What new car suggestions... not easy!

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vulgalour
Posts: 674
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: What new car suggestions... not easy!

#41 Post by vulgalour » Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:11 am

*pulls on the steering wheel to violently get us back on track*

What about a Japanese jellybean? Torquey engines, lots of room inside, narrow for their overall size and with some parts binning of the oily bits. They can be got surprisingly cheaply, especially if you're not too fussed about trim and colour. They come in petrol and diesel and are a proper multi-purpose vehicle.

Toyota Lucida/Estima/Emina/Previa could be your ticket to happy holidays. Best of all, when you're not on holiday you can use it for tip runs and not be charged for taking a van.

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JPB
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: What new car suggestions... not easy!

#42 Post by JPB » Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:53 am

^^^^
:thumbs:

But, unless the engine has a very thorough history, avoid the Diesels! The 2.4 litre petrol was designed from the off to fit on its side under the front seats and they tend to last in there, just as well given the amount of work involved in just getting to look at the oily bits. The 2.2 litre Diesel isn't so happy in the Previa family and will crack its head or present with similar cooling system woes at relatively low mileage. Better yet, Previa can take a 90 litre LPG tank that fits under the floor, between the rear chassis legs without encroaching into people space. Petrol models do around 20mpg, Diesels aren't a great deal better and both can be converted quite easily by specialists to run on gas at half the price of mainstream fuels.
Previa is the widest of the lot but is a UK market car and as such many are rusted badly by now, the narrower JDM ones (Estimas have either three middle seats or two captain's chairs, Lucida has a bench that can make part of the bed) are almost always rust free like most imports and that's on account of Japan's not using salt.

Consider also the van-like but Yaris/Vitz based alternatives, mine (a 2005 bB of the type current between 1998 and 2006) has benches front and rear with belts for six, has enough room behind the front seats for a bed, comes with the lovely short stroke, 1300cc vvti 2z engine or the torquey but not so happy to be spanked, long stroke 1500cc 1z.
Make sure that you can get insurance before buying a grey though, I insure with A-plan and they provide fully comp, agreed value cover without a mileage limit for only slightly more than the cost of the key policy I have for the Corolla and a couple of other motors.
Avoid Flux for import insurance, they know that most people think they're the only company that can help so they charge a hell of a lot for a policy. They quoted £500 for the (Group 8) bB whereas A-plan are less than a third of that amount and that's with no voluntary excess, DOC cover (which is missing in some import policies) and very pleasant, not remotely pushy call centre staff who appear to like their work and who, more importantly, are walking encyclopedias of weird JDM vehicles.

Or, since we're on JDM stuff; consider also the Nissan ElGrand but watch these for rust in the sills and inner arches, they're nowhere near as well rust protected as Toyotas so if you find a clean one of those, buy a drum of Ensis V on the way home from buying and that'll keep it solid. All of these Japanese MPVs are amazingly comfortable to drive for hours on end and Previa and its JDM cousins actually handle incredibly well, being effectively mid-engined and rear, or four wheel drive depending on spec.

Importing from a specialist Japanese proxy agent is the most cost effective way to get a JDM car onto your drive, but buying from the stock of an importer is only slightly dearer and would be better for a first time import buyer as you can play with the toys before you buy. Make sure that you get a Japanese deregistration certificate, proof of the vehicle's history and don't worry about KM/H speedo heads and such trivia, a £5 VR from Maplin (or up to £55 for the same chip from eBay :shock: ) will change the speed and distance readings by the required x0.625 or you can get used to metric as it's simple to calculate, especially with a traffic cop right behind you in a 30 zone! :lol:
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

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