2007 Toyota Alphard V 2.4 £7500

[KennyJayB]

Hi all,

After 18 months of ownership, I'm parting with my Alphard.  I'm based in Leek , Staffordshire and I bought it to transport my bikes at weekends but have only used it for this a handful of times so it's overkill to drive around with 7 seat and only 1 person in the car 99% of the time!  I'd prefer it to go to another forum member to be looked after so posting on here before it goes on to eBay.  Looking for £7500

 

It's a Toyota Alphard V 2.4 auto 2007 model. Imported from Japan in 2023 by Ian Taylor who has very good reputation in the scene.  It's done 85000 miles (clock reads 136500km). Extremely good condition inside, outside and underneath. Uncommon silver colour with dark interior.  It has the 7 seat configuration with the middle seats able to rotate 180 degrees.  It drives and runs like a new car and has taken us to France twice without a single issue.

 

Features and good points include:
- Bimta import certificate
- Just had new radiator and coolant flushed by Ian Taylor's garage
- plenty of tread left in tyres (Yokohame fronts and Falken rears)
- Krown rust proofed underneath and cavities before it saw a UK winter (has certificate and photos)
- very spacious inside, can accomodate multiple adults and bikes
- Bluetooth / DAB head unit for phone & music
- drop down screen in rear
- dual zone AC
- cruise control
- auto xenon adaptive headlights and fogs
- integrated rear fog light 

- Tein shocks

- ceramic coated in August

 

Bad points
- crack in windscreen
- small scratch on wing mirror

- All alloys are lightly scuffed (not by me!)

 

Please contact me at kennyjbratt@gmail.com for any questions / viewings etc.  As mentioned I'm based in Leek, Staffordshire.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

I have a tonne of photos if you want more, but here's a few

 

 

[KennyJayB]

Price now £6950.

[Kittenkaboodall]

Hello, I assume you got this sold in the end?

Any post sale blues or honest opinions of the car you’d share in hindsight?

[KennyJayB]

Hi, yes eventually I managed to get rid for less than I wanted but I needed it gone for the space on the drive. I didn't want to talk badly about it on an Alphard forum but since you asked I'll reply honestly:

 

I've owned a lot of cars and this is one that I was glad to see the back of most. If you just want a practical 7/8 seater that starts every time then you can't really go wrong.  However, there were things that were very frustrating hence the sale.

 

The ride quality was horrendous, I did have big wheel and low-pro tyres but I have thinner tyres on my daily Subaru and it's miles better. The Alphard was crashy, rattled the whole interior and was annoyingly loud when going over potholes / rough roads.

 

I had to spend most of my time on the brakes while driving.  On flat roads, even without accelerating, it would gain speed so I'd be braking all the time. Downhills were ridiculous how quickly it picked up speed. It didn't help that the brakes are terrible.

 

The 4 speed gearbox is antiquated, jerky and over 60mph the engine is revving quite high. Long journeys are quite draining because of this.

 

Mine was FWD and had Yokohamas up front and it would spin up even at low revs setting off with the slightest hint of moisture.

 

The AC was weird with the settings. I always leave climate control on auto setting at 21.5c on my cars but had the Alphard at 26c as below this it blew ice cold all the time.

 

Some may read this and think I'm being over precious, but I'm very particular with my cars and if something frustrates me then it puts me off completely. When I'm back in the market for a practical vehicle that seats plenty, I'll go for a LWB Transit Custom crew cab as I loved my old Transit Custom van.

 

[Rojie]

Whilst I respect this review, I would like to point out that changing the OEM wheel and tyre combination for larger diameter and lower profile will result in a much harsher ride; especially since the Alphard is much heavier, I believe, than a Subaru.

 

Most vehicles that are 20 years old will have issues unless rectified as and when they occur.

 

From your description, I believe yours had a few left unresolved.

 

I certainly agree that the 4 speed box is not ideal.