Car depreciation profile: Toyota LandCruiser WorkMate (70 Series)

Yes, folks. It is once again time to delve into the world of depreciation and take aim at another make and model. This time, we’ve decided to run with the ever-popular Toyota LandCruiser WorkMate, which is part of the manufacturer’s renowned 70 Series collection of vehicles.

We’re going to first get into some of what makes this car as legendary as it is, and then crunch some numbers and determine how it goes depreciation-wise when compared to the average across the board.

A quick reminder of what car depreciation is

Need a quick refresher about depreciation? No worries. Depreciation is the calculation of the value your car goes down over a certain amount of time, which is applied as a percentage amount.

Let’s face it, we all know that cars are a depreciating asset. Unless you’re buying specific cars as investments that have all the makings of appreciating, you’re going to see at least a little bit of value lost over the time you own it. Which is an accepted part of owning a car because, well, we need them!

So say for simplicity’s sake you buy a car for $100,000 and it’s got a 15% first-year depreciation rate. What that means is the value of your car after one year of ownership is $85,000. Make sense?

There are a few factors that can determine how high a car’s depreciation rate is:

• How old the car is
• Exterior and interior conditions of the car
• The make and model
• Fuel efficiency is becoming increasingly important

Let’s explore the features of the LandCruiser Workmate

Where to begin with the Cruiser WorkMate…

Well, as you’d expect from their 70 Series, it’s tough as all hell. There’s a reason you basically only see these vehicles in the most extreme and desolate areas of Australia - they’ll not only handle the environment with ease, but will do it for hundreds of thousands of kilometres to boot.

Sure, it’s the base model in the range. But unlike just a few years ago you will in fact get air conditioning as standard. Not only that, but also a 6.1-inch touchscreen entertainment system with satnav and bluetooth connectivity. There’s even cruise control available. And if you’ve been a fan of the 70 Series Cruisers a while, you’ll know all of those things are pretty luxurious for these beasts.

There are three body types to choose between including single-cab, double-cab, Troopcarrier and wagon, all of which include a powerful and wonderfully capable 4.5-litre turbo-diesel V8 with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Mix it all together and you get 151kW at 3400rpm and 420Nm of torque, enough to tow 3.5 tonnes braked. Fuel tank capacity is 130L in all body types except the Troopy, which includes an increased 180L capacity.

While you do get safety features like stability control, hill-start assist and traction control, you won’t see any driver assist tech in these unfortunately. But let’s be honest, you’re not really buying one of these for creature comforts and to have warning lights and alarms go off all the time (though parking sensors/reversing camera might’ve been nice at least).

Bottom line? You’re getting a pretty basic vehicle tech/feature-wise which drives tough if not a little uncomfortable at times. But you can completely rely on it to take you anywhere and beyond, then home again, with zero issues. It drives like a truck because, well, it essentially is one, and if you’re reading this article you most likely already know that.

How the Workmate’s depreciation measures up against the market average

It is said that a car that follows the average rate of depreciation will lose up to 50-ish percent after you’ve owned it for three years, which is quite substantial. Using this as a guide, let’s now suss out where the LandCruiser WorkMate sits in the scheme of things.

So according to RedBook figures, in 2018 (three years ago) a brand new WorkMate went for $63,740. That same vehicle is estimated to be worth $53,800-$59,000 as a trade-in today.

Now, after spending a little bit of time with the calculator (we got a bit sidetracked making funny words with it), we’ve deduced that this means the depreciation rate against trade-in for the WorkMate is between 7% and 16%. That’s seriously impressive and a huge tick for the LandCruiser WorkMate, really.

Going beyond that, a quick search on carsales for used WorkMates continues on with the story; vehicles with well over 100,000 k’s on their odometers and/or a decade or more old are being advertised for crazy-high amounts. Looks like the WorkMate has passed the depreciation test with flying colours, don’t ya think?

Get behind the wheel of your new LandCruiser sooner

If you’re ready to take the plunge and finance a new Toyota LandCruiser Workmate of your own, our expert team is here to make your dreams a reality.

We have more than two decades of experience in the financing industry under our belt, and over the years have built up a strong reputation of delivering exceptional outcomes for our customers time and time again - our customer reviews truly do speak for themselves!

So find out how amazingly low your monthly repayments could be by using our online car finance quote tool today. And if you need any further information about what we can do for you or have any questions for us, we’re always happy to help - call us on 1300 787 288 now.

Alternatively, you’re welcome to use our online contact form and send us an enquiry and we’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as we can.