Like all modern diesels they have issues with injectors and a build up of sludge in the intake manifold once they get to high kms. Wise to get a pre inspection. Few good workshops around that specialise in the vdj so shouldn’t be too much of a drama finding someone that knows what they are talking about.

 Have a 200 series. Its an absolute weapon. No issues at all. Upgraded the suspension to tow the grady which it does with ease. Love it and wouldnt have anything else

 Exhaust and tune with the EGR shut, its a beast.

 The grady is a beast. Had a few issues when I first got it but sorted them out. Scotty set it up well and it is a real off shore weapon. Lovely soft ride which made a nice change from the ali genises I upgraded from. Vey well made boat and a grat all rounder.lots of overnighters at rotto with a bit of comfort for the princess

 A lot of the early ones used heaps of oils.Knew a bloke that had one and used shitloads of oil. Toyota actually paid for the oil it was using.

As said above, the early ones had some oil burning issues, there were a few field fixes for this on customer concern only, so some still may use oil and being out of warranty it would be at your own cost to carry out the fix's. up to around 2009-10 from memory.
that being said they will all use oil to a degree as all engines do to lubricate valve stem seals and bores etc, oil use with depend on operation, towing 4wding etc.

Intakes do block up if driven softly for most of there lives and the normal soot that all diesels fitted with EGR suffer from. an EGR delete does keep the intake clean but make sure it has a small (6mm) hole in the blank plate or it wil give you a DTC for EGR flow. cheap and easy mod to do.
Note this is obviously not recomended by Toyota as it bypasses the EGR system that is an emission standard and fitted to keep the vehicle compliant with emission laws.

early models also had a dusting issue, that would cause low compression due to worn rings. this was caused by the main intake pipe from the airbox, hose clamp overiding on the retaining clip allowing unfiltered air into the intake. vehicles were recalled early on for this and vehicles were inspected and corrected so it should be all sorted. that being said only about a year ago i had encountered a 200 in that condition that had dusted badly and lost compression, it had been serviced by small private mechanics most of its life from memory so went under the radar. toyota was approached for repairs but due to its age and Km's, nearly 200,000km and 8 or 9 years old i dont recall them covering anything.
it is unlikely but could happen, if you just open up the intake airbox and look down the intake pipe you will see alot of dust stuck to the intake walls, if so best to walk away (very light/small particles is ok)

Also be aware of any ex mining vehicles, the 200 GX was and is used in mine sites. easy to pick and very basic model so down know if you would even be looking at them, but a quick look underneath will shows the underbody coated in a thick black coating, theyll even usually paint over the mud so its pretty obvious on most. or if you remove a trim from the kick panel or scuff trim you will see red dirt underneath.

Check around the bell housing for oil leaks as i have seen a few with rear main seals leaking, although very few its about $800 to repair at a dealer. also look for coolant around the water pump not massively uncommon on them.

Dont let any of this deter you just answering the question thoroughly,to be honest most 200's come through the dealership for servicing only and havent had any dramas easily over 100ks. the driveline is tough as nails and 10years in a dealership and ive seen 2 transmissions with issues. 1 had 250000ks on the clock and got driven like it was stolen.

Good luck to your friend and hope he finds the one he wants.

regards

Niko

Stay away from the early ones. 2010 onwards better from memory. I’ve got a 2012 and besides a water pump replacement earlier this year hasn’t missed a beat. Pulls like a mule. Will definitely be getting another one.

As above try find one that’s had egr blanking plate installed-earlier the better. 

Shitloads of info on LCOOL forum

 Thanks for all the information guys. Definitely will be taking all of this into account. Cheers!

 I bought a 2010 and the oil thing was the biggest concern for me. Trouble is there is no way to test other than put 5000k on it... Mine turned out to be OK but it does burn about 1 liter of oil over the 10000k service interval. I'm OK with that.. I really need to do the EGR block off though....

 They are a weapon of a car mate. You will never look back. Tough as nails, kills the beaches and towing loads 3T+ up the steepest of hills cruising at 100km/hr+. Not made aware of any issues with chasis. Buy 2010+ as this has the crawl control feature which does come in handy when bogged on beach or stuck off-road. 

Issues i've been made aware of or know of are:

• Fuel: The quality of diesel fuel in australia is below japanese standards and can cause injectors to block over time. Listen for any odd sounds from injectors. Install a secondary fuel filter if you buy.
• Air: Also they are prone to dust ingress into the air intake due to incorrect installation/seals(check the air intake before purchasing for any signs of dust on the engine intake side). If they get dust in the engine, its cactus and a rebuild is required pretty quickly. Post purchase, grease the seals and look to install a unifilter which have a much better micron rating. 
• High Kms, if they haven't installed an Oil seperator, the EGR can gunk up (EGR models up to 2015, DPF 2016+) causing it to be a big sluggish. 
• Purchase post 2009 due to earlier oil burning faults which have been rectified on most by recalls (should be a non issue, but never know)
• Models with KDSS have had some problems with leaning, but mine doesn have this option, so can't comment. 

Post Purchase must improvements:

• Oil Seperator (Saves the EGR gunking up, $500-1000 clean up every so often ~100,000km)
• Secondary Fuel Filter (Saves the injectors, which are $1000 each, V8 = $8000 repair)
• Air Filter upgrade (Unifilter & grease seals, saves you $15000 engine rebuild and potential turbo replacements)

Optional recommended improvements:

• 2.5-3" exhaust (turbo engines love to breath better)
• EGR delete & retune (this turns it into the weapon it was supposed to be, with 7sec 0-100km and 200kw+ & 800nm+ Torque at wheels for towing, with amazing fuel economy)
• Transmission lock up kits (This will save your gearbox on long haul trips towing boats, though not really heard of people having issues with gearboxes unless in 'high' on beach and flogging hard)
• Dual battery upgrades (it has two batteries for colder climates, but not true dual setup)

 Great information and advice guys! Much appreciated.

 with 750000kms and its a work horse mate never lets us down drags a 2 tonne boat up a hill very at 90kms easily great cars bit thirsty on the fuel but a very great car

 All the mods are great but the vast majority of 200’s on the road just bought and driven. I havnt got around to tweaking mine. Just been 60000 of boring reliability dragging the boat up and down the highway. I find if I do a lot of big tows in a row I use a bit of oil between services. 

 Late 2009 the pistons were changed to have a larger clearance above the oil ring, from memory

 Bought a 2011 model almost 5 years ago with 27k on the clock now has almost 100k, only had 2 problems with the car. Had to have an alternator replaced at around 75k ($1900.00) and around 90k had some problems with the ECU. Was looking to get a chip in it around the time of ECU dramas so worked out OK to have the ECU remapped ($1100.00) now this thing is a real beast with over 900Nm it tows like you wouldn't beleive. Wouldn't trade it in for anything.