Toyota Previa 2000 test drive - 2003 minivan

Geisha will become a housekeeper

In the fleet at the wheel - Technician from Japan

I invite a flexible mistress, middle -aged, a foreigner to work. Payment by agreement ...
This or about such an announcement could appear in the newspaper if the conversation was about the housekeeper. But in this case, this refers to a used car of foreign production for transporting people and goods up to 600-800 kg - a kind of universal hostess, capable of solving most transport problems.
With the Gazovsky sable, we were pretty tormented (ZR, 2000, No. 1, 12; 2001, No. 4, 10). The breakdown and expenses associated with them have finished us, so we decided to buy, at a similar price, a certain alternative. Sea options. The first candidate for trial marriage is a foreign car worth 8-10 thousand green, preferably a large mini-ven. The duration of the tests is 6-8 months: winter, spring, summer - that is, three seasons. The term is quite enough to make a completely objective opinion about the chosen one. Further, without delaying, we sell and look for another, similar. You have to find really the best.
 
Find, pay, repair
As it turned out, buying the desired car in Moscow is not easy. For almost depressed (250-300 thousand km of run), but still on the go, European Toyota Lit-Ace, Volkswagen-Caravel, Mitsubishi L-300 and their analogues, from 10 years and older, ask for 4-5 thousand dollars. Machines of the same class in good condition (mileage 100-150 thousand km, age 6-8 years) cost from 10 to 15 thousand. The golden middle is a rarity. The case helped, as usual: Toyota-Privia of the 1993 release, brought from Canada at one time, liked it right away. A single -shaped single -shaped uniform, with a huge velurov easily transformed salon, an automatic gearbox, all -wheel drive, a carrying capacity of 800 kg suitable for us both in price and as a state.

This car was produced from 1990 to 1994 in a wide variety of trim levels. The most interesting is for the domestic market of the Lusida Lusida country with a 2.2 l (100 l/s) turbodiesel, only the right wheel and all -wheel drive. For Europe and America, the only 2.4 liter gasoline engine was offered, with a mechanical or automatic gearbox. Drive - rear or 4x4. All the configurations are one - they were made only in Japan. The all -wheel drive copy that we get - these are seven passenger seats, an electric packet, air conditioning, cruise control, ABS, a pillow for the driver.

On the layout, the car is somewhat reminiscent of the bus: the horizontal engine is located in the database. A four-cylinder 16-valve motor is also accompanied by a full-wheel drive transmission with Vis-Mufta in the Interssection differential. This made it possible to achieve equal weightlifting along the axes and lower the center of gravity. At the same time, such a layout complicates the serious repair of the power unit and transmission in garage conditions, although there are no problems with periodic maintenance with periodic maintenance - all points are available. The exception is the spark plugs. To get to them, it is necessary to remove the right front chair, raise the carpet and open a special hatch. According to the service book, this will have to be done every 72,000 km. Hence the requirements for candles - only with platinum electrodes.

The former owner in more or less in detail presented the history of the disease in a two-year period of ownership, and also transferred a service book and operating instructions. It was not possible to find any leadership in Russian for this car - I had to recall English. Having bought and registered the miracle of Japanese technology, we visited a specialized service station to determine the degree of wear of individual nodes and identify the malfunctions that were not detected during the purchase.

Diagnostic prices range very significantly, in any case in the capital. For eminent branded servicemen, the revision of the entire car costs about six thousand rubles, and at small hundred specializing in Toyota - 1.5-2 thousand with the same set of services.
And here is the verdict: in addition to the already detected malfunctions (the ABS, air conditioner and cigarette lighting do not work, the parking brake cable is torn, the Check Engine board is on), balls, two engine pillows, brake pads, the absorbal rear wheel, oxygen sensor, need to be replaced by replacement. Also set the missing ABS sensor of the right front wheel.
Thus, the first acquaintance began with repairs and a large that - replacing all liquids and filters. It is good that in Moscow to be tolerant with spare parts: filters, belts, ball supports managed to buy immediately; The front cable of the handbrake, oxygen sensor - the next day (order - a day from Finland). Abs sensors, left and right branches of the hand brake, the engine pillows had to wait 15 days.

When the costs were calculated, it seemed a little expensive - more than $ 1000! And only on spare parts. But if you think about it, the car itself is far from cheap and 13% of its residual value for driving on a working road cruiser, there are not so many. And two days spent on putting the car in order (peak requirements), for an eight-year-old car with a mileage of 100 thousand km, in general, short.

