A real offroad campervan - Hiace 4x4! 

What a wicked van. It's got its own charm. Reminds me of a smaller MB Sprinter 4WD van. Toyota should build a variant of the HIace like that from factory.

Holy shit, finally a comprehensive video explaining the nitty gritty rather than the bullshit walk around crap. Well done ✅

We actually have factory build Hi ace mini busses available in Lesotho -South Africa. These busses run daily up Sani Pass filled with passengers from surrounding areas into Lesotho.

Good video, I have one of these in a shorter LWB 300 series hiace with manual 6 speed gearbox, stelth bar with a winch inside and couldn't be happier I just got back from a 3,400 km round trip to do Googs track it performed flawlessly no ground clearance issues on the sand hills and gave a fuel economy of 12.2 letres per 100 km for the trip. My fit out is very basic no cupboards just a double bed across the back, fridge, toilet bins for food etc. 60 Litres spare fuel. Cheers.

Brilliant! I always thought if manufacturers produce an offroad capable van it would sell easily! Vans, in my opinion, are more practical than any other type of vehicle. However, perhaps they're overlooked due to their aesthetics or perceived as vehicles primarily for transporting people or for work, or a car for older people. If this perception changes, I'm confident we'll see offroad capable vans on the road.

Awesome and outstanding as always.Thanks for sharing and taking us along

Outstanding video, thank you gents.

thank you for making this video so good..

Great video Robert, really appreciated the in-depth review and testing compared to the quick walk around we often see on other channels. Keep up the great work.

The man is smart - very dope build that, I love it!

We have one of these at work. Its terrific. I recommend them.

we need to see a bus4x4 converted hiace :) much more clearance (spring over in the rear and custom front knuckle)

Thanks for the great review

A very interesting video and a very interesting conversion. In personal I will never trade my VW T3 SYNCRO for any other rig.

Looks a fantastic set up. I think a whole heap of people go out and modify their four-wheel drives to a point where they will never use the capacity. We watch the guys at four-wheel drive 24/7 et al and assume that that's what we're going to be doing every weekend. Sure there are plenty of people who get stuck into that sort of thing but they're also plenty of people who could use this thing to get up some seriously rough tracks but still have all the excellent mod cons and usability for camping.

Our organisation custom made our hiace as a 4wd, it’s a great vehicle

awesome alternative to a delica, looks like it needed a good fresh water rinse after some beach driving tho

Definitely a better option then some vehicle build prices out there. I wouldnt take it on my local tracks, but for what my ultimate goal with a 4wd is, this is ideal. Bonus points my wife will be able to drive it.

Having driven thease in standard form and other hiluxes ect. The factory ECU map is far more de tuned then other 2.8. I reckon he may see huge improvements from transmission lock up switch and a remap.

Have had an Hyundai Starex 4WD 2007. It was amazing, such a shame that no one is building anymore great Van's like that. There exists only one at the moment from Russian GAZ.

THANK YOU FOR VIDEO

Always wanted toyota to do a 4x4 van ,definitely a market there it would be very popular

Notes: 1. the Hiace runs 265/65/17 tyres, same as 4x4s like the Hilux, so ground clearance is the same. Mark is looking at 265/70/17 tyres. The limitation of the vehicle is rampover angle which is not the same as ground clearance. 2. There will be a follow-up video looking at the camper fitout. 3. Many are saying AWD vehicles are capable offroad. Well, 'capable' is subjective. Certainly the Delica D5, Transit Trail etc have offroad capability but I can't think of anything that could match this Hiace when it has front and rear axle lockers. If you want to see how well a 2WD SUV can go offroad then watch this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7HMQ27QYLg4.html Watch this for Part 2, inside the van ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ssgNl19cHeE.html Follow Aussie HiLander on Facebook facebook.com/AussieHiLander

I have a lot of respect for those Hiace vans, a lot of tour companies in Kenya use them as safari vehicles and they put up with a lot of abuse on some truly dreadful roads without much complaint. The Nissan Urvan is also popular there for the same reason, but both are being replaced by ex-Police 79 Series, normally with a chassis extension and custom bodywork.

Thank you very much for reviewing this presentation. I'm looking for information.

I owned a 1977 2 ltr - VW Kombi for 10 years in my 20s - loved it - Mercedes 15" rims with offroad tyres and it did Fraser/Moreton etc regularly. Great Hiace - larger lift and taller tyres would help but gearing sucks the fuel economy - but let the air down off road enough and that will self correct :)

Nice, the hiace screams for 33 inch troopy wheels.

looks like a great camper that's very capable.

