KIA Sportage vs Land Cruiser 100 series (2000 - 2005) or Prado

[sheharyar.malhi]

Used Land Cruiser 2000-2004 vs. Kia Sportage

Dear All,

I am looking to buy an SUV with a budget of 5 to 6.5 million. I was thrilled at the launch of KIA sportage as I love the look and feel of the car. At this moment, I need no convincing on how great it drives and looks because I fully see that dimension and agree that given the choices, it is good value for money and an excellent drive compared to other vehicles in a similar range (Civic / Corolla Grande etc).

My biggest concern however is the price of parts for KIA, the unavailability and the lack of visibility on how it will turn out in years to come. My other alternative is to go for Toyota Land Cruiser 2001 to 2005 model or a Prado. Some of these cars are in excess of 7 million but one can find a decent one in 6 to 6.5.

I already see the downside of a new vs old car. I am not aware of how easy or difficult are land cruisers to maintain but my point is that even if it is worn out, you can easily replace the parts and beef up an average cruiser to a good condition. The parts are likely expensive but not unavailable which seems to be the issue for Sportage.

I will not be using this vehicle on a daily basis. Will be used as a third car. No off roading but some driving to rural punjab and to Islamabad via motorway maybe few times a year. We have other cars for daily use. Extremely confused on what / how the decision tree should look like.

HELP!

[arslanawan222]

Land cruisers and prados are overpriced by the jdm mafias once they saw toyota and honda increase the price they lifted their market as well.
For instance i wanted a surf 2004 2005 which used to cost around 35 2 3 years back and now boom more than 50 and even 60. I wasn't willing to pay this much for a 20 year old vehicle. Even if its in prestige condition still. 20 years is a very long time.
You don't wanna spend 50 lacks and be worried about reliability. LC is a total different league i understand but the pricing these days is bizarre.
I'd suggest go for these new crossovers like kia, proton or hyundai.
These companies are here to stay.
Rest is your choice.

[arslanawan222]

And even if you're still not reclined towards these new vehicles, I'd say shift your mind from a LC to prado. You'll get a newer model in your range and can be quite reliable

[sheharyar.malhi]

@arslanawan222 - Exactly, I noticed the exact same thing. All the used cars have toppled up their prices by 2 million. I am more and more inclined towards Kia Sportage. Just the part prices put me off. But I will look at Prado too.

[ahmar.mirza]

Wow I am in exact same situation. Was about to book a sportage in november then didnt thinking about parts prices. And i myself was preferring prado/cygnus .. but after 2-3 months of khawari i have found out 80% of these SUVs are with dealers ... they post ads showing the car is at home and are insanely priced which is making no sense to me ... and looking at those ads other sellers also increase prices .. in some cases i have seen ads in which a SUV was posted asking 58lacs and in a week same was posted asking 63lacs .. that is how the dealers are manipulating the market

so it was today morning that i finally started coming back to original plan to get either sportage or tucson .. everyone around me had been saying if u want to spend 6million then it makes no sense to buy a used one and get 0 meter.

Now my next confusion is tucson or sportage. Although i have checked both in november 2020 but somehow i feel sportage might be better as its more in market and Lucky group seems to be putting more efforts than Mansha sb .. and maybe the prices of spares for sportage might come down as compared to tucson as sportage is more on the roads. This confusion hopefully will take few days to settle down

[sheharyar.malhi]

@ahmar.mirza - Glad you see my quandary! It is such a difficult decision. Not that I am trying to detract from the original topic, but are you considering AWD or FWD in Sportage? I am looking at some horror stories on facebook of people bumping against a foot path / side walk or a dog on the road and the replacement cost for bumper and other things around 350K. That is ridiculous to be honest! As much as I HATE to say this, I am getting the awful idea of sticking to the crappy corolla and wait for the new shape in September and just being plain boring and safe. The thought of paying 42 to 45 lacs for a corolla makes my toes curl with anger!

[UAHMAD]

That is correct.

The used car market has literally been hijacked by the dealer /investor mafia. Genuine sellers are hard to find and before you know it the dealer has snatched a good bargain from a legit seller and puts up that car for resale in a week's time at a premium price.

Anyways, even a 2021 Sportage or Tucson has no match for a 20 year old Land Cruiser or Prado. But then a well kept vehicle being sold at an affordable price is not easy to find.

[nfssaad]

you start maintaining a land cruiser with NEW GENUINE parts, you will think sportage is cheap.

[umairjamil6]

Pls keep in mind that sportage and tucson are crossovers not suvs. They are just taller sedans tbh and pls dont buy them thinking they can be comfortable on a broken road. The low profile tires ensure that even small potholes are felt. However For city driving they are very good and wont give any issues. No use in getting the awd version just get the fwd one because fwd will have better fuel economy and resale and is also cheaper so its better in everyway. Awd is for places with snow so you dont lose grip.

[ahmar.mirza]

I will go for AWD ... shashka tu pura hona chahiye phir .. actually only thing in awd i wanted is leather seats .. i checked both and the FWD seats did not seem good to me. The leather one seemed a bit more comfortable.