Expert opinion
And he, this eight-year-old mini-wen, turned out to be very nothing! At least, sitting behind the wheel and going on a small test trip, you do not think at all about his age and passed kilometers. The doors are easily open and closed, as if the car rolled out of the gates of the heifers yesterday, the endings regularly light the lighting inside the cabin. And the upholstery looks four with a plus. The main systems perform their functions regularly. And it doesn’t matter whether you sit on the driver's workplace or in the passenger’s chair - everything turns everywhere, turns and moves in the right direction. Of course, in some places the emerging traces of corrosion of the body, a shabby bag and an impartial odometer give out age in some places. An indirectly solid mileage is felt in the creaking and squeaking of drive belts, vibrations of a power unit, too noticeable at idle, unstable cold start, which, as a rule, of two attempts. But all this is somehow immediately forgotten, it is worthwhile to transfer the machine gun to position D - so easily and naturally our (almost two -ton) ship rushes forward.

In the character of Previa there is not a gram of sharpness and adversarial excitement. Responses of the car are sedentary, full of advantages. At times, it even annoys - I want something more daddy. However, if you accepted the car as it is, one cannot help but pay attention to the sensitive, almost without delay, the operation of the machine gun. He reacts so quickly to any movement of the accelerator, as if there is a rigid connection in the transmission. Even modern cars can not always boast of this.

The work of pendants is good and good. They will very quickly accustom to a sort of road permissiveness, easily swallowing the majority of irregularities. Only small protrusions, seams, joints are quite noisy to the body and steering wheel. The rest is good comfort, successfully selected characteristics of springs and shock absorbers.

Previa is thought out well from the point of view of controllability: intelligible steering, moderate body rolls, calm, stable reactions in the behavior of the machine. There are no driver's delights, but everything is convenient, of course, reliable.

But what about the shortcomings? - asks the picky reader.
First of all, these are Japanese proportions of the seats and their longitudinal adjustments. Everything is twisted so accurately that a big person is not like moving away - there is barely enough to fasten the belt. At the same time, there is nowhere to put the left leg unnecessary during the machine. A bumbling -pounding shock pushes it far to the right, almost close to the brake pedal. As a result, you seem to be sitting high, and visibility is good, and all the time you will eat in the seat in search of a convenient position.
Another trouble is blind headlights. At first glance, Toyota shines like a Christmas tree in the darkness - so many different flashlights are on it. Alas, in the movement of the contrast of outdoor lighting, it is clearly not enough - apparently, the age and American headlight adjustment affects. Well, in general, the car pulls on the hard four.

Having brought the car in good condition, we naturally measured some parameters at the Dmitrov Auto Poligon. The subjective feeling of good acceptance and effective brakes was confirmed by numbers. For clarity, comparison with GAZ 2217 (ZR, 1999, No. 10).

Let's see if that wheel will come to Kazan ... - To the next one without breakdowns. Previa has a difficult life in the editorial office. We expect to use it not only as a mini-carrier or minibus for traveling to the Dmitrovsky training ground, but also as an escort car in long run.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
General data: number of places - 7; Equipped mass - 1655 kg; Full mass - 2450 kg; maximum speed - 175 km/h; acceleration time from a place to 100 km/h - 11.5 s; fuel consumption in conditional suburban and city cycles - 11.0; 12.8 l/100 km; fuel supply - 75 liters; Fuel-AI-91, AI-95. Dimensions, mm: length - 4750; width - 1800; height - 1780; base - 2860; The track in front/back - 1560/1550; Road clearance - 150; trunk volume - 670/1782 l; The turning radius is 6.1 m. The engine: four -cylinder, in order, four valves per cylinder, is located in the database horizontally; working volume - 2438 cm; cylinder diameter and piston stroke - 95.0x86.0 mm; compression degree - 9.3; Power - 97 kW/132 l. With. at 5000 rpm; The maximum torque is 204 N.M at 4000 rpm. Transmission: permanent all -wheel drive; The gearbox is automatic four -speed. Suspension: front is an independent type of mcesson, the back is a bridge with a traction of Panar. Brakes: with a vacuum amplifier and ABS, in front and back - disk. Steering: rheck with a hydraulic wrap. Tire size: 215/65R15.

Repair costs and
MAINTENANCE
Spare parts, work price,
(mileage 99 700-101 000 km) rub. ($)
Engine diagnosis
and chassis for one hundred 1800 (61)
Motor oil 1520 (51.5)
Transmission oil 1880 (63.7)
Liquid for automatic
gearboxes 600 (20.3)
Litee lubricant 130 (4.4)
Filter:
oil 350 (11.9)
air 1050 (39.6)
fuel 1590 (54)
Parking brake cable:
front 3450 (117)
right branch 1230 (41.5)
left branch 1140 (38.5)
Brake pads 1476 (50)
ABS system sensors:
front right 3150 (106.5)
rear left 3450 (117)
Engine pillows 2100 (71)
Candles 1320 (45)
Balls 4080 (138)
Generator belt 360 (12.2)
Air conditioning belt 201 (6.8)
Total 30 877 (1049.9)
 
Text / Andrey Kochetov, Sergey Voskresensky
Photo / George Sadkov
 
 
 
 

Source: The magazine "Driving"