BigNev

Gorgeous that one!

Heck of a job you're into there mate! Good luck with progress, I'll keep watching out for updates!

Very nice indeed!

Bargain! Obviously though, run it through the comparison sites, some don't know what an Alphie is, or Vellfire, but some do. Follow the order advised by martin Lewis - Money Saving Expert. We ended up with Admiral, from Confused.com, when we bought it, for our first year insurance, as our (current at that time) car insurer eSure (who were garbage as an "on line only" company) "didn't insure imports" so couldn't do a vehicle change. Hopefully, as is common, the longer you have a vehicle it counts as a minor positive score.

Surely not .......... hmmm well, actually, I reckon it's more than a little likely!

American companies..... surely not anything to do with maximum profits....

Hello there!! Well, I do now have a Vellfire! And it was on lpg when we bought it, saved me a job and a chunk of money too! I have noticed a drop off of mpg on the Subaru, since the end of 2023, which hasn't changed with new coils, and LPG specific NGK plugs. The Vellfire runs GREAT, but not had it a full 2 months yet, so I've not had any real opportunity to compare petrol to gas! How has the situation been with your car?

Hi Ross! From your location you have a lovely stretch of motorway to go at. you don't have to speed, use the gear selector to keep the engine revs up to get the catalytic converters nice and blooming hot. As Picasso says, jolly good results can be had from some of the cleaners. The one I have used in the past is Cataclean, but there's plenty of choices! Good luck with it, keep us updated please, and let us know which cleaner you go for! Cheers!

Wow! It's more than a bit steep for my pocket that! But if I actually bothered to buy a ticket, and won the lottery.... as luxurious as it may be, I'd still not do it 😂

Hi Ed! Mine is a 2 wheel drive, bought it with LPG already fitted, saved me the job! So looking under ours I would GUESS that no, a tank that size may not fit, ours is only about 70 litres total and the front is rather close to the centre line of the wheels. But it may be possible, if the tank was further back than ours is! I want to try to get more capacity, if necessary with an extra tank under there somewhere, but the first guy we tried was very dismissive, I very much got the impression he just couldn't be bothered, only interested in easy fits. He also said that he couldn't swap the big filler under the bumper to a hidden fill point, the one that is standard fit on Dacia, so I just gave up and left at that. My Subaru has that filler type fitted, when I had the BRC installation done, so it can be.

I also meant to say the handbook is very much worth the investment, takes tbe guesswork out of a lot of little functions !! And some bigger ones too! I bought my book around May / June, finally got a car at the back end of November, we were very hopeful on what model Alphard / Vellfire we wanted!! 🤣

Hi David! Jolly good decision, I hope you'll like it as much as I'm liking mine so far, we've only had it just under 2 months! Already been tempted by many aliexpress goodies !! Yes. the VX report is in the region of £18 to £19 depending on the exchange rate on the day.

Hi Fred! Good luck for tomorrow, I hope it's as good as the pictures you've seen! The CarVX reports are very good, but not infallible, I did them on one we didn't end up buying, and the one we did. On the Vellfire we did get, the report said the airbag recall was still outstanding, but on Toyota's own site search it has been done. But on both, from the copy of the auctions sheets, with the aid of google translate, I found some useful information on them! Cheers! Nev

Hi there! Have you attempted to see if it's locked, by NOT having the fob with you when you try to open it? Otherwise it does sense the fob and allow the rear door to be opened.

Hi guys! Ah those extra bolts would have saved my knuckles some grief 🤣 Cracking job, and extra photos in tbe mix! Ooh it's chuffin lethal on that shopping site isn't it? And I'm liking your lights mate! The Mrs has had me order some "Vellfire" ones too, as I made the mistake of showing her, and how cheap they are in the winter sake, oops! Mine has the flare too!! Told her to stop kicking it on the way out 😬

Heehee! Yep, for us most of the time it will be the 4 of us, so my daughters will love that! I've just been out with one of them and she said it's almost too big! Those lights were very much definitely worth it for me, that original light is rubbish in a black car, certainly for me. Same as you on the other lights as LEDs, not it sure if they're original, but extremely blinding if I look into them. Yes, I know, there's an easy solution to that 🤔 Because aliexpress.com is a temptation zone, I also bought some replacement door LED projector lights, many options available. That's how bright the interior lights on ours are, just illustrates the contrast!

Well, WOW, I just experimented more with that adjustment!!! About 380mm further back than standard!!! 😃😀 But no leg room for rear passengers. The 2 lights in the tailgate are a kit from Aliexpress.com , a cracking kit, no soldering or wiring skills, they have male/female plugs at the existing boot light and keeps that rather pathetic lamp. Comes with the wiring harness from one end to the other, split with a connector just inside the tailgate above where the wiring passes in.

You're welcome mate! I guess auto spell correct got you 🤣 Yes it's rather strange to not just fit it, but maybe it's in with a slightly higher spec option or some such reason? Or perhaps related to the Royal Lounge option, so these two seats go way further back, as there's no rear row to worry about? With the rear seats stowed up, there's hardly any further rearward movement than hitting the wheel arch seat bump stop. But with them down and all the way back, there certainly is! It's only about 80mm movement, it is calibrated so the 2 seats don't hit, and the tray fits nicely into the shaped recess, and it's better to have the option than not hey fellas!!

Put all the panels back in place BEFORE trying to locate the cable, I know this from experience 😄 A bit tricky, but not too bad with the aid of narrow nose pliers, to pull the cable, while a mate is holding the lever up, then lowering down, insert the barrel nipple/ lower a bit more then push in all the way to locate the cable. Finally locate the cable outer end in the holding lug, working my feel underneath! Job done!

These are the two items for the black seats, as @skippy992 said much earlier, the code for beige ends in AO

That top lug was OK, the bottom one beat me. These backing plates are the originals, without the levers.

Now the difficult bit - make sure you've got the correct handed item, then thrutch for a good while, if you've got my level of LACK of dexterity, to get it to latch over the top bit of metal, from very slightly above/front and back/down, whilst also getting the other tab to go behind the plate that the screws go into. Good luck with that mate! I got naffed off, cut that little tab, and put some bigger washers on to secure it.

Removed as I edited the first post and pics!!

Next, push up and forwards on the existing backing plate to remove it from the latching piece of metal.

Sorry they're from different sides of the car guys! And some pics added.