Bazbro

TOYOTA VELLFIRE, black, 3.5 V6. Auto. 2008 Full 8-seater (8 seatbelts). Less than 47,500 miles from new! £11,000 (regret no offers) Immaculate condition. No damage, faultless - everything works as it should. A beautiful-looking vehicle. View in Torbay (Devon). AA/RAC/any examination welcomed. GENERAL. Bought and imported by me from Japan 2020, & owned by me since. All documents and handbooks available. One owner in Japan. Just 26,869 miles in Japan and 20,695 miles by me in the UK - total 47,464 miles! MoT until Dec '24 Service record (serviced annually irrespective of mileage) Instruction manual in English plus all other manuals. Two keys/fobs. Undersealed the moment it arrived in the UK. ENGINE. The famous, well-respected bulletproof 2GR-FE V6 3.5 litre engine, the same as fitted to Lexus and Lotus as well as many other Toyotas. Surprisingly economical IF driven sensibly! But masses of power available if needed for example, with a full load. BODY. Twin sunroof. Tinted glass. Windscreen sunstrip Fitted front AND rear dashcams. Alpine radio. Original, dash-fitted hard-drive (stores about 100 CD albums!). CD/DVD player/screens and sound system. DVD roof tv screen in rear. Multi AV system. Reversing and blind-spot cameras. GPS. The usual dash refinements (volume/CD/Station change on steering wheel). Plus Cruise Control. Electric sunroof. Electric mirrors. etc. AirCon, front AND rear. Fitted Webasto petrol heater in rear (from petrol tank). INSIDE: Day-van conversion at rear (easily removable if required) - 200ah Lithium battery; twin burner gas cooker/sink unit with pumped fresh water; 12v/240v Fridge; fitted Mains 240 volt with sockets; 2,000watts inverter; interior lights; 50 litre water tank; waste tank with pump-out; curtains; USB sockets. OUTSIDE. Fitted Towbar by Watling (only to pull a small motorcycle trailer). Roof rack with largest 400 litre 'Kamei Base400' roof box fitted. Fiamma F35 awning. Only my illness forces a VERY reluctant sale. Ready to camp & tour in luxury! This Vellfire is possibly the BEST of this type/age - you MUST view it! Email: bazbro@duck.com

Many thanks, Steve.👍

Normally, a big Yes! from us, but sadly we're in France until October. But I'll keep my eye on this post. Thanks. Barry

If you're a member of the AA or RAC, their Legal Advice might help you, regarding a rip-off garage?

I can highly recommend 'Jap Auto Agent' - https://www.japautoagent.com/ Paul Bowden will find the Alphard/Vellfire (or any other JDM vehicle you want) at Japanese auctions, examine it via his English partner, Sam (a great guy!) who is actually resident in Japan, report to you on it and then bid on your behalf if that's what you want. He assists in the importation (dead simple really) and all for a flat fee - no inflated 'dealer mark-ups', etc. YOU decide how much you're willing to pay and that's it. He selected and imported my Vellfire - EXACTLY what I wanted, at the price I was willing to pay - and I've saved about £4,000 on the UK prices. A great business model. Highly recommended. https://www.japautoagent.com/

I realised that the NHZT-w58 head unit in my 2009 3.5, is all-singing, all-dancing and well over £1,000 to replace like-for-like with one in English! The DVD, CD, Radio, Hard Drive on the NHZT-w58 are simple to use - you quickly get to know which buttons swap between them. The four Cameras are automatic, so that leaves only the TV and the SatNav as redundant. I decided that, as I can manage with the easy changes between DVD, CD, Radio, Hard Drive, that all I needed is a DAB tuner for radio (I chose the Alpine one, solely because of it's superb reception via powered aerial - 49 quid) and a cheap, Chinese 7" or 9" GPS. This is all not as nice as having it all in one unit, but... a huge cash saving. Using Google Translate on your 'phone, select the 'camera' and translate the Japanese on the screen or in the handbook to English. You'll soon get used to what does what on the simple buttons. Forget the complicated ones, like sat nav, graphic equaliser, etc.!

Check all connectors... (a real pain, I know!). Use a dialectic electrical spray (Halfords or t'internet). If you're lucky, it might just be that. Do it methodically, the obvious ones first, particularly any that have been recently disconnected or near where you've been working. A cheap fix if that's all it is! Good luck.

A bit of a late response, and I hope you've sorted things by now, Barry. But here're my views... 1. Fitting a leisure battery depends on the type and amount of campingyou do. Wildcamping? Fit a leisure battery! 2. The same with a solar panel. 3. & 4. Because my unit does CD, DVD, rear screen, and four Cameras, I've decided not to junk it just because of no GPS, TV or radio. Instead, I'm fitting an Alpine DAB unit that uses an existing FM channel (or plugs into the front AUX socket) for the 'no radio' problem and manage with Waze on my (big screen) Samsung A42 mobile. I may have to get a big, cheap Chinese 7" or 9" GPS later. Use Google Translate on your 'phone (the 'camera' option) to get instant translations of the Japanese (from the unit's screen or the handbook). You can work out all the ancillary things (graphic equaliser, etc) and then just concentrate on how to operate CD, DVD, radio... it's dead easy then! Does anyone know how to shut up the annoying Japanese voice when first switched on, please? I've not discovered that yet! Baz

Personally, I wouldn't carry out a "destructive" action like screwing or gluing to the bodywork. When you come to sell it could have a very detrimental effect as far as the buyer is concerned. Instead, consider roof rails. This is just one vendor - https://www.roof-rack-supplies.co.uk/roof-bars/bar-selector.php?make=TOYOTA&model=Alphard&variant=5-dr MPV 2008-2015&roof=Normal Roof No need to use the rails, nor the posts on the other side of the vehicle, just use two posts on the side you want the tent/awning. Screw the Keder rail to that. It can then be removed/reaffixed at your leisure, leaving no marks on the bodywork. Good luck. Baz

Many thanks, MonsterS!

Mark Richard's will not insure on the chassis number, for those of you who are importing your own Aphard/Vellfire. They also state that they think the loophole where you can drive from the MoT Station to your home whilst unregistered (but insured+) has now been closed?? Lifesure Group are quoting iro £500 (74 yrs, parked in road, 9yrs NCB), the best quote so far (Adrian Flux £630, Mark Richard's no quote as above) but I'm still looking. My Vellfire doesn't arrive for a few more days!

I, too, am very interested in increasing the ride height, to easily get onto my steeply sloping driveway. Any news, MonsterS? :-)

Glorious Torbay, in God's Own Country... 😉

Hi all. Just joined. Waiting for my Vellfire to leave Japan, en route to the UK... October? Maybe even November? Intention is to put a small kitchen pod behind the folded up rear seats, fit a Webasto petrol heater, a second battery, B2B charger and a mains socket, to make an inexpensive "overnighter" to cope with 2 or 3 days away.

Yes, welcome... I'm a newbie too. My Vellfire hasn't even left Japan yet, so probably not arriving until October, maybe even November. 😔 But I feel your joy!