Has anyone got an opinion on the latest series of Hiaces (Fifth Generation) which they have been making since about 2005? Are they as indestructible, reliable and durable as previous models?
My budget could just about stretch to one of these (2nd hand). Do you reckon I could get 10 years + out of one - say out to 500,000km?
We had a long wheel base version diesel 5 speed version at Wodgina, and it later followed us to Sunrise Dam.
It was used as the shift change bus at both sites, and for the trips to and from Port Hedland airport from Wodgina.
Really good and survived well for the 3 or so years that I was driving it
[only bloke on our crew with a bus licence]
only problem it had that I recall was both rear springs snapping at the rear eyes while at Sunrise Dam.
stephen
Looking to have a vehicle that will run for years driving all over the place and supporting my interests in windsurfing, sailing, exploring and DIY.
know you don't plan to but they're not real flash in a crash - attended a pretty bad one on Karratha airport access rd involving one of these, mechanisms of injury to driver although not fatal wouldn't have taken too much more to become fatal, driver of other vehicle walked away with concussion.
Get an iload or transporter if you plan on driving it any sort of distance . While the Hiace might be pretty durable the ride in them is horrible and as said above they are a balls up in a crash.
Iload still out of my price range ($15,000 max). Aren't the Transporters a bit dodgy, fragile and expensive to repair?
I can't comment on the hiaces . . .
but i have a coupe of mates who own transporters from new (T5) and they have a few expensive regular problems by design
. . . . from memory i think one of the common problems is the water pump failure which is internal on this engine and very expensive to fix
happened twice in three years to one of the owners - the other t5 just once
If your are looking for something reliable , test drive a ford transit. We used them in the UK as a work vans . We were building LV powerlines and the vans were pretty much a treated hard. We nick named them Pommy hiluxes unbreakable.
Very confortable ride and would easilly sit on 140 on the highway . Towed 2 tonne cable trailers used them to winch up conductor and best of all overloaded them with scrap copper on the way to the scrappy 
It wasnt a vehicle I purchased they were company provided . Cant say I can compare them to the Hiace as I have tried one but I would certainly put them in the mix.
Have fun shopping
I have 6 of these and also had 6 of the older ones. So far they have all needed new plugs at around 200k and new front bearing hubs at 250k. The older ones needed plugs changed more regularly but the front hubs just needed repacked bearings. I also had to change a few heads (not all of them)on the older ones at 300k but the new ones seem to be going better. Also the older ones needed a few rear door latches replaced where the new ones seem to be going fine. Finally the new ones don't seem to use oil as soon as the older style. Only other thing I have noticed is the new ones chew out the front tyre quicker.
I rate them but have always had the manual petrol but are building(they are campervans) a new slwb auto diesel so we will see how that goes.
Having driven Bedfords and VW vans and survived by not crashing I'd put the Hace in the same category somewhat, air bags Mae a big difference. The iLoad has a better crash rating for obvious reasons with extended nose/bonnet, Vito the same but with a 5 star rating but you pay for it.
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. 
Present van has a shade under 2.8 metres. Nice. One board is 266 long (old school) and a few others are 245s. I measured a few Toyota and Nissan "nose" vans which all seemed to top out at 2.4m in the cargo area.
My Nissan Caravan - soon to be sold. 
Plenty of LWB T4s about, shade over 2.8. You seem set on a matching old school no nose van, Toyota are the only newish ones still around that I can see.
sold my hiace at 600,000kms, saw it at a tip with 110,000kms on it .
Ive had finally rusted away from my driving it on a salt lake way back at 400,00kms.
most euro vans have better seats but the hiace will go on forever.
in relation to crashing, I always figured ,dont fn crash
Select to expand quotelandyacht said..
in relation to crashing, I always figured ,dont fn crash
Love it!
