1990 Toyota Hiace review from Netherlands

Diesel engine break-down after 11 years at 320000 km because he lost cooling water and I didn't notice. My fault.

After 8 years the body gets rusty.

Driver seat wears out after 8 years.

He looses cooling water via the valve of the expansion tank. I have to check cooling water level monthly.

The plastic covering over the headlights need to be fastened with a wire, otherwise they blow away with the wind.

I never had such a reliable car than this Toyota Hi-ace van. I use it as a family car the past twelve years for private purposes and holydays and to go to my job. I also used it to build my entire house.

The Toyota Hi-ace is twice as strong as a family car at half the costs. I have four times financial advantage compared with a regular family car. Instead of 6 years I drove twelve years with it and the road taxes and insurance fee was half.

The Toyota Hi-ace keeps its value. About three times a year I find a notice between the windscreen wipers if I want to sell the car. I never had that before.

I revised the engine myself with parts of a second engine. At eleven years of age there was not one bolt I couldn't loosen with normal household tools. After the revision I drove from Amsterdam to Athens in Greece and back, 7000 km without any failure. I don't think that is solely because of my skill, because I am an architect, not a mechanic. It is so easy to do all the maintenance myself, I had no need to go to the garage. I saved a lot of money.

During holidays it was not a problem at all to sleep in the van with my wife. With a small cooking device we could go anywhere. I saved a lot of money on hotels and campings.

Except the engine break-down at 11 years of age, the Toyota Hi-ace never failed me during driving.