2005 Toyota Hiace LWB 2.5 D4D turbo diesel from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Long lasting

Faults:

Cargo hoodlining has dropped.

Drivers seat worn (slightly).

Rear bumper scratches easily.

Noisy idler bearings at 190k, because the dealer never replaced them in the 150k timing belt service, which they should have done. The cost to repair this was nearly 2k, because of the labour involved, and the service adviser would ring me up 3 times a day, trying to convince me to replace other items that did not need replacing, or had nothing to do with the problem. At the end, it took them 4 days to fix the problem, and when I received the vehicle, the central locking had stopped working. I told them about this, they didn't care, because they already had my money, and did not want to know me.

General Comments:

Bullet proof!

This van doesn't have the best acceleration in its class, but it's still OK for a diesel van. It has a sharp turning circle, which makes it very easy to maneuver in the city, and it's just an easy vehicle to drive. Fuel economy is OK (620km a tank).

Don't take it to a Toyota dealer for servicing, as they are too expensive, and they don't even know their products, so please don't be stupid, take your Toyota elsewhere.

Still going really strong at 262000kms.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th March, 2011

1st Mar 2014, 16:56

That's very strange about the idler bearings taking four days to fix and 2k. I'm a mechanic, and these timing belts take only a few hours to change, although I do change the idlers every time for piece of mind. It's not unusual for a dealer not to, as generally they only will if they're noisy.