Daft thread this one for now. People in the Discord will know that for a few months I’ve been saying the Corolla needed a break from the miles and the salt in the winter, needed a few odd jobs, and I was after something else as a daily with a view to restoring the Corolla.
Those same people will also know I’ve been trying to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time - import something from Japan, but doing it myself rather than paying someone here to do it all for me. I started out with a specific car in mind but it just wasn’t happening, so expanded my list to other things. I know a couple of people here know what my shortlist roughly was and it was quite varied, but ended up down to about 6-7 cars.
A few months have passed without much luck but as of just today, I’ve got a car with my name on it assuming all is well, so I’m going to use this thread to document going through the process of getting it on the road here in the hope it ends up being interesting.
By all means have a go at guessing, but if you’re one of the few that think you might know for sure, hold off for a little bit please. I’m sure there’s only one person that knows for definite. You all know me by now, so I suspect the manufacturer won’t take much guessing… (although I was after some Daihatsus too).
If anyone is after hints, I pretty much just wanted something practical, reasonable on fuel (£1.31 a litre here currently) with better rust protection than the Corolla and less odd oldness niggles.
Obviously it’s a Japanese market Alfa Romeo. Laws dictate that the best defense is a good offense, and rust defense is an Alfa’s ultimate dump stat…
Ok, clearly that is not a wise mind thinks. Still, it’s a tough one; I can’t remember many JDM Toyotas which can cover all the bases, without being a model already sold locally (i.e. the Yaris Verso).
So I’ll say it’s a Toyota ist and look forward to seeing how wrong I am…
Well did not have to wait long for the proverbial ship to sink, at least.
Still, a TRD ist? Wasn’t aware of their existence. Although being a fan of the Crown Comfort TRD (supercharged cab!), I should be expecting TRD to tune everything…
So I shall change my bet to the Toyota bB and keep it there.
Nah, like I say I was after something a bit more modern that isn’t likely to have hard oil seals and the like once I push it into daily duties. Although I didn’t necessarily entirely meet all of my other requirements perfectly.
I should clarify that it’s something we can’t get in the UK, else I wouldn’t be going to this much effort, I’d just buy one here. So not a Land Cruiser.
