Test Drive

So we took a 1995 Diesel 70 series land cruiser for a drive this afternoon. It had 226,000KM on it, which is a few, but it would totally make the trip. It was a slight bit vague to drive, but this is what you get for high KM vehicles. 

It had a fiberglass high top roof, which was perfectly usable in Australia, but not applicable to our needs as it won't fit in a container, and will cost twice the money to ship. The design seems to prioritise sleeping up top, with only room for one down the bottom. I'd like to redesign this to fit two down the bottom. The design seemed to waste space in the kitchen - I suspect this was to cater for the huge Engel fridge that is normally there. Our fridge is not this large, so we could get much better use out of the space.

We tested the idea of sitting in the back in a typing/eating position, imagining that it didn't have the high roof, and it was possible- just. In most scenarios, you'll be able to stretch around a bit, but again, the purpose of this exercise was to see what our options were.

So our plan... or more like today's fleeting idea that I'll say is concrete, is to buy low KM troop carrier without the fiberglass roof (should be ~2.1M high), gut it and kit it out to meet our needs then ship it over.
Ideally I want something with 100,000KM or less. 150,000KM been the top of the acceptable range.

250,000KM feels like the limit of most cars with regards to drive-ability - everything seems wears out beyond that point. I figure we're buying however many KM's between purchase and 250,000KM.

Below are two videos of it, neither of them have sound:

It goes without saying that these things are tanks - totally indestructible. Although Cassie was nervous about driving it, she settled quickly into it's rhythm. Although it drove up Mugga Lane in 4th and a smooth 2000RPM - It could get taxing doing large distances with undulating hills and mountains. A turbo would make a big difference, and why not splash for the v8 turbo while we are dreaming. Oh, and coil front suspension would make a difference. It is typical of Toyota's, as they continue to improve on this proven design.