Rojie

I have bought from Naeem. I was nervous and had a AA report done. Not cheap. It did come back with some issues; which Naeem explained and fixed. In repairing the rear pins a connector had not been reconnected. A very careful inspection is worthwhile to minimise surprises. Most parts, so far, are available; but expensive I bought a 2006 MZ G edition, and have had no unexpected issues so far. Some Toyota dealers are very aloof, and unhelpful, with regard to Grey Imports. My local dealer has proved very helpful with getting a few small parts. Toyota Direct are also very helpful. You need to consider renewing the timing belt (and water pump) at the same time (£525 plus vat). According to my dealer every 100,000 miles or every 10 years. As with any car dealer, once you have made your purchase you are usually 'on your own'. This forum is a wealth of information, if you can find it, and if you can understand it! Good Luck, Happy Alphing

Hi Bounzy, I would need your model number (without the serial number); MNH10, ANH10, etc. Thanks but I have found some locally.

Hi, so sorry for my late answer. too busy visiting the convertor to read my emails! I was not ignoring you. Firstly, 'my' convertor is extremely busy, and I hope you and any others reading this don't jump ahead of me in his queue. Dave, owns Matrix Carpentry, in Dawlish. He is on Facebook I believe. Also on the Internet. Roger

Orvis, not Orville !

I have been looking into this too. Lots of places on the internet do rubber matting; various thicknesses. However, they are expensive and you will need to cut out all the slots for the seat runners yourself. I concluded that would be very difficult to do so and to look very professional. I will be buying a huge dog hammock from Orville to sling between the first two rows of seats. I have dog hammocks in my other cars, they are not perfect, but work very well. If you need 'normal' rubber floor mats; I have not seen any for the Alphard during my extensive searches. Good luck Roger

Bounzy, I might be interested in your middle seats, but only if they swivel ! Do they ? If so, what colour scheme are they ? Is your Alphard a seven or eight seater ? Best regards Roger

I do not know if you can hook up your phone to the HDD HU via Bluetooth. Was Bluetooth around in 2003, or earlier when your vehicle was designed. Were I Phones or Android available back then. I'm too old to remember ! The unit does support phones, although, I suspect only in Japan; but I am guessing. I have not tried any phone connections so cannot advise. I was fixated with having an all singing set up. Now , I will be going for separate approaches to Sat Nav, HiFi and TV. I have not even tried to get the TV working. I suspect it won't. Probably, but i do not know, TV and DVD will not function if the vehicle is in motion.

I cannot find the drawings ! What model number is your vehicle ? Eg, ANW10, MZH10

I am trying to source some rails. Without the rails I cannot use the forward curtains !

FANTASTIC. Thank you.

Eightseater/blospot.com. The Alpine I was looking at supports 4 cameras. Get the Alphie and see how you like the cameras. I like them.

I have a 2006 MZ G with the HDD Head Unit. All four cameras work, but the screen needs shielding from bright light. I expect to make a visor from plasticard. My FM radio does not work, but frequency shifters are available (I don't have one yet) that will give you UK FM; but you won't get the whole UK band. The shifters are about £15 and need to be fitted between the headunit and the aerial (could be tricky). Will the window Alphard aerial suffice ? I don't know. It's very early days for me but, the CD player works and copies to the 30gb hard drive, very neat trick. The DVD works with region 2 DVDs; a major surprise; but I have only tried a couple of discs so far. I have been looking at an Alpine unit that plays CDs/DVDs Sat Nav and a host of new techo features I do not need (or know how to use). All the speakers work fine, the sound is very acceptable. If you delve into the headunit you can mess with faders and dsp ! My Sat Nav does not work, and I don't believe you will get yours working either. Some people have replaced their head units where, I believe acquiring the correct cables is a major hassle. Eightseater does a very nice blog on this unit as it is not featured in the JPNZ manual. I'll try and fined a link. My advice on the sound system change ? Be careful; it will be expensive to get a professional to sort it out if you can't. We all suffer New Owner Syndrome, appreciate what you have and proceed with care. Good Luck and enjoy the ride, you will be very pleased.

I checked the link. You need to select your model (as you do not mention it). It is your chassis number without the latter digits. Mine is MNH10 for example. I went to the front bumper page (there is another page for the rear). I am buying parts from Toyota Direct. Not cheap, some in stock, some not; so three week leadtime from Japan. Good luck.

The link provided by nov is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC (provided you have patience and can read mechanical drawings). Thank you nov, amazing source of official information.

I have a 2006 3 litre V6 with the 5 speed. Wonderful on motorways. I usually travel at 60mph. Many earlier vehicles Pre 2005) have 4 speed and later than 2008 have 6 speed. What year are you considering ? I doubt that there is much difference in gas mileage. Cambelts do need changing at 100k, or every 10 years, according to my local Toyota Dealer. Water pump at the same time. £522 plus VAT at my local dealer. The cost of two extra plugs is not, IMHO, a reason not to buy a V6 The V6 fitted to pre 2008 is a non interference engine, so should the cambelt fail the valves will not hit the pistons and wreck the engine. If the engine drops a valve that is a different matter! Hope this helps.

I could be interested in the A and B units. Do you have the curtain rails too ?

I tried Adrian Flux. Hard sell techniques, major efforts to upsell. I normally pay my insurance monthly. APR at Adrian Flux is almost 40 percent. Forty, not four. Extortionate ! I had never heard of the Insurer (Markerstudy). I insured my Alphard, a Jaguar XJR (rocketship) and a Ford Fiesta for about £550 with Aviva. (APR about 13 percent) Alphard with Aviva, no problem, although the excesses on the Alphard ("import") and the Jaguar ("rather sporty") were a little higher than I had hoped for.

I am a newbie at all this, but have done quite a bit of research prior to buying my Alphie (2006, MZ G V6) I believe nearly all Alphard 2002 to 2008 have swivel second row seats. there is, apparently, quite a technique to it. Check out YouTube. The seats I am referring too are the single and the 'one and a half seats'. Northstar do swivels for the front passenger and driver seats. They are not cheap! If you have the Captains seats in the front and second rows, as I have, Northstar say their swivels will work on the front row, but not the second row of captains seats. I believe I have a method to achieve a way of having the second row seats rear facing; but they will not be able to swivel. If my idea works, I will post it in the Forum.

Well, I did it ! I was looking for a Bongo as a newbie to camper vanning; but bought a V6 2006 MZ G. I took delivery earlier this week and brought her home to South Devon. My main vehicle is a Jaguar XJR, and, I am delighted to say, that the Alphard compares very favourably with that (excluding the V8 supercharged performance). Smooth, quiet, refined; wonderful. Having already preselected a specialist Convertor, I am preoccupied with specifying the built. I love those front camera views, although not the overall (lack of) functionality of the Japanese head unit. Virtually nothing works in the UK. So that is a mini project too. So far, SO GOOD, and thanks to this Forum for providing extremely useful information which was invaluable while making my buying decision. Keep a look out for us, we will be waving to all Alphard owners we encounter on out travels.