Piningu's iO
So here is my iO. I've had it for about 3 years now and have not yet made any major mods, only little upgrades.
Current setup:
- Spotties on light bracket
- CD player
- Roof racks
It's a 2.0 Manual, with all options bar the sunroof -so electric windows, 2 airbags, central locking, driving lights (they give surprisingly good spread). I've updated the lightglobes, so it's like daylight between the three sets of lights.
I'm at a bit of a fork in the road though - there are few things needed to get the car up to scratch, and I'm acutely aware that the family (wife plus 2 young kids) only fit at a squeeze once we load up for a weekend away. I have a roof cage and weatherproof canvas sack, but it's tight. So, the question now is do I sell as is and buy a boring family car (practical option) or do I spend the cash to get the io back up to scratch.
What I need to do:
- Clutch and rear main seal (not urgent but getting there)
- New tyres all round (just about to the wear indicators)
- New schocks (in which case I'd throw in the King Springs whilst I'm at it)
- Minor bits and pieces (flashing diff indicator, new remote for central locking as its glued together, some mounts and bushes which are worn, possible hole in the exhaust/muffler which may just need a weld)
The car has only 185,000km and plenty of life in it, and is great fun. But the above is around $2k in parts alone...
keep or not to keep
Not always an easy one to answer. Do you need a 4x4 ?, do you have enough money to buy a newer car ? With family, you need something reliable. Unless you buy something newish, you may end up in the same position....some repair to be done. Maybe while the kid are not too big, a couple of thousand could make the io last 2 or 3 more years.
If you sell the car as it is....are you going to get much ?? maybe not....let us know, I know someone that might be happy to buy it as it is.
Happy io
It's a tough decision. I
It's a tough decision. I wouldn't think I'd get more than about $5500 as it sits - it'd be a higher end of market car if it was all sorted. I've wanted to give it a coupe of inches of lift and some decent rubber since I bought it, but I hadn't counted on doing it all at once.
Let's look at it from the "opposite" angle...
If you take that "boring family car" option, what impact does that have on a "weekend away"? Will it be a larger family car, enabling weekends away - or - will the lack of 4WD and ground clearance mean less or no weekends away?
Because of circumstances when my family was younger, I took the practical option, and there were many missed weekend trip opportunities because of the lack of a suitable vehicle, I'd say squeezing two smaller children into a 5dr iO isn't that difficult, and quite frankly if I were in your shoes, I'd be keeping the iO - new clutch & rear main, so it'll be reliable, new tires & shocks so it'll be safe - the springs can wait - well, for me, swapping the springs is a Saturday in the drive way, so unless the old ones are sagging (which can cause problems with both the tires & the shocks) I'd leave them for now - the lack of clearance will limit some trips, but not all of them.
Just my $0.02.
Tough issues
Hi,
Piningu
I've got an identical Black ZR 2002 model but SWB with 220,000kms on the clock going strong.
When mine reached your kms I had the same decision which,i.e. what to do with a small 4wd, used as a daily driver and with a wife and a newborn.
I also needed a new rear main, shocks , clutch and some other work.
I decided to keep my io and sink the cash into it and this is why:
Reliability: is it likelyto blow up on me short-medium term? NO WAY - some european ones have over 450,000kms on the clock, the io is massivly over engineered and unless you treat it like absolute dirt and abuse it heavily it will be fine
Actual usage: My io was still very very capable, was roomy enough for a road trip or weekend away camping or a 4wd weekend expedition but it was only too small for a major multi-week 4wd trip and that was the key! Would I be wanting to do a major multi-week road trip often with my family i.e. >3 times per year? Unlikely.
In situations where I would be going on a multi-week trip (Simpson Desert / Flinders ranges) I'd be going with friends where common items i.e. camping stove, fridge etc would be shared and not needed in each car - this reduced the space I needed and made it economical to keep the io given the great fuel economy VS a prado etc.
Economy - I drive 140km a day for my work comute, the 2.0L engine gets 10L/100km which is about as good as I would ever get out of a commodore, I would be burning a lot more fuel in a bigger 4wd and even if I bought a big 4wd and a little commuter car I'd still be spending a significant amount more. Going desiel would not help either as service costs vs fuel costs vs economy would take a good 4years to break even by which time I would be scrapping the io.
