I know 4 people just in my circle of work crew buds that would buy one. Right this instant they would order one sight unseen.
I simply don’t understand why Toyota doesn’t make it happen yesterday?
Our good friends at the EPA are the reason we have none of the newer and older diesels on the roads. The enviroweanies would shriek and howl if we started importing or making them ourselves.
The EPA makes it too expensive for manufacturers to certify models with limited sales.
We bought an HJ-75RV new from Japan in 1985. Base price with 4 liter, 6 cyl diesel, delivered to Mombasa, Kenya, was US $10,500. We added an 8,000# winch, 1,100 kg rear axle, dual fuel tanks, factory roof rack, seat belts and a radio. Range was 1400 km/960 miles. These options brought the price to $11,500. We were allowed to import 10% in spare parts with the vehicle, so we ordered springs, shocks, injectors, etc. Total delivered price was $12,700.
If we'd registered it in Kenya we would have had to pay US $76,000 in Duty & Sales Tax. (one was 150% and the other was 240% - compounded!) We registered it in Uganda for $4,500 Duty & Taxes.
Awesome vehicle! We averaged 17.6 mpg over 50,000+ km. Highway was 19.6 mpg. Worst we ever got was 15.5 mpg, pulling a heavy trailer loaded with 3/4 ton cement, in the rainy season over 300 miles of remote Uganda dirt roads at altitudes of 4500 to 5500 feet.