Hiace v transporter v transit lwb

josealdo

hi folks

i'm looking for a surf wagon , something i can sleep in and store some gear . a mechanic told me that a hiace is super relaible compared to a transporter , that a 14mm spanner and you can cure anything on a hiace .

lots of spare parts for tranits , cheap as chips .

any other options ?

cheers folks

figs

colm_mcm

A transit lwb would be massive compared to a lwb hiace

Isn't there an unwritten rule that surfers have to buy transporters?

josealdo

colm_mcm wrote: »

A transit lwb would be massive compared to a lwb hiace

Isn't there an unwritten rule that surfers have to buy transporters?

LOL . yea i know , a lot of surfers drive vw's , i would rather a reliable machine than one to fit in with the posers driving vw's and wearing billabong gear and can't surf for sh1t .


i'm just wondering whats the best machine in thems of mpg , value for money , reliability . cost of servicing , cost of running . i need to save my money to buy more billabong t shirts .

things like drivability and perforance and how a board looks like on the roof are not important .

thanks again

tommyspiggy

Id go with the hiace, very reliable from the neighbours point of view, Very popular in my area and from what i have seen too, and toyotas are always good

colm_mcm

You won't get more reliable than an old 2.4 hiace. Problem is they are heavy enough on diesel and short on luxuries like ABS

josealdo

are transits reliable too , i heard they are bulletproof

tommyspiggy

@figs666, my friend has a 03 transit , its a fairly bad vechile with loads of problems not caused by the man, they are mechanical problems, the older transits are away better , so my advice if going for a transit , go for the older ones, uncle had one for years not a sign of bother

Stavros Murphy

tommyspiggy wrote: »

@figs666, my friend has a 03 transit , its a fairly bad vechile with loads of problems not caused by the man, they are mechanical problems, the older transits are away better , so my advice if going for a transit , go for the older ones, uncle had one for years not a sign of bother

cough;rust;cough

tommyspiggy

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

cough;rust;cough

There are a few clean ones out there still , i agree a lot of them are rusty but still many can be done up ...
Still i think hiaces are much more reliable , and comfortable , may not have all the things like abs and stuff but certainly would do the job fine, but ya would want to check the fuel economy of them first

corkgsxr

Hiaces might be more reliable but horrible place to be.

New or old its seems same difference.

No power. Handles like a ship. Probably heavier on diesel than the sed ship.

Seats and seating position are crap. The interior is just flat slabs of plastic.

I can honestly say if I had to choose pre 07 it'd be a tough choice between transit and transporter. Go back to round 02/03 id go transit.

After 07 its trafic/vivaro all the way.

JohnBoy26

Those hiace a brilliant reliable vans. You won't get a more reliable van but they are heavy on diesel, however you won't have to spend a lot of money on repairs like you do on other vans.

I'd avoid the post 00 model transits as they are muck IMO, as are Renaults/Nissans/opels such as the trafic, primastar, vivaro.

The transporter mightn't be a bad choice though, although they can suffer from niggles.

Bpmull

When my dad set up his business in 2004 the first van he bought was a cheap hiace possibly 98 one I can't remember. And I think the van actually encouraged him to make a success of the business so he could buy a new van yes it was that sh!t. He despised that van. As said no extras or creature comforts not even abs which isn't exactly a luxury extra. It was very uncomfortable on long trips. Not very powerful for a 2.4. And worst of all the fuel consumption an absolute joke when it comes to fuel your looking at early 20s at best :eek: reliable yes but in the way that you wish it would break down but it doesn't just to spite you

Anyway he kept it for 6 months and then bought a brand new vivaro and he loved that. 20 plus vans later ( mainly Renaults) and the hiace was still the worst. The only thing the hiace have going for them is reliability you can't take that away from them but that's it. I'd go for the transporter out of your list.

JohnBoy26

Bpmull wrote: »

When my dad set up his business in 2004 the first van he bought was a cheap hiace possibly 98 one I can't remember. And I think the van actually encouraged him to make a success of the business so he could buy a new van yes it was that sh!t. He despised that van. As said no extras or creature comforts not even abs which isn't exactly a luxury extra. It was very uncomfortable on long trips. Not very powerful for a 2.4. And worst of all the fuel consumption an absolute joke when it comes to fuel your looking at early 20s at best :eek: reliable yes but in the way that you wish it would break down but it doesn't just to spite you

Anyway he kept it for 6 months and then bought a brand new vivaro and he loved that. 20 plus vans later ( mainly Renaults) and the hiace was still the worst. The only thing the hiace have going for them is reliability you can't take that away from them but that's it. I'd go for the transporter out of your list.

mechanically the hiace is miles ahead of those Renaults (which are pure muck in that department) and any hiace I have experience with has got a good bit better than 20mpg, they usually do around the late 20s early 30s mpgs.

A hiace mightn't be as comfortable as a reno but what good is comfort when it has your heart broken with problems.

Bpmull

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

mechanically the hiace is miles ahead of those Renaults (which are pure muck in that department) and any hiace I have experience with has got a good bit better than 20mpg, they usually do around the late 20s early 30s mpgs.

A hiace hiace mightn't be as comfortable as a reno but what good is comfort when it has your heart broken with problems.

I agree with you they are reliable. We had little trouble with the renaults overall bits and pieces here and there going wrong. But some of them would of had hard enough lives not the best drivers in and out of building sites and all that. Now in saying all that a lot of the vans were bought new and would of had good service history. Renaults won't take abuse as well as hiaces at all. And I would be very nervous/slow to go out and buy a 6 or 8 year old Renault van because a lot of them will cause trouble but it's down to lack of maintenance in a lot of case.

