Advice for aspiring Estima Owner please!!

[clareschutz]

Hello helpful and friendly ESTIMA experts.

We are  looking for Estimas because they seem spacious. We need at least 7 seats, pref 8 AND some boot space. I like the look of the newer (post 2006?) innards where you can have one of the back seats down for extra pushchair space... Want to spend only up to £10000 and get as new and good a car as I can.

We do about 20 x 200m journeys / year, as well as one much longer European drive, so not negligible, but also every day I have to do at least 2 town slow traffic-filled trips (school run). I am looking for something fuel-efficient. Am I on the right lines with an Estima? If so, should I go for a hybrid or not? My sister suggested that her new hybrid was great but the money saving was evened out when she did long drives because the extra weight of engines carried meant that long drives (not on electric) were v gas-guzzling. Is this true??

I have seen this one: does it look like a decent example and ok value? Or not??

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201810241804059

Thank you!

[RUToyota]

Welcome Clare.

Sees a very wise choice to me..but then I'm biased,,..I think the Estima represents such good value for money...a lot of bangs for your bucks.!

The example you've posted looks fine...and well priced....but as with any vehicle you have to go see it...drive it..and generally give it all the checks you would do with any vehicle.

Generally the auto box should be smooth and gear changes pretty seamless.....always worth checking the ATF for level and condition.

The MOT is about to expire so you'll need to make sure that a 12 month ticket is part of the deal..it should be fine with little or no signs of corrosion underneath..like the vast majority of imported Estimas'.

In terms of the make/model...I doubt you'll find a better vehicle for your money..and you get reliability and comfort as standard.!!

The 2.4 is  chain drive not cam belt so you have no cam belt change to think about.

I've had my Estima for over 3 years now...not for one moment have I regretted my decision to buy it...I'd buy again tomorrow.

Good luck...let us know how you get on.

[clareschutz]

1 hour ago, RUToyota said:

Welcome Clare.

Sees a very wise choice to me..but then I'm biased,,..I think the Estima represents such good value for money...a lot of bangs for your bucks.!

The example you've posted looks fine...and well priced....but as with any vehicle you have to go see it...drive it..and generally give it all the checks you would do with any vehicle.

Generally the auto box should be smooth and gear changes pretty seamless.....always worth checking the ATF for level and condition.

The MOT is about to expire so you'll need to make sure that a 12 month ticket is part of the deal..it should be fine with little or no signs of corrosion underneath..like the vast majority of imported Estimas'.

In terms of the make/model...I doubt you'll find a better vehicle for your money..and you get reliability and comfort as standard.!!

The 2.4 is  chain drive not cam belt so you have no cam belt change to think about.

I've had my Estima for over 3 years now...not for one moment have I regretted my decision to buy it...I'd buy again tomorrow.

Good luck...let us know how you get on.

Thanks very much for full- and encouraging- reply. Have driven and it feels very smooth, with all gear changes seamless and silent, didn't think to check the underside (!) so am going to do that today. Thanks again!

[TP49]

Hello Clare, welcome not much to add really, Neil's covered most things. I've had my Esti about three and a half years with no regrets very nice car to drive. If the car was imported by the seller it should have all the Japanese service and shipping documents, not much good if you can't read Japanese I know but gives you some idea it's been serviced. Does look a nice car good luck with it.

[clareschutz]

Hi TP49, thanks very much for the advice! Will check the docs...

Has provoked a further q: What does one do about the manual etc being in Japanese??

[RUToyota]

Not much you can do..apart from learning Japanese.!..at least not with the full blown manual that came with the vehicle....I think Tony bought a more basic owners manual in English and he'll be able to tell you where from..but how much that might help with models later than ours I'm not sure.

TBH I found my way around the vehicle quite easily.

[TP49]

Yes I bought a owners manual off eBay from autojapspares about twenty pounds I think. It's pretty basic though but gives you an idea about the car. As for the Japanese manual it's looking at the pictures to see what things do. Good luck.

[furtula]

You can use google translate on your phone,  to take a snapshot of the index or a page, it can then auto translate based on the picture.

You can use this to get around, should be enough for what you need.

However it would be best if you had the index in  English for easier troubleshooting.