Enjoyed watching this. If I had more 4x4 experience this would be a dream vehicle to do the loop around Aus. Gives you the flexibility to go off road and see some magic.The camper fit out was nice but I'd probably have a different configuration if it was mine :)

Excellent. They have really missed a market not building a proper 4x4 van. The 4 motion VW comes closest. Like to see a review on that and the Staria I have.

This is a great conversion. I have thought about the Sprinter vans but the AWD system we get in Australia is disappointing. I will look forward to see if anyone comes up with a bit more clearance in the future.

What an awesome van.. Toyota please make a 4x4 variant..

Be nice if Toyota made these as standard 4x4. I think they would be popular. Thanks for the compare.

Would rather the hiace anyday. Would trust it way more than the ranger also. We have a few of these vans where I work and they are much higher off the ground !!

Impressive video

My dream vehicle right there! Sad we can't get these in NA

Nearing the completion of our "forever" 4wd (a budget build over a number of years & I even considered cutting the roof out) the only way we would get out of it is if there was a van of some sorts with 4wd that we could afford. I also own the MB Vito van which is a similar size to this, though I think a 4wd version of the sprinter would be the go for us with a shower & loo! just a bit more room. We hired an RV in Tassy a few years ago & though a little too big, it was only missing 4wd. I've seen a few conversions in the states & it's true, there is a hole in the market for 4wd vans both small & large.

Now all standard Hiaces will have to be called a "Loace".

Haha you beat aspw to it 🤣 Nice vid and what a bloody good option for a comfy tourer! Very interesting to see how well it did but that height and length is huge

Almost the perfect touring / weekend camper vehicle, like to see the shorter wheelbase one though.

Well put together mate. Awesome job. Got to the important functional bits. You are Andrew St Pierre minus the ocd wank. Cheers Just some perspective for the hell of it. My 2016 Colorado with a small hybrid offroad caravan will do the same job. And I can drop it at camp and have similar offroad capability as the ranger. Total cost $40000 car plus 3-6 grand in mods including rear locker. Caravan $40000. Total Total $86000 and I can tour anywhere in comfort and drive fairly tough tracks if it takes my fancy. Buy this second hand and it's around 50

Really interesting vehicle, something like this is relatively affordable and will basically take you touring anywhere in the country. I'm not too shocked about the fuel consumption, built like a brick, and I'm guessing weighing somewhere around 4000kg as we see it and with that drivetrain in place; its just going to use juice. For comparison, our 6 tonne Isuzu NPS with 37" super singles fitted, drinks 18.2 - 18.5 l/100 pretty consistently. The fact that it can legally travel at 130 km/h in the Territory, is a bonus that none of the heavier light rigid truck based units are legally capable of. Not to mention the fact that a light rigid vehicle (4.5T - 8T) cannot legally exceed 100km/h in certain states; Victoria for example.

Great tourer.If it is anything like the last model,it will also be rediculously reliable.

I still can't understand why the Japanese manufacturers will either not build 4wd vans, or build them, but won't sell them in Oz. Unfortunately the Europeans don't build vans to suit Oz conditions, if they bother building them at all.

Good video, I was wondering why the volume started high and by offroad testing it was quite low.

A very interesting video, I can see there is a gap in the market, the space in this is so much more than a troopy at a similar price point The main drawback is the ground clearance especially in soft sand, a bit of wheel spin and your on your belly

Great setup! I wish I could tow a race trailer with it but 2.5t is a tall order.

Hi Robert, Thanks for this comparison. Very interesting and I really appreciate the fine detail you go to in clearly demonstrating the different capabilities between the two vehicle's ability. This is what I want to see. Ditto for many of your other videos. No BS and fluff. Appreciated. How do you think the van would hold up to long periods of rough use (not abuse).. Not having a ladder chassis and being cross axled due to less suspension travel etc and getting hammered up rutted outback roads for days on end... Also with having two sliding doors on the side with large apatures that could potentially allow the chassis to have structural compromises and become stressed in ways the design was not intended for? Ditto winching or snatching from a monocoque chassis? Im sure it has been engineered appropriately but still that would be a concern for me. I would love to see a comparision between the enduraco, the bus 4x4 and a sprinter or even VW syncrho or transporter 4x4 van. The bus4x4 has another inch or so of ground clearance from what I understand but different suspension setup. Interested to see how this affected the ramp over angle or grip up some of the more challenging slopes you tested these vehicles on. Mark, thanks for putting your van up to this test. How have you found things like radiator and other mountings that were not intended for offroad used holding up to all the corrugations and offroad use? What about dust ingress with the large area of door seals etc that would encounter more flex and vibration? Any probs in that regard? Its a real shame that the van's economy is not a lot better, considering the likely high mileage these vans will do in their duty as offroad campers etc. That economy is worse than a v8 troopy with its crap aerodynamics and dinosaur tech. Not good enough in this day and age really. Surely something could be done about it, even beyond a engine tune and tranny lockup. Would it be possible to alter the transfer case to make it a part time 4wd so you can maybe get some more economy savings from reduced driveline losses on the sealed roads when 4wd is not so necessary? Even freewheeling front hubs? are they allowed? Thanks again and interesed to hear further about this type of van. Its an underapprecated and ignored market sector in my opinion.

I see ASPW has just started a 4WD HiAce build

I'm shocked that the traction control turns off on the ranger when your rear locker is on. That's what the older fjs would do. I wonder if you could trick it with a non selectable locker. If you had a ratcheting locker on the rear I guess the front traction control would still work? I'm glad that my traction control on the front works on my Jeep when my rear locker is on. Heck, my BLD is available when I'm driving on the street because of how the 4wd auto is set up. I can't turn it off , and BLD works in auto. He might even be able to improve the ramp over on that van just by adding sumo springs or something like that without even lifting it. It's heavy enough that he probably won't lose a tremendous amount of flex but under the extreme conditions the little bit higher spring rate will probably wind up giving him better functional clearance. I added spring rubbers to my Jeep since it doesn't have much flex anyway and it improved The real world clearance under load so much that on a particular obstacle where I used to scrape I no longer scrape. I was pretty surprised. This wasn't even a diagonal obstacle this was a dead on break over test.

There's this vehicle series in Russia - a GAZ Gazelle/Sobol van. Base is RWD, but there are 4WD versions available with low range and rear diff lock. They are quite capable off road with the limitation being dual rear tyres on heavier versions. As for size they are like in Ford Transit class, 3 to 4.5 tons GVW. Not sure if those are exported to Australia.

Absolutely brilliant… this is something that has been missing in the market for years. Would be interested to see the standard length hiace and how it looks. Would like to know if it’s possible to fit a 32” tyre under it though…

I'm also still staggered that your limit on a car licence is 4,500 kg. In the UK and pretty much the whole of Europe it's just 3,500 kg, which is why it's rare to see a European vehicle with a higher GVM - the Iveco Daily is a notable exception.

Very nice setup. But don't discount the D5 delica as they are way more capable than you can expect. I have built touring rigs for over12 years, had low range 4x4s and built a comp rig back in the day, I bought a d5 as an interim car for a couple of years and I am honestly blown away with how easy it deals with step rutted tracks and would have no issues touring aus in one and that's the key it's a touring setup so the gearbox has no issues without low rainge. Love the hiace though but not the build cost.

Great video guys! I’m still going to stick with the Raptor, and buy a 4x4 caravan

Hey Robert. You need to start filming with an iPhone or something with stabilisation as some of your handheld content is getting difficult to watch. Love your channel but getting very frustrated with camera shake when it’s not needed now days with the tech we have. As I said, even an iPhone either Video or Cinematic mode will stabilise it brilliantly. Even if you are running etc.

I want one!

Super 👍 France

I love my vans for comfort but I’d like to see a like for like comparison with a troopy over the same tests. Similar pricing. Higher clearances, no modifications which means no voiding of warranty and the 2.8L auto in the 78 series is a game changer for those looking for an automatic option and better economy than the original V8. Oh and did I forget to mention optional front diff locks in the troopy from factory? I believe Andrew St Pierre white is doing that later down the line with a bus 4x4 conversion against his new 2.8L troopy build.

The main reason for the snorkel is not for water crossings but to provide better and clean air flow

What a coincidence, I just bought myself a Hiace 4x4... Except mine is 30yo. Still think those old cab-over are really the most efficient design for space... Things is 20cm shorter than Troopy but has 1 extra meter of rear space! Also has a way shorter wheel base, helping with agility. Obviously the inevitable issue with the cabover design is the front overhang... Also maximum tire size without having to cut things is 29". Otherwise it's a regular Toyota part-time 4x4 with stock rear-LSD, can be lifted with Hilux kits and basically all the mechanical parts are Hilux so very standard and easy to source, even for a niche vehicle.

