barina wrote:

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Hi

Does anyone know anything about these vehicles, please

1999 4.2 diesel, 5sp manual,

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Hi Barina.   They've been around since about the end of WWII although not popular in Australia for a couple of decades due to the 'bad feelings' and the general misinformed idea that 'Jap was Crap'.   As we now all know, although the Japenese had some pretty ugly looking vehicles through the 60's, one couldn't complain about their build etc.   These days of course, they are now the great innovators.   The 4.2 litre engine is generally an Isuzu based power plant (they supply to Nissan, Mitsubishi, Hino etc), although I did hear that there was a 'sweetheart deal' with Toyota around the late 90's (unconfirmed).   I beliive the 4.2 is a non turbo engine which has it's own set of pros and cons.   Pros: Less 'stuff' to go wrong, no intercoolers, and no extra electrics, no worrying about turbo timers, extra strain on the cooling system and the like.   Cons:   Less 'off the mark' accelaration, this sounds like a non issue but can be a bit embarassing when you're being overtaken by pedestrians  not really as bad as that).  Slightly worse ecomomy.   The Civilian came out in several configurations, but in the Australian market I believe it was just the city bus and the tourist bus versions.  (tourist slighly wider and a bit longer).   There was also a choice of various sized petrol and various sized diesel (including turbo) engines.   Their main competition is the Toyota Coaster, the Rainbow (wide body bus),  Rosa and Isuzu Journey.   They have about 5 levels of 'extras' (depending on the year) and some include a rear toilet in the list of options.   They range in size from about 6 metres to just under 7 metres long and from 2 metres to 2.5 metres wide.  They are still on the market and parts are still readily available but the older body panels are now starting to dry up (pre 1980).   This will continue through natural attrition.   I have driven the 6 metre (1980s and '90s) versions  (as well as Toyotas) on many occasions usually full of rowdy plods en route to a demonstration or similar.   They have reasonable handling characteristics but (in my opinion) no better of worse than the competition.   I did find them a little 'bouncy' at speeds over 80 k.p.h. but again similar to the competition.   We never had reliability issues (again neither did the competion).   I took one from Melbourne to Portland and found the economy to be reasonable for it's size whilst kept to 80 kph.   After that the fuel consumption went up.   Again the competion was much the same.   For what's it's worth.   P.S. I don't know how much you know about diesels.   Whilst they are generally much stronger motors will usually better economy than petrol there are a few points to remember.   Deisel's oil and fuel filters are not as 'forgiving' as a petrol filter.   They need regular changing as does the oil if you want to get the longevity.   Diesel mechanics cost more, but regular changing of all filters will drastically reduce the need for a mechanic.   Water seperators (where fitted) also need regular checking and draining.   I like my diesel and with simple basic servicing (most people can easily chage a filter without much know how) they are O.K.   When buying second hand, check the service history (with stamp) and see if all filters are changed at the proper intervals.  Hope this helps.

-- Edited by Keith19837 on Friday 8th of June 2012 07:32:41 PM