Originally Posted by Wood_Duck

I foolishly got rid of my 3rd gen awhile back due to towing needs as it was the only expendable vehicle at the time. Over 280k on the clock and still had the factory plugs and wires. Matter of fact, aside from trans cooler mod, fan motor, and LBJ/tierods when I put on an OME lift, I never replaced anything out of necessity or failure. My wife has taken over the tow rig as her daily so I'm selling her vehicle to fund a new T4R.

Given the current climate and the fact I won't be finding a new base SR5 for low-30s anymore, I'm shopping used. Now this isn't out of necessity or being financially poor. I have enough spare income a month I could buy a brand new Land Cruiser without putting a strain on my income, however I don't like debt. I'm going to put about 10-12k down at least. Maybe more but I don't like taking money from savings, especially with all the crazy of the past year and a half. Initially I started looking for another low mileage 3rd gen, but they simply don't pop up. I then moved on to 4th gens with sub-150k miles hoping to just buy outright within my down payment fund. Looking at the market and my options I have talked myself into spending abit more and aiming for lower mileage. I'm seeing 75-100k 4th gens for $15-19k and similar mileage early 5th gens for $18-23k.

I have no experience with either and I'm not sure reliability/fit/function wise what my better option is. Now I admittedly don't like the looks of the front end, but...I also have about $3500 set aside to purchase a Shrockworks bumper/winch, and lift(or at least whatever is left towards a lift). I figure this would cure the looks department for me whichever generation I choose.

So what would you guys aim for? Realistically, the interiors of the 4th gen and early 5ths to me seem quite similar as are most Toyota interiors of that time frame. As far as power plants, I'm actually looking to stay with the 4.0. I love the V8 in the 4th gen but I don't want a Limited. I'd rather have a bare bones SR5 or lower trim level and have part time 4WD and less things to go wrong. I'm trying to dive into researching pros/cons right now about the two platforms, but I'm not really seeing many cons to even steer one way or the other, lol. I'm open to everyone else's expertise on the two in what path to take.