Edmunds has just sold a 26-year-old Toyota Mega Cruiser for U.S. $310,000, pointing out that the winning bid could buy you a Rolls-Royce Cullinan in the United States. But the model was exceptionally rare, and the bidder’s actions suggested a diehard fan of this specific off-roader.
The bidding has barely climbed to $81,000 an hour before the closing, but then proceeded to reach three nearly four times that amount.
Toyota had originally built the Mega Cruiser for military purposes, but was kind enough to release a small batch of road-legal SUVs for fans to play with. Rumor has it no more than 150 such vehicles were made, nearly all of them JDM and RHD.
The example on sale, however, had its steering controls moved to the left side. Someone imported it into the USA from Kazakhstan with a touch over 90,000 kilometers (56,000 miles) on the odo.
All street-legal Mega Cruiser models come equipped with a 4.1-liter four-cylinder diesel engine rated at roughly 155 PS (153 hp / 114 kW), which drives the wheels through a four-speed A/T and a transfer case. The chassis offers three diff locks, rear-wheel steering and portal axles.
ne of the car’s former owners had it upgraded with an expedition rack and a premium audio system. They also re-trimmed the interior with higher-grade materials.
