kjj

Yeah I definitely know about the Noah I've spent far too much time looking at ads, the Stepwagon seems a better package than the Noah for me, the Noah also has the instrument cluster in the centre instead of infront of the driver which puts me off. Please could you tell me what the fees you paid were mate? My plan was to simply get a business in Japan to win two auctions for me and collect/store the cars until the boat is ready, Was hoping to be able to be able to keep middleman fees under 100,000 yen/£650 for two cars.

Thanks a lot for the reply I really appreciate it. I'm looking at JDM auctions, is there any chance you imported a car yourself (or as a forum member could refer me somewhere) and would recommend a particular importer/exporter? Another car I'm looking at is the 13th gen Toyota Crown Hybrid (planning on getting one van and one car, another contendor is the Honda Stepwagon), please could you tell me how the hybrid was improved in the second gen? Perhaps the hybrid crown also benefitted from this, I know it uses the e-CVT...

So my thoughts are getting the 3.0 1st gen with 5spd auto or 3.5 2nd gen 6spd auto unless the 2.4 engine (or particularly the hybrid version) had improved by then, buying a 1st gen hybrid seems like trouble.

I too wish to find out pros and cons between 1st and 2nd generation (there's probably no dispute that the powertrain is slightly improved). I'm wary of the 2.4 2AZ-FE engine which seems to be one of the worst in the Toyota lineup, maybe JDM ones are different.