X-AWDriver

Ther "Safe" is just a 2nd gen 4Runner with a different front end,look at the interior pics,just like the 2nd gen Toys.

INsr5runner

reviving old threads are we?

X-AWDriver

More of a followup from ben95m's post and I missed it the first time I guess.

Jonathan

Yeah the "Safe" looks like a cross between the Mercury Mountaineer and the 2nd Gen Runner . Oh yes this thread has been posted before.:pat:

44Runner

How can you be sure that is a diff and not the DS rear tire?

4runner4ever

Looks like some cheap copy.
I owned two VW Taro's which were actually OEM Toyota's, except for the grille and a few logo's. They excisted because they were assembeld in Germany so import taxes were low because Germany is a member of the EEG. Japan isn't so you would pay a few thousand bucks more on taxes for a Toyota.
So I bought the cheap VW, slapped on a new steering wheel cover and grille and be done with it.

Here's a pic with the conversion from 2WD to 4WD done (SAS) and still with the VW grille. Yes, I know it's a freaky colour, especially the bumper. Let's just say it was the only colour I had left in my garage
It was only two years old, but I managed to hit some trees (on several occasions) so it needed some body panels and some paint.

cabbage

Umm... Its a different company. The china motor in Taiwan actually made the finest cars back in the days (in Taiwan that is)

Ike

I wouldn't mind trying a Monster after all the problems I've had with my Monstrosity (95 4runner).

In case y'all hadn't noticed "Made in China" is as prevalent as "Made in Japan" was 20 years ago.

Ya gotta love those 2nd gen style decals on the side!

GV27

It's not a cheap copy - it's the real thing!

Seriously - it's an automobile - not a CD or a Louis Vetton (sp?) bag. You can't just start turning them out in sweatshops. Tooling up a factory to produce these things is an enormous investment - there is no incentive to try to scam someone else's design. It's not like all it takes is a CD burner or a sewing machine. The body panels alone take hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of highly specialized "one-off" equipment to mass produce. And you can't just start selling them on a street corner in the U.S. It has to pass all the government tests/regulations, etc. etc.

This is either:

1. A Joke - somebody put up this website for fun.

2. They bought up old Toyota and Nissan (and maybe Suzuki?) factories (not the building - the tools) and are producing these with full authorization from the manufactureres in question. Just like Yugo simply bought an old Fiat factory and started turning out Fiats.

Those Yugo's were no worse than the original Fiats - it's just that the Fiats were peices of crap to start out with.

These guys could be feeding inferior metal to the tools - but you can't be too far off from the original and still have the tools produce correctly. Plus obviously they wouldn't have the same QC Toyota does - but then a Toyota factory pretty much runs itself as far as quality goes - it's the design and tooling that results in the great quality, not the people flipping the switches on the machines...

They're probably reasonably good vehicles. But as previously stated you'd probably be better off with a used copy of the original article. But I'm sure they'll sell a few. The U.S. big three has the American public generally pretty sold on the "Brand New Car" myth.

C

miked

seems kinda wierd to buy a "clone" car. Wonder who makes the drive train. I would seriously consider buying the "monster" for a beater trail rig if it was cheap enough.