condition I think 17-19 is a reasonable guess. I'm having some weird issues with mine that I have not yet resolved and I am running about 17 mpg consistently with 235/85r16 snow tires. I was running a consistent 19 mpg on 285s last year.
Read up on the problems the vehicles have with oil consumption (which I think was somewhat solved on vehicles manufactured after 9/2000) and I have heard that the 4L30E transmissions are only only good for about 150k and the wear I am seeing on mine would tend to support that, but time will tell.
If you are looking for a reasonably inexpensive vehicle that should be pretty solid when properly maintained, and is smaller than a Land Cruiser but larger than a 4Runner, the Trooper is really the only option.
I bought my Trooper over a Land Cruiser for many reasons including the smaller size and better fuel economy. If I had to do it again, I think I would go with a FJZ80 Land Cruiser. Turns out I need the extra size, the real world mpg difference is not that much (though I may feel different if I can get mine back to the 19-20 mpg range) and I think the overall build quality is higher on the Toyota. That said, if you can find a Trooper in excellent condition, they are pretty hard to beat on value.
Good luck!
Bill
