>>- both imports both diesels both paid top money for both well looked-after - andboth suffered terminal engine failure
Maybe its the cynic in me and i'd be interested if others feel the same, but whenever you see adverts for grey imports from Japan, the mileages are almost always identical and very low for the year of the car, maybe too good to be true?
Apart from that in this particular case, Toyota didn't offer a genuine diesel UK version of the original Previa despite it being obviously needed with the thirst of the petrol versions, i'd like to know why.
It does seem odd, as Toyota's diesels are not known for being unreliable, i wonder if these vehicles had hidden pasts as minicabs in their homeland?
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Hmm, yes and how can you verify the mileage on a Japanese import with a new speedo?
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Personally, I'm amazed at the prices asked for these grey imports, which if they weren't shipped here would be scrapped because of Japan's extremely tough 3-year MOT. How do the dealers get away with it?
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They can probably sell them for that amount due to perceived value.
The i800 can be had for delivery miles / ex-demo for £14k and seems good value,
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i800 brochures came through the door this morning - well impressed.
A certain French manufacturer blew us out last year when we requested their brochures - said they were out of stock and send us ones for a different car ... and never followed up with the right ones.
Wife got on the phone to the local dealer and they have a i800 for us to look at so we'll be popping down there on Monday to take a look. My wife was impressed with the efficiency of the discussion - we'll see.
Hopefully our kids will behave themselves - and we'll get a free coffee - plus get to give the vehicle a good inspection.
If anyone has any questions post on Sunday 1st March 09 and I'll try and answer them.
I won't be going for a testdrive - as need childcare in place.
Speaking of testdrives - what is a fair amount of time to have a vehicle like this? It's much larger than my wife is used to. I'm not looking for a freebie ...
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Our local Hyundai dealer will send you off on your own for 45 mins.
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Be interesting to hear SB's impressions of the i800, you'll be looking for real usefulness.
Good that you're going for a look over and maybe having a short spell before reintroducing yourselves at test drive time, anything not right you only seem to notice after a while.
I hope your wife likes it, apparently the turning circle is superb, makes all the difference with a big vehicle.
In a way i'm rather envious, when my children were younger there weren't these sorts of vehicles around, and i certainly didn't have the money for one anyway, still haven't..;)
I went into the local Hyundai place Stu to enquire about the possibility of the V8 Genesis engine being made available in a coupe (strong rumour) or even the Genesis itself. coming here.
The bod couldn't have been more patronising or disinterested, i'd have to go elsewhere couldn't stand the attitude, if it wasn't in the showroom it wasn't made apparently.
Can't win 'em all.
Edit. Will you enquire about servicing costs and frequency, that should be very interesting.
Edited by gordonbennet on 28/02/2009 at 21:48
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>>I went into the local Hyundai place Stu to enquire about the possibility of the V8 Genesis engine being made available in a coupe (strong rumour) or even the Genesis itself. coming here.
The bod couldn't have been more patronising or disinterested, i'd have to go elsewhere couldn't stand the attitude, if it wasn't in the showroom it wasn't made apparently.<<
If you mean the Northampton dealer, yes, they can be a bit disinterested - I never go there. Those in the know go to the Stony Stratford dealer down near MK - not a glasshouse palace but great service and always have lots of used stock, even oldish stuff. We have bought several cars from them and they have always been excellent - salesman is a bit of an irritant, but I dont think he means to be.
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. Those in the know go to the Stony Stratford dealer
Thanks Stu, i already like the place not being a glass palace, my sons very tempted by a later coupe for a runaround, he had remarkably reliable service from his previous 2 Hyundai's. Only vehicles he couldn't break..;)
In a way i'm rather pleased you're not too impressed by N'pton either, sometimes you wonder if its you thats the problem...by not just handing over wads of cash for whatever they need to shift i mean.
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>>In a way i'm rather pleased you're not too impressed by N'pton either, sometimes you wonder if its you thats the problem...by not just handing over wads of cash for whatever they need to shift i mean.<<
The Northampton chain is a family owned one - I spoke to the son once and he boasted how they didnt open on Sundays because everyone needed a day off - to which I replied that whoever came up with that was clearly rather dim since the very fact that many people dont work on Sundays would mean more people with time to look at cars, which was when they were closed. Doh!
You cant help some people can you!
