Water pump needed replacing at 220,000 kilometer's.
Side door sliding mechanism broke after being sticky & hard to open for a few months.
Drivers seat worn pretty badly on one side, but still comfortable to sit on.
Brake lights often malfunction.
Rubber seal lining inside side & rear doors damaged and or severed.
Central locking mechanism no longer works on side sliding door.
Impossible to lock/ unlock rear door manually with key anymore.
Lacks acceleration even with a light load. This is frustrating in some situations.
Extensive rust along bottom window line of rear the door. Seen this occurring on many other Hi-ace's on the road, regardless of year model. Seems to be a universal flaw in the rear window/ panel structual design.
Being a Diesel, it's fairly noisy in operation, even when idling, but not unbearable.
Despite using my Hi-ace almost exclusively for demanding courier work, I have to say it's reliablity has been bulletproof. It's only broken down on me once in six years!
I often carry heavy loads yet my Hiace diesel is remarkably strong up steep hills, i. e 1.5 - 2 tonne loads.
Turning circle is good even without power steering.
Smooth & reliable operation over long distances.
Very rarely overheats.
It's provenly hard to break into! I once famously locked my keys in my Hi-ace by mistake. A passing locksmith tried to help open it, but couldn't, even with all his fancy methods & tools. I found that amusing.
But in all seriousness, I wouldn't swap this vehicle for any other make of van. I have driven Mitsubishi's, late Ford Econovans & Transits among others in my time as a courier - yet in one way or another, they all fall short of the superior Toyota Hi-ace 92'. I would be much better served upgrading to a later model Hi-ace than straying to a rival car maker.
Overall, I am very impressed with this vehicle. What flaws it does have are niggling at worst & in no way detract from the Hi-ace's strongest quality, it's legendary reliability. It's engine is quite simply, a piece of
engineering brilliance.
I look forward to keeping it in service for many years to come.
P.S, I have no affiliation with Toyota, just an impressed customer.
Re:
"Extensive rust along bottom window line of rear the door. Seen this occurring on many other Hi-ace's on the road, regardless of year model. Seems to be a universal flaw in the rear window/ panel structual (sic) design."
Having a fleet of 8 Toyota HiAce Commuter vans (2000-2004 models) is it a regular occurrence to see water dripping from the window seal on the inside of the rear door upon opening it. I have noticed it especially on the vans which were purchased in 2000-02, but possibly not in the newer vans (2003/4).
As this model was almost unchanged from the late 1980's to 2005, I'm not surprised with the observations of rust on many HiAces.
In 16 years never broke down, always in good spirit for any task and yes that rear door (rusting and unlockable) are real headache. Nevertheles I never own car of such reliability and I see and use meny for allmost 50 years.
Easily the best vehicle I have ever owned. Great reliability, aside from the vanly noises, I miss the bulletproof reliability, and economy on lpg.
Wish I never sold it.
Oh the body had some rust after 370000 highway kilometers, I think this is a problem with reps vehicles.
Have had mine (1992 2.8 5spd Diesel) for 11,000km (265000km on the clock) in Australia and the only things I can complain about are: No Air conditioning (my fault for not buying one with), and the differential is so low, 4.88:1 I think. I am doing 3100+ RPM at 100kmph. It is driving me nuts. If I stick to 100kmph I get 12 - 13 km per liter, any faster than that and it drops to 11kmpl. Still good in my book, I often wonder hoe other people go with the differential ratios and fuel economy. The other thing is the induction noise is pretty rough. The Intake is by the drivers door (stupid), I have seen a couple with snorkels on them, I wonder if this is to divert the noise out of ear shot or to do a bit of river bashing? I reckon the former.
To the last comment.
I you have 1992 Diesel then you have 4.1 gears (if from factory). I thought the same as you, and bought 4.3's to put in it (thinking that that would be enough of a jump), only to discover I had 4.55 gears, fitted by previous owner. I researched the situation to find out that that model Hi ace had 4.1's!!! I am still showing 3100 rpm at 100kmph (remember that your speed o is connected to the transmission and therefor will ALWAYS read the same compared to the RPM.) I used a G P S to determine the REAL % error. It is now reading 7.5% too fast - consistent with what should be in there - a 4.1 ratio final drive. I have 4.1 and a 3.7 on order - difficult to find second hand apparently.
On an economy note - I get 11.5km/L (8.75L per 100km) ALL THE TIME, 275000km 1992 Diesel Hi ace, 5 speed manual, 4.3 final drive. (adjusted for my 7.5% error too)
J.
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