Hello all

I am looking to buy a 3rd gen Hilux Surf 3.4 litre in Japan. As I live in continental Europe (The Netherlands), I would prefer to have a (left hand drive) 4Runner, but unfortunately importing a car from the USA or Canada is much more expensive than importing from Japan.

I'm trying to determine whether to go for an early one, or try and find a 1999 or later. Early cars will be cheaper, not just because these are sold at lower prices, but also because cars manufactured in 1998 or later years are more expensive to import into The Netherlands. The reason is that an individual type approval is required, which involves a very tedious process.

In view of this, the following questions come to mind:

1) Are 1996 or 1997 vehicles more prone to rust than later cars? (apart from the fact that an early car has had more time to rust);
2) Do earlier cars have other weaknesses which have been eliminated in later years?


Any thoughts on (dis)advantages of early versus late 3rd gen 4Runners/Surfs are much appreciated, thanks!




Regards,
Frans

What's your intended use for the vehicle? Daily driver/on-road only? Rock crawler/off-road only? Or somewhere in between?

I have never owned a Surf because they are unicorns here in the USA. pretty much the same trucks as 4Runner.
I have owned a 2002,2000,1997 4Runner all with 3.4 L 5vzfe and A340F trans.

1996-1998 are solid and great. sure they rust but so does pretty much everything else after 20+ years.

1999-2000 on par with the 1996-1998 some improvements with intake/air box makes these trucks a little bit cheaper to service and some report a little more power due to the MAF/intake changes.

2001-2002 they redesigned the braking system/ABS and added traction control, got rid of the transmission kick down link. there have also been some reports that the automatic transmissions in these trucks suffer from planetary gear failure.

I can't answer for the 2001-2002 trans failure never had that happen. I live where they use road salt and my 2002 rusted faster than the older trucks I have owned and I hated the traction control. the traction control is very primitive and in my opinion makes these truck suck. you can disable it with some mods, most owners do this.

I love my 2000 and my 1997, I will never own a 2001,2002 again. My experience seems to indicate the 1996-1998 last a bit longer than the newer trucks in terms of rust. if you have some must have feature? go for that truck, they are all really great. rust will get them all eventually. nothing mechanical lasts forever. enjoy them while they last.

@Carnutbmw
I can vouch for the reliability of a 96 3.4L 4x4 Ltd auto, owned Redrunner for 18 yrs, totaled at 380k miles 2-18. Had original drivetrain, original brake MC and calipers rear drum brakes. Trans shifted great.
Purchased 01 3.4L 4x4 Ltd auto 198k miles 2-17. I purchased with a bad ABS/Trac module, $300 fix used part, if purchased new $1600 USD.
I had more faith in the 96 over the 01 because of the 01 Trans OD planetary gear failures that tend to happen when they fail.
The Trac system sucks on the 01-02's, the Andy Mod gets around that.
The 01-02 ABS master cylinder will be a expensive fix when it goes there are cases of failure.
As for rust, neither of mine came from the rust/snow belt, though I do spend time there.
As long as you do rust prevention measures all will last the same.
In my eyes the 96-2k's are good years to get, 01-02's not so much
Good luck in the hunt.
Merry Christmas!!

With a V6 Surf, year doesn't matter too much. I have never seen a Surf that didn't have multimode 4WD, and the V6 is no exception. This is the main advantage that a 99+ 4Runner can have over a 96-98. 99+ would primarily concern creature comforts which can be added to any year. Pick the cleanest V6 Surf in a spec you like.

Somewhere in between, would be the answer. I intend to use it for driving off road in the mountains during holidays. Nothing too drastic though, no rock crawling. Most of the mileage will be on paved roads, as there are no mountains near where I live, so I have to cover some distance to get there.

I may use it during tough winters as well, although we don’t have many of those.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Good to read that early versions are just as solid, or perhaps even better than later ones. Your comment on the rust issue is interesting; apparently there is no reason to opt for a later vehicle for this reason either.

I have read something about blown head gaskets on the 5VZ-FE, but I haven’t been able to determine whether this is specifically related to overheating, or a problem in itself. Any thoughts on this? Is there any reason to assume that early cars might be more of a risk in this respect?

The Multimode transfer case is an absolute must for me, which is another reason to go for a Surf rather than a 4Runner. Browsing Japanese used cars sites I did notice that most cars - including pre-1999 ones - do indeed have both the “One touch” button AND the 4WD symbol in the instrument panel with the circle representing the center differential. I like that

Thanks 96Redrunner, that’s good news.

Any additional thoughts on early versus late 4Runners/Surfs are very welcome.

And a merry Xmas to all !

i like the earlier ones (if in stock form) because those don't look like they had a 5 gallon botox injection in the bumper...aka the fat lip bumper

The 'lip' is just a bit more than looks....but I do see how some like to 'punch 'em'!

I don’t really mind the fat lip, it looks sort of cool. A bit of a Japanese quirk I guess, several Jap SUV’s from that era have weird humps on their front bumpers.

I believe 01 and 02 (may include 2000) has the expensive brake master pump (ATRAC) and costs US$ 2000 new from the dealer. At around 230K miles those tend to fail.

Try to find the one with full time all-wheel drive without the expensive brake master pump (1999?). ABS is different from ATRAC.

You can also try Prado in the same year range. Same everything except the body and interior. Prado got bigger interior and 7 seats as well.

High dollar ABS MC started in 01.