toyota lucida buying info

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Thu 29 Mar 2007 18:34
toyota lucida buying info - wazza
Friend has a toyota lucida on a M plate. Seems in a good condition. It is an automatic diesel. He is asking £2000 for it. What is the realistic value? What are the common problems to look out for? Heard they have head gasket/overheating problems. Also heard it is harder to insure imported jap cars.

Any advice greatly appreciated before i check it out thoroughly.

Thanks in advance
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Thu 29 Mar 2007 22:07
toyota lucida buying info - oldpostie
My son's Lucida now has a P plate. He says you should be aware that there have been cooling problems but his is fine, and he thinks the car is excellent. His is a 2.2 diesel auto, and gives about 26-28 mpg. His came from a dealer in the Ilford area, who imports them, and is owned by a Japanese firm specialising in exporting second-hand cars from Japan, where their values are low although in good condition.
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Thu 29 Mar 2007 23:43
toyota lucida buying info - R40
Friends bought one (P plate iirc) a year ago - the head gasket did let go recently - the guy who picked it up did say, 'ooh happens a fair bit with these'. - do these guys always say that? lol

They were sad to see it go.

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Fri 30 Mar 2007 09:16
toyota lucida buying info - T Lucas
If you buy one you will need to flush the cooling system,refil with the correct Toyota coolant and just make sure the cooling fans cut in ok.If you do this you will not have a problem.
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Fri 30 Mar 2007 12:35
toyota lucida buying info - Mad Maxy
I think that reversing mirror plonked on the back is the first word in fine design: awful. The second is bleeding. The third is probably laughable.
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Fri 30 Mar 2007 13:44
toyota lucida buying info - stackman
I had one of these for 2 years and they are a great, practical and pleasant to drive MPV. Typical fuel economy was around 25 - 30 mpg.

£2,000 seems OK, look at what that would buy you with a Ford or Peugeot badge.

The bodywork on these imports stays rot-free and the interiors are extremely robust.

However the head gasket problem cannot be overlooked. Mine went twice, first time needed a £500 replacement head plus fitting, second time damaged the block as well and lead me to sell it for scrap.

I checked the water level every few days and had the radiator flushed at every service but it still let go.

Also bear in mind that the oil change intervals are every 3,000 miles, including filter.

We loved the old bus as a family car, went to the south of France in it and used it for hauling all our camping gear around, but I would steer clear without a reasonable warranty from the seller.
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Fri 30 Mar 2007 17:37
toyota lucida buying info - bignick
Be a good idea to check if you have a local "jap" specialist - the official Toyota network used to be very reluctant to admit to the existence of grey imports and many of their dealers see them as a licence to print money as there are no RRPs.

Also be aware that the Lucida and Emina are completely different to the equivalent official UK spec Previas (the Lucida and Emina are narrower and shorter for a start) and there is very little parts interchangeability.
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