As for the transporter I know a lot of people who own them and all I hear is good things about them. They seem reliable even when the mileage gets high on them.

JohnBoy26

Bpmull wrote: »

I agree with you they are reliable. We had little trouble with the renaults overall bits and pieces here and there going wrong. But some of them would of had hard enough lives not the best drivers in and out of building sites and all that. Now in saying all that a lot of the vans were bought new and would of had good service history. Renaults won't take abuse as well as hiaces at all. And I would be very nervous/slow to go out and buy a 6 or 8 year old Renault van because a lot of them will cause trouble but it's down to lack of maintenance in a lot of case.

As for the transporter I know a lot of people who own them and all I hear is good things about them. They seem reliable even when the mileage gets high on them.

The problems with the renaults also effects well maintained examples. I know of two 1.9 trafics that suffered from injector trouble and both had a fsh. In one case one of the injectors was siezed into the head(common problem on renaults) and was a very difficult to remove.

I also know of a 2008 primastar that suffered from injector issues and that had very low mileage and a fsh. It was also the newer 2.0

They also suffer from many other problems such as gearboxes, egr valves etc.

Nice vans to drive though

corkgsxr

07 and after is a completely different van besides body. (Ever see a rusty one? Nope)

In terms of power handling and comfort there miles ahead of everything else. And anything modern will give just as much issues

JohnBoy26

corkgsxr wrote: »

07 and after is a completely different van besides body. (Ever see a rusty one? Nope)

In terms of power handling and comfort there miles ahead of everything else. And anything modern will give just as much issues

They are the same van apart from a small few cosmetic changes and a newer 2.0 engine which gives exactly the same issues as the 1.9

Rust is a moot point as the transporter nor the hiace have rust problems either.

Those renaults are nice to drive but they are iffy in reliability terms which is something that would rank higher than comfort for me.

josealdo

my mate bought a vivaro and the timing belt shat itself after 2 days .

Stavros Murphy

I like the 03/04/05 Transit the best. They drive nice enough and are quite tough(actually very tough). I've a few. I also have a Hiace that never breaks, ever. Yawn though. Exaggerating the fuel use here though lads, they're not that hard on diesel. Same as the transit as it happens, just they're a smaller van using the same juice.

corkgsxr

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

I like the 03/04/05 Transit the best. They drive nice enough and are quite tough(actually very tough). I've a few. I also have a Hiace that never breaks, ever. Yawn though. Exaggerating the fuel use here though lads, they're not that hard on diesel. Same as the transit as it happens, just they're a smaller van using the same juice.

Id have a heavy foot and I get low 30's In the 04 transit. In the hiace its 25 best

Stavros Murphy

corkgsxr wrote: »

Id have a heavy foot and I get low 30's In the 04 transit. In the hiace its 25 best

Hiace is broken!

K.Flyer

My brother is a surfer and a paddler and he swears by the Transit LWB.
He got all his gear inside, plus room to sleep and put over 400,000 miles on it with regular trips to southerm europe.
Cheap to buy and run and you can get parts almost anywhere for them.

Markcheese

figs666 wrote: »

my mate bought a vivaro and the timing belt shat itself after 2 days .

2 hours 2 day 2 weeks, if it ain't maintained a timing belt can go anytime on anything ....!!!
I killed a 98 hi-ace when the timing belt pulley collapsed ...

corkgsxr

On an diff option what about a fiat ducato?

josealdo

corkgsxr wrote: »

On an diff option what about a fiat ducato?

is FIAT Fix It Again Tomorow , are they a reliable . my nephews punto had a meltdown and my mate punto had similar problem



if the ducato was hassle free , then i'd get one ,

Markcheese

OP , What's yr budget ? ? What year do you want to want (aprox) ?
If you own it privately are you going to get hammered by road tax ?? ( can't remember what road tax is on a 2.4 but it ain't cheap)

corkgsxr

figs666 wrote: »

is FIAT Fix It Again Tomorow , are they a reliable . my nephews punto had a meltdown and my mate punto had similar problem



if the ducato was hassle free , then i'd get one ,

Fiat diesels were always much better than the petrols.

Id say 40% of campers out there are ducatos

josealdo

Markcheese wrote: »

OP , What's yr budget ? ? What year do you want to want (aprox) ?
If you own it privately are you going to get hammered by road tax ?? ( can't remember what road tax is on a 2.4 but it ain't cheap)

5000 ,budget

good point about road tax , i could tax it as camper and save a packet

alias no.9

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

Hiace is broken!

But they never break

Markcheese

figs666 wrote: »

5000 ,budget

good point about road tax , i could tax it as camper and save a packet

Don't think that's as simple as it used to be either !! Might be worth going on the camper van forum to ask ...
5 grand'd buy you an old merc camper, right time of the year to buy as well..
Is it going to be your daily driver?? Or just a surf wagon ..?

josealdo

daily driver too

bs2014

To be fair, a surfer driving a hiace just doesn't fit the part! Hence why Billabong Ireland have a transporter and amarok i believe.

josealdo

bs2014 wrote: »

To be fair, a surfer driving a hiace just doesn't fit the part! Hence why Billabong Ireland have a transporter and amarok i believe.

LOL . i don't follow the billabong brigade . idiots in overpriced clothes