Hi all, rural mail carrier wanting to learn about these!

I'm a rural mail carrier in kansas and I'm looking into a new rhd primary route vehicle to supplement my rhd XJ cherokee. These little beasts really seem to check all my boxes; large cargo room, rhd, automatic, 4x4, turbo diesel, but I have a few questions. Are they durable? My route is 150 miles a day over extremely rough practically unmaintained rock and dirt roads, even my xj is showing stress cracks. Are there engines or years I should stay away from. 2000-01 xjs are rubbish compared to the rest of the years. Thanks!

They used to be durable but they’re now 20-30 years old. The Hiace was the courier and mail van of choice in New Zealand and very common to see 500-700,000kms on them, but usually the 2.8L diesel, manual transmission ones. Given the age of them I personally would not rely on one for commercial use.

Well I'm currently relying on a 95 jeep cherokee with 320k miles for now, I would surely assume the same vintage Toyota with substantially less miles would be more reliable than that.

Well, “more reliable than a very high mileage 25yo Cherokee” is different from “reliable”.
I just reread your previous post mentioning very rough roads. It’s worth mentioning that the Super Custom 4WD is definitely not a smooth ride at even moderate speed on bad roads. They’re durable as-in they’re pretty tough but by the sound of the roads, you’d be wincing a lot.

Rougher than an old jeep?

Different kind of rough.

My SC goes through upper swinging arms every 12 months usually the boots on the ball joints although the manual allows some play our MOT says no.

Pete_nz says "different kind of rough"

In a "normal" vehicle with seats in the middle and the wheels at the end the driver is relatively still, rotating while the ends of the vehicle go up and down. In the Hiace you sit over the front wheels and go up and down with them. It's tiring.

Another thing, I don't know how quiet your jeep is, but the Hiace is not a quiet vehicle to ride in and it sounds like you would be spending a lot of time driving it so if you do get tempted by one despite the age take it for a ride and see how you feel about the noise. (Maybe the much later ones may be better).

I would love to take a ride in one, anyone here near Kansas City?
I used to have a rx-7 with a header and glass pack, damn near needed ear plugs to drive that thing, loud rides can definitely get on your nerves.
Just trying to come up with options, I need larger capacity than my xj, 4x4, durability, rhd and preferably diesel. Another carrier I talked to has a diesel estima and said it was easily the best mail rig they ever had. Reading about it vs the hiace the literature seems to point to the hiace being more durable and reliable. I can't afford a kj jeep, nor do I want want one and rhd conversion kits for other suvs/vans are sketchy at best, I wouldn't be caught dead with one.

I’ve had an AWD diesel Estima and it is a far, far more comfortable and pretty nice to drive. But those 2.2L diesel engines generally aren’t as reliable - they’re even more prone to overheating and head gasket problems. Parts may well be easier to get over there as the Estima or Previa seems more common than the Hiace.

Of note: The Japanese Estima is narrower body than the standard Previa.

Thinking about it I’d much rather use and maintain a diesel Estima than a Super Custom for the type of use you describe. Better fuel economy and safer too!

Reliability is my #1 concern. Fuel economy is tied with inclement weather handling because those are the largest variables in my pay. Comfort is 5 or 6 on the list.

I originally got turned to the idea of Grey market vans because I was asking on a diesel conversion forum about mounting an om617 mb diesel to a jeep aw4 and finding a rhd scout to put it in when somebody suggested why go through all that trouble when I can get a delica or hiace and have everything I'm looking for already factory built. The hiace seemed to be way more reliable than the delica per researching on the internet.

Hello,
I'm an RCA in Idaho and bought a ‘95 SC 2 wd diesel last January. I only use it one day a week(65 miles). It does great, it has been very reliable but I have to watch the temperature in the hot southern Idaho summer. Parts are available if you know where to look, this forum is a huge help for that. I am partly on gravel roads. I find the ride to be really nice. LOTS of room for packages and mail, but a little cramped in the driver seat area. I am looking for brake pads at the moment, and no luck so far, every place says they are unavailable.
It has been a wonderful mail truck so far

Do you know what kind of fuel mileage you are getting on the route? My xj can get 18 highway, but only 13.5-14 on the route. I put a poll up on rural mail talk and it seemed like no matter the vehicle no one got better than 15 except someone who said they got 30 in a jetta diesel which is suspect at best.

BTW, you must be in a sub rich area, im an rca too but ive been working 5 days a week for 6 months between two offices, 6 days a week for the last month. I'm senior rca and rumor is the next regular will retire in February, fingers crossed. A new primary route vehicle is going to be my making regular gift to myself with my xj serving as back up.

Someone else was asking about tires on the hiace and I noticed that you can use the same size tires and same bolt pattern wheels as my xj which is awesome because 2 of my trailers take the the same rims and tires too.

I work tomorrow, I’ll check mileage.
We have 4 rural rts. And 2 subs. I sub 2 rts, the other I use an LLV.
That is great about the wheels, I did not know. What I do know is delivering mail eats tires. I got 10000 miles out of 60000 mile tires,they are done. Other RCA’s have the same problem, so it’s not the Hiace’s fault.
My Hiace seemed to be well taken care of when I got it. I put in an Engine Watchdog to monitor temperature. It is a great rt vehicle, but I do worry about parts availability when something does go wrong.
Plus, it is a ball to drive

I work tomorrow, I’ll check mileage.
We have 4 rural rts. And 2 subs. I sub 2 rts, the other I use an LLV.
That is great about the wheels, I did not know. What I do know is delivering mail eats tires. I got 10000 miles out of 60000 mile tires,they are done. Other RCA’s have the same problem, so it’s not the Hiace’s fault.
My Hiace seemed to be well taken care of when I got it. I put in an Engine Watchdog to monitor temperature. It is a great rt vehicle, but I do worry about parts availability when something does go wrong.
Plus, it is a ball to drive

Okay, I got 17 mpg on the route today. Not bad for all the starting and stopping

That isn't too shabby, the extra 3 mpg would more than cover the extra cost of diesel. It would definitely be worth it if someone made their own bio diesel, or accidentally was running ag diesel.