The trouble with the Hiace is hardly anyone buys them new so there practically non to choose from second hand and at @ £750 you’re limited to shopping for whatevers on your doorstep.
Looking on ebay nationwide theres just 6 Hiaces currently sitting at under a grand (and theres only about 100 odd Hiaces for sale in total) compared to about 60 Vitos under a grand and 300 transits (out of over 5000).
Vitos are prone to rust but typically (and the same is true of sprinters of the same vintage) the only rust where you can see in, they don’t tend to rust anywhere thats going to worry your MOT. So long as you can happy yourself that theres not rust where it would cause problems (look at the MOT for advisories as well as around the sills and at the crossmember behind the grill) then the advantage of the rust and reputation for rust is it pushes the price down of otherwise useful and serviceable van.
Injector seals are an issue with the CDI engines only in the sense that mechanics are scared of them and quote high. If you ever have a problem with them walk away from any mechanic that can’t give you a fixed price to do them, quoting high or not being able to fix a price means they’re not experienced or equipped to the the job. I had mine done by a guy that travels the UK only doing CDI injectors – agreed the price in advance of even seeing the van – £350, done 3 years ago and still fine. He’s had customers who’d been quoted £4.5k by garages.
To see if injectors are an issue listen for a sort of a rhythmic popping / ch ch ch chuffing sound when the engine is running, which is exhaust gases getting through the seal. Under the bonnet look for a brittle tar- like residue around the top of the engine – almost looks like marmite. It can be hidden by the plastic cover on the top of the engine though – remove that cover if you can or look for residue around it (feel for it down the back of the engine where you can’t see), or evidence of a clean up to hide it. This is part burnt fuel that getting past the injector seal and solidifying.
If theres no devils marmite, and no chuffing then good. Even if it did start to chuff then mine ran fine like that for over a year before I became enough of a problem to have to fix.
I’ve not had any glow plug issues with my current CDI engine – its a 2001, I’ve had it for 8 years and its now on 325k miles. A previous merc did (at around 245k) but it was only a problem starting from absolutely cold in the coldest weather. A quick squirt of easy start would over come that and I only needed it on the first start of the day.
