l am asking this question on behalf of my old man.

He has negotiated to buy a new Totota Landcruiser. It has a build plate stating a build date of 12/03 but a compliance plate installed by Toyota Australia with the date 01/04. In the eyes of the motor trade is this classed as a 2003 or 2004 vehicle?

He obviously doesnt want to buy a brand new 1 year old car

Any advice appreciated

Mondie,

I purchased a Subaru Forrester 5 years ago (yes I know.. the wife made me do it.. ). It was built at Subaru in Dec 97 and had a Aust compliance date of Jan 98. When I traded it in, they classified it as a 97 build.. I dont recall if it made much diff to the trade in as it was still a crap price. I ended selling it for $4k more than trade in at the time... Moved up to a new AUII Xr6 VCT.. Ahh much better...

Definately 2003, I learnt this the hard way too.

yep 2003

Yes 2003!

Same story with the Dec 1998 build, 1999 plated Discovery that I had. It sure wasn't registered as a 1999 model.

Thanks guys, l'll let him know.

The dealer told him it was classed as a 2004 model but l thought that was BS

The dealer could be half right Mondie. Let me explain...

Subaru run their model year from roughly september to september, not jan to dec. Their MY05 WRX will come out this september, and remain in play until same time next year. My old WRX was a MY98 that was built in Dec 1997. It was also complied then. It was definately a 1997 model, but in all the advertising (and when I sold it too) it was a MY98. Maybe this scenario is similar for Toyota. I don't know.

I jnow it made bugger all dofference with the resale. You either bought a MY98, 99, or whatever. The build year was insignificant.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew.

l guess if your buying it from the dealer its a 2004, and if your trading it in its a 2003 :lol: