After quite a while thinking about it. Finally decided on a nearly 20 year Toyota.

THAT’s nearly 20 years old?!? You’ll have to give us more detail, but it looks good for 20 years!

Aye, 1996 Hilux Surf £3.5 K, 3 liter engine, with about 25-27 MPG, Imported from Japan in 2004 one women owner since then. The engine is cleaner than my wifes 2 year old Merc A class.

The Invincible Hilux!

Good choice sir

God help you when ‘they’ wake up.

Nice truck!

Good tyres, I’m just changing the front ones on my truck, done 56k on them! Does look very tidy, how is insurance? I tried for a import surf but the insurance was at least double what it is for my Isuzu Rodeo.

God help you when ‘they’ wake up.

🙂

I am already up to my eyes in Utility.

The insurance is a bit steep, but not that much more than my Saab that I used for more or less the same duties. But this is offset by being relatively cheap to buy, and the lowish Tax.

Both vans and Pick ups are banned from my local dump and certificates are required for the larger less local one, No trouble rolling up in this with the back full.

Of course I have a list of jobs,

It’s good enough to spend a bit on rustproofing and undersealing the chassis. A Radio upgrade with Bluetooth would be nice, and a good set of seat covers are the first on the list. Then adapting the rear wheel carrier as really nice bike rack (there is also a spare under the boot)

It passed the most important test…It feels like a mini adventure driving it, even to the dump 🙂

That’s sir is quality. Nice find.

Hmmm, where’s that Autotrader App?

Ask…..It took a 500 mile round trip to pick it up 🙂

Playing devils advocate.. The super clean engine isn’t hiding anything is it? I always thought to be wary of older cars with steam cleaned engine bays.

Yep that and 1 lady owner….

Only real weak point on those is the oil to water cooler for the transmission oil I think. Somewhere near the front and prone to damage. Keep an eye on that and I think you’ll be very happy with it. Been keeping my eyes open for a late 2.7 terrano 2. The one before they changed for emissions to the 3.0 dCi.

Td ? Hilux surf …

Watch the temperature and make sure the thermostat and rad are working

Engines pretty bombproof if you keep it within temp range. That said my buddys 95 was always overheating and in true topgear style he just let it cool and carried on.

Im with you on the every trips a mini adventure and cheap utes rock.im in a 2.2dti frontera ( isuzu engine) wouldnt hve touched a frontera in any other circumstances but with the isuzu engine x22dth engine they are pretty good for what i need cheap and economical for a 4×4 ( 32mpg brim to brim going to bathgate with the trailer on to get landy bits.)

when i was a kid, we drove to southern france in one of those on holiday. Around Bordeaux, the engine overheated and headgasket was blown (i believe). IIRC, it was an expensive repair job without which we’d have been stranded.

looks lovely though!

kayak23 – Member
Playing devils advocate.. The super clean engine isn’t hiding anything is it? I always thought to be wary of older cars with steam cleaned engine bays.

POSTED 10 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
mikewsmith – Member
Yep that and 1 lady owner….

Noted, The cooling system all looks new so 1) The previous owner was super careful of the known cooling problems or 2) the head blew up spectacularly and they got it fixed, either way the work has been done.

Trail Rat..Yes TD the Petrols are fairly rare.

It’s a bit of a punt If it gives a years decent service it will have cost less in depreciation than the New Utility I was thinking of buying minus the monthly payments..Time will tell.

That is a super-nice truck! I’ve always had a bit of a jones for the HiLux Surf, and yours is a beaut. Damn, very jealous now! 😡

I do think that looks bloody great fun. Can’t believe it’s 20 years old!

Dealer has another for sale, looks cleaner than mine but covered in SURF stickers.

Ebay Surf

Disconcertingly mine is still on Ebay as well ?

Yours looks waaaaay better.

Two tone paint job looks 20 years old. Yours is timeless

Two tone paint job looks 20 years old. Yours is timeless

2 tone looks 20 years old yours is timeless

Two tone paint job looks 20 years old. Yours is timeless

Yes agreed.. hence the reason for traveling so far to pick it up, most are Two tone, even thought of getting one sprayed, but found one in the end.

Two tone paint job looks 20 years old. Yours is timeless

Got to say, I’m familiar with imports, and I’m familiar with the Hilux Surf, but I still looked at the picture and assumed it was a new car. It’s aged very well in that colour.

Trail Rat..Yes TD the Petrols are fairly rare.

I assume that is because it’s actually impossible to get one between petrol stations 🙂

Just out of interest, how much does it cost for tyres for one of these?

Looks like the ones fitted to mine are £142 each.

BFG 265/70-16

Looks like the ones fitted to mine are £142 each.

Just looking through the options there and they’re really not as bad as I expected. Maybe one day.

…I never like forking out for tyres. (Currently driving a cheap runaround with 14 inchers on and loving it.)

Nice, how much is the tax disc?

£240 for a year

righog – Member
£240 for a year

Eeeeep! I sold my Puma because I found £170/year for tax, and 30mpg too rich for my blood. Along with the £350/year insurance.
Changed my mind, now. I’d still like one, but I’d need a very big pay rise to afford it.
Perhaps a Suzuki Jimni…

Been Great so Far, Bit of pain getting the bikes on the roof rack but that will soon be sorted with a rear rack… Thread resurrection because the seller has another one up on Ebay if you are interested.

Ebay Surf

Tyres front – I just had a full set of Cooper Discoverer AT3s fitted to the Mitsubishi – £112 each and initial impressions are very, very good indeed.

Slightly higher mpg on road than the Bridgestone Duellers (-1.5mpg), but loads better grip – no aquaplaning which was a big issue previously – and offroad performance is superb. They are supposed to be very good in the snow and ice too!

The BFG is rumoured to be getting redesigned at the moment though….

had bridgestone 4×4 tyres before, they were awful, never again, rubbish

Damn you sirrah! How could you do this to me? So tempted by that silver HiLux…

I just had a full set of Cooper Discoverer AT3s fitted to the Mitsubishi – £112 each and initial impressions are very, very good indeed.

We run AT3s on our Freelander here in Oz, and we use them off road a lot. They’re not the best in mud (but they’re not a mud tyre), but seem a pretty good compromise all round. Lower economy than the contis it came with, but that’s to be expected as they’re a road tyre. Only niggle has been holing one on a gravel road, when I would have hoped it would have stood up better, but been many thousands of kms since then without a hitch.

[/url] photo-4 by evo2, on Flickr[/img]

Would have killed for a diesel one here in Canada but had to settle for a petrol one, the residuals are so high I just bit the bullet and got a new one……….absolutely love it

[/url] image by evo2, on Flickr[/img]

And here it is with its winter shoes on

Nice purchase OP. Please keep us updated. Im tempted 🙂

My brother has been to Mongolia and back in his.
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