Posted: 2/15/2011 10:04:23 AM EDT
| After having spent the better part of the decade in the various shit hole sand boxes of the world I have decided that I would willingly give a nut to own one of these in the US. HILUX SURF Maybe the truck version but these little guys are just friggin unstoppable. I soooo wish Toyota would import these. |
| its amazing the factory offered trucks you can buy in other countries, that would be a medium to highly customized truck in the us.. diesel engines in everything, lockers, snorkels, bare bones, stripped down interiors with manual locks and windows, winches..... i wish i could buy the stripped down 4 door ford ranger 4x4 i saw in iraq. i know the damn thing didnt cost much over $10,000 bucks. it was a diesel too ! |
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Quoted:
You can buy as many as you wish at any Toyota dealer in the US, and take immediate delivery of your first 3 to 10, but the vehicle will be labeled Toyotal 4 Runner It is too bad that it isn't the same truck they market here. While they are similar, the US version is not the same truck. 
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| I thought the same thing. so i went with what i considered to be the next best. I purchased my brothers 96 Toyota FZJ80 Land Cruiser. It is a gaser which sucks but it does have solid front and rear axle coil springs and its a toyota. Not to mention its the best i personally can afford but its a wonderful BOV. |
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The hilux offered in Euro and AUS markets is not the same as the 4 runner & tacoma offered here (they share the same body style). It is not as easy as shipping one to Canada or Mexico and driving it over, although you could do it and physically have the vehicle in the US, you would not be able to register it, they do not meet certain DOT requirements.
The biggest (but not only) difference between the hilux and US offerings are that the hilux comes with a solid front axle, and is offered with a diesel engine. |
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Quoted:
The hilux offered in Euro and AUS markets is not the same as the 4 runner & tacoma offered here (they share the same body style). It is not as easy as shipping one to Canada or Mexico and driving it over, although you could do it and physically have the vehicle in the US, you would not be able to register it, they do not meet certain DOT requirements. The biggest (but not only) difference between the hilux and US offerings are that the hilux comes with a solid front axle, and is offered with a diesel engine. You could always ship one to Canada, drive it here, swap the VIN with a junk US one... 
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A friend of mine has an Icon FJ40 "New School" with the Diesel engine in it, and a matching expedition camping trailer. Talk about AWESOME!! This is my dream BOV! I drool on it everytime I visit him. I also drool on his collection of ridiculously expensive sports cars (he has a freakin' 600hp GT500 "Eleanor" from Unique Automotive, his wife's Bentley GTC, and a Porsche Panamerica for starters), but I digress . It's just him and his wife (kids are grown), so he has all the room he needs with this rig, and it is a genuine "go anywhere" setup. The camping trailer is designed for serious off-roading, and beside all of the provisions and extra fuel he can load on it, it uses the same tires and wheels as the FJ, so he has potentially 4 spare tires (1 spare on the FJ, 1 on the trailer, and the 2 on the trailer axles). Of course it has a snorkel, winch, locking diffs, etc. etc.. Downside....I think he paid around $120K or so for the whole rig. Pocket change to him, but WAY out of my range . If he wasn't such a damn good guy and one of my best friends, I'd have to hate him for being such a rich bastard and having such cool toys!