The engine is a lancer motor - good for 300,000kms and readily available low kms blocks, The driveline is very solid and oversize - unlikely to wear out before 425,000kms by which time the io would be gone
I do my own services so that takes a big price out of keeping it - anything newer would be harder (it's a 4wd lancer - dirt cheap to run and service)
The resell/trade value was low - I was going to struggle to get something comparable at a good price i.e. Subaru Outback / Landrover discovery etc without shelling out about $8-$10k ontop of the trade-in value. $8k-10k can go a loooooong way to keeping an io going :)
Clutch/rear main/shocks/struts/engine mounts etc could all be replaced by me cutting the labour price down. (all up it was equivalent to 2 weekends of blundering and about $600-800 of parts and aout $200 replacing my dodgy old tools ;) and the oly hard one would be clutch (ehich turned out to be easy) and I could pay for someone to do that if I wanted. Struts took 1.5h a side, rear shocks took 1/2h total.
Lift kits and mods:
I wanted a gentle lift - something dirt cheap and easy to do, just enough to lift it so it rode 1-2" taller and sat level when fully loaded. nothing stupid or police-worthy and CHEAP.
I run the longer OLD-style io springs (free on forums but about $50 from wreckers) in my new KB struts - lifts the front a good 1-1.5" and is nice and soft on bumps, I've got some 1" spacers going in this week
I run BA Astina front coils ($50 from wreckers) in the rear and were a 1/2h fit in the driveway - lifts about 2.5" easy and much firmer for loads etc.
I put a low-range cluster into my transfer box from a NL pajero - Free off pajero forums and $20 postage - this was OK but the new gearing does have a faint whine as the gears have not worn in together - this is slowly dissapearing.
KYB front struts and shocks off ebay - Dirt cheap, Fronts were $160ea and rears were $120 a pair - easy DIY at home fitting - very easy infact!
Snorkel - XJ Jeep snorkel $160 off ebay - yet to fit but matches guard profile and looks legit.
Vehicle condition: All in all the vehicle was still as good as it was at 100,000kms and likely as good as it would be at 250,000kms - sme rubbers had perrished and needed replacing but were cheap if bought from AMAYAMA.COM - all were easy to fit myself except for the front diff center bush - that was $30 from a mechanic to press in. If the vehicle was getting tired i.e. wishbone bushes / balljoints / CV's etc I'd have thought about scrapping it but it was still going great (and still is at 220,000kms).
Tyres: I bought some second-hand 90% tread ATR's for $99 incuding rims off ebay, any tyres in the range of 215/65-16, 215/70-16, 205/75-16, 235/70-16 fit and I just buy ones that are cheap and good. As cheap as a comodore!
I decided to fix the car, keep it and remember I'm driving a small/medium 4wd that costs me little and live and work around that fact. It's a 4wd all-terrain camry in space. Maybe when my io hits 300,000kms I'll look at parking it and keeping it as a toy however by that stage I will have EASILY gotten my $5000 vehicle value back in lack of depretiation and fuel/service economy.
Bob - Gold Coat
For sale...
Well I think the last few weeks of driving with the family on board have decided it Fort me - the up is for sale. I'll post a proper Classifieds ad shortly, but will just be selling as is at this stage. I figure there are plenty of people out there who can attend to issues like shocks and bushes on a weekend, rather than me having to pay someone to do it then try to recoup that money.
It's sad as I love my io, but it's time for her to go.
I'm in Melbourne and am looking for the 4500 range as she sits. Even if you just fixed it yourself and flipped it for sale with a RWC, you wouldn't lose out. Otherwise is a great starting base for a build up, being a 2 Litre with fairly low km.
Now im the one thats torn, do
Now im the one thats torn, do i buy this car, or keep mine and spend the extra $2000 it would cost me to swap over upgrading mine?
That should get me going with 2.8 marks low range gears, 5.29 diffs and maybe even finish off my winch bar and custom rear bar. Ill do my best to destroy the shell off road over the next few years then upgrade to a ZR then when they are all cheap lol.
But someone needs to snap this car up, its a pretty clean example with only a few scrapes and a small ding on the front passenger side panel.
Syndicate
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