Am I mad

[johnd]

Well am I.

I have owned my surf for 12 years , it has never failed an MOT.

Last year I fitted ,pitman arm, steering idler , steering tie rod set both sides, both bottom ball joints and front discs and pads.

Then I had my brake pipe burst going down a hill in Wales ( fun ) so had to run two new pipes, as I did that I found a broken spring and blown shocker on the rear so I fitted a pair of each.

Now I need tyres .

Wife thinks I should just get a new truck but I like it , it has never let me down( apart from the one time on a Welsh hill lol) and has taken me everywhere I have asked of it .

Even with the tyres I don't think I will have spent more than £900 on all the above .

So what do you think , keep it going ?

[Bogus]

I think you know the answer.

[budweiser]

you got the same roof rack as mine! better check if still there.

if is me, i will keep it, and fix it when i can, well that is what im doing with my own. step at the time

[johnd]

I think you know the answer.

yer i do , well off to order some new boots then

[POPEYE]

That's what puts me off getting rid, 12 years trouble free as well, only one mot fail and that was my fault for not checking and adj the handbrake, I know it inside out, if I got a "sensible" car it may be the biggest pile of shite, if my daughters cars are owt to go by I think i'll keep it, they always seem to fail mots, cost a fortune, break down, in the 12 years I had the Surf they've had several cars each and spent loads,

[Bogus]

Ive toyed with the idea of getting rid of mine for a " sensible" runaround, even advertised it for sale once, then pulled the ad next day. Had my current one for 10 years, never spent anything on it that I didnt want to other than consumables , and road rent this year was-only £ 230 which also applies to plenty of sensible cars. its only doing around 3000 miles a year these days and MOTd a month back with NO advisories. Good chance it will outlast me, so it stays.

[The Boo Crew]

Why sell it if you have done a load of work? It wouldn't have added any value and your next motor might need money spending on it! Just keep it and tell her to mind her own business besides the fact if your fixing your car you aren't under her feet

[Diezel Weazel]

John gotta agree with Alex (Bogus) n Ian (POPEYE)
One Life Live it Driving not keep fixing it !!
A Total of 16+ Years Of Surfs a 2.4 n 3.0l (all daily drivers)
You name it it's done it.. would be without one !!
Got to do a steering damper & Pitman arm next week a First ...
Headlamps I've never replaced one yet, stop /tail bulbs changed 3.
Regularly serviced, maintained n occasionally modded as necessary .....
If it ain't broke n it does all ya want/need it to .. It's a no brainer !!

16+ Years of Surfs .. Spotless it ain't but Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !!

[johnd]

That's it then , she stays

i forgot to add, i did fit a new rear window reg last year so that should be good for another 23 years .

so wheels off for a repaint before she gets new shoes and i will need two doors soon .

what was i thinking.

[T4R]

No, not mad at all...very sensible in fact.

Think about it like this:

Ok, so you buy a newer 4x4 to replace your surf. Cost: maybe £20k or more, to get something decent that should be reasonably trouble free. Depreciation over 10 years...that's your £20k gone. It might be more economical on fuel, be a little more comfortable and have more toys, but how do you fix it when it goes wrong? Nowadays you've got to plug a car into a laptop to find out what's wrong with it. Even when you do know what the problem is, you've got to get an expert to fix it with special tools, maybe even special software. You'll also have a car that can't run on veg oil, whereas the Surf can.

So stick with the Surf...she's a beauty anyway, how could you think of getting rid of her?

[NiftyNev]

My Surf has been with me for about fourteen years and even though it has given me a few problems lately (mostly easy to fix) I would not get rid of it.

Nev.

[Wølf]

Im going to play devils advocate and say get a new truck.
Dont get me wrong, surfs are awesome trucks but they wont stay reliable for ever unless you continually replace small parts here and there which is when you may as well own a land rover.
I still have my surf parked up outside not doing anything as all of a sudden everything started to go wrong (bushes, Windows, waterpump, bit of rust, steering, mpg) so i decided to park it up and buy a mk6 doublecab with a canopy.
So far i havnt looked back! 3.0 d4d is a tank of an engine which regularly sees me getting 40mpg as opposed to low 20s with the surf, drives like its on rails, rear lsd as standard and is actually cheaper to insure for whatever reason.
Everyone has their own reasons but for me it was the fact i work as a forestry forwarder operator which sees me travelling many miles a day to go to various remote forestry sites and the increasing repair and fuel costs put the final nail in the coffin.

[tashtego]

For sure, you have a point, when it comes to fuel economy and practicality, especially if you need a 4x4 for your daily work, the modern pick up wins.
I think Surfs, Prados etc are still great for travel and leisure, more comfortable than pickups and more user friendly for family trips and expeditions.
As they are now 20+, you are constantly replacing bits and pieces, especially if you do high mileage. I find that to be part of the fun though, since it's rare for major things to go wrong, provided you are servicing them well. Unlike...land rovers , where a catastrophic failure can spring up at any moment...:happyrol

[Diezel Weazel]

For sure, you have a point, when it comes to fuel economy and practicality, especially if you need a 4x4 for your daily work, the modern pick up wins.
I think Surfs, Prados etc are still great for travel and leisure, more comfortable than pickups and more user friendly for family trips and expeditions.
As they are now 20+, you are constantly replacing bits and pieces, especially if you do high mileage. I find that to be part of the fun though, since it's rare for major things to go wrong, provided you are servicing them well. Unlike...land rovers , where a catastrophic failure can spring up at any moment...:happyrol

tash ya hit nail fairly n squarely on the Head ..... Fun to Drive (head turner, Mud covered Hippo's especially) simple n fun to fix too.... (especially when restricted through disability or getting on in older age

16+ Years of Surfs n 9 years on Spotless it ain't but Faultless to a "T" is my KZN 130 Yota !!

[jonathan blane]

Does anyone know what year Toyota started putting all the modern electronics into Surfs ?
I keep reading horror stories about modern cars in general costing fortunes to fix whenever a chip breaks.
Something which in the past was a simple, cheap repair now costs hundreds.
Cars losing power when driving down a motorway and other frighteners.

I am thinking ( not in any sense urgently ) of maybe at some point getting a Surf from the 2005 or a bit later versions - but I don't think I would if by then Toyota were imposing computer controls everywhere .
For the moment I am happy with my 1996/7 model.
But just in case it should start giving trouble would like to know what options there are with later models.

https://www.beforward.jp/toyota/hilu...257/id/787540/

This one for instance caught my eye.