Looking to buy a Toyota LiteAce... questions

[Heavenly3lues]

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum and new to Toyotas. I am a VW Bus driver back home in the US, but my girlfriend and I have moved to Australia for a year to travel and see this lovely continent. We have found a seemingly good deal on a 1991 Toyota LiteAce. It has low KM's for the year (206,000), the body is in great shape, new-ish tires with lots of tread, and it ran great during the test drive. We want to turn it into a camper and the small size suits our needs. Plus, we enjoy the bit higher headroom than the hiace. The only problem is, we can't find much information about the liteace anywhere on the net. It has a 1.8L motor and an automatic transmission with overdrive. How reliable are these? Are they as reliable as their big brother, the hiace? It appears to be maintained well. Is there anything known to be prone to breaking on them? Anything specific I should look for? Does anyone know what kind of fuel consumption the liteace has?!? Any information, or personal experiences with the liteace would be wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

Peace,

Jeremy

[stuey009]

Hi, I can say the liteace is smaller than the HiAce if you want to make a camper of it, depends where u want to go if it breaks down for parts. Hiace has better range wheel base ,better to get long wheelbase

[robmac1]

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum and new to Toyotas. I am a VW Bus driver back home in the US, but my girlfriend and I have moved to Australia for a year to travel and see this lovely continent. We have found a seemingly good deal on a 1991 Toyota LiteAce. It has low KM's for the year (206,000), the body is in great shape, new-ish tires with lots of tread, and it ran great during the test drive. We want to turn it into a camper and the small size suits our needs. Plus, we enjoy the bit higher headroom than the hiace. The only problem is, we can't find much information about the liteace anywhere on the net. It has a 1.8L motor and an automatic transmission with overdrive. How reliable are these? Are they as reliable as their big brother, the hiace? It appears to be maintained well. Is there anything known to be prone to breaking on them? Anything specific I should look for? Does anyone know what kind of fuel consumption the liteace has?!? Any information, or personal experiences with the liteace would be wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

Peace,

Jeremy

I'm not sure what you budget is for the conversion. But it may work out a better deal to buy a purpose built import vehicle?

http://www.southernspecialvehicles.com.au/cars-for-sale/?make=TOYOTA

The Regius is Toyota SBV Hiace with an 2.4 L RWD configuration. It has 4 wheel discs and 4 speed auto with ECT (electronically controlled transmission). The Regius is purpose built in Japan as a Camper and typically very low k's when Sold as an import in Australia. At less than $30k they represent good value compared to the cost of high quality fit out of a local Hiace and all the work is done. Aircon and sound system included. Dual battery, beds, storage etc etc. They are also made in 4WD amnd sometimes this model turns up at the importers/seller.

The link is for illustrative purposes and not a endorsement of the seller. However SSV are generally considered an OK company. You should find one of Sydney based JDM (japanese domestic market) importers resellers around your area will have something similar.

The only slight hitches are insurance (Shannons insure my Estima (JDM Tarago) and parts. Parts are not really a problem, there are enough ebay contacts and dealers who will import parts for you. Being a Toyota commercial not much goes wrong anyway.

The Regius is great vehicle to drive and a much higher build quality than anything locally made. A few friends used the Regius (passenger versions) as trade vehicles with the rear seat removed.

Edited May 3, 2013 by robmac1