Jazz you come in here and HIJACK most threads.op wats advice on ahiace seems you cant read!
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 3, 8:45am
There are a few around but times change. To be straight up the Ducato of the 80's to mid 90's was a big old bruiser and nothing particularly special. While that was going on the Hiace was actually a pretty good up to date machine, I would have much proffered driving the Hiace of the day around town than the Ducato.
BUT. then Fiat invented the game changing common rail engine, coupled that to a new body that was galvanised and lasted really well. Then the process of refinement started with technology like the dashboard mounted gear lever and dual mass flywheel giving a really nice car like driving experience.
Now. while Fiat were busy doing that, Japan fell on hard times drastically limiting expenditure for all industry. Their government pretty much outlawed all domestic diesel carsso development of their diesel engines basically stopped.
So. that in a nut shell is the situation. There are loads of new Ducato's appearing on our roads now and its by far and away the most popular campervan platform in Europe. Fiat also make the Ducato for several other manufacturers to re-badgewhich I believe at times has made them the biggest producer of vans world wide by volume. In terms of Global production of Vans Toyota is a small player nowadays.
The great thing in NZ though is people are slow on the uptake because of our heavily "Japanese at all costs" bias to the car industry. This makes late model Ducato's and their ilk excellent buying.
Oh and in answer to your other quesiton, the Ducato went into production about 1981 I think.
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 3, 9:22am
Actually. you are not far wrong. As mentioned above they only really got good when they galvanised them and stuck in the common rail engines.
gadgit3,
Apr 3, 7:49pm
thejazzpianoma wrote:
About as cheap as you get!
For starters the Hiace as far as I am aware is generally going to need 3-4 services to every service the Ducato requires. (Say, you did 20'000km a year that would be 4 x 10'000km services of the Hiace to every one of the Ducato) [quote]
06 petrol Hiace is 15000km servicing intervial not 10000km
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 3, 8:06pm
Fair enough, I did wonder about that. still not even close to the Ducato though.
jrd78,
Apr 8, 5:19am
took a few hiaces for a drives from caryards on saturday,new shape 2L auto,don't bother,06 2L manual went good,but was less impressed with budget interior,and poor touch up paintwork,2.5 diesel turbo manual,was bottom of the range one,ie nz new and didn't like gear box,and crap interior. 2.5L diesel turbo auto was impressed with,was quite good,higher speced interior.Do these have cambelt or chain! off to google to have yet another search
doug207,
Apr 8, 6:07am
Sorry to jack this too, Jazz, how have FIAT managed such a long service interval!
The newer Hiace is nothing special, a good work horse though. I myself would take the Ducato over one.
dent,
Apr 8, 6:32am
the hiace diesel is cambelt. Replacement is every 150,000kms. Not a heard job on those engines only takes about 1-1.5 hrs looking around 300-400 dollars.
stevo2,
Apr 9, 7:07am
x1
recently had the 05 hiace 2.5lt diesel through the 100,000km service , $1100 with cambelt and auto trans service (synthetic oil). All taken care of by my local garage.
hfc2,
Apr 9, 8:16am
x1
jazzpionanoman, the hilux is a nz tradition here, especially the earlier 2.8 and 2.4 wagons. they have serviced farmers for years troublefree, i have a contracting business , we have a toyota hiace 309,000 ks, hilux, 409000 ks hilux petrol 318000, hiulux 409000, deceased hilux at 598000, cause my foreman went 3000 k,s over service!. All these new dieses to me are a heap of s. These trucks are proven, if toyota were making them they still would sell, these common rail diesels are a heap of s.
richardmayes,
Apr 9, 11:34am
Interesting theory.
In my humble opinion, a good gearbox is one that's strong enough to withstand the power and torque of whatever engine it is attached to, and lasts about as long as the engine it is attached to.
And any gearbox that can't do that is a pretty blimmin poor gearbox really.
But I'm quite old-fashioned (maybe even "outdated", as it were) like that. Anyway, back to my popcorn. Carry on!
jrd78,
Apr 21, 2:36am
so after taking a 2.5dt auto that I was going to purchase once passed vtnz inspection,the inspectors said best to go see a diesel mechanic regarding the rough idle while cold,i hit the vendor up selling it and he said it was injectors also,only $200 to service, so spoke to mechanic in New Lynn about this,it's 200$ PER an injector to service + labour or 700$ per injector new plus labour,he also reccomended not to buy one as very expensive to service,also while out west talked to van sales guys and they refuse to sell hiace diesels [new shape] as been alot of issues with them. So on Friday I bought a 2.7 vvti hiace and am over the moon with it,drove it back to Whangarei last night and boy does it fly up the hills,so hopefully I get a really good run out of it for many years to come.
scoobeey,
Apr 21, 3:56am
yes we know you like euro stuff why do you have to plaster the boards when poster wants a reply to hiaces !
scoobeey,
Apr 21, 3:58am
Poster one try and find a hiace up to 2003 with 2.8 engine .you will do over a million kms as many have :)
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 21, 4:12am
Its not a Fiat thing as such (although they invented the technology). Most of the good European diesels have fairly long service intervals although I think Fiat might be a little longer than some.
