FTO AUSTRALIA

So the time is rapidly approaching where I need to sell my FTO. Right from the day I bought her, I said I'd sell her in 2010. And as it so happens, my Wife and I will be trying for a baby soon and between the FTO being an inappropriate car for transporting a baby around and the desire to have a vehicle that will let us go on camping trips (read "cheaper holidays"), it all adds up to bye bye FTO, hello Toyota Prado.

I'll admit, I'm a total FTO tragic. I first saw an FTO when I was about 16 and from that day I wanted one. It took me about nine years before I got my first one in 2002. A tiptronic GR, I moved her on pretty quickly. Then in 2004 I bought my current baby, a '94 manual GPX. I love driving her even more today than the day I picked her up. I haven't done anything major to her but she's been my pride and joy and I've treated her that way.

So I'm feeling a little depressed about the whole turn of events. I've been driving FTOs for eight years and it's like they've become part of my identity. Selling her is like losing part of me. So does anyone else feel this way about their car or am I the only sad, sorry loser out there and I should probably learn Klingon and attend the next Star Trek convention so I can hang with other equally pathetic people (no offence to any trekkies on the forum)?

I realise that the vast majority of people would find this post a bit odd, perhaps even slightly disturbing but the way I see it, the FTO is just a passion for me. Some people love football, some people love art, I love the FTO.

If you sell it get a VR4 Legnum great famlie car and still great fun on weekends win win.

exactly in the same boat, minus the babies and klinglon (whatever it is called)

i feel my fto ownership will come to an end this year. im soon to get my fulls and getting a bike in the next month or two which will serve as a daily. ive always been a fan of RWD cars but the fto came at a good price so i grabed it.

in all honesty ive been lurking on other forums and carsales for THE car that would get me out of the fto, but everytime i start up the fto and fang it around a tight corner... the love affair is rekindled.

i feel ive accomplished allot with the car where i can look at it and be proud of the amount of money, blood and sweat that has gone into it. also ive reached the point where it seems any good performance gain is not worth the cash

not only that but being an active member on this forum has kept my interest high with the fto. with so much info and help its kept me in the fto for two years now. if it wasnt for the forum and its people id be in an AE86...

damn you all

aza013 wrote:If you sell it get a VR4 Legnum great famlie car and still great fun on weekends win win.

Doesn't quite have the clearance for beach driving, etc. that the Prado will have

HiRAEdd wrote:

aza013 wrote:If you sell it get a VR4 Legnum great famlie car and still great fun on weekends win win.

Doesn't quite have the clearance for beach driving, etc. that the Prado will have

driving a prado will definitely be different, your gonna notice it wont like taking corners too quick or even at normal speed, those things handle like boats but should serve you well. Either way, once things calm down a little you can always consider repurchasing a fto in the near future

Mate I know how you fell mine is a part of me too, but ive told the other half it will never be sold even if I never use it when we have kids, she understands as it was a big part of me before I met her

But GL with the family and finding something else, have you considered the RVR with evo gear or maybe the legnum they dont sit that low either

Im never selling mine. If I have a kid it can learn how to fold the seat forward on its own, dammit.

If I need something more practical, then the FTO goes into storage, sits next to the Mini, and I get a loan.

Thanks for the sympathy guys.

I should also mention, my Wife isn't for me selling the FTO, she loves it too and understands it's a big part of my life. But we have neither the space nor money to keep a third car just for the sake of keeping it. It was quite funny, when I was test driving the Prado, she pulled up next to me at the lights and winked at me through the windows and said, "I love a man in a 4WD." And I replied, "yeah, but you love man in an FTO better don't you?". She conceded a, "yes" and drove off.

To make the Prado easier to swallow, we are getting it at a ridiculously low price as an ex-lease vehicle from my Wife's work. Almost 50% below current market value.

sell her car and keep the fto?
besides, you can have a baby seat in the fto (not saying it'll be easy or practical but you can).

Im the same as ben, I will never sell my FTO, althiugh it did cross my mind for the first time this year as I really want a boat and a need a hilux to be able to tow the thing. But sadly I am too much of a freak to let it go. If I get sick of driving it on the road it will be de-registered and used as a track car only.

Well I can't sell my FTO as my son wants it as soon as he can drive it but the way all the laws are going he would have to be 18-20 years old
So that gives me another 4-6 years with it

The baby issue is a non issue. I now have a 7 year old and he has been travelling in the FTO since he was born. The fold seat forward thing is a small hassle. I now have a family car (Legnum) and the FTO. Would not sell the FTO. And one of my work colleagues also has an FTO, a 4 year old and an 8 month old and he isnt having any issues either.

cheers

dstocks

Def not anything wrong feeling that way.... I miss my FTO soooooo much. It took so much effort just to list it on car sales. But I also listed it way above what it was worth, so I knew it wouldn't sell.
I ended up selling it to a mate, but the only thing that made me hand over the keys was the fact that I was getting a 380 the second I sold the FTO.

I always told the missus' I ain't selling the FTO... Bloody women...

BorepYano wrote:sell her car and keep the fto?
besides, you can have a baby seat in the fto (not saying it'll be easy or practical but you can).

^^^ This ^^^

Odd family situations aside, but my mother had my sister when I was 16. So she was a baby when I had my first FTO way back when. FTO's are far easier to accomodate a baby seat (in the back) than you would think. I say keep it, get the big vehicle and sell the wives car.

If you get rid of it you *will* regret it.