landrover owner wondering what surf to buy

[englishdave]

Hello everyone, as you can see I'm new here... I'm flogging my trusty 200tdi defender 110 CSW and thinking about buying a hilux Surf. I'm totaly new to toyota's, I've only ever owned Defenders. so I was wondering, when the 110 goes I should have about 3 - 3.5k to play with and have set my heart on a smurf

so here's the question i'm sure you're all fed up of replying to... what should I look out for? what are comon problems? what can i expect to get for my money? and is there any particualr model i should go for..or avoid like the plague...

sorry for so many questions, I just want to make sure I dont buy a dog

cheers guys

Dave

[nero279]

Hi mate and welcome,

£3.5k should get you a nice 3.0ltr TD 2nd gen '93-'95 model. Have a browse through the for sale section on here and see what you fancy for your money. It will also give you an idea of trim levels and options/accessories you might fancy.

[mack]

hi there
if it helps you any i just bought a 94 3.0td auto surf for a shade under 3k, i went for the 3.0 as the head seems to be a problem with the 2.4. as a working motor it impressed the guys i work with they have two landys (90 and 110sw) and a merc g wagen between them. i've never been short of power even without the ect. for the money i doubt there is much else that compares.
the steering and ride feel a lot softer than the landy, something to bear in mind on a test drive. i'm not sure what is standard but mine came with air con, cd player, adjustable rear suspension, ect power switch, switchable overdrive, elecrtic sunroof, electric mirrors, 5 electric windows(all passenger and tailgate), towbar with electric's and the all important cup holder

hope this helps

[englishdave]

so it's true you do get more for your money ... My only concearn is what's the auto box like for reliability?? I'm okay at swinging on the spanners but auto boxes scare me silly (dunno why)

should I avoid jap imports or are they just the same??

thanks for your help guys!

[drunkmonkeyboy]

all surf are imports. so no real need to avoid as there are plenty about so its not the issue it used to be! get one and you wont regret it (as long as its a good one!!)

[M35A2]

Hello everyone, as you can see I'm new here... I'm flogging my trusty 200tdi defender 110 CSW and thinking about buying a hilux Surf. I'm totaly new to toyota's, I've only ever owned Defenders. so I was wondering, when the 110 goes I should have about 3 - 3.5k to play with and have set my heart on a smurf

so here's the question i'm sure you're all fed up of replying to... what should I look out for? what are comon problems? what can i expect to get for my money? and is there any particualr model i should go for..or avoid like the plague...

sorry for so many questions, I just want to make sure I dont buy a dog

cheers guys

Dave

Hello Dave, welcome.

I too am a Landy owner. I own a series 3 and a Defender 110, both ex Military. My "day" drive is a 1994 2nd gen 3.0lt TD SSRG in the best colour.

The prices have come down loads since I bought mine (I payed £6,250). Since I bought it I've had to shell out about £3,000 in parts. My head went a few weeks ago and with even doing the work myself I still had to pay out £1,500. I've replaced the following with brand new parts; head and all the associated bits, thermostat, timing belt, tensioner and idler pulley, radiator, starter contacts, primary and secondary exhaust silencers and both rear shocks.

My Surf is great when it works, but has proved to be not very reliable up to date and i service it every 5,000Kms.

I don't want to put you off, and there are loads of people on here that have never had a problem, but be aware that if they do go wrong (and mine frequently does) the parts cost a lot more than they would for your Defender. The vehicle is also worse to work on.

Having said all that, when it works it is a nice truck. Mine is the SSRG top of the range version and has everything except a sunroof. There are plenty around. If you can step up a little more you can get a direct import. here is an example.

http://www.fourtrackcars.com/

[Wild Thing]

so it's true you do get more for your money ... My only concearn is what's the auto box like for reliability?? I'm okay at swinging on the spanners but auto boxes scare me silly (dunno why)

should I avoid jap imports or are they just the same??

thanks for your help guys!

The auto box is very reliable, and in my opinion is better offroad than a manual

[marky]

The TOYOTA is very reliable & parts are cheaper

[joker??]

3.0td is the way to go , whereabouts in london are you from dave ??

[MudSurfer]

Hi Dave

Isn't the question:

Do you want to spend ages underneath a vehilce putting bits back on - or - do you want a Surf???

Drive one, buy one and you'll never look back.

Welcome to the best site on the net too!

[laser_jock99]

My only concearn is what's the auto box like for reliability?? I'm okay at swinging on the spanners but auto boxes scare me silly (dunno why)

The Toyota autobox is bombproof- there are very few people on here who have had problems. I have abused my 3.0L auto offroad (and canned it a bit on-road come to that) but with regular servicing it just keeps going (190,000km). Last Sunday was the first time the engine ever stopped on me....but then it was sitting in 3 feet of water for 10 minutes!

[Casey]

Hi, now I've only had my Surf 6 weeks and I'm still grinning, but I've been in the motor trade all my working life so as for reliability between Toyota and Land Rover there's no comparison, TOYOTA!

[Gizmo]

the Market has become saturated by the surf of late which over time should lead to second hand parts becoming more available. The surf is the 1st 4x4 owned although driven other 4x4's and I LOVE IT. the vehicle is used daily and has been off-road which has provided me with the only damage (eg front diff due to torque when landing straight down) but "toyota bolton" have been great. Other parts are available from milners off-road or roughtrax.

There are manual versions but these are mainly the UK 4runner and are far and few between.

I have found working on the vehicle straight forward (for someone who would always put other cars in the garage).

Two downfalls for the Surf I found, are:
Towing capacity is 2 tonne
Roof is unable to take the weight like that of landy's i believe

[PDR]

As a former Series IIA & III owner all I can say is that I was constantly fixing mine.
To be honest I don’t think the later 90/110 defenders where much better as I was always helping other Land Rover Club members fix theirs as well.

I have owned my(second gen.) 3.0 V6 Petrol Surf (Auto) now for 5 months now and in that time I have had two problems:

The head gaskets went (cost £1,073 to have fixed). This is a known problem and seems to steam from the fact that Toyota fitted “new, asbestos free” head gaskets to a number of engines during the 90’s which where not up to the job. A lot where replaced during a recall.

The second problem was the starter motor failed last week (cost £85 for total refurb), but considering it had been on the truck since new (1994), I don’t think that is so bad.

All in all, I think the Surf is a whole lot better than any Land Rover Defender or Disco. I love driving mine

Most motor factors are well geared up to supporting these imports and the Insurance companies are now accepting them without the hassles encountered in the past.

If you can find the rare 3.0ltr. V6 Petrol they are the fastest, smoothest and most powerful of the bunch……. And you can pick them up for little money……….
Because in auto-transmission form they only do about 16 to the gallon!! BUT, if you find the even rarer manual version, these will return about 25 mpg

Here’s an example from the bay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...3233&rd=1&rd=1

[englishdave]

3.0td is the way to go , whereabouts in london are you from dave ??

alright mate, I'm in crystal palace top o' the hill

cheers for the replys guys, Now I just have to flog the landy so it's looking like a 3.0ltr auto, Is there anything especially I should walk away from? I know all about smoke, being a landy owner... but are there any particular comon areas for bad rust? The defender had two main areas...rear crossmember and bulkhead...both of which i took no notice of D

cheers
Dave