What to look for when buying a surf?

[Dangerous]

Hi there,

Im in berkshire in the uk and Im looking into buying a jap import 2.4td surf, or a swb pajero 2.5td in the near future. Now i know you'll all be biased towards the surf, but can you tell me exactly why i should get a surf over a paj. The surf is actually my first choice at the moment, but id like to know what makes em better (i just prefer the look of it lol)

Also, what should i look out for when viewing 2.4td's, theyll be about J/K reg as i only have 4k to spend MAX. Whats more likely to be wrong with it, and how do i check for these things? My last car has been a nightmare cos i bought it on a whim and didnt check it out, i dont want to make the same mistake again!

Any advice for a first time 4x4-er would be very much appreciated.

[gemini]

Hi there,

Im in berkshire in the uk and Im looking into buying a jap import 2.4td surf, or a swb pajero 2.5td in the near future. Now i know you'll all be biased towards the surf, but can you tell me exactly why i should get a surf over a paj. The surf is actually my first choice at the moment, but id like to know what makes em better (i just prefer the look of it lol)

Also, what should i look out for when viewing 2.4td's, theyll be about J/K reg as i only have 4k to spend MAX. Whats more likely to be wrong with it, and how do i check for these things? My last car has been a nightmare cos i bought it on a whim and didnt check it out, i dont want to make the same mistake again!

Any advice for a first time 4x4-er would be very much appreciated.

Now i know you'll all be biased towards the surf,

get yourself a pajero

[Dangerous]

Now i know you'll all be biased towards the surf,

get yourself a pajero

Presuming the sarcasm, thats not very helpful now is it

[gemini]

Presuming the sarcasm, thats not very helpful now is it

im not biased towards a surf am i, its your money, i cant think of a reason for you to buy a surf over a pajero

[Dangerous]

im not biased towards a surf am i, its your money, i cant think of a reason for you to buy a surf over a pajero

I would actually prefer a surf, dont know why i just like the look of em as i said, and a couple of people already have said to me to get a surf over a pajero because 'they're better'. But being new to this I dont actually know what benefits a surf has over my other options so ive come here for advice, and for people to tell me what to look out for so i can ensure i get a good one!

[Guest]

I would actually prefer a surf, dont know why i just like the look of em as i said, and a couple of people already have said to me to get a surf over a pajero because 'they're better'. But being new to this I dont actually know what benefits a surf has over my other options so ive come here for advice, and for people to tell me what to look out for so i can ensure i get a good one!

Have a look here:
http://www.showmesome.info/hilux/info/faq.htm

Codlord has done a good write up of things that have been gone through a lot. And personally I prefer the looks of the Surf

Cheers

[Pete]

Hi there,

Im in berkshire in the uk and Im looking into buying a jap import 2.4td surf, or a swb pajero 2.5td in the near future. Now i know you'll all be biased towards the surf, but can you tell me exactly why i should get a surf over a paj. The surf is actually my first choice at the moment, but id like to know what makes em better (i just prefer the look of it lol)

Also, what should i look out for when viewing 2.4td's, theyll be about J/K reg as i only have 4k to spend MAX. Whats more likely to be wrong with it, and how do i check for these things? My last car has been a nightmare cos i bought it on a whim and didnt check it out, i dont want to make the same mistake again!

Any advice for a first time 4x4-er would be very much appreciated.

Firstly, a swb Pajero, and a Surf have nothing in common. Surely you know whether you want swb/lwb, 3 door/5 door???? Sort out what your needs are and go for what suits you. 2 years ago I went looking for a lwb Pajero, saw my first Surf and the rest is history. I needed 5 doors and a big load space.
Click here to find out about Paj's
http://www.pocuk.com/
Pete

[ship]

im not biased towards a surf am i, its your money, i cant think of a reason for you to buy a surf over a pajero

so why did you buy a surf and not a paj, eh???

ship

ps: i bought the surf coz i liked the look, the drive, the comfort, the versatility and apparent off-road ability, (yet to test it), basically it does everything i want, from shcool runs and shopping to off-roading and me and me little lad can sleep in the back if the weather,s to sh*tty to put the tent up, enuf for me.

ship

[Guest]

For me the pros of a Paj are that it can be a 7 seater (if you need it).

