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Hello all,
My name is Frans, I live in The Netherlands and I'm 56 years of age.
I am looking to buy a 4x4 vehicle for greenlaning, mainly during holidays. After much deliberation I think I will take a shot at sourcing a 3rd gen Hilux Surf 3.4 litre in Japan. I've already found a lot of useful information on this and other forums, and now I'm trying to determine whether to go for an early one, or try and find a 1999 or later.
Early cars will be cheaper, not just because these are sold at lower prices, but also because cars manufactured in 1998 or later years are more expensive to import into The Netherlands. The reason is that an individual type approval is required, which involves a very tedious process.
In view of this, the following questions come to mind:
1) Are 1996 or 1997 vehicles more prone to rust than later cars? (apart from the fact that an early car has had more time to rust);
2) Do earlier cars have other weaknesses which have been eliminated in later years?
3) Full time 4WD is an absolute requirement for me; am I right in thinking that many [B]early [/B]Surfs have the Multimode transfer case (VF3AM), which has [B]full time[/B] 4WD? For the 4Runner as it was sold in the USA, this transfer case was only available in the Limited spec [B]from 1999[/B] onwards.
Any thoughts on (dis)advantages of early versus late 3rd gen Surfs are much appreciated, thanks!
Regards,
Frans
My name is Frans, I live in The Netherlands and I'm 56 years of age.
I am looking to buy a 4x4 vehicle for greenlaning, mainly during holidays. After much deliberation I think I will take a shot at sourcing a 3rd gen Hilux Surf 3.4 litre in Japan. I've already found a lot of useful information on this and other forums, and now I'm trying to determine whether to go for an early one, or try and find a 1999 or later.
Early cars will be cheaper, not just because these are sold at lower prices, but also because cars manufactured in 1998 or later years are more expensive to import into The Netherlands. The reason is that an individual type approval is required, which involves a very tedious process.
In view of this, the following questions come to mind:
1) Are 1996 or 1997 vehicles more prone to rust than later cars? (apart from the fact that an early car has had more time to rust);
2) Do earlier cars have other weaknesses which have been eliminated in later years?
3) Full time 4WD is an absolute requirement for me; am I right in thinking that many [B]early [/B]Surfs have the Multimode transfer case (VF3AM), which has [B]full time[/B] 4WD? For the 4Runner as it was sold in the USA, this transfer case was only available in the Limited spec [B]from 1999[/B] onwards.
Any thoughts on (dis)advantages of early versus late 3rd gen Surfs are much appreciated, thanks!
Regards,
Frans