Basically what I think happens is the oil in old diesels gets contaminated for the same reason those old diesels are comparatively gutless, thirsty and tend to smoke. That is, they are not able to efficiently burn the diesel and as a result you get carbon and contaminants in the exhaust and the engine oil.
If you pull the dipstick on an old technology diesel after not many miles at all you will see its black and horrible looking. Do the same on a decent common rail diesel and its quite the opposite. even after significant milage.
Also. not only do you manage longer service intervals you don't have to have ridiculous quantity's of oil in the sump or crazy filter arrangements.
My take on it is that the more efficient the common rail diesel is the longer you can get away with on the oil changes. Its pretty obvious from the real world fuel consumption and performance which are the better common rail diesels. Usually this is matched with those units having the longer service intervals.
Oh and before someone asks, no Fiat and others are not sacrificing the longevity of the engine by allowing long service intervals. Even the very first Fiat common rail diesels of 15 years ago had 15'000km intervals from what I recall and those engines have lasted exceptionally well.
Anyhow, that'tmy take on it, its based more on observation rather than anything I have read etc. Someone else may know more.
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 21, 4:19am
You raise a good and logical point. Firstly it is easy enough to build a gearbox that will stand up to people doing stupid things. BUT you tend to sacrifice the car like driving experience when you do that (because you tend to have to get rid of the dual mass flywheel). There is also likely a cost factor.
For what its worth, you can even buy after market conversions that do that sort of thing. But really. whats wrong with just driving it properly!
Personally I am quite happy that manufacturers have chosen not to "pander" to idiots who can't drive which has meant a much nicer driving experience for the rest of us.
Also. the very new vans out now do tend to be a bit stronger with the introduction of triple mass flywheels.
Also. remember they only fail when drivers are constantly doing stupid things, those transmissions do last and incredibly long time even if hauling heavy loads etc. So in effect they do conform to your statement anyway.
gadgit3,
Apr 21, 8:37am
Good to hear you went for the 2.7. I drive one for a work van as well as a 2WD Hilux powered by the 2.7 and I get great fuel mileage even when towing my 5m boat. And just for future refference.The uneven idle in the 2.5 diesel is caused by blocked EGR cooler and valve not the injectors
stevo2,
Apr 21, 8:43am
Gadget, what would cause the same engine to stall when first started when cold and not given any revs!
gadgit3,
Apr 21, 8:51am
SCV is what causes engine stall after start up. Some times you can just have it reset and your off. no more issues but if there has been a bit of rubbish go through the valve then you may need a new SCV. Not a hard job to fit one up but the valve it's self needs to be sourced after market. I can help out there if required steveo
stevo2,
Apr 21, 8:59am
Thanks for that Gadget. It happened for the first time yesterday and again today. Have added injector cleaner today to see what happens but otherwise Im more than happy to let you wave your magic wand over it and do whatever is needed. Its done 119,000km and I intend to keep it for another 50,000km (2 years) yet. Im in Tga but spend a lot of weekends at Whiritoa so Im sure we could make it work somehow. Stevo
gadgit3,
Apr 21, 9:49am
I'm in TGA from next Wednesday till Friday so could take a look if ya want. will be throwing up a few auctions tomorrow arvo so if ya need to get in touch that would be a good start.
gedo1,
Apr 21, 8:20pm
Naughty op. you didn't listen to the guru.just joking jaz!
bellky,
Apr 21, 8:34pm
Good to see common sense prevailed.
ralphdog1,
Apr 21, 8:51pm
Nice. OP asked a question, concentrated on the answers to that question and completely ignored all the other "noise"
tuttyclan,
Apr 22, 5:04am
We have a July 2008 Hiace 3.0 Turbo Diesel at work and its done 325,000 km and has never left the Auckland Airport.Its run almost constantly 24/7 and does 4 to 5 km return trips around the terminals and it keeps on going like a Toyota does. Must admit I was impressed when i recently drove a 2007 VW Transporter TDi 2 berth Campervan from Christchurch to Auckland and for a 1900 cc engine with manual transmission it went really well expecially up hills and cheap to run and drove really nice but I would not own one as like any euro they are expensive to fix when they stop.Somebody show me some euro cars with at least a million kmand minor repair work only needed.
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