planning to buy a surf but confused

[charlton king]

Hey there , i hope this is the right place to post this , i am currently looking at buying a toyota surf on trademe

strictly after the 1kzte ssr-x and want one with under 200 thousand k's (how many k's has yours done and been fine?)

now i have been looking for the last few months and have noticed the prices on them are all over the place , there are a few 1992-1995 models with 150,000-200,000 thousand going for 8-10 grand which are resonably tidy and standard but then there are more which to me seem more well used exterior wise with 220,000ks + going for 11.5-12.5 grand

this confuses me as i want to make sure i am buying the right one and not spending 8-10 grand thinking im getting a bargain to find out there is a reason it was cheaper, is there any main things for me to check when going to view them , apart from the obvious compression , and turbo , where is the common rust and what are some common problems i should look out for when testing the 8-10k surfs

Thanks heaps i thought i would join a nz 4wd forum to ask this question and once i get one join in on a few events!

[Alan Geeves]

If in doubt have it inspected by a competent diesel mechanic. It will cost a little but could save you thousands.
To decide which one to take to the mechanic these questions should help
Looks nice?
No obvious rust Check round doors windows body mounts
Drives nice
Smoke on acceleration? A little is ok
Smoke from the oil filler cap when removed ? A little is ok
Rusty stains in engine bay? This is a run away fast indicator on surfs
Oil not too black
Coolant nice and green (check cold)
Oil leaks (mostly not serious but shouldnt be there on a $ 10000 car

[charlton king]

Cheers, thanks heaps very good idea about getting a diesel mechanic to overlook car first

and for the rest of the bits where to look thank you , i will remember this when viewing my soon be surf hopefully =)

[Alan Geeves]

Forgot to add check the car on carjam and if private sale the Min of Comerce security check website. Carjam shows the mileage at each wof and its amazing how many diesels only do 100km between wofs. If they are only doing 200km between $450 regos that means rego is costing them $2 per km.
When I was looking for my Wizard I had several people try to offer viable reasons for this. They couldnt explain why the car was so worn for such low mileage.

[charlton king]

Cool thanks heaps , yea i have heard of people installing switches in to turn off the mileage to get away with out needing to buy road user chargers ,i will make sure to check all this out first via the site you mentioned , currently waiting for my car to sell , then going to start going to view a few , have you or any one you know owned a surf? how did the find the power of it for general use? i am not expecting a Ferrari but i would at least like abit of go low down, due to it being diesel and turbo i should think it would perform ok? oh and fuel consumption , i had a look at dont mean to be a pain , but the fuel economy currently im getting 120k's to twenty dollars 98 in my current car will i be expecting any thing like this with a surf , with diesel?

Cheers

[Alan Geeves]

I prefer Isuzus having had my 89 Bighorn for 18 years and a 96 Wizard for 3 years but Surfs are ok. They are the most common suv on NZ roads.
My understanding is that the 1kze engine goes very well and 10l/100km is typical. Remember road milage tax on top of that but based on todays prices you pay 1.50 for a litre of fuel and road milage adds about 28c to that litre. (you buy separately based on mileage)
When you buy do ensure mileage is up to date before paying or negotiate the price down by the amount owing. Ive seen an example of a Nissan Patrol at Turners they refused to sell untill the mileage was up to date but they were expecting to auction the car for 8k it owed 6k in milage and despite being in good nic a wrecker would offer more than 2k. I believe it went to the scraper.

[charlton king]

Isuzu , i have had a look at some of them also , have driven a friends one and find they feel weird to driving , some thing with the steering , but i will still consider them , i am only looking at the surf cause i have heard they are reliable and good for abit of off roading some times , also going to consider Nissan terranos , i am going to have a look at turners tomorrow so i hopefully will be able to leave there with abit of an idea on pricing on all them and find what the best 4wd i could get for around the 10-11k mark could be.

[Alan Geeves]

The surfs are longer than the wizard or terano and have a longer overhang at the back