I have kept prado/LCs of 90s model. Prado was cheap but LC was not cheap and its parts were a bit hard to find if u need a good condition second hand part. And upgrading to 2000s models means a bit more expensive parts especially for LC 100. LC 100 maintenance is not cheap at all. And I know it very well old jeeps do make frequent visits to workshop. The cost of engine overhauling or swapping has sky rocketed in recent months.

I personally know a person who hit a cow on road in his 500km driven sportage. Cost of repair was 10 lacs including the bonet, lights, bumper, fender. But again as these cars are increasing on roads hopefully different quality parts will be available in market soon.

Even grande's front light is 95k if u go to dealership. So if u wait for latest gen corolla, it will be more expensive than that. Only good thing about corolla is people start importing corolla parts as soon as the new model hit the market.

Baki Allaah malak hai. We should think positive and good. Best thing is to do istkhara and then make the decision.

Rest LCs/prados is a chul for me which will not die that easily .. even though now i made my mind to buy zero meter cross over still I was searching prados/LCs on pakwheels but again 2003 model 120 series prado TX-limited without dual ac final price at 6.3 million makes no sense

[shabbir.53]

I sold my Civic 10th gen. after 3 years as it was giving problems. Big disappointment after buying new car. Then bought Sportage FWD. Now I realise it is good decision not to buy AWD. FWD gives very good mileage as compared to AWD. Maintenance cost and complications are lesser as compared to AWD. AWD is basically meant for icy Canadian roads, not for off roading. No need to get into those complications if vehicle is to be driven in Pak driving conditions. There is no shashka in AWD. You don’t get a different feel. You just pay extra and stick to a complication for no extra benefits.

[ahmar.mirza]

Only thing missing in fwd is the leather seats for me otherwise I totally agree with you that FWD is best option for us. Even my argument with some people that we don;t even need the heated side view mirrors atleast in Lahore. It might be useful only for 1-2 months and that just increase the price of car and replacement cost later ( it costs 55k one mirror so i think if its without heated option it should be around 25-30k just a guess ). So is the AWD which increases the wear and tear of all tires

[umairjamil6]

Awd has no shashka at all. Its gonna have lower acceleration as well. And yeah 6.3mil 2003 prado just made my blood boil. These dealers are artificially inflating the price on pakwhells. They dont sell for that much actually

[tariqazama]

Bhai duty and taxes on sportage is around 60 % and duty and taxes on importing a prado n LC are 414% . Rest u can do the math.

[Xulfiqar]

and dont forget buying tires in sets of 4 anytime you have a tire problem (like 1 burst)

you cannot have a difference of more than 2mm in tread depth wear on a single tire on an AWD car, if you dont pay attention to this little nuance you will grenade the center diff/power divider extremely quickly.

For this very reason, tire shops in some countries actually have "shaving" machines. Meaning if an AWD car owner rolls in with one tire blown out and 3 tires have 6mm tread depth remaining. The shop first needs to find the exact same brand and model new tire then shave it down so it measures 6mm tread depth to match all others.

For this very reason, you need to be extremely vigilant on tire wear on these AWD cars and stay on top of center diff/power divider maintenance.

If the owner tries to cheap out and install just one tire because "baaqi 3 theek hain" - they will pay very dearly for repairs down the road.

[Xulfiqar]

new Toyota Genuine parts for Land Cruiser usually make a grown man cry.

KIA spare parts are not even loose change compared to them, more like dirt compared to TG parts for any Land Cruiser.

[UAHMAD]

I can bet that most of the AWD Crossover owners are unaware of this. You had mentioned this in another thread but the potential owners seemed to ignore and were discussing colour options with each other at that time.

And I am quite sure that most of the owners shall use tires for thousands of kilometers and change only when the tread is really low. Taer ghiss gye hain.

While going for these vehicles people usually mention that they have 'upgraded' from Civic/Altis. Or they think that they have bought an SUV capable of off roading (whether it's AWD or FWD).

[Xulfiqar]

Its like clockwork - you know that will happen and its really funny when you see them heading for failure.

e.g. here in US, you could buy a Toyota Sienna with AWD too, people jumped on it because "one up culture" - some were bought for snow purpose - but none here in TX.

the small issue with it was that it used a special kind of run flat tire (1st gen type) which required a special rim/wheel and a special machine to mount.

when owners rolled in for tire repair or replacement - they about lost their minds, usual tire replacement cost for a regular tire one can be done for 450 dollars, while the runflat ones are 2000 for the cheapest set for that specific van, mounting is another 150.

It is hilarious to see their faces, they usually head to junkyard or tire shop and ask for a set of steel wheels and caps along with regular tires - its far cheaper than a set of RF.

It doesnt come with spare wheel either, and Ive seen some geniuses use their camry spare on it (because why not!) - and then drive on it forever (because time nahi hai) - and grenade the center diff.

chachingg for guys like us!!

[VCheng]

The real question here is not the budget for buying, but the budget for maintaining whatever is chosen.

[VCheng]

Actually, sets of 5. I would like the same sized spare too, with a 5 tire rotation pattern over the life of the tires.