arthurj

1 hour ago, Teekay said:

Nice one 

If you can please re post this on Mega thread Alphard MPG. Thanks 

No problem, done.

1. Year 2012

2. Model Vellfire Hybrid

3. Driving 540km, mostly motorways at 70mph, ECO mode

4. MPG 36-37mpg

From my post in another thread:
 

Quote

 

I just did a long drive right the way up the country. Mostly 70mph motorway driving, not much traffic, cruise control most of the way. I was in eco mode mostly and did about 540km. Just me, not a heavy load and my car’s not converted.

 

I got about 36-37mpg on that run. I might be able to improve it slightly if I were at 65mph most of the way.

 

I need to test properly, but I think I get similar in town.

 

Bear in mind that my head unit is currently offline so I don't have exact MPG stats, I'm basing this off milage and the position of the fuel dial, which may not be accurate.

I just did a long drive right the way up the country. Mostly 70mph motorway driving, not much traffic, cruise control most of the way. I was in eco mode mostly and did about 540km. Just me, not a heavy load and my car’s not converted.

I got about 36-37mpg on that run. I might be able to improve it slightly if I were at 65mph most of the way.

I need to test properly, but I think I get similar in town.

Just realised I’ve posted in the wrong section. This is a 2012 model.

Hello. I’ve just had a new battery connected. The head unit is now in this state - I assume it’s asking for a code of some sort. Does anyone know how I can reset the code?

I just signed in and the forum asked me to complete my profile with my car details… but it wasn’t possible to choose a 20 series Hybrid (mine’s a 2012 Vellfire Hybrid).

Mind you, most insurance companies don’t believe it exists either

My Skoda does this, and it always seems to happen overnight when it rains. I’ve still not worked out which button or combination of buttons makes the windows roll down, but they’re probably being pressed by keys while in my pocket. It’s not mentioned in the Skoda manual either.

Is a shame to hear it also happens with the Alphard. I’d previously put it down to yet another example of VAG low-quality electrics.

Hello all. Can anyone recommend a front/rear dashcam pair for my Vellfire? I’ve never used a dashcam before so I don’t really know what I need.

I don’t want bells and whistles, just something that will provide evidence in case of an accident, including if someone hits me when I’m parked with the ignition off. Ideally they would be as small and discreet as possible and not drain my battery much. No need for a screen (can’t see the point of them - are they useful?)

Cheers.

7 hours ago, Rojie said:

Seriously, if you do have a conversion try Scenic, part of LV; but they do have a maximum insured value (and your Bentley is sure to exceed it).

If only

It’s unconverted, but also still unregistered, and annoyingly I have 0 no-claims due to a hit and run on my other car last year. Hopefully they’ll be able to shave a few tens off that once I get my V5

Lifesure didn’t want to insure me…

If you’re looking at the Stepwagon size, there’s also the Toyota Noah Hybrid, which is a bit smaller than the Alphard but a lot cheaper for a newer vehicle. There’s a couple of them around my area.

If you’re looking to import I’d speak to an agent. There’s a few recommended on this site. I went with Paul @ JapAutoAgent and he will happily chat about the differences between models and that. Just allow yourself a good hour for that phone call

Thought I'd post my notes here as it may be useful to people in future. I won't post contact details, but it's all easily found on the web.

This is for shipping a 2012 (just under 10 years old) from Japan to the UK. Ro-Ro shipping (drive-on/drive-off). Total loss and General Average (if they decide to sacrifice some cargo to save the ship or the rest of the cargo) is covered at a minimum.

Charterhouse Limited

Quote: £127

This broker claim to specialise in transporting classic cars. They were very fast to respond and seemed knowledgable. I didn't buy at auction so I didn't have an auction report, but they were happy to accept the detailed video inspection the agent in Japan made for me. I went with this quote in the end, not just because it was cheapest but because the coverage seemed more tailored to shipping an individual car. My quote was underwritten by Lloyds. I haven't needed to claim (yet!) so no idea what they're like to deal with at that end.

Clegg Gifford

Quote: £350

This broker said they will not cover vehicles older than 10 years old, so I had to find the manufacturing date to get them to consider me. There were some other hoops to jump through as I didn't have an auction report, and eventually got stuck on the Japanese registration not being in my name (and no UK reg, obviously). I think I would have been able to source documentation that would have satisfied them but had already gone with Charterhouse by that point.

Breathe Insurance

Quote: £273

Quite quick to respond. Gave me a detailed insurance quote underwritten by Aviva. Reading the small print I noticed that insurance didn't cover the car when under its own power. As the car has to be driven on and off the ship by the shipping company, I left it at that!

Marine Insurance2day

Quote: £267

Again, needed to be persuaded that the car was less than 10 years old as they will not cover older cars. The quote was covered by Aviva, but didn't have the same exclusion clause as the one from Breathe.

The Insurance Broker

Quote: £288

Had the exclusion about being driven under own power except for when being driven on or off the boat. This would include door-to-door insurance if necessary, but I didn't need it. However it did exclude pretty much every type of minor damage or theft I could think of, basically the car would have to be written off for me to claim.