However the cons are as follows (as far as I see it)

1. Less ground clearance - worse breakover angle
2. Looks
3. It's too common
4. The Surf is built like a tank and lasts forever (taking the 2.4 cylinder head out of the equation and that's not nearly as common as it is made out to be).

Pros of the Surf.

1. It's built like a tank (see above)
2. Better driving position
3. Surf handles a lot better on the road than the Paj and in fact a Discovery or Rangerover
4. Surf is pretty easy to fix.
5. Parts are generally pretty cheap
6. It stands out from the crowd.
7. It's much better off road, the Paj is generally a bit barge like, limited by ground clearance and articulation. The Surf sufffers from poor articulation on the front however the ease of modification far outweighs this and it is better out of the box than Paj will ever be. (except if you want to do the Paris Dakar).

Cheers

[gemini]

so why did you buy a surf and not a paj, eh???

ship

ps: i bought the surf coz i liked the look, the drive, the comfort, the versatility and apparent off-road ability, (yet to test it), basically it does everything i want, from shcool runs and shopping to off-roading and me and me little lad can sleep in the back if the weather,s to sh*tty to put the tent up, enuf for me.

ship

cos i didnt want a pajero, but i wouldnt have bought a surf just cos someone told me to, i bought it for the same reason as you, liked the look, the drive, the comfort,

[Elvz]

Shogun/Pajero

For:

Nice interior if you like that sort of thing

Against:

Mitsubishi parts are usually even more expensive than the equivalent Toyota parts.

Mitsus are nowhere as tough as they look and quite easily damaged in parking accidents.

Mitsubishi 2.5 diesel engines are known for many serious failings including cracked cylinder heads and premature crankshaft wear. Even if you get a good one they're gutless and thirsty.

Pajeros have awful gearboxes with serious reliability issues.

Surf/4Runner:

For:

Very reliable and fairly simple to look after. I dont personally believe that cylinder head failure is a Surf design fault.

Drives like a car and goes round corners like one too.

The Surf is very capable off-road for a long wheelbase car

One of the best manual gearboxes in any 4X4 and it's almost indestructable too.

Probably the toughest mid-size 4X4 - a lot tougher than a Pajero or Land Cruiser Prado anyway

Against:

Toyota has an insane spares pricing policy and an incompetent dealer network in the UK.

2nd generation Surfs (1989-1995) have an electric tailgate window which is great when its 100% reliable, unfortunately it often isn't. This seems to matter a lot more to me on rainy days.

A large proportion of Surfs imported into the UK have 2LT-E engines. I can't think of any reason why you would buy an engine with an obsolete and ineffective electronic management system if you could buy the same engine without one.

[europa88]

I originally went out to buy a pajero
This from a dyed in the wool Toyota man!
I wanted a diesel auto and couldn't run to a Landcruiser Amazon, always my first choice.When i realised the surf came with the excellent 3.0 engine and auto there was no going back! The uk 4-runner only had a petrol v6 auto option!
I love it's individual looks,It's offroad capability (Toyota are still one of the japanese franchises who specialise in off road vehicles and have done for over 40 years or so)
Suzuki owners please do not take offence!!
And it's superior build quality!
There are dozens more reason which I wont bore you with ,but if you buy one you wont be disappointed!

Cheers

Neil

[Dangerous]

Thank you for your comments.
The reason i am looking between a SWB paj and a surf is because, while i like the size and load carrying capacity of the surf, it might be a little too large for day to day use, parking in car parks, etc. Although it will come into its own on race weekends/snowboard trips etc. The SWB paj on the other hand will still hold everything i need, just will be more of a squeeze , but is smaller for day-to-day useage.
I'm still not too sure, and will reserve judgement until I have driven a surf, as I have only so far driven a pajero myself.

I will let you know if/when i become a surf owner :P