Would like a Surf, But now I'm not so sure

[ben2611]

Go for it Ian, treat yourself for Christmas!!

I have read this thread with much interest and as usual the true answers come from those guys who are at the blood and guts end of ownership. You can see I don`t post very often as I very rarely have problems with my 2nd gen 3.0. If you service them when they should be, oil/filters etc and get your grease gun out for prop/hubs etc you should be fine. Fact is there are some muppets on here who confess to the `performance` when you turn the overdrive off and run the ETC button but they are just clowns who thrash them for a fortnight and blow them up and then moan about it.

These are 2 tonne trucks that will give years of service when treated/driven correctly. I tow a trailer of nearly 2tonne quite regularly( to Belgium etc) and have never had a serious problem. Listen to people like Bushwacker and Tony N - they are the guys who know their stuff!

Ben

[laser_jock99]

This thread is getting like The Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

I've thrashed my Surf to within an inch of it's life. Had it over 5 years and almost reached 200,000 km- and it still continues to drive okay. It's been flooded inside to radio level (twice), gets offroaded daily, tows my boat, is filled with logs/sand/paving slabs, drives the 50 mile round trip to work and still is a great family motor.





They're indistrucble- haven't you seen Top Gear?

[stormforce]

i had a 2.4 for 2 years and not a problem at all with that one.I then upgraded to a 3.0l.I had a few small problems but they were sorted easily enough.Since september i have spent near on 1.5k on my truck but all on mods and it is well worth it.If you want to make sure you get a good truck try to get one from a forum member then you know its looked after and serviced regular even if its been off roaded.You will read more of the downside of these trucks then the upside but take on board what people say are the good points which there are loads and out do the bad points so go on go and buy one.

[The Lovely Boyo]

Hey Laser Jock.........

That is one seriously wet truck - twice you say!

Funny as.

[laser_jock99]

Hey Laser Jock.........

That is one seriously wet truck - twice you say!

Funny as.

Got it up and running again after half an hour- even though the ECU was submerged!

[toyotav84x4]

HA !

This is a site for the hilux enthusiast!

[internetsurfer]

i owned mine for 2 years and in that time it never let me down . Quit wingeing and buy 1.

[soramad]

i have had my surf about six weeks in that time the love of my life (in the motor world) my soarer has not moved in fact the battery is flat at the moment, this all came about after i discovered that up to quite high speeds i could sling the surf about nearly as hard as the soarer on top of which most normal cars are left in its wake at take off(saw off a 320 diesel beemer tonight coming up from south wales it was useless going up hills i left it for dead caught me up again as i was turning off the M50)

[muller1]

Surf Surf Surf

Get a Gen 3 Surf and you will not regret it.
You should get a good one for less than £5500 private and think of a used car warranty for about £180.
Youn hear all the problems and horror storeys here because that is what this form is for .
It is for help with problems not for telling people what they allready know that the surf is No 1.

When you get a Toyota surf you are getting the BEST , ok there are some buckets out there but the same can be said for Ford, Nissan. Mitsibushi.Volvo etc,etc.etc.
I also have a couple of Volvo V70s and you should see the horror storeys about tham on the Volvo forum also.

I am fure you will get bthe same picture on and makers club or gripe forum..It would be most boreing if everyone wrote in and said how good their model was and they never went wrong and never used fuel of oil . I am sure you get my drift.

Satisfied Surf (and Volvo) owner.
ps my Volvos are used only when I think they are starting to sulk.


Mike

[muller1]

Surf Surf Surf

Get a Gen 3 Surf and you will not regret it.
You should get a good one for less than £5500 private and think of a used car warranty for about £180.
Youn hear all the problems and horror storeys here because that is what this form is for .
It is for help with problems not for telling people what they allready know that the surf is No 1.

When you get a Toyota surf you are getting the BEST , ok there are some buckets out there but the same can be said for Ford, Nissan. Mitsibushi.Volvo etc,etc.etc.
I also have a couple of Volvo V70s and you should see the horror storeys about tham on the Volvo forum also.

I am sure you will get the same picture on any makers club or gripe forum..It would be most boreing if everyone wrote in and said how good their model was and they never went wrong and never used fuel of oil . I am sure you get my drift.

Satisfied Surf (and Volvo) owner.
ps my Volvos are used only when I think they are starting to sulk.


Mike

[ian2144]

Get a Gen 3 Surf and you will not regret it.
You should get a good one for less than £5500 private and think of a used car warranty for about £180.
Youn hear all the problems and horror storeys here because that is what this form is for .
It is for help with problems not for telling people what they allready know that the surf is No 1.

When you get a Toyota surf you are getting the BEST , ok there are some buckets out there but the same can be said for Ford, Nissan. Mitsibushi.Volvo etc,etc.etc.
I also have a couple of Volvo V70s and you should see the horror storeys about tham on the Volvo forum also.

I am sure you will get the same picture on any makers club or gripe forum..It would be most boreing if everyone wrote in and said how good their model was and they never went wrong and never used fuel of oil . I am sure you get my drift.

Satisfied Surf (and Volvo) owner.
ps my Volvos are used only when I think they are starting to sulk.


Mike

Thanks for that Mike.......Some time next year a Surf will replace my Fourtrak.

Where are you?? in the Shire !!

Cheers

Ian.......

[dee]

I'm in a similar position to Ian to a certain extent, I'm looking to buy my 1st 4x4 and was on the point of buying a fourtrak but a friend suggested a surf...

I'm pretty convinced but my budget is pretty limited but I have no fear when it comes to spannering so have been looking at early & slightly distressed trucks, just need to find the right one, although was mighty miffed to have missed an ebay special on Skye a few days back and spotted one in the for sale bit with an overheating problem, emailed the guy, no reply

my time will come, I hope

[nero279]

overheating problems on surfs can turn out to be expensive, that's probably one to watch out for, even doing the work yourself a cracked head aint a cheap fix. Not trying to put you off, any car the same sort of age would have it's problems, but just incase you didn't know cracked heads are a problem on surfs. Even with the cost of replacing a head (if it needs it) though you still get a lot of motor for your money.

[dee]

very aware of the issues with cracked heads on the 2.4 in particular, from what I've read this appears to be the biggest single concern, everything else can be considered pretty much wear and tear.

as I said, quite miffed I missed THIS one as from the description was perfect, suspect the price remained low due to the sellers location...

[nero279]

IF i was to put mine on the bay now, i would expect £1000, prefer £1200, anything over that would be a bonus. OK that's in better condition and got a years MOT, Whereas mine's been offroaded and only 6 months MOT but still mechanically sound(sort of in a roundabout kind of way) and pretty well rust free. Even the prices above i'm sure some people would suggest ambitious for my vehicle.

I would expect it is purely the location that's kept it to a grand rather than maybe £1500 for the same vehicle on the mainland?