Hi everyone! I'm new-ish to the forum. I just bought my second Montero; this time around it is a 2013 "NW". It has a 3.8MIVEC, but other than that is extremely similar to my old 2003... which is pretty much the same as the ones sold in the US up to 2006. Hey, if it ain't broke...
So... I have a 2003 that I gave to my sister when her wrangler was stolen. At that point I bought a 2010 FJ Cruiser, after a couple of years I sold the cruiser and bought a minivan. I recently acknowledged that the minivan didn't really fit my use and bought this 2013. Why another Montero? I just like it... it's robust, simple, has great suspension for my use (not rock crawling, but rather long distance touring over any road), has occasional use 3rd row seat, 4 real doors, etc, etc.
The FJ was great, I sold it after 2 years of use for more than I paid for it, but just didn't "talk" to me. I did not like the visibility, on-road driving dynamics were terrible (especially the agressive Toyota driving aids... they suck), tiny tank is always a concern (although to be fair, it has great mileage and thus comparable range to Montero). The non opening rear windows, no sunroof and terrible wind management were bigger issues than I expected. Great power, great off-road (esp w rear locker), "rock solid" does not make it justice, great looking in military green.... Probably the best car I'll ever have... but just wasn't for me.
Since my 2003 is still doing great with my sister (0 issues, despite basically no maintenance for ~4years since I gave it to her) I came back to the fold. It's great being back in a greenhouse with great visibility, same old great 4 wheel wishbone suspension dynamics, and the feeling that you are in on some secret that no-one knows about (outside of Aus, Middle east, the capabilities and provenance of Monteros are unknown). So far I've done nothing but put new Yokohama Geolandar AT tires. I'll eventually swap my OME springs from the 03 to the 13, as well as the tow bar and some other odds and ends (cb, roof rack, 12v outlets, etc). I have a group 31 AGM from the FJ that I'll also put in, and possibly a pair of Hella Rallye 4000 if I can fit them w/o it looking silly. The photos are from a shakedown this weekend up the local volcano. It did great as expected, with no drama, even rescued a car that was stuck in way over its head. While the mivec is supposed to be more powerful than the 03 with the non-mivec 3.8 the reality is that it is still underpowered (esp compared to the 4.0 270hp FJ), but is adequate. Traction control helps a lot when diagonal wheels are in the air (my 03 did not have that), and while Low range could be shorter, it had no issue climbing wet clay to over 4000meters. Cheers !
Edit: Found my old user! This is my old '03 (now my sister's)
https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...ome-springs-lifted-popup.125453/#post-1569722
Groot
Groot
