Toyota Blade Master G, your Gran's Auris on steroids

[Axeboy]

As above, good question.

I think the double din can be switched out with any other unit... I might try and find one for Nav etc that does the rear camera too. I think its a simple fit.

OP, are there any functions on the double din that is bespoke to the car at all? I don't think there is but as above, would be good to know

[TwistingMyMelon]

Like that, interesting read

[cheddar]

Axeboy said:

As above, good question.

I think the double din can be switched out with any other unit... I might try and find one for Nav etc that does the rear camera too. I think its a simple fit.

OP, are there any functions on the double din that is bespoke to the car at all? I don't think there is but as above, would be good to know

Update:

Yes, the double din unit can be swapped easily but I'd lose a lot of functions, don't ask me which functions yet because I haven't hooked up with a translator but there are sub menus upon sub menus and the plan is to translate and create a handbook.

To the poster who's considering a Crown Athlete packing the FSE version of this 2GR engine how about a Toyota Mark X+M instead? It gets a supercharged 2GR with 355bhp and 369lb ft of torque.

I still can't stop driving this thing for the hell of it, I don't know the performance figures but - I think I mentioned it before - it weighs 100kgs less than an R32 Golf and packs 30 more horsepower, if it was all low and shporty I wouldn't be so interested but the utterly innocuous looks still lull me, I showed it to a car loving friend and he said it looked looked like 'An absolute pile of st', perfect.......

[Axeboy]

Ive seen the supercharged Mark X but they didn't make very many at all, they rarely come up on the auctions, ive only ever seen one

Thanks for the info on the stereo, let me know if it does have vehicle functions within the menus

Appreciated

[Jimmy Recard]

Awesome! I'd love one of these. I was telling a guy at work about them a couple of weeks ago - he thought it sounded ace. Partly because he has a normal Auris

[nomank]

Looks fantastic! What's the process of getting hold of one? Any brokers that can sort everything out (import, UK coversion, etc.)??

[cheddar]

nomank said:

Looks fantastic! What's the process of getting hold of one? Any brokers that can sort everything out (import, UK coversion, etc.)??

Any JDM importer would oblige, two years ago £1 bought up to 195 Japanese yen, now it's around 140 so it's gonna cost you more, you can still land one ready to go for about £6k

[Cambs_Stuart]

What an uttery fantastic car. I would have loved to be at the marketing meeting when someone proposed putting a 276 hp V6 in an auris.
Awesome name too.

Edited by Cambs_Stuart on Sunday 26th November 10:17

[nomank]

Hi, Still having difficulty in finding anyone willing to do the import thing. Any recommendations who I could approach please? Perhaps the same folk you used??

Cheers.

[Axeboy]

I'm using Pacific Coast for my import

Not easy finding a good one, been looking for a good 5 or 6 weeks now, might end up with an X Trail Gt instead

[Cambs_Stuart]

nomank said:

Hi, Still having difficulty in finding anyone willing to do the import thing. Any recommendations who I could approach please? Perhaps the same folk you used??

Cheers.

This lot have a pretty good reputation:

https://torque-gt.co.uk/

[OzzyR1]

Don't know how I missed this before, what an awesome thing!! Love these innocuous cars with crazy engines.

Couple of things I've always been curious about if the OP is still reading:

Appreciate you are in NZ, but do you have to go through a specialist insurer or do the usual big firms recognise the car from the number plate and give you a quotation? If it's specialist only, is the quote much higher than it would be for a similar age/power "standard" car?

Also, are the local Toyota dealership / specialist Toyota independent happy to service etc or do you need to go elsewhere?

[BricktopST205]

So much awesome sauce in JDM land. Such a shame that a lot of it never made it here!

[cheddar]

OzzyR1 said:

Appreciate you are in NZ, but do you have to go through a specialist insurer or do the usual big firms recognise the car from the number plate and give you a quotation? If it's specialist only, is the quote much higher than it would be for a similar age/power "standard" car?

Also, are the local Toyota dealership / specialist Toyota independent happy to service etc or do you need to go elsewhere?

Insurance has gone through the roof here since the Christchurch earthquakes, it used to be stupid cheap and it still isn't compulsory, I think I pay about £400 a year, a standard 4 pot Auris might be £100 less.

Anyone can service these, everything's generic Toyota/Lexus.

In the UK the scrappage schemes and £100 a month new car leasing seem to have killed off a lot of the JDM imports and the GBP exchange rate post Brexit vote hasn't helped.

I had a quick nosy on our local EBay and, even in this tiny country, there's 43 Blade Masters for sale.
I thought they'd be easily available in the UK but seemingly not.

[OzzyR1]

cheddar said:

Insurance has gone through the roof here since the Christchurch earthquakes, it used to be stupid cheap and it still isn't compulsory, I think I pay about £400 a year, a standard 4 pot Auris might be £100 less.

Anyone can service these, everything's generic Toyota/Lexus.

In the UK the scrappage schemes and £100 a month new car leasing seem to have killed off a lot of the JDM imports and the GBP exchange rate post Brexit vote hasn't helped.

I had a quick nosy on our local EBay and, even in this tiny country, there's 43 Blade Masters for sale.
I thought they'd be easily available in the UK but seemingly not.

Cheers for the reply, really feel for you with that insurance quote, and you have to put up with the terrible NZ scenery too!!

Your comment re. the dying UK JDM import market is interesting - hadn't really noticed but you are correct. Recall there used to be quite a few Soarers and JDM Supras available a few years ago and you would have thought the Blade Master would be the same - can't see a single one advertised here though!

[pd2]

Have a look on here for anything Japanese, there loads of stuff I’ve never even heard of.

I don’t know how easy it is to get an importer to get these over though, I just use the site for amusement.

http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/

Don’t use the tick boxes, hit the manufacturer, then the model and use the search box, easier to narrow down cars.

There is a nice Toyota mark-x GRMN 3.5 i never knew they made.

http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/TOYOTA/MA...

Loads of blade master G’s as well.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

That's 47k!

[pd2]

Yup! 47k! lol

I said it was nice... not cheap. 😁

[Axeboy]

Any agent would be able to sort a car from Goo-net

The X trail Gt I'm looking at is advertised there, the agent I'm using will negotiate and arrange shipping etc if I go ahead. I think you save 8% on the sales price if exporting too.

Edited by Axeboy on Saturday 30th December 16:02

[blearyeyedboy]

There's at least one in the UK... Looks like this was recently bought and imported in November.

https://youtu.be/EnPhSOYMsEI