Buying a Surf/4Runner

[andtal]

Need some help..... Im ditching the company Ford Mundano in favour of a car that i can enjoy, i.e. a Surf!
From what ive seen so far, they're all imported, basically i was hoping someone might be able to offer advice on the potential pitfalls of buying an import. Ive heard horror stories about over heating/cracked heads, anything i should avoid. And was the Surf ever available i the UK market?

I was thinking of the 2.4 TD, about £5000.

Any advice would be appreciated!!!!

[Guest]

Need some help..... Im ditching the company Ford Mundano in favour of a car that i can enjoy, i.e. a Surf!
From what ive seen so far, they're all imported, basically i was hoping someone might be able to offer advice on the potential pitfalls of buying an import. Ive heard horror stories about over heating/cracked heads, anything i should avoid. And was the Surf ever available i the UK market?

I was thinking of the 2.4 TD, about £5000.

Any advice would be appreciated!!!!

The surf was only ever an import. The UK version was the 4 runner which was available for about 2 1/2 years and was either a 3.0TD or 3.0 V6 petrol.

You should easily be able to get a 2.4 for 5K or under, in fact Bob (Hilux) on here is selling one for a friend at the moment and Bob always does good stuff.

Have a look on here, http://www.showmesome.info/hilux/ there is an FAQ for buying surfs.

Yes there are some problems with the heads on some 2.4s but by no means all of them and generally apart from that they are pretty bomb proof.

The 3.0TD has no real known problems.

You can pretty easily get most parts from places like Milner's, it's only some interior parts that can be tricky and Bob Hilux and Streetluge Chris break the occasional one so parts can be sourced that way.

You certainly won't regret trading the Mondeo for a Surf.

Cheers

[andtal]

Thanks for replying.
I guess i need to wiegh up the pros and cons for going for the bigger lump, and clues on the difference in MPG? Id be sticking with the TD, unless i can lay my hands on an LPG conversion.

[Morr]

..........clues on the difference in MPG? ......

The 2.4 & 3.0TD's return virtually identical MPG figures!

[robnw67]

Mpg

Hi

As far as mpg goes, bear in mind the following:

a) if fuel economy is a concern, even a small concern, don't buy a Surf. It's 2 tonnes of brick shaped metal - it will use more juice than you're used to, especially compared to a Mondeo.

b) it depends how you drive them. I am averaging 30 mpg from mine, but other people are getting low 20's. There was even a post about a guy getting 17mpg - I think his name may have been Jensen Button, though!!

Rob