Newby saying hello

[TwoBobRob]

Hi everyone.

I've been a fan of the Surf/4Runners for a good long while and am now in the position to buy one I think.

As a young man I owned an early (81) Hilux 4x4 with some nice 33s on it, bars, cage etc. Sold it to help with the deposit on my first flat. Always regretted that decision.....

Anyways, I'm fairly mechanically knowledgeable (25 years in the motor trade) and have a good amount of mechanical sympathy so I'm sure I can nurse one of these things along nicely.

I do not, however, know where to start choosing a Surf/4Runner. I do know that I'm inside the LEZ (don't get me started... Grrrr.....), I have no problem with petrols engines, I need to tow a trailer and aircon is a must.

Aside from that, I'm open to suggestions from you good people

Right, I'm off to have a nose around.

Thanks in advance, virtual drinks are on me.

[HONEST AL]

Rob,hi and welcome to the nut house

[TwoBobRob]

Cheer mate.

I've had a good read, loving the banter/abuse. Nice to see people aren't too precious on here

[TonyN]

I have no problem with petrols engines, I need to tow a trailer and aircon is a must.

Best value for money would be a the 2.7 petrol 3rd Gen.

New enough to have lots of years use left in it, best towing capacity, and nice motor.

The 3.4 V6 would make a slighty better tow car, but MPG drops dramatically for general round town driving.

Nothing wrong with the 3.0 oil burner 2nd and 3rd Gens, but 2nd gens are getting long in the tooth but good value, intercooled diesel 3rd Gens are nice, but petrol ones are quite a bit cheaper.

I wouldn't bother with a 3.0 V6 2nd Gen unless its really cheap, they sound nice and go smoothly, but very uneconomical.

You won't find a UK 4Runner with A/C unless you're really lucky, most Surfs are Autos, most 4Runners are becoming victims of noticable corrosion compared to same year Surfs.

[TwoBobRob]

Thanks for that.

I'm happy to own an auto - the towing I'll be doing won't be super heavy or massively frequent, it'll just be a back up for my business pulling the odd load of scrap plywood away from jobs. I'm a lazy driver so autos suit me fine.

If I've read various threads correctly, I need to see 'estate' on the logbook of any diesel I go to look at to be sure I'm ok LEZ-wise - is this still the case?

And now the $64,000 question - where best to look for a good one?

Obviously I've trawled the Bay and Autotrader but to be honest I'd rather buy from a forum member. In my experience on other forums the kit tends to be generally better (or much worse but clearly stated) from forums.

[MWS]

Hey, Bob. Enjoy the forum.

[TwoBobRob]

Cheers mate.

[TonyN]

I'm happy to own an auto - the towing I'll be doing won't be super heavy or massively frequent, it'll just be a back up for my business pulling the odd load of scrap plywood away from jobs. I'm a lazy driver so autos suit me fine.

If I've read various threads correctly, I need to see 'estate' on the logbook of any diesel I go to look at to be sure I'm ok LEZ-wise - is this still the case?

The Surf Autobox really a good gearbox, its pretty strong and works well offroad too with surprising amount of feel on and off the throttle.

I 'think' the LEZ thing is sorted now, someone there was sorting out wrongly registered trucks without headaches last I heard. But not had to do it myself.

I bought a 3rd Gen awhile back and just filled in the log book with corrections to the Body type from Light Utility/4x4 to SUV/Estate along with change of owner details and it just came back all changed with no problems. But others had problems with DVLA, so maybe I was just lucky.

We had a huge thread on it here, with details of who to contact, and also Roughtrax has info links on their website to about sorting it out too.

[Balllsy]

Hi, welcome !

[TwoBobRob]

Cheers Balllsy.

TonyN - found that thread last night. Typical government department eh?