2007 Toyota Blade Master G

[adamd]

So this thing has been on the road a month tomorrow. 2500 miles completed in that time, give or take a hundred, which is the most I’ve done in that time in any car I’ve had - usually a lot closer to half that across all 3. Perfectly timed too, switching a car with a relatively big petrol engine right as petrol prices have started shooting upwards again.

Had it on a lift again today for a quick oil change, look how bloody clean it is! This thing is 12, cars at that age don’t come that clean here, even the GT86 has more brown going on underneath.

No issues to report yet thankfully, and all my cables turned up today to fit the above stereo, so that’s the next job. 29.4 UK MPG average so far, and it’s still getting a surprising number of compliments for something I thought would be quite anonymous.

A lot of places compare this to stuff like the Golf R32 and I suppose now the R, but it’s absolutely not the case. It’s a mistake to make that comparison anyway as it’s trying to be something totally different despite sharing the fat 6 cylinder in a smallish hatch formula. It’s not stiff and raw and noisy, it’s super comfortable and quiet, but still covers ground so quickly and effortlessly - it just makes journeys more pleasant.

I can’t keep on with that forever because as I say, petrol prices are only going one way and are already at £1.26 for normal, and tax certainly won’t get any lower either. However, still in that phase of enjoying it regardless, and man, just look at it.

Running down a motorway at sunset with Carpenter Brut playing, what with all the blue and white LEDs and that going on inside just felt so right. And contrary to what 99% of motoring journalists will tell you, there really is a way to have a sensible white Toyota hatchback that isn’t boring.

[adamd]

You ever just think, jesus I am never gonna have decent luck with cars one way or another?

The Blade has been supremely reliable and as you will have seen elsewhere, is now having a winter rest and is letting the Yaris do it’s shift. Since I last posted it’s done about 11k miles or so, round the country and to work and back.

Now, the Blade is not perfect cosmetically - it’s a used car, it has odd small marks but it’s being used so I don’t want to perfect it, also unnecessary cost. That however does not mean I want it to be worse, stone chips are enough of a pig as it is.

You ever been following a knackered old Winnebago on a low loader and had a window blow out onto you?

Was down the other end of the country going to a Toyota club meet, and when nearly there, I noticed this knackered old camper on a low loader and didn’t think much of it. Motorway, just under motorway speed, me in the middle lane to overtake as it was quiet early Sunday morning.

I saw the something flying off it and backed off a bit, but assumed it would be plastic. Saw it about to land in the other lane and not hit me, so didn’t worry. Wrong. Big old pane of glass just exploded up over the front of the car. You know that noise you get when a gritter goes past you? Imagine that but worse.

Can’t upload the video direct here so I’ll just do a couple of screencaps:

As you can see, front left got a bit minced, got some lovely black marks now, like agressive stonechips, and a couple of scratches in the headlight. Absolute pain in the arse but these things can’t be helped.

As an aside though, didn’t stop the car winning an award at the show. Made myself look a bit of a dick really, as we all congregated for the awards announcements I said to the people next to me, “Ah I won’t win anything this year, it just looks like a white Auris.”

Who was the first name read out seconds later? Yeah. Cue laughter and slight embarassment.

[adamd]

Someone once said to me a race car can only be called that once it’s taken part in competition and had numbers on it, in almost those exact words.

I guess that means it’s a proper race car now then? This is sat in the national paddock at Silverstone, just behind the old pits.

I’ve been saying I wanted to try motorsport for years, I said it with the Corolla and it ended up never being healthy enough and then I said it with this. This wasn’t a massive event or anything but it’s a start. Sadly the weather was accurate to the forecast and there was a big storm but hey, takes more than a storm to stop a Toyota. Hopefully someone got some action shots.

[abg7]

If the old adage of driving a slow car fast is more fun than driving a fast car slowly, the Blade may have proved it to an extent, what with it not being a dedicated hot hatch, but still more fun than you’d ever imagined. Oh, and it’s as reliable as it ought to be.

[adamd]

Finalised results came out today, 33rd out of 67, pleased enough with that for my first time competing in anything!

[adamd]

I have had worse things written next to my name before.

Finding Britain's Best Toyota: the 2020 Parallel Pomeroy Trophy

[SideswipeBL]

Looking cool, Adam!

[GetWrekt01]

Lmfao @DoctorNarfy leaving out a comment that we all needed
Seriously though Adam I’d legit watch if you had a YT channel

[adamd]

That comment has the most likes as well, does this count as a fan club?

@GetWrekt01

Seriously though Adam I’d legit watch if you had a YT channel

People keep saying this to me - in reality I don’t think I really have enough car content to run a channel for sure, I don’t know what I’d do but I keep considering it (I spend a lot of time fixing electronic stuff and that seems popular right now).

Plus I just look like a really low budget James May. I had thought of doing writing too but not sure what I’d do there, there is only so much Toyota content people can take.

[adamd]

No, Toyota are not paying me commission yet.

ToyotaUK (ToyotaUK)

[adamd]

I’ve been away from the forums mostly for a while, work was getting silly and I cut away from a lot of things. However, passing today, thought I would do general update of the world’s worst Toyota fleet.

The Blade hasn’t had a lot on since the Pomeroy back in February. Done a few hundred miles but as the office where I work is 99% closed, I’ve been at home so haven’t needed to use it. I found out a few weeks ago that that would turn into a blessing in disguise.

Any American 2GR owners will know about the rubber oil feed line to the rear head. I don’t understand why Toyota did that as it was later replaced with an all metal one, the rubber eventually cracks open under the pressure which is not ideal. I knew the car had had a new one, but went to check on a whim and found it had been replaced with another rubber one which was feeling pretty hard. Due to a slight issue with my Toyota dealer, the parts department there couldn’t get me a metal one either, so had to replace with another new rubber one - not sure why they’re still being made?!

It’s pretty cramped in here, pipe in question labelled below:

Unfortunately, while I was digging in here for this pipe, I found the other early 2GR common issue…

Water pump was having a party to itself, chucking pink all over the place instead of round the engine. It’s a big unit as it sits across the V, and is right up against the side of the car to be changed. Pinched this picture off Google:

I’m not even going to try and take credit for this, I’m fortunate enough to have a decent garage who could shift the engine about and that on a lift and did the job in a day, wallet felt a whack but as he said to me when I picked it up, “why did you buy a small car with a big engine?” so I can’t complain too much.

He also made the mistake of saying “Good luck with doing the spark plugs” (see above picture for the rear bank) - guess where it’s going for that?

[SkylineFTW97]

Having done several spark plugs on transverse V6s, I concur. It sucks. And the 2GR is one of the more annoying ones to do. At least on my old Camry with the 1MZ, I could do it without removing the intake manifold. Most of my experience with them is on SIenna vans, where it’s horrible. I imagine it’s no better here. I don’t blame you for not doing that yourself.

[adamd]

Yeah, even with the manifold out of the way you have to disassemble the scuttle and stuff, they’re about due if I go off the book but I’m not overly worried. It’s also the middle of winter and not a job I fancy standing about outside doing for a few hours.

His comment was “it looks like it’ll be exactly the same as the Jags” and you know it’s going to be good when he’s comparing it to Jag engineering.