Interesting family wagon

[M.F.D]

Morning PHers.

With a change of circumstances, I am having to adjust my current garage. Looking to sell my track spec R53 and XC70. I will be replacing these with one car. Another track toy will follow in the near future.

I am going to have around £7k give or take to spend. I am a big Toyota fan, and have the itch to get something JDM again.

Requirements,

- Family friendly, 2 kids, 2 small dogs etc
- Decent turn of pace
- Interesting

My current thoughts are

Toyota Caldina GT4 N Spec - Celica GT4 with more space, unfortunately no manual option. Could do a conversion though.

Lexus LS400/430/ Toyota Celcior - 3UZ is mega reliable and not as thirsty as you would think. However, I have 2 thoughts about buying a V8 just now. First being, buy one when you can (never had a V8). Secondly, if/when I go to move it on in a few years, is a V8 going to be worth next to nothing?

Interested to hear opinions and any other recommendations.

[Cambs_Stuart]

They're JDM, but not a toyota, I'd have a look at either a nissan stagea (although they're getting a bit old now, especially the 2.5 turbo), or a Subaru legacy.

[Roboticarm]

Another big Toyota and JDM fan here, had a few celicas and corolla t sport myself.

Had similar requirements to you but smaller budget


I went for a JDM Subaru legacy twinscroll, that budget could even see you in a WR ltd model.
I've had mine just over a year, plenty of load carrying ability, 4wd an 5 sec 0-60. They drink a bit of fuel mind. It's basically a variant of the engine in a sti Impreza

Edited by Roboticarm on Sunday 17th April 08:57

[M.F.D]

The Legacy does appeal and is on my radar. I had a Hawkeye JDM STI (2.0 Widetrack, twinscroll etc) and it was mega, but it ended up spitting the dummy out and cost me an arm and a leg. Since then I'm sceptical of the EJ reliability, but maybe I just got unlucky!

[ZX10R NIN]

V8's will always hold an interest & have a market so going for a 400/430 actually makes sense.

With a budget creep & haggling you could go for an Aristo Vertex:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275258706238?hash=item4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275233536395?hash=item4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265620896729?hash=item3...

You'll get a newer GS430 for the same budget:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353886162833?hash=item5...

V6T Stagea:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125230076526?hash=item1...

[M.F.D]

ZX10R NIN said:

V8's will always hold an interest & have a market so going for a 400/430 actually makes sense.

With a budget creep & haggling you could go for an Aristo Vertex:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275258706238?hash=item4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275233536395?hash=item4...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265620896729?hash=item3...

You'll get a newer GS430 for the same budget:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353886162833?hash=item5...

V6T Stagea:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125230076526?hash=item1...

Cheers mate, some good links there. Most Aristo's seem to be a bit rough, but maybe I'm being too picky.

The LS430 is really catching my attention. Would be a really good daily car and hopefully always have an audience if I need to shift on. GS430 also loads of car for the money.

[Escy]

Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo R is something I quite like the sound of

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384790428378?hash=item5...

[M.F.D]

Escy said:

Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo R is something I quite like the sound of

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384790428378?hash=item5...

Interesting car, but would prefer a Caldina GT4 over this.

[ZX10R NIN]

M.F.D said:

Cheers mate, some good links there. Most Aristo's seem to be a bit rough, but maybe I'm being too picky.

The LS430 is really catching my attention. Would be a really good daily car and hopefully always have an audience if I need to shift on. GS430 also loads of car for the money.

With your budget you could get a LS460 but that does mean higher road tax:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203013...

Or there's the G37 saloon but it's only a V6:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201231...

[M.F.D]

ZX10R NIN said:

With your budget you could get a LS460 but that does mean higher road tax:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203013...

Or there's the G37 saloon but it's only a V6:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201231...

Yeah, trying to avoid big boy tax. Plus, there is something that just feels lovely about running a big capacity car on the lower tax bracket...

Can't bring myself round to the G37's unfortunately.

[ZX10R NIN]

I get what you're saying & TBH the others seem more interesting.

[AlexNJ89]

A slight exhaust modification and these sound a peach:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204054...

[M.F.D]

AlexNJ89 said:

A slight exhaust modification and these sound a peach:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204054...

Cheers, but not a Merc fan generally. I'm sure it would sound mega though!