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didnt open on Sundays because everyone needed a day off-
Funny that i've always been under the impression that Sunday would be a good day for something expensive like cars, you're more likely to get people that work hard and earn money to spend looking on a day when they normally wouldn't work.
Remember there was a Ford dealer not far away that closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays even for sales, they went west years ago too.
I can understand the philosophy and up to a point i agree with it, i dislike Sunday working except for essential workers as i believe it put another nail in the coffin of family life, but its here to stay so might as well make the best of it.
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Thing is about working Sundays is that you can have a weekday off in lieu - far more useful as shops are quieter and car sales are very quiet - you could give the salespeople all a weekday off each in lieu of Sunday, so you have a full strength sales force for the busy days.
I work Sundays - many of my rivals dont, so I get the work because Im available, but I always get atleast one very useful weekday free, often to coincide with my OH's day off.
I wish more dealers were open Sundays - my local Daihatsu dealer is now open Sundays as of last year - these days you need to pick up every sale going to survive, hang family life as that will suffer if people loose their jobs.
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what is a fair amount of time to have a vehicle like this? <<
Friend of mine is lucky enough to be able to change his company car at fairly regular intervals.
He doesn't mention the words "company car" until the last minute, because he reckons that he gets better service if dealers think that he is spending his own money.
He is often able to get a 24hr "test drive", so given the nature of your vehicle i would push for a full weekend, starting lunchtime friday, if poss, so you can test out the "school run"
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Due to last Monday not raining as it promised, I spent the day taking the sprogs + DW out and about.
To update - the Hyundai folks who sent the brochure called today to check that the literature arrived safely and would I like a test drive. The dealership will call in the next couple of days - which works out nicely as I've got some weekday time to pop down there with the family.
One problem that worries me - the seats appear not to come out or fold flat and that could make things difficult as I'm getting fed up buying Hippo bags and/or paying for delivery. Probably not a deal-breaker.
Will update when I have some news.
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Went to the dealer this morning - got there quite early and it wasn't that quiet.
The i800 is quite big - not as big as I expected it to be. The dealer had two, one in some kind of gunmetal colour, the other in black.
The black one looked nice, I suspect that nobody would see you coming at night, and the same for the gunmetal one at dawn/dusk. I'd have liked to have seen a white one.
The rear seats don't come out - I suspect if you remove 5 or so bolts they are removable. That said the amount of boot space is quite large. I think there should be a cargo net or something though as you can only pile it so high. It's a shame as the vehicle would be a lot more versatile with a better seating arrangement.
The doors opened and closed with a nice action. The paint finish looked good. The inside plastics were utilitarian but fine. A bit odd as amongst the practical bits and bobs there'd be a bit of bling such as LED lighting. I felt the space between the drive and passenger was wasted - I sure another seat could have fitted there or perhaps a centre console.
The bad news is that Hyundai don't have an internal financing arm - therefore they use business partners to provide finance. I was told that the lowest flat rate was 6%, going up to 8%. This really has knocked it on the head - I was looking to pay 50% deposit with the rest on a decent finance deal. Not sure what planet they are on but that's totally unrealistic rate to want to lend money at. The loan would add at least £1,000 to the price of the vehicle.
Sorry - I didn't get as far as asking servicing etc as my youngest was sick (on himself thankfully) and the oldest was adamant that it was time to say goodbye and move on to his section of the day. Bless.
The dealer will phone in the next day or so to arrange a testdrive but I'm really not confident that they'd do a deal I would find acceptable.
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Still worth telling them what you are prepared to pay and see if they can match it. Also worth ringing around alot of dealers an play them off. Its amazing what they suddenly find they can do.
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I followed one of these yesterday. It had no windows and was called an iLoad. Looked like it had a solid rear axle - I suspect it will drive accordingly.
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T4 Caravelle with the 102 Tdi engine
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I know some on this forum knock them, but I reckon you can't beat the Espace for quality of the insides. Just had Second 18,000 miles service and first MOT - all went swimmingly. Took masess to the tip the other day - taking all the seats out it was massive. And easy to vacuum leaves out afterwards. Took the opportunity to clean and cream the leather again too. Just 'cos you had a poor dealer encounter in the past don't discount them. Still for sale if interested - new one on order, but delayed it for 8 weeks whilst a cheque came through - can't wait....
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