New user looking to buy his first Surf

[Co-Pang-Yang]

Hi all, i'm Chris.
I currently own a V6 Vectra estate which looks to be getting sold tomorrow. After owning the big 6 i decided that i wanted my next car to be a large 4x4.
Couple of reasons, 1 i want to tow my car trailer and bike trailer which i use to transport motocross bikes and two i really want to have a go a green laneing.

From all the trucks that i've looked at i think the surf is the best all rounder for my buget, powerful, big, good tow vehicle, reliability, etc.

But i'm trying to find out as much as i can about them before i buy one so that i know what to look for.
One in particular has come up at a very reasonable price and is too close to me to ignore. I've been talking with the owner for a couple of weeks.
Its a 2.4 surf in red, has MOT and a little bit of tax. The faults he mentioned to me are:
rear tailgate window does not work (he thinks a replacement door is needed). - These seems to be a common fault
One of the rear windows has come off it runners - sounds simple enough fix
When you turn the wheel to the right and pull away there is a "clunk"
Recent starter motor fault, whereby sometime the motor won't engage, he says its just a bad earth - if that true easy fix, if not how much are recon starter motors?
I need of a service - how much are parts, anything other than the usual oil, filters, etc i should consider?

Sorry for all the questions but i wanna be as well prepared as i can for when i go look at this truck and possible other. If anyone has some ideas of suggestions on what to look for could they let me know.

Cheers Chris.

[evildwarf]

Hi don't buy a 2.4 get a three litre and by the sounds of it you should pay no more than £800 and welcome top the nuthouse

[Apache]

The rear window (if its the usual fault) is easy if fiddly to fix. Shouldn't cost anything but a bit of lateral thinking.

Starter motor (if its the usual fault) is again an easy if fiddly fix - around £40 for parts.

The clunk on turning... could be sticky caliper, knackered CV (most likely) or any number of other balljoint woes. Put aside £100 to sort that one.

Window, as you say should just be an hour with the spanners.

If it needs a full service, say £40 for all belts, £20 for oil, £25 for all filters, £10 for coolant, £20 for ATF, £10 for diff oil... might not be an exhaustive list depending on what else you find.

So, whatever the price is, you need to knock off about £250 - if you do ALL of the work yourself. Therefore I wouldn't pay more than about £600 - £700 as tidy 2.4s sell for £750 ish up.

As has been said, you can find 3.0s for less than a grand these days. I know its tempting to buy the first one you see, but shop around. There's plenty out there.

[slobodan]

Surfs are great 4x4's I've owned most and my Surf is one of the best. (that I've owned)
Why bother buying a heap of trouble, the thing has obviously been neglected for all these faults to occur and not rectified straight away. Get yourself a 3.0 with nothing wrong with it. OK so you might pay 1200 to 1500 quid, but then you have a good starting platform.

that's my 2 bobs worth anyway

[Hazzo]

some decent looking three litres on ebay yesterday, some very overpriced but a couple nice ones around 1500, there's cheaper but beware of faulty ones, as said don't go 2.4. H

[Co-Pang-Yang]

What are the 3.0l like for towing and fuel consumption compaired to the 2.4?
The 2.4 i'm talking about he wants no less than £650, stated as having 85K miles with proof and from the pictures looks very very clean (though there was a valeting company truck parked next to it lol)

Also i've convinced my uncle to also get a Hilux, but he owns a farm and wants a 4x4 to use on the fields instead of his Range Rover. What are the surfs like with red diesel? As his will never have mot or tax or go near the public highway he's not spending £1.20+ a litre on diesel lol.

Also is there anything else to look for when viewing Surfs? Leaks, warn bushes, suspension, drivetrain, etc.

Sorry for all the questions
Cheers Chris.

