smurf

I have had a quick look, as it piqued my interest, and the part appears to be shared with the Prius of the same era. Consequently, it is available in plentiful numbers and quite cheap (under £50) second hand. From what I can find online, the part is 89680 in the image, which appears to show it is located in the rear on the passenger side. Depending on what needs stripping out to get to it, the rock and roll bed might have to be removed, but other than that it looks like a simple swap. I can't see why it would be nearly £1500, but there might be an explanation.

What is the brake capacitor? Not a component I have ever heard of.

That is really good compared to my experience of 35 mpg on the motorway and I tend to stick to 60mph on cruise. I think I need to get my act together and do a refresh on my battery to see if that improves it. Sadly, as I don't have the original stereo fitted I have no idea how well the battery is performing.

What problem are you trying to solve? If I leave the lights on and open the door I get a warning buzzer.

Sadly, Watling closed down a year or two ago. I think the only option now for a gen 1 is the PCT towbar mentioned above. Not sure about newer models.

@PaulE This will help you find it and fix it.

If you turn the temperature all the way to maximum and all the way to minimum you should be able to hear it moving the flaps to either end of its range. You might be able to see some of the mechanism moving as well.

Is yours a hybrid? If so, the 12V battery has no involvement in the stop/start system or regenerative braking and it has a much easier life as all it is doing is powering up the 12V systems. The engine is started with the hybrid battery and regenerative braking power goes back into the hybrid battery.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116331772408?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=BbXbpzRoRby&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ql8_keC9RJe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

There is no official way of disabling the passenger airbag that I have been able to find. If you are handy with electrics and happy to research, it would be possible to install a switch into the circuit to the airbag, but it can't just switch out the loop as it will put on the airbag light. It needs to disconnect the airbag and switch in a resistor so that the ECU thinks the airbag is still there. As to the value of the resistor required, I've no idea, so that is where the research is needed.

Is the temperature control flap moving? This video will help to locate it

It is strange that Adrian Flux said they didn't know what an Alphard is as many owners, myself included, are insured with them.

All you need to do is switch off the courtesy lights via the switch on the overhead light in the front of the car.

The gen 2 hybrid is a much improved version of the type over the gen 1. More resilient hybrid components, more powerful, and more economical. £12k would possibly get one. As regards hybrid battery repair, they aren't as fragile as people fear and you are actually in exactly the right part of the country if you were to have any hybrid issues as one of the most highly regarded repairer is based in the South West and travels all over to repair hybrids, including Alphards. https://www.hybridrepairservice.co.uk

I think I read somewhere recently about a mention of a Torsen diff being an option, so they might be a rare beast.

It will probably be in a container and on its way to Africa for a new life, sadly.

I have a 2003 hybrid camper conversion with about 80000km under it's belt. 12km/l is similar to what I have achieved recently when driving about unladen on mostly motorway journeys. I tend to stick at about 60mph (100kmh) on the motorway.

Have you looked into doing a battery refresh? Basically the battery is very slowly charged above normal and then slowly discharged, before repeating. Very common on Prius, and many other hybrids. I did it a few years ago on a Honda CRZ and got a huge amount of battery capacity back.

One of the downsides to owning an import is the parts situation. Some garages simply aren't interested in doing work on them because they can't consult any information that gives times for jobs, like they can with cars sold here, and they can't just give their parts supplier a registration number and get the part same day. Finding a garage to do the work is half the battle, and you've got that far. It may be far simpler for you and the garage if you just source the parts they say they need and save them the hassle that they probably don't want. Brake consumables are readily available online, including reputable names and OEM. I don't think there are any UK market Toyota's that share brake parts with early Alphards/Vellfires, but others may know for sure. I've just googled the Toyota part number for front pads for my 2003 hybrid, and the only hits were for the Alphard and Estima.

The dust is just a cosmetic issue as the alloys get dustier quicker than normal.

Greenstuff pads will probably make a small improvement to braking efficiency, but they do create a lot more brake dust.

If it exists, it will probably be somewhere on the website linked here

It isn't easy to say without truly knowing how your brakes are performing, but I think you will find that this is just the way they are, and you aren't the first to comment on it. I can certainly sympathise as I have become used to cars with brakes that are very strong with little pedal pressure, and find braking in the Alphard reminds more of cars of old. Gentle pressure does very little, I've found, and I've got a hybrid that also has the advantage of regenerative braking at the same time.

No it isn't. All Alphards are Euro 4 compliant, but earlier vehicles need the certificate of conformity from Japan to prove it to the DVLA, who will then update the information to make it ULEZ compliant. Loads of people have done it, but one example is here in the forum

You get the Certificate of Conformity from here: https://japaninspection.org/certificate-of-conformity-coc/ Once you have that, you provide it to the DVLA and they will update your V5 to have ULEZ compliance. Having an LPG conversion doesn't make a difference either way.