Everyone I spoke to was very polite and helpful, but some seemed more at ease dealing with this than others, and some were not able to insure for various reasons. My feeling was that most of them are used to dealing with import companies shipping a bunch of cars, rather than individuals. Hope this helps someone if they're ever in this position.

I’m not an expert but I was also worried about this and researched it.

So with regards to the engine, there were two problems: one was the problem that could result in catastrophic damage and required a full rebuild of the engine, the other is the oil burning. As I understand it, the first problem was eliminated in a revision in 2007 (I think). If you have a car prior to this, I believe it will be ok so long as recalls have been followed. I think I’ve read of one person who has this problem in the uk so it’s pretty rare.

The second problem is way less of a problem. It may only affect US versions and it may have been fixed/improved after 2008, but even if not, judging by US forums you just need to keep an eye on oil levels. It’s otherwise an extremely reliable engine.

Even though the engine stayed the same between 1st and 2nd gen, the hybrid drivetrain was completely reworked. As I understand it, the 2nd gen is much more reliable, particularly the CVT gearbox, but I’ve heard no complaints from 1st gen owners either.

55 minutes ago, Chris.ac said:

Red when you switch fogs on, will override and turn off red and switch on white, if you select reverse, and of course white if you select reverse and your fogs are off.

Hmm. Just checked the rules here 2021 guidelines and it says

Quote

Rear fog lamps may be combined with the rear position lamps. Front and rear fog lamps are permitted to operate independently of any other lamps or ignition systems. The function of a fog lamp must not be adversely affected by the operation of any other lamp.

It's a major fault if any other lamp interferes with the fog lamp and I assume the reversing lamp counts

Though maybe a straight-up replacement is fine, so there's only one fog and one reverse light.

28 minutes ago, Rojie said:

It may be OK but you will need to be messing with the wiring, won't you.

The fog light will still need a switch on the dash, and wiring to the tailgate

If you are comfortable with that OK.

From memory, it would need to be the offside reversing light

 

However, my guess is an MOT Inspector will expect a reversing light to be white, not red.

Having a red bulb in a white lens, in my opinion, is a fail.

Oh yeah, the switch and wiring is budgeted for, but I think I’m currently due to get an extra fog light added on to or below the bumper. I’d rather do something more attractive but not willing to spend £100 on those dual reflector-fog lights.

Just wading in. If I were to replace one of the reversing lights with a red fog bulb, would that be fine? For cars first registered after 2009 (mine’s 2012) the regs say there must be one or two reversing lights and they must work if present. Will disabling one to repurpose it as a fog light count as it being a non-functional reverse light and therefore a fail?

I went via Paul @ JapAutoAgent and got a 2012 that should arrive in the UK in a few weeks. Be warned though, they aren’t cheap, at least compared to equivalent petrol models.

Importing takes a long time (it’ll be 6-7 months for me). If you need something sooner you’ll want to buy one already in the UK.

Yeah, I ended up buying a 2012 with the foldable Captain’s armrests rather than the solid ones.

If it's just regular car insurance but expensive because of the car not being registered, you could get it, drive the car home, then cancel it within the cooloff period.

I'll be in the same situation in a couple of months, so keen to see what you end up doing.

Hello. Has anyone got any recommendations for Marine Cargo Insurance? I'm getting quotes from £150-£450 to ship a Vellfire and it seems a bit of a minefield.

How do you check that these insurers are backed properly? Has anyone here ever needed to make a claim? Any horror stories?

The hybrid shows extra information on the head unit, like battery charge and electric motor status. If you replace the head unit you lose that information. There are services that can add CarPlay / android auto while keeping the original Japanese head unit.

The question is whether you find the hybrid info useful.

On 11/17/2021 at 9:53 PM, Jason cox said:

Hi guys, still no luck with this. I've read in another article that it's possible, with techstream software, to turn it off. Is this something a toyota main dealer would have?

I think it’s free and the cable you need isn’t expensive. I found some links, but I haven’t tried it. Worth watching the videos.  https://www.masconit.com/toyota-techstream-software/

Figured as much. Thanks for the info!

Does anyone have this style of seat?

I’m aiming to do the thing where you fold the seats flat and put an air mattress on top. I was just wondering if this style of seat can be made to fold flat at all, the arm rests look pretty solid. Perhaps they can be removed or made to fold down?

13 hours ago, Rojie said:

Due to the age of your Vellfire (less than 10 years) your import may attract taxes.

I don’t think it counts as an import if you’re bringing it here because you’re moving here. At least, if you’re taxed on the import it won’t be the same tax as you’d pay as if you were buying a car here from Japan (or HK). Normally when you relocate you declare what you own as you bring it into the new country, and you often don’t pay import tax on it. I think cars are included in this, at least up to a point.

If you are moving because of work, see if your relocation agent can help. The UK government website will probably have good information too.

If the car is less than 10 years old you’ll need an IVA test (£200 on entry) to make it roadworthy, and every car older than 3 years needs a MOT (£40) every year. You need a MOT to get insurance, you need insurance to drive it on a public road. There are companies at every port that will do MOTs for import vehicles, fit fog lights if needed etc. (if you don’t have rear fog lights you fail your MOT and Japanese cars don’t, not sure about HK)