[MattF]

http://forums.bauchan.org/portal/hiluxsurf/info/faq.htm

[Brummie]

I looked for quite some time before I got my 3 litre and finally bought one in Warrington but I must have looked at half a dozen to find the right one at the right price. It had done 73k miles and I paid less than £1200. They are out there just keep looking.
As for mpg I get around 28 keeping below 2500 rpm on a run (29-30 is possible but I'm no saint) and I deliberately dont check arround town No doubt some one who tows will come on and tell you what they are like to tow with.
By the way, welcome to the mad house

[Apache]

No significant difference between 2.4 and 3.0 as far as mpg. 3.0 noticeably more powerful.

Red diesel is just diesel with dye in it. Will be no different.

Things to look for? Yes, all the things you mention, just like any other 2nd hand car you'd look at. Sounds like the one you're looking at has all the stock faults already!

[coolsv650]

What are the 3.0l like for towing and fuel consumption compaired to the 2.4?
The 2.4 i'm talking about he wants no less than £650, stated as having 85K miles with proof and from the pictures looks very very clean (though there was a valeting company truck parked next to it lol)

Also i've convinced my uncle to also get a Hilux, but he owns a farm and wants a 4x4 to use on the fields instead of his Range Rover. What are the surfs like with red diesel? As his will never have mot or tax or go near the public highway he's not spending £1.20+ a litre on diesel lol.

Also is there anything else to look for when viewing Surfs? Leaks, warn bushes, suspension, drivetrain, etc.

Sorry for all the questions
Cheers Chris.

Hello and welcome to the nuthouse.

I've had both a 2.4 & 3.0, cant say I noticed much differance in the towing ability in either one, apart from the 2.4 is a bit slower. I've towed 1500kg of caravan around.

The 3.0ltr one i've got tends to get hot and bothered after a couple of hours, there is an entire towing section on here about them. Stability is good though.

One thing to watch when towing is high A/T temp, the transmission oil cooler is in the bottom of the rad and often when towing up hills out of lock up (55ish) they overheat. I solved mine with an MGB oil cooler in series with the surf one.

If you are looking at a 2.4 try to find out if the head has been changed, as the unmodified ones do have a tendancy to crack, 3.0ltr ones are less problematic but some have cracked.

I tend to find I get between 15 & 22 when towing, but then I have a big hills to climb which ever way I go!!

[Co-Pang-Yang]

Thanks for the link, loads of useful stuff on there.

Well as far as towing goes it could be quiet a bit of weight as my car trailer is over 700kgs empty. Orthough i don't use it that often, mostly i reckon it'll be pulling about a tonne of motocross bikes and trailer.

So do people think its worth £650 for a 2.4 with the faults and low mileage, or will i be better off waiting for a 3.0l.
I know whatever i buy is going to be a lot slower than my 180bhp Vectra, but theres slow and theres really slow lol.

[tintin]

After the vectra i'd say you would hate the 2.4.
Dont get me wrong, i love mine to bits, but i wouldn't want to tow with it especially if i had known how much more power the 3l seems to have.

Good luck with the search, and welcome to the forum

Alan

[Co-Pang-Yang]

ha ha yer i know it'll be slow, but i really really want to have a go at a bit of green laneing. I have a feel the Vec would object to giving that a go so 4x4 it is.
Well guess i'm gonna be on the search for a 3.0l then.

[stormforce]

What are the 3.0l like for towing and fuel consumption compaired to the 2.4?
The 2.4 i'm talking about he wants no less than £650, stated as having 85K miles with proof and from the pictures looks very very clean (though there was a valeting company truck parked next to it lol)

Also i've convinced my uncle to also get a Hilux, but he owns a farm and wants a 4x4 to use on the fields instead of his Range Rover. What are the surfs like with red diesel? As his will never have mot or tax or go near the public highway he's not spending £1.20+ a litre on diesel lol.

Also is there anything else to look for when viewing Surfs? Leaks, warn bushes, suspension, drivetrain, etc.

Sorry for all the questions
Cheers Chris.

I tow a car trailer and with a surf on its 2.5t.i get about 20-21mpg from mine which i think is good

[PDR]

Off the top of my head, the 2.4 has about 85 bhp, 3.0 140 bhp and the V6 petrol has 150 bhp...... so yes, the 2.4’s are SLOW