Toyota Surf - Good buy or ???

Pelesino,

Had a Surf once. It was a great size but I could not afford to keep the motors up to it. Did two in three years.
The 2.4 are also renowned for overheating.
Parts are not a major problem contrary to what you hear.

There is a good Toyota Surf forum on the net. Do not have a link but it is not hard to locate

Redeye

i have a friend at work who recently purchased a 2.4turbo surf...........nothing complimentary could be said about the drive train even though he was happy with all the other stuff. lo and behold a trip down the beach and things started to change as it is pretty good with the auto and engine sort of working out ok with some problems with fuel consumption and lack of power it was off to some people for a look (and a bit of to and fro on one of the surf websites). and there along with the advice given to each and every person who purchases a japanese 2nd hand diesel 4wd - get them recalibrated for aust. conditions (and this includes our wonderful world class diesel fuel) and you will not have problems - leave them as they are and they will smoke and guzzle fuel and not perform and overheat and eventually go BANG. if and when you get one if it has not already been recalibrated and set up for aust then get the price reduced and get it done yourself. as a vehicle they are ok in that they are just a 4runner with lots of fancy stuff on them. rgds

How good they are might depend on what you want to use it for. My experience witha 4 runner, followed by an old 60 series suggested that a 4runner/surf is much more likely to break things if you do much off road. A 60 series is a much cheaper option to buy and run if you are going to use the 4WD as a 4WD. We found that a loaded up 60 series is also a more comfortable highway cruiser than the 4runner/surf and there isn't much difference in diesel use between the two. In fact, the 60 series often uses less fuel
The electric back window in the surfs/4runners is a major problem. They MUST be wound all the way down before the tailgate can be opened. There is no manual over ride. Dust etc stuffs them up and then you find you can't get into the rear(or you can get it down, but you can't close the thing.. Not a great experience outback. And the window motors aren't cheap. I would only consider one if I rarely went off road. You also need to check insurance cover. I understand that many companies won't insure Surfs, however the 4runner is no problem to insure.

Hi,
yes I can say the surf I had was one of the best cars ever, the advise about ins' is correct though the R.A.C. will ins' no prob' the back window was the ONLY thing I did'nt like about it, if I could do it all again, I'd get the 3 Lt version and would have been a very happy chappy, it was a great car still miss it, right size, right grunt, right feel,as for consumption I used to get around 10 K's to the Lt, brilliant,
hope this helps,
Dave

I forgot to add. I had the 2.8 diesel engine with a turbo. The gearing however meant that I was pulling close to 3000rpm at 100kmh whereas the 60 series diesel is much more relaxed in 5th gear and this also leads to my thinking that they are a better proposition than a 4runner/surf if you go bush a lot.

I know this is not quite the question you are asking but i owned a similiar vehicle , a s/hand imported Nissan Terrano , was a great little vehicle , 2.7 turbo diesel , but one major fault similiar to Surf , soon as you tow a trailer , caravan , camper trailer up a hill , up goes the temp.

HI Pelesinso,
Ive had my Surf for almost 7 years..(geeze where has the time / money gone) lol... I bought the surf with 88k on the clock in 2000. In that time I have had to replace / fix the following:

New clutch
New fly wheel
New head (DONT GET A RECO ONE) pay the money and go brand new
New Turbo Casing
New radiator (did that with the head job)
(now ive got an oil leak that no one can find )

Ok im not trying to scare you off...just give yo u a heads up from what what I have had problems with. During the time I have had the surf it has taken me from Sydney to Cairns twice, Cairns to Darwin, Darwin to Sydney via Adelaide / Melbourne. During those long distance hauls it has never missed a beat. you might want to try finding some decent seats to them though as the standard recaros are pretty hard and unforgiving. I have never had a drama with it off road. The only thing I dont like abuot it is the limited whell travel with the IFs however I am going to fit a skyjakker kit and then 2''body lift and 33''s to overcome some of that problem.

As for problems with servicing / parts go on the surf forum www.toyotasurf.asn.au and look for a guy called parra surf..he can hook you up with any part you need

Hope this helps

REXY