Hello swaylockers, it’s time for me to finally buy a van (in Australia) and I have two vans in mind but want some opinions.
I was thinking either a Toyota Hiace or vw transporter to transform into the ultimate surf mobile. Even another van I haven’t mentioned that you would recommend? Has anyone had any troubles with either?? What’s the best in your opinion for comfort/space/reliability ect…
Help me make the right decision,
Tyler G
had some of the best times of my life traveling around austrailia living out of a toyota hiace…damn i miss those days
Both are great, all just depends on the individual van but the Toyota is probably more reliable and cheaper to fix if you’re talking an older model.
For the last couple of years I’ve had a 4WD Mitsubishi Van that I think beats them all. Also had great runs out of the Mazda/Ford vans.
What year model was yours?? Have heard that if I was to get a Hiace I should spend the extra to get a 2005 upwards auto diesel
Hmmmm okay I havnt heard much of the Mitsubishis except that they are a bit smaller, is that correct??
I have a t5 and traveled around auz in a Toyota the vw is very nice to drive more like a car than a van. You allso have the engine in front rather than under neath you so you can walk from the front cab to the back easy, you allso don’t have the heat of the engine coming through the floor of the cab however vw service and parts can be expensive and the jap vehicles are normally very reliable that said I would not have that style of van for the reasons mentioned. Fords new transits custom is the other option here but reliability ect is unknown as they are still relatively new
dont even know - it was way old - bought it at the backpackers car market in sydney. pretty much needed daily prayer (and a push start) to get it going ha! some great stories waking up in random places with pumping waves out front and not a surfer in sight. it had a pop-top roof that caught some air from a big rig traveling the other way and flew clean off cartwheeling in the air above the road behind us! luckily i was traveling with eagle scouts and they tied it back on!!! it was rainbow colored when we bought it and people gave us bad looks like we were traveling mahoos, we then painted it all black and added some skulls and then people were afraid to look in our direction what a difference! we called it homer because it had a homer simpson head air freshener.
Yeah maybe a bit shorter but more than long enough for a bed. Like Charlie said about the VW’s, the ride is so much better when you have the engine out in front instead of underneath you. V6 auto is cruisey on the highway
Great story Grasshopper!