Faults:

I have owned four of these vans; two from 84, one from 1987 4 wheel drive, and one 1987 4 wheel drive manual transmission. I never really had major problems with any of them; these vans are the best ever.

General Comments:

I owned a Toyota Previa, and in my opinion these little vans are made better than the newer vans.

I am currently looking for another 4 wheel drive for parts. I own a Porsche 944 and I would say that the van is way more comfortable and reliable. I recommend these vans to anyone (if you can find one).

Faults:

At 90,000 miles, the steering rack needed replacing.

At nearly 120,000 miles, the water pump seized-up.

I had this van for nearly 15 years, and had 4 major body jobs performed. 2 due to rust through, 1 due to a front-end collision, and 1 because the van was stolen, pursued by the police, and ditched. This vehicle had quite a history!

At around 300,000 miles, I needed a new fuel tank. Actually, the replacement was rust-free from the southern U.S., and worked very nicely.

General Comments:

All things considered, this van really held up well. The fact that I happened to get it pre-owned with rear-wheel drive, 5-speed and a base cargo model was an absolute bonus. I'd like to see Toyota re-issue the van. I'm sure that there would be a market for it.

Faults:

Power steering pump failed.

Transmission throttle cable failed.

Window washers don't work. Rear wiper failed.

Cruise control decides when it wants to function or not.

Ball joints (or something like that) are going out. Front end is beginning to "shimmy".

General Comments:

This is one outstanding vehicle. I converted it from a surf-dude-van to a racer-dude-van. I road-race motorcycles in California and have used this van to haul my racebike, spares, tools, canopy, etc. to race events and track days for four seasons now. Plus, the van is very useful for dump runs, hauling the odd large item from a store, and the like. I've put about 25,000 miles on the van.

I load the van with well over 1200 pounds of cargo, not including myself, and the automatic transmission just takes it without complaint.

I will begin racing two bikes in different classes so I'll have to move to a trailer as even this van can't carry my entire pit and two bikes.. I know this van will pull a Class I trailer just fine. I'll install a tranny cooler just in case (should have done that anyway!).

I installed stiffer shocks which helps some, but it's still pretty bouncy at times. We call it the "bouncy van".

I have maintained the mechanicals (tune ups, compression checks, new shocks, lubes, etc.) and I expect this will go well into the 200 thousand mile mark.

It's pretty goofy looking!

My only real dislikes are comfort (what can I expect for $800??) and safety. A head on collision would not be good in this vehicle.