My hiace I have for work hasn't missed a beat. Carry heaps of gear. Just put an airbag kit under the back to even it up(used to be low on the drivers side. Bigger racks there).Not as comfy as the previous model I had but still not bad. Petrol auto at 2.7t fully loaded still goes ok.
My old man used to have the Hiace about 10-12yr ago for his work as a traveling sales rep from Mackay to Cape York. averaging 3000-4000km per week. really good car on fuel and travel. Not the most comfortable as a passenger due to lack of leg room and unable to recline the seat though. If you like your aircon, put a barrier behind the seats as it will be lost in the back. His used to be loaded to the hilt with Small engine parts and accessories so quite heavy especially with sometimes about 200-300kgs alone of mower and rideon blades, and other mower parts. So they can handle a good bit of weight and still sit comfortably on the highway at speed.
Best advice, Go and test drive different ones and find the one your comfortable driving, if you dont like it, trade it in after a couple of years.
Best friend has a current series Hiace for work. It's not his so he thrashes it, but he's very happy with it and it hasn't caused him any dramas. It's also not bad to drive, as far as vans go.
Select to expand quotestackie said..
My hiace I have for work hasn't missed a beat. Carry heaps of gear. Just put an airbag kit under the back to even it up(used to be low on the drivers side. Bigger racks there).Not as comfy as the previous model I had but still not bad. Petrol auto at 2.7t fully loaded still goes ok.
My Hiace is the same model, how are the air bags going? I may have to get some, my shelving is all on the drivers side.
Little bit dissapointed that the cabin area has been shoved forward giving less legroom than the previous model especially noticable in the middle seat. I'm on my fourth Hiace and had two Nissan vans but this model is by far the best to drive of all of them.
Has anyone ever lowered their van and or fitted car tyres instead of commercials?
Was it worth doing from a handling aspect? Does it make the van feel more secure on the road? Nicer to drive?
I took the 'helper sping' leaf out of my springs on my Mazda E2000. It made the ride much better as it was setup to handle a tonne or something similar, but windsurfing gear weighs bugger all. Before I took the extra leaf out it was bumpier and too firm. Afterwards much better.
I tried to get car tyres fitted but no one would do it for me as they insisted that it was a commercial van so they are only allowed to fit commercial tyres. That said, the ones I had fitted felt fine. With the noise and vibration of the E2000, not much else was noticeable 
Yes, they ride too hard for a windsurfing bus. I dropped my tyre pressures to get things feeling a little more comfortable.
On some of these Kiwi mountain passes the tall ride height, hard suspension, skinny tyres, and wet conditions make you feel like your days are numbered.
Select to expand quoteikw777 said..
Has anyone ever lowered their van and or fitted car tyres instead of commercials?
Was it worth doing from a handling aspect? Does it make the van feel more secure on the road? Nicer to drive?
I lowered my 2000 model HiAce 50mm by winding down the torsion bars on the front, made steel lowering blocks and longer Ubolts on the rear and took out the helper spring as well as cutting 30mm off the rubber stops.
Made a huge difference in better cornering and roadholding, particularly in strong crosswinds.
Did occasionally bottom out but only the biggest bumps.
But chek with your insurance, modified vehicles aren't covered without a engineers cert.
Select to expand quoteikw777 said..
There's no doubt that head on crash safety is poor in forward control vans (side impact is good however because of the height of he driver's set). I'm driving a Nissan van here in NZ right now and I notice I have adjusted my driving style, i.e. much slower, much more attentive, much more careful.
The vans with a nose can't compete in interior space though, especially length (which you need for windsurfing) and I have been surprised to find that I love driving "cabover" vehicles. Great view/visibility and fun at low speeds.
Probably get a Hiace and do this to it. 
This is awesome! Wonder if they ship the mods...... very cool VW look.
Found on a any Japanese site. It seemed like you could buy these over there. Certainly looks great. How much better would the world be if all hiaces looked like this?
I have heard that a good fix for transit vans and thier horribly pricy to fix diesel engines is to hook a commodore V6 engine and gearbox/ auto into them.
I reckon a long wheel base transit would be a lot roomier than a jap van- and the V6 would give it decent reliability.
Transits with dead or dying engines seem to be fairly common, and holden V6's are everywhere.
There is a mob somewhere on the wrong side of Eucla that make conversion kits.[if I can find the link I will post it here later]
Having said that, hooking a holden motor into a ford just makes my skin crawl- even if it is good from an engineering point of view........
stephen
My budget would just about stretch to something like these:
Autohttp://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/toyota-hiace-2007-14797192?base=1216&vertical=Car&cr=0&eapi=2&__N=1246%201252%201247%201282%204294962861%204294962534%20900%201216&num=15&silo=Stock&Range=Price%3aMin%2c15000~0.5&sort=Year
Manual
www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/toyota-hiace-2005-14850634?base=1216&vertical=Car&cr=3&eapi=2&__N=1246%201252%201247%201282%204294962861%204294962534%20900%201216&num=15&silo=Stock&Range=Price%3aMin%2c15000~0.5&sort=Year
Mileage is high though. I know in the past people have said that mileage isn't an issue in Hiaces but it still makes me wonder. Any opinions?
Select to expand quotesn said..
I have heard that a good fix for transit vans and thier horribly pricy to fix diesel engines is to hook a commodore V6 engine and gearbox/ auto into them.
I reckon a long wheel base transit would be a lot roomier than a jap van- and the V6 would give it decent reliability.
Transits with dead or dying engines seem to be fairly common, and holden V6's are everywhere.
There is a mob somewhere on the wrong side of Eucla that make conversion kits.[if I can find the link I will post it here later]
Having said that, hooking a holden motor into a ford just makes my skin crawl- even if it is good from an engineering point of view........
stephen
There is/was v6conversions.com.au based in NSW. I haven't looked for a while, but they had conversions for lots of things.
A V6 commodore engine into a Ford is much better than if you could put one of there AU series engines in. Much nicer to drive I think.
Edit: It reminds me of someone that put a 351 into a HQ about 20 years ago. It made sense at the time as he had a good worked 351, but it just didn't seem right.
Select to expand quoteikw777 said..
Yes, they ride too hard for a windsurfing bus. I dropped my tyre pressures to get things feeling a little more comfortable.
On some of these Kiwi mountain passes the tall ride height, hard suspension, skinny tyres, and wet conditions make you feel like your days are numbered.
I do recall drifting down a steep hill in the Grampians one winter, when wifey spotted 2 echidnas on the side of the road and wanted to stop.
I couldnt even slow down , but managed to make a slidearound them
