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Date:         Mon, 15 May 2000 11:09:35 +1200
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: Hiace Web
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Per Lindgren wrote that the Hiaces now sold in Europe are different. I'm not sure what those vans are, but they are almost certainly another model with Hiace badges fitted. The true Hiace remains the same good-looking forward-control (cabover) vehicle released in 1988 or so, with engine mounted over the front suspension. If the van sold in England has a nose like a Transit or T4 Transporter/Caravelle, it's not a real Hiace! Sorry, Per! I have seen a single snouted UGLY "Liteace" here, which I think was a rebadged Deliboy (yes!).

Toyota did this sort of badge-engineering in England, and possibly also the rest of Europe, with a car there badged Carina. Now, the real Carina started off as a car based on the Corona but with different glass, interior and body panels; we get Japanese-market examples here, so I know what the originals are! The 1984-87 model differed from the Corona visually; the car sold as Carina in Britain was 100% Corona, with Carina badges. For the next two generations, 1988 onward, the Carina was different to the Corona original only in lights, front fenders, hood (bonnet, homburg, whatever) and dashboards. after 1996 I dunno, as no new Coronas were imported, and I haven't seen any Coronas or Carinas of the current generation. note that Carinas and coronas have the same model designation eg the 1988-1992 sedan of both is an ST160, or if diesel, CT160.

The Japanese have learned from the Americans how to make a totally new model, or even brand, just by changing the badges on an existing car. So the Toyota Celsior became the Lexus LS400, Toyota Soarer to Lexus 400 coupe, Camry Windom/Prominent to Lexus ES300, LandCruiser to Lexus whatever, Corona to Carina, Corolla to Sprinter/Holden Apollo/Geo Storm, Liteace to Townace/Masterace/LE. VW is guilty of this also, the Audi 80/Fox becoming the first Passat.

With regard to other vans, Nissan, Isuzu, Mazda and Mitsubishi offer Liteace-size and larger vans, all available as diesels and 4WD (Subaru's Domingo is a microvan, like the Suzuki Carry, Daihatsu HiJet and Mitsubishi L100, none diesel or 4WD). Only the Mitsubishi Delica/L300/Express 4WD van is a full offroader; I've driven quite a few of these, as well as 2WD Hiaces. The other 4WDs have normal groundclearance. Nissan vans have a bad reliability record, especially the diesels. It is common knowledge that you don't buy a diesel beginning with M. Isuzus rust like crazy. The Hiace really is the pick of the bunch. In fact, in reality, it is probably a far better vehicle than the VW. But it just doesn't have the character, or perhaps the handling driven hard, though they certainly don't handle badly.

Andrew


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