OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

G'day,

My son is considering this as his first car, in a '90-'92 vintage with around 180K+ on the clock.

Anyone out there with some first-hand experience of a Surf? Stories of reliability, running costs, maintenance, accessibility to parts etc would be great to hear. Anything specific we should be looking at in a ~20-y.o. Surf?

Thanks,
LFaR.

[Daz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Daz]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

LF & R
Not first hand experience, but watched a mate go through some issues, which included
1. Overheating - especially the automatic models. Couldnt tow a small caravan in moderate Oz temps. (SW West Aust). Even driving along unloaded on a hot day can get hot. Its a common problem with them, and the problem can often be cracked heads. The viscous hubs werent always set up correctly Aust, although most would have been looked at by now. Also, most likely had a radiator upgrade by now. Most put in a deeper core radiator which helps. The std radiator is smaller than a std diesel hilux radiator.

2. Hard to get parts and panels, which may be an issue for a young bloke in 1st car. (I know it was for me anyway :roll: )

3. They are related to Hiluxs which are known for their tendancy to roll easily.

But I suppose you could do worse, and as a parent of a 15 yr old son, I know he will be getting my trayback Dual cab Hilux as 1st car, which will certainly limit any speeding.

Some links

http://toyotasurf.asn.au/forum/index.php This have everything you want to know about Surfs

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/foru...?showforum=100

A search on http://www.outerlimits4x4.com will also find plenty of info on Surfs, especially overheating issues

Good luck.

[xlr8_87 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close xlr8_87]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

Mechanical parts should be very easy to source as most are exactly the same as a 90 series prado.

At least it's a toyota, I made the mistake of getting a '92 Commodore for my first car, most services cost over $1000 as things went wrong all the time.

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

Don't do it,

My son bought one 18 months ago. In that time -
Cracked head,
three busted front right drive shafts,
two busted diffs
the chassis was warped (also weak)
electric problems
cracked exhaust manifold.
warn wheel bearing. - now replaced

As stated above parts can be hard to get.

He learned a lot about fixing cars and has now sold it. - He didn't listen to his uncle who said don't do it. Its now sold with a new motor to a friend who also won't losten to his advice not to buy it.

They are a great looking car and are attractively priced - but DON'T DO IT

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

Thanks everyone!

They are a great looking car and are attractively priced - but DON'T DO IT

This sums it up nicely Corigator. The robust looks and 31" tyres were a draw card... then to see it in his price range had us thinking.

We've decided not to do it.

Thanks again,
LFaR.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

There's a lot of options when buying cars for our young off-spring.

If you love them then you will have to buy something a bit more modern than a nearly 22 year old fourby. Get them something with at least one airbag. Or, give them your car and you buy an old bomb to drive around.

My soon to be 19 yr old got an 2004 Falcon ute, alloys, air, 5 speed, airbags x 2, polished sports bar, etc for $9000 (rego was due and needed a couple of tyres and a windshield). I sold the old Prado which went for $13,500. By the time we paid the transfer, rego and insurance there wasn't much left. But he's got a good set of wheels which is suited to his trade. He can only take one passenger which is a bonus.

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

Couple of things i learnt after helping a mate with Japanese Grey imports

Radiators are always smaller for colder conditions need to be upgraded for OZ

Servicing is usually poor due to low km driving in japan and what we call a sport or luxury model here is standard fare over there so serviced with the cheapest components avaliable

Conversions done by dodgey importers so vehcile does not meet OZ ADR rules so problems may arrise on insurance claims

Mechanical components match it is usually body work that is hard to find for e.g some 4 runner panels with not match up with surfs

Turbos are often not factory especially in sports cars there are a lot of tuning companies in japan that modify a model in signigigant enough batches you can think the work is stock but it is actually not

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

I used to own one, it was a great car but as already stated overheating was the biggest problem. In the 1KZ-TE model the bottom out let of the radiator was almost completely blocked by the transmission cooler so overheating was always on the cards if it was pushed.

There was a fix (swapping to a different length cooler), but it didnt work on mine. Parts initially were a problem, but there were soon lots of people importing things as it was potentially a huge market. They also learnt they could charge premium prices too.

As Chester said, servicing was another problem. Apparently cars in Japan only have a limited life span on the road before they are considered too old, so the tendancy is not too worry about servicing too much.

Like I said, it was a great vehicle, my family loved it, but I always had the fear of a cracked head or something worse in the back of my mind everytime we headed off. I spent most of the time watching the temperature gauge and not the speedo.

I must admit, it was a great releif when I finally drove out of the car yard with a vehicle designated for the Australian market (Prado ). At least if something goes wrong, no one says "Phew a Prado....that could be a problem" when you take it to a workshop.

Another deciding factor was the floor pan lay out, my 6 foot 3 inch son always had his knees up around his ears when he sat in the back.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

BB's got it in one. Get an airbag or two and ABS. I wouldn't want to drive without them these days so why should my kids? I know we had nothing like that growing up but if it's available get it. That's why the 120 has all the fruit. God knows my R8 would be undriveable in the wet without electronic assistance. I bought an ex work Rodeo manual with airbags and ABS for my two to learn in and use. Stock standard, white, few pre loved dents and will go forever and no matter how hard you try it isn't a hoon mobile. All I did was fit decent tyres to it instead of the commercial no traction rubbish.

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

I owned one of these cars for 12 years. Over that time the main thing that needed fixing was an injection pump that died in the later years.
Yes over heating was a problem on many (we didn't have that issue, ours was a manual) which in turn cracked heads, this is a common outcome on any cars with alloy heads.
We NEVER had any issues with parts, I always found that hilux parts bolted straight up. They are all starting to get long in the tooth now but I am sure there are good ones out there. As with anything, you get what you pay for and if you want a modern car with air bags and ABS, then the price is going to be higher.
Ours was the older 2.4 which could be described as lazy at the very best. Once on boost it was ok but was not quick by any stretch of the imagination.

I guess it comes down to this, if I had my time again, would I buy another Surf.........Absolutely. It gave us a very good run

Scott

[Davey69 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Davey69]

Re: OT: Hilux Surf Turbo Diesel as First Car?

I had a 1993 Forerunner. Bought it in 2006 with just 149,325 kms on the clock, you beauty that's barely run in for a truck like that I thought, had never been off-road and looked brand new. Not long after getting it I had to decide whether to wreck it or spend more than 6 grand on a new engine. As it sat around for so long and the coolant wasn't changed, the coolant eventually turned acidic and ate out the cooling galleries in the head, water met combustion, bang! LPG converters won't touch the 3 litre petrol engine, they reckon the head is too soft, whatever that means.

Apart from that the car was great, needless to say I will remain Natrad's best customer with coolant changed in all our vehicles according to the book (usually 2 years for most). Not sure about Hilux derivatives for young drivers - there are an amazing amount of them on wreckers' websites that have suffered roll over damage. Rolled Prados appear to be extremely rare amongst wreckers.