Toyota Emina 4WD GX Review

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Toyota Emina 4WD GX
2.9 stars
Average rating for this product is: 2.9 out of 5

From 9 ratings and 8 reviews

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Bryan Grimshaw's Review of Toyota Emina 4WD GX

8th Feb 2007

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4 stars
  • Length of ownership
    6 Months
  • Performance
    2 stars
  • Reliability
    4.5 stars
  • Year Manufactured
    1992
  • Doors
    4
  • Practicality
    4 stars
Good Points

Good size for family of 5 and with the engine in a mid position it is a sensible layout. The permanent 4wd is a good feature. It has a very good passenger compartment layout with quite supportive seating. Actually better in these respects than our L400 Delica Spacegear. Very good fuel economy.


Bad Points

Possibly the most mind bendingly difficult engine to change cam belts on with a ridiculous auxiliary drive shaft coupling that was conceived by Beelzebub himself. Here in NZ the cost of genuine Toyota parts is utterly prohibitive eg the front drive shaft support bearing $550 + gst. or a fuel pipe isolator 25mm x 10mm which would cost Mr Toyota 10c to make, they wanted $26 each and I needed 4!


General Comments

The Toyota Emina 4WD GX is a fantastic car and I'd have another later one. I bought mine as a none runner with a broken cam belt. It costs $5000 for the dealer to change a cam belt and it HAS to be done at 100,000km or it will break. The reason it's so expensive is because of the Auxiliary drive shaft that has to be removed. If you take the engine down this far you may as well change the water pump, aux drive couplings and seals. The most common cause of death on these cars is broken cam belt or leaking water pump causing the head to crack. Anyway I fixed mine myself in my garage over a 6 month period using parts from the UK and local wreckers. It cost a fraction of the dealer price and I made sure I rebuilt the turbo charger and cleaned out all the breathers. People just don't look after cars and then wonder why they go horribly wrong. The up-shot of everything is that I think Eminas are really good cars.

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Members' Comments onBryan Grimshaw's Review

  • timblack57 Rank: 2nd Lieutenant on 6th Aug 2007

    As other reviewers have noted, these cars are very expensive to insure and obtaining cover can be difficult. Fuel consumption heavy (particularly in cold weather). On my car the gearbox had a nasty habit of suddenly changing down when you try to accelerate past 75 mph on an incline sending revs up to the limit, it then changes up only to change down again a moment later. Annoying for passengers too. Only one sliding door for rear passengers can be awkward at times. If you don't have the expertise to rebuild a turbo-diesel engine yourself, it wouldn't be an economic proposition.