Time for a change......

As I really enjoy driving the '02 1.3 I bought to replace the '98 998, I'm now thinking of replacing the '95 one I've been using for the past 18 years. Obviously condition of any replacement is the key issue, and as new as I've got the readies for.

With some cars I know some manufacturing years were better than others for quality of build or materials - has that ever applied in Hijet world? Is LPG worth the potential extra hassle at MOT time? Is the 1.4 diesel any good? Any other considerations or should I keep the old 'un?

From what I have been informed the diesel is a waste of time PFM . Not a lover of LPG myself so I will be looking at doing a 1.3 to 1.6 transfer in the distant future .

Best of luck

Eddie

Forget the diesel at all cost. Dreadful thing Peter.

That lombardini diesel engine is best left in canal boats and plant equipment.

Won't pull the skin off a hot chocolate, can't get parts for it, noisy, and to top it off they seem to go wrong alot.

1.3 all the way baby, and the LPG is a good addition in my opinion although it does make the coolant system more complicated which isn't a good thing in any way.

It wouldn't be the deal maker to me.

A good rust free van with 1 or 2 owners from new and low miles is what you want.

Worst thing is the road tax on later models, pick your year carefully if you want to save a fair bit of cash.

You say the nicest things, Stuart. I know the 1.2 is dire but haven't yet driven a 1.4. Thanks for the heads up. Will try to be less dreadful in future.  

Thanks Matt - so if you had 2 vans to choose from, identical apart from 1 with LPG and one without, same money, which would you go for - I'm thinking long-term and approx 6k miles pa.

Also the majority of vans on ebay recently have been 2002 - a few 2000/2001 and some late registrants maybe from 2003. I think it won 'Microvan of the Year' at some point - maybe 2002???

I would make my choice on bodywork and how well it had been maintained.

e.g the coolant system, and rust.

Part of me thinks that the LPG system is of poor design and could be the cause of further running issues down the line.

The LPG system create a second bypass for coolant, I mean another loop for hot water to miss the radiator and thermostat. On an already less than ideal coolant system I'm not sure if its been properly thought out. Just another bodged on addition by the UK Daihatsu marketing department.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'potential extra hassle at mot time'. As far as I know the difference is simply an LPG emissions test instead of a petrol one.

As for diesel, I believe there is a known problem with longevity. I came across this on the internet somewhere but a neighbour had one and he got rid before it failed big time. He knew it was on it's way so he traded it for LPG and never looked back. (I also seem to remember that the diesel needs to be set up properly by a Daihatsu dealer, so there are potential problems there).