Voodoo101

Always driven manual cars since the age of 17, I'm now 51. Four years ago I got my first automatic which was a Mercedes with the selector on the right hand stalk, with the indicator on the left stalk. My problem was not so much the clutch, it was going down to look for gear lever. Since getting my Vellfire, I now have a habit of turning indicators on to move it into drive, and putting the wipers when I turn. I will get used to is soon/ With regards to left foot braking, unless you are racing and need quick reaction to break and accelerate, don't do it. If you have been driving a manual car then you have trained you left leg to depress the clutch pedal all the way down. When you use your left foot, you may have a habit of breaking harder then you need, and I can't really see the need to risk this when you have been taught to use right foot for break and accelerator and never had a problem. Maybe countries that only really have automatics teach this way.

This looks excellent. Thanks for the time taking the screen shots. There are a few options on their that I think should have been done already, but maybe Toyota Japan sells them as options.

Thanks for this. I've decided to wait for the head unit for a while and make sure that everything else works first. Two problems fixed. The aircon was not working on the passenger side, just blowing hot. Thought it was the blend door, but ended up just being a loose connection, then today I could not lock the car with the remote. When I got out the car it said there was no key, but in the drivers seat it worked fine. Simple fix was a change of battery. I'm wondering if the rear camera just has a loose connection. The old paperwork mentions that the front low beam was not working and that was traced to the Amp, so might have had a micky mouse electrician fix the stereo in. Total cost of car repairs so far £5. Got a dent on drivers door which I want to get sorted and the rubber on the front of one of the sliding rear doors has been damaged, so that needs replacing. Hopefully then the head unit can be done.

I don't mind the seatbelt warning. My last car used to chime until both the driver and passenger put seat belts on. At least the Vellfire just flashes a red light. Do you know what other options can be changed?

I'll be honest, for the last 7 years I have had lease cars with services are repairs all built in, so I have had the luxury of not worrying if things went wrong. Many a time I have been on a long journey, and with stations being fewer and fewer and motorway services being a rip off, I have let the tank go well into the red Never had a problem. Now this leads me to conclude one of few things. The buildup of sludge in the tank is something that happens over many years, these was new cars kept for a few years. Its a tale that has come from the days when cars happily had fumes and smoke flying out the back, before the days of cleaner fuels and the new fuels have so many additives that the build up is less. That the fuel filters in cars are good enough now to collect the particles and stop it getting into the injectors and engines, and provided you change the fuel filter regularly, you will be fine. At the moment I am just getting my head around the fact that I have to pay extra for premium fuel. The lease cars had the cheapest possible.

Just come across this and had to laugh. I have just picked up a Vellfire with an aftermarket Sony unit. It has an option for the reversing camera but it is not working, so I am guessing it is disconnected. Probably my a standard fit. I will be changing it for a full android system that has the works and hopefully the person who fitted the Sony has not massacred the wiring. Hopefully it should be plug and play with camera working. If not they do a reversing camera added, but would have to install that. Full price of the system on under £300 on Aliexpress for a top of the range model with 4G/Wifi, option for 360 camera's. 6g Ram and 128gb of storage. Gonna fit it myself but just run for about £100, so if someone is charging £3000, then stay well clear. If you want a more basic model and want to use ebay. A bloke sells the for £280 with £50 for install and will make sure everything works.

Normally with cars, for safety the light comes on with more miles available then you think or it shows. My last car was a Mercedes A-Class and the warning light came on when the car said it had 50 miles left, it would then do a lot more then 50 miles. Rule of thumb is never to let it get that low because it will drag up settlement from the tank.

I have just picked up a new Vellfire and wanted to say that the dealer at this site is excellent. No hard sell, he let the car do the talking. Had a great selection to chose from. Cars are advertised on Ebay, Autotrader , RAC cars and Parkers.

Just wanted to say hi. Hopefully picking up our first Toyata Vellfire this week. I say hopefully as insurance seems to illusive. The insurance companies don't seem to know a 240Z and don't seem to understand it's just a slight trim level change. Got a lot of waiting for phone calls to get it insured. Looking forward to the extra space as I have been driving a 2019 Mercedes A-Class for the last 4 years. Thank you in advance for all the answers to questions I will have.

Hi. Hopefully picking up a 2009 Vellfire next week. This is not a new import so luckily its already been changed to MPH and the head unit has been changed. It is currently a Sony unit with android auto, however the rear camera is disconnected. I wanted to update it to an Android tablet units and see the same units that are available on Aliexpress in the UK at higher prices. I would be fitting it myself as it is something I have done in the past, but wondered if anybody had purchased these units from Aliexpress, do they come with the surround and what experiences have you had?

Thanks for your answers. The car I was looking at was a 2007 3.0L Alphard with 51000 miles. Its advertised at £10500, but I am not too sure at the price. It has the double sunroof and the two seperate middle seats as opposed to the bench seats.

Hi all. Looking to change my and get a nice MPV and my eye has been taken by the Alphard / Vellfire. I worked out that it is the same car apart from the Vellfire is a bit more luxurious. Don't know yet whether to go ahead so I thought I would ask some advice from owners. First this is servicing. How easy is it to get these serviced and parts when things go wrong, with them being imported. Second thing is to do with the language. The car is imported from Japan so I assume that the incar equipment is in Japanese, can this be changed. The third is the dashboard, as miles and miles per hour is not the thing they use in Japan, I assume that the dials are metric. The car I have at the moment has a digital dash that can change between metric and imperial, I am guessing that this is not the case on the Toyota. Do they do replacement dials. If anybody has any other advice for a could be owner that that would be great. Thanks in advance