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I would kill for a hilux . F the DOT and EPA . Funny no one has tried for that market segment of small diesel trucks ..... hell on our farm we had 8 chevy 2wd diesel Luvs at one time . They were great , 40 mpg , top speed between 40 and 50 and rusted out before they had any mechanical issues . |
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Quoted:
You can buy as many as you wish at any Toyota dealer in the US, and take immediate delivery of your first 3 to 10, but the vehicle will be labeled Toyotal 4 Runner Quoted:
its amazing the factory offered trucks you can buy in other countries, that would be a medium to highly customized truck in the us.. diesel engines in everything, lockers, snorkels, bare bones, stripped down interiors with manual locks and windows, winches..... i wish i could buy the stripped down 4 door ford ranger 4x4 i saw in iraq. i know the damn thing didnt cost much over $10,000 bucks. it was a diesel too ! You are right about the Surf and 4runner being essentially the same vehicle although to my knowledge the important part (the 3l intercooled TD) is not available in the states. Also, the Surf's I saw were usually more stripped down as compared to the 4runners back home. We used to have a Euro spec Diesel Ranger 4x4 at one of my last contracts. That little bastard had some pep and then some. Lots of low end and once the turbo kicked it would move. Ford also makes what they call the "Everest" which has the small TD as well. The truck is the size of a 1980's Explorer or S10 Blazer and again, simple and powerful. Also a great little truck but for some reason I still liked the Toyotas better. The Euro/Arab Hilux p/u are most decidedly not the same as the Tacoma, the Hilux is slightly smaller than its US counterpart, have solid front axles and are generally more stripped down as far as mechanical simplicity goes. I've seen them roll in full of holes pissing fluid and still running while loaded with people and gear. If you've deployed to IRQ or AFG you know how hard these get run and other than the size, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them. Also, if you're a fan of Top Gear you've probably seen some pretty horrendous things happen to a Hilux and keep rolling. HILUX Wiki We had the 6th generation ones. EURO RANGER just like the one we had. FORD EVEREST is the other small SUV we had. |
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Quoted:
After having spent the better part of the decade in the various shit hole sand boxes of the world I have decided that I would willingly give a nut to own one of these in the US. HILUX SURF Maybe the truck version but these little guys are just friggin unstoppable. I soooo wish Toyota would import these. They also have them here in Japan, a few of us tried looking into the cost on shipping engines back to the states but all the shipping companys kept hassleing us....and we finally gave up. We own a Delica diesel, 4 wheel drive with locking diffs. They are great. |
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Yeah, unfortunately the vast majority of cool vehicles that would best fill the role of BOV don't get imported here. However, if you go back far enough we used to get them....even if only on a small scale. I currently have two land rovers and two international scouts. The land rovers are amazing off-road....they were purpose built, with the gasoline engines being their only shortcoming (IMO anyway). I have a 5spd discovery that will be used as my "fun" vehicle for exploring and things of that nature. My scouts are what I wanted to bring up though.
Both of my scouts are 1980 year models...they are also both turbo diesels. 1980 is the only year the turbo diesel came in Scouts, though the non-turbo diesel was available from 77-79. One of my scouts is the shorter wheel-based Scout II model. My other is the longer wheel-based Traveler model. The Scout II is currently getting restored and will be sold to my father most likely. The traveler is the one I'm keeping. This will be my BOV. The diesels that came in the scouts are actually Nissan diesels. These are the sd33-t engines which are extremely reliable. While parts aren't available state-side as readily as say a chevy 350, there are very few parts that need to be replaced on a regular basis. I have been stockpiling as many maintenance items as possible. Most things like hoses, belts, etc can be replaced with off the shelf items at any Napa auto parts store. Both of my scouts are also manual transmissions...some might say that the automatics would last longer, but I prefer the manual. Due to the engines not making a ton of power, replacing the clutch is not something that has to be done often. One or two spare clutches will last as long as the engine. I have also started converting these to be able to take multiple fuels...but thats another thread. My traveler (my BOV) has a 33 gal gas tank. This coupled with the mileage these engines get (mine has gotten as high as 27mpg on the highway makes for a heck of a range. With several jerry cans I have nearly a 1000 mile range. The axles are dana 44s which parts are easily sourced for and they are simple to work on. The transfer case is a dana 300 which is nearly indestructible. There's very few electronics on these, in fact, they have a manual fuel cutoff valve. I can turn the ignition off and take the battery out and the engine will continue to run until it runs out of fuel or I pull the shut off valve. The body and frame is steel and lends itself to easy repair if you can weld, which luckily I can. For me it is the perfect BOV and on top of that it has character. I only wish that there were more vehicles like this available. Its a shame that third world shit holes get to have these bare-bones type vehicles that run forever. Even currently when it seems that auto companies have gone the way of cheap plastic and throw-away engines, they get a better selection of BOV-ready trucks and SUVs than the US ever dreamed of getting. I suppose it has a lot to do with crash ratings and environmental concerns...both of which I will rant on for hours, so I'll stop. I'll leave you with a pic: 
I've got to build some bumpers so that's why its lacking them in the pic...also the door were rusty and I'm re-working them right now. |