What's a good price for a Gen 2.5

[Danial]

Hello All,

I'm new to the Montero world and am looking for a gen 2.5 to turn into a family adventure vehicle. There's a handful of one's out there but they all seem to be priced at 10K (and not selling). I don't want to be low-balling people or have unrealistic expectations of what's reasonable - so any thoughts on what the going rate is for Montero in great shape (no rust, lower miles, etc...)? I'm not in a hurry to buy but would like to know what a good/honest deal is when I see it.

Thanks!

 

[Salonika]

I dumped 4-5k into mine 10+ years ago and assumed I was shoveling money into the fire……the world around us proved me wrong. If I could find one without rust but in mechanical condition of my own, id guess a minimum of $10k so you are probably in the ballpark. I’d have to guess the best maintained ones not abused are 10-15k…….now to me, mine is worth about $30k because that’s what it would take to buy an equivalent anything newer with same capability, which is why I still own it!

 

[CrispyCracker]

A timely question. I looked on FB Marketplace and in Mitsu FB Groups for months for an unmolested 2.5 truck because I'd always wanted to own one, but most were clapped-out or, as you note Daniel, seemingly very overpriced in the $10-12K range even with 200K+/- miles. I just couldn't justify it since I knew I'd likely be dropping a minimum of 2K into the vehicle after purchase to refresh timing belt, gaskets, cooling system, etc. That's a lot of jack for an old vehicle. I began to lose hope that I'd find one after so many Mitsu enthusiasts (understandably) told me I was looking for a unicorn. So I switched tactics and started manually searching Craigslist in cities in the south and out west (with an emphasis on Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona), and eventually stumbled across a very clean 104K-mile, 2-owner 1998 Winter Package truck in CA. The only mods were 33" mud tires and cranked front torsion bars. The owner wanted $7500, but in the end we agreed to $6500. I then paid a painful $2K to have it shipped here to me in SW Florida. So $8500 total.

Other than a cosmetic issue that will be fixed soon the vehicle is super clean. Goes in this week for the aforementioned mechanical refresh (see my related post) and then I'll be replacing the droning mud tires with ATs, lowering the front end and looking into 4.9 gears. At that point I'll be in the $11K range all-in..

So, it takes time and effort to find them, and a willingness to travel or pony up $ to ship them to your home. Just be patient and relentless, and remember that the hunt is half the fun. Good luck.

 

[Danial]

Thanks CrispyCracker and Salonika for your responses!

Just picked this up for 6K (125k miles) - not perfect but a good base to start building on. Had to take it camping to test it out

 

[CrispyCracker]

Beautiful! Enjoy it.