Tell us about your van, Umm But nice van and out of curiosity would an Arctic truck lift kit and suspension work on it???

Always comes back to everything is a compromise. All you need to do now is work out where you want to compromise.

Dang, you stole Andrew White’s thunder with this one. :)

100s of them here in central qld on the mine sites awesome looking rigs

Get an old Nissan NV2500/Cargo Van and do a 4WD conversion. Much more capable in off-road handling and payload.

It's unlikely to be possible, but it would be interesting to see a comparison between this and the recently launched Kimberley Kruiswagon. The wagon is based on the MB sprinter LWB, and I note the comments against Euro vehicles in general including the Sprinter option, but the wagon has been extensively modified by Kimberley for off-road. Price tag is pretty steep.

Probably could run a narrower tire to save big at the pump if that's a problem he's noticing

Why wasnt the rear dif and axle changed to under the leaf springs to increase the rear height clearance. That would stop the van from getting hung up.

Would be interesting to see how much better the normal/swb Hiace would be since the break over angle would be much better.

More clearance, more flex from the suspension, 33’s, more underbody protection. Forget about the engine mapping change the diff ratios and it would go from very good to brilliant.

The rear axle on the Hiace must be under the leaf springs

Iveco Turbo Daily?

What brand is the bullbar, and where can you buy them from please. I've just taken delivery of a converted van but haven't been able to find a decent bar. Thanks..

Does the Hiace come with AWD from factory? Because I though the AWD is controlled with a computer, and simply changing parts of drivetrain does not also bring the software (whereas it brings 4WD and difflock- physical aspects of such an upgrade)? The same with the 4WD traction control. How is this done?

So much better to be indoors no mossies stop anywhere and your ready.

So it's a low budget, low ground clearance edition of the Bus 4x4 conversion ?

I have a hiace and love this idea, but how does the battery stay dry in a river crossing?

Toyota produces a full time 4wd Hiace for the Lesotho market

4x4 sprinter goes everywhere, ground clearance permitted, except rock climbing. Frequent rock climbing won’t make you look good for overland trip, it will die on you fast.

Any cooling issues with? Looked like the winch was blocking some of the coolers?

In North America we have the FORD Transit Trail.

You know you can get factory 4wd direct from japan ? On coil springs even they just don't have low range . I have a slwb 4wd 1996 model and it has about the same clearance. I just have a bed and some storage in the back but carry a 250kg power wheelchair in through the side door it does everything i need it to in the gulf country when it is not flooded

Hmmm... 00:16:58

Where do you get the front end and winch from?

cant you get the four wheel drive Mercedes sprinter?

Unpopular opinion for most of the four-wheel driving people do you don't need a proper four-wheel drive. I believe that with an 8 9 or 10 speed automatic, it would be possible to get a decent crawl ratio so you don't need low range either, but your friends won't think you're cool if you're out there and then AWD SUV

The problem with these builds is you could buy 2 new hiace vans for the price...i researched this extensively when purchasing my slwb hiace and here's a reality check, this is a 65k conversion. A new hiace is 65k aswell. So if your prepared to spend 130k on a 4x4 hiace then this is 4 you...breaks my heart this shit is so expensive that its mostly out of reach...so i settled on a diff lock and accepted it was not a 4x4. Be awsome if it was more affordable..cool van but m8. Wanna swap 😉👍👍

Don't know why Toyota stopped making 4wd Hiace models. The last one I remember was the Hiace 1998 model.

Can this vehicle be lifted anymore? Because when going solo it would eliminate the need to winch as much.

Will probably become more common with that Ute tax

Who did this first you or 4xoverland?

Beautiful. I would have picked the shorter wheel-base, and still raise it a bit further. A shame Toyota doesn't produce that version with the higher roof. Here in Bolivia people would pay a fortune to have this jewel.

Who did the pop top conversion?

bus 4x4 comes to mind

I was so interested in this however…. You lost me at 15/18lts per 100km.. wow.. that’s just not worth it at all! Crazy! My 2WD converted Peugeot Boxer camper returns 9.6lts per 100 @ 3400kg on Rugged terrains..

Very capable van, rear lockers solve many things..complicated traction controls are for lazy people. Good old solid lockers are always the best option. Brakeover angle on that van needs another 40mm. Oh and a winch and you’ll get most places …

It’s a great option but the ground clearance doesn’t look great. Would love to see it on the sand.

Throw some Portal Axles and Bigger Tyres at it + $$$

Nice car but not much ground clearance and to be a diesel very thirsty twice as much as my Volvo Laplander Camper.