>Is there a modern alternative to a Vanagon??  A vanagon like van???
>
>In driving cross country this summer, my (wonderful) wife and I
>began thinking about a new van.
>We talked a lot about the CDN Eurovan Diesel only to find out that
>VW does NOT import the Eurovan
>any more.  I hunted on the net, and called local dealers, for a
>Toyota or Nisson or Mazda van but
>could not find any.  From my limited research, I could find ONLY
>American vans.
>
>I'm talking about Vanagon like vans, NOT mini-vans for hauling kids to soccor.
>
>I know that the Japaneese car makers make vanagon like vans,
>( http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10877957/Toyota_Hiace_Van.html )
>Seemingly they are NOT imported to Canada?? And I wnat a 5 speed diesel.

You could import one directly from Japan. Have a look in the nearest
large city public library for a copy of "The Japanese Yellow Pages",
or was it "Japan Yellow Pages"? In there you'll find details of
numerous parts & vehicle exporters.

You'd have a huge choice of Nissans, Mazdas, Mitsubishis... all of
which are OK at best... and Toyotas.

You want a 3-liter turbodiesel Hiace? Available in these variants:

SWB basic van RWD, 4WD
LWB basic van, minibus RWD, 4WD, flat-floor (small rear wheels)
XLW basic high-roof van, bus or luxury, RWD or 4WD
Custom (SWB), luxury
Super Custom (SWB only), luxury, all the bells & whistles, torsionbar rear-end

Earlier 4WDs are parttime, later are fulltime. Most upmarket Hiaces
in Japan are auto, but manuals can be found.

Engine choices:
2.0 gas
2.4 gas
2.4 turbodiesel
2.8 diesel
3.0 EFI turbodiesel

... I kinda like the idea of an XLWB 4WD with a 3.0 twin-turbo Toyota
Supra engine (2JZ-T) or 4.0 Celsior engine... I know that there's a
4.0-converted van in town, but I've never seen it.

The 3.0 is reputed to be a flier, despite what "Wheels" has asid
about the Prado fitted with the same engine (1KZ-T).

The new Hiace, just out this year, continues the forward-control
cabover layout, but is larger, with a wide-bodied variant. I don't
know what options it has in Japan (too early yet for used examples to
make their way into NZ), but "Wheels"  did a handling comparison (it
easily outhandled a Prado, especially in the slalom, though they
thought it was a very poor handler), and apparently its 2.5-liter
DOHC EFI common-rail diesel is outperformed by the VW T5's diesel
five.

>As far as japanese vans go, we can get 15 year old used japanese domestic
>market vehicles in Canada.

Why so old? Not ateh these vehicles don't age very well, but these
small cabovers only ceased production 2-3 years ago.

>The town ace, master ace hi ace etc.  Most imported ones seem to be 4wd
>turbo diesels.

No Hiaces? If not, why not??

>The common engine in these vans seems to be the 2 liter 2C-T turbo diesel,
>which sounds good on paper but it only puts out
>84 hp and 127 lb/ft of torque.  Power wise, it's not really an upgrade
compared to the vanagon.

The 2C-T goes really well in cars eg Camrys, but for some reason not
so well in small vans. They are notorious for cracking heads, though
this can be alleviated by fitting a fat (2.5") exhaust.

>mercedes used to sell a van over
>in europe called an MB100 ..looked a lot like a vanagon, but had seats
for 9. but they never imported it over here.

The MB100 is made in Korea. I suspect that it's a Ssangyong design
rather than Mercedes, thoug it uses Mercedes drivetrains. It's a
crude vehicle (even though, like the Kia Pregio, stylingwise it's a
botched Hiace-ripoff), FWD, inline engine (handling must be
plow-understeer at best) and a LIVE rear axle.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

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