I don't think you can find a G500 with manual and cloth seats. The transfer case will be manual which is what you want. I would say be prepared to spend $5000 initially if you are going to have somebody else do the work. It's hard to find a car that needs nothing, at least by my standards. You want it to be reliable if you are going to travel far with it. You also need to get to know your car in case something happens out in the bush and you need to get it going.
WTB G-Wagon 2005+
- Thread starter miksem
- Start date
Mike I have a 2000 G55 with the exact same interior as you have pictured, it even has the same coloured seats.
It was & still is an immaculate low milage vehicle when purchased about 2 years back with 59000km & now has just under 108000km.
I do all my own maintenance & to be honest it has not cost al that much, below is a bit of a break down.
In just under the 50 000km I have put on it, I have spent a little on it but 1/3 of the cost has been general maintenance costs which would cost similar on any vehicle, the other 1/3 was preventative maintenance costs such as putting Redline oils in the diffs, transfer case, fitting mag plugs & magnets to diffs, gearboxes etc, flushing transmissions fluids & brakes & lockers. The last 1/3 or a little more has been in replacements & upgrades, the plastic idlers pulley failed, both pulleys replaced with Karls up graded alloy idler & tensioner pulleys, ignition switch, light on/off switch, door lock relay which I was able to re-solder, fuel pump due to the NRV failure causing hot start issues & the A/C condenser. That is about it, so the failures for a 15 year old vehicle have been pretty minimal I think.
I also sent a bit of money chasing a front end vibration, so re-bushed the pan hard rod & control arms but it ended up being one of the front wheels had a slight bend but balanced perfectly so these cost due to a bent rim cannot really be counted.
Window regulators are far more robust on the older models such as mine & have not given any grief, the way it is now after a few upgrades & preventative maintenance it is about as good as it gets & I am not expecting any big bills in the near future.
It started life with the Dubai Royal Family so I guess it was well maintained there, then the 2nd owner was a German who spared no expense to keep it perfectly maintained so I was lucky to get a very good vehicle that had been well maintained.
My only complaint or minor criticism with the pre 2002 G's is if you live in a hot climate the A/C is lacking, it is OK but not over whelming, with our summer temp here in the Middle East it just just copes. For the climate in the rest of the world it would probably be fine apart from the odd excessively hot day here or there.
If you want a robust & reliable vehicle, you really can't go past one of these early ones if you can find a good one.
https://cdr.smugmug.com/Off-Road/G-Wagon/
It was & still is an immaculate low milage vehicle when purchased about 2 years back with 59000km & now has just under 108000km.
I do all my own maintenance & to be honest it has not cost al that much, below is a bit of a break down.
In just under the 50 000km I have put on it, I have spent a little on it but 1/3 of the cost has been general maintenance costs which would cost similar on any vehicle, the other 1/3 was preventative maintenance costs such as putting Redline oils in the diffs, transfer case, fitting mag plugs & magnets to diffs, gearboxes etc, flushing transmissions fluids & brakes & lockers. The last 1/3 or a little more has been in replacements & upgrades, the plastic idlers pulley failed, both pulleys replaced with Karls up graded alloy idler & tensioner pulleys, ignition switch, light on/off switch, door lock relay which I was able to re-solder, fuel pump due to the NRV failure causing hot start issues & the A/C condenser. That is about it, so the failures for a 15 year old vehicle have been pretty minimal I think.
I also sent a bit of money chasing a front end vibration, so re-bushed the pan hard rod & control arms but it ended up being one of the front wheels had a slight bend but balanced perfectly so these cost due to a bent rim cannot really be counted.
Window regulators are far more robust on the older models such as mine & have not given any grief, the way it is now after a few upgrades & preventative maintenance it is about as good as it gets & I am not expecting any big bills in the near future.
It started life with the Dubai Royal Family so I guess it was well maintained there, then the 2nd owner was a German who spared no expense to keep it perfectly maintained so I was lucky to get a very good vehicle that had been well maintained.
My only complaint or minor criticism with the pre 2002 G's is if you live in a hot climate the A/C is lacking, it is OK but not over whelming, with our summer temp here in the Middle East it just just copes. For the climate in the rest of the world it would probably be fine apart from the odd excessively hot day here or there.
If you want a robust & reliable vehicle, you really can't go past one of these early ones if you can find a good one.
https://cdr.smugmug.com/Off-Road/G-Wagon/
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