Better Passenger Van? Nissan Urvan Or Toyota Hi-ace Commuter or others?

[Boy Bastos]

Ang panget nung I-Van.

Sure ako na masakit sa katawan iyan. Kung yung loaded na NKR eh matatag na eh iyan pa kaya.

[mondragon]

i dont think its underpower mr kiantot... kumbaga nasa high level ka,bumaba ka ng 1-level..parang overqualified ka prang ganun... sa 2,280kg na payload na kaya ng i-van that's a lot compare sa dalawang van sa thread na ito.. well totoo nga easy to maintain ang isuzu engines pati daw ung nissan engines.. mechanical nga dw.. difference is more payload kaya ng isuzu kc truck based at real truck makers nga..khit ung separate entity na nissan diesel cannot overtake isuzu in truck making and diesel engine making...

tama ka.... ung urban hndi ganun ka solid ang suspension... halos sagad na ang payload sa 18 pax... feeling ko ms matagtag ang urban sa hi ace... ms malamig pa... ms mabilis lng ang urban kc ms magaan sa hi ace.. pero ewan q.. sabi nila ms malamig nga dw tlg ang aircon at comfort ang urban... tingin q ms matipid sa fuel hi ace

[Walter]

I think we should stop feeding the troll now. Doesn't he remind you of that dmax troll?

[cripple_rooster]

For the Isuzu i-Van, the overflow coolant jug delete and the bad-quality interior trim seem to be the biggest problems at all. Nowadays we can still find minibuses from the same class still fitted with 4-wheel drum brakes even in other countries quoted as more developed than the Philippines, altough disc brakes at least in the front wheel would be a great improvement.

The Urvan would be nice with a turbo and direct-injection, but if it's still a reliable option and not so expensive to fix it's OK. Maybe with the Euro-2 and Euro-3 it might have some upgrades at its engine, such as direct injection and a turbocharger and still remain easy to perform the PMS without all those electronic stuff like the Hiace.

[vinj]

I wonder where you're getting your facts. Mas mabilis ang urvan over hiace? No. Mas mabilis po ang hiace than the urvan, even for the wide bodied variants. Mas matagtag ang urvan sa hiace? No. Mas matagtag po ang Hiace (whether commuter or wide bodied grandia variants) over the urvan (whether shuttle, escapade or estate models).

Where I'm getting my facts? Our office has urvan escapades, urvan shuttles, hiace commuters and a hiace GL grandia, all being used to convey people from Mckinley Hill to Ayala and vice versa all day long. They are also being used for out of town events during weekends (baler, batangas, la union, etc...) and there are a lot times na foreign expats ang pasahero. As in bugbog po sila sa gamit.

Guess which units won the hearts of the expats? The urvan escapades.
.

I agree. Even the Urvan Estate with the 3.0L Di engine will get ahead of the Hiace off-the line but once the turbo of the D4d kicks in, bye-bye Urvan. The Hiace Grandia can even surprise the 1600 sedans with it's acceleration and mid range power and runs happily on the highway until a Starex CRDi cruises past it.

With the Grandia, Starex CRDi, Escapade and Estate, in one way or another i've used these vans well enough (either we've owned one or had one as office service) and when it comes to fleet use, my money is on the Urvan Escapade while for personal/family use, it's either the Super Grandia or Starex.

What won the expats to the Escapades? Seating comfort?

[cripple_rooster]

Nowadays the turbocharging development in diesel engines is overcoming the turbo-lag. If Toyota start to fit the 2.5L D4-D with a VGT like the 3.0L D4-D it would be a nice improvement for the Hiace's performance, altough I wouldn't expect it to happen before Euro-4 start to be enforced in the Philippines...

[kompressor]

What won the expats to the Escapades? Seating comfort?

Seating comfort, ride comfort and surprisingly, the airconditioning. Probably because the units were bought during the same time period with the same level of maintenance received.

I think the UV express units Urvans which have poor airconditioning were bought waaaay before the big bodied hiace commuters were introduced to the market and are still running alongside the newer units so the airconditioning really gets compared vis-a-vis. Some operators don't have their a/c units cleaned since they use the "if it ain't broken yet, don't fix it" mentality the wrong way. Mas madalas nga dapat ang cleaning ng a/c ng fleet units since pag mas babad sa gamit, mas mapupuno agad ng dumi ang evaporators. Another thing is the very expensive and somewhat unrepairable compressors of Nissans compared to the cheaper Sandens that toyota uses with readily available parts like shaft seals, bearings, etc.

[Ry_Tower]

Nowadays the turbocharging development in diesel engines is overcoming the turbo-lag. If Toyota start to fit the 2.5L D4-D with a VGT like the 3.0L D4-D it would be a nice improvement for the Hiace's performance, altough I wouldn't expect it to happen before Euro-4 start to be enforced in the Philippines...

Euro 4 duel is not the reason. The 2.5D4D is VNT equipped already. What it lacks are intercoolers and better VNT's which I think toyota is not putting because of cost-cutting measure.

Toyota - Hiace

The euro-4 BS is even what Isuzu is saying but look at Mitsu and Korean vgt's. They work just fine here even in our euro-4 fuel.

[mondragon]

bkit cripple rooster, hndi ba direct injection ang urban n yan? i-van leads over urban in terms of payload, and of course i-van is nhr truck than an urban which is purely van.... but if with hi-ace, hi ace has slight advantage over urban in comfort and aircon

[mondragon]

so ms magastos ang maintenance ng urban?.. ms malamig daw ang aircon ng nissan yan ang pinagmamalaki nila...pero kung 18 seater, hi-ace wins.. sanden pala aircon ng toyota, same with isuzu pala...