skyway

TBh everyone has really tried to help you on this thread even after you called help snobbery, when in truth you had a bad time with a few cars for what ever reason and you seemed to just need a place to rant. But I do wish you the best of luck what ever you drive in the future

Personally I love Ford Mondeo's as they look amazing, have a sturdy build quality and are gifted with quiet ride a real credit to the Ford. A friend of mine was an avid Mondeo fan (being in the owners club) and even turned up on those's ford event days, with his exciting looking ford Mondeo, all polished and even cleaned with cotton buds for those hard to reach areas. He once proudly told me "they do break down but the parts are cheap".

Then good luck to you Martin and I wish you the best on your choice of car... because after all it is only a car and there's plenty of them. Some people even live without one

Yup I have to agree a bad one is a bad one,,,,, and I have had two of them down right rotten bad ones after my shocks on my 430 went I had a long talk with myself I think a toyota corolla would be a good choice for something that wont break down. I think you do pay a price for driving an old top of the range model simply because of the cutting edge tech and fresh new ideas that get rushed n squeezed into cars to get people to buy them without testing it to destruction first. when that very shiny thing is broken as all shiny things break over time mostly after the warranty has expired ( I think most of us sit in this bracket ) its painful and it is easy at 1st to convince yourself that it will only be this one thing you have to fix and that's it, then.... one more and one more. after all it is the best car ever produced (that is what we tell ourselves) but after all that said I can't give up the ride and the wide seats. maybe a bit like marriage

There is a celsior in black for sale in london for 4k if anyone is interested IN good nick too

I am only up the road from you If you wanna have a look at mine sometime, I am just south of crewe

Matt where are you in Staffordshire?

I was lucky enough to find on on ebay there are people who buy imported cars alot and would know a lot more.. I did look at a website for importing and it seemed to have some really good reviews by normal car buyers and trade who use it to, there is also come great videos that explain everything really well. Hope I am not breaking and rules posting this... I am not in anyway tied to this site. https://www.autoaccessjapan.com/#

If I am going to be totally honest buying the celsior was the best thing I could have done car wise although it would have been much better if I had bought one instead of my 1st ls430 Yeah I am told the next one coming in has 90 thousand kilometers on it which I think is 56 thousand miles with no salt on the roads also a chance of it being on coils as was mine. Personally I have thrown a lot of cash at my last two 430's enough to easily buy a really nice celsior and it was painful (engine mounts... worst job ever), I am happy to pay out on a nice car but saving a car is In my humble opinion is not worth it unless its rare as rocking horse poo. Things done on my last car: engine gearbox rear diff mounts new condenser sorting out aircon new rear diff new discs , brakes two alternators and a power steering pump steering rack timing belt new coil packs and plugs problems with lights mostly done in the cold and rain and much more all bought to you by being and idiot buying a car because I wanted to save it. sorry I rambled on I get a bit emotional about that car Could always get a ls400 import still a celsior just less to go wrong.

Welcome to the forum Malcolm on the matter of aircon I had two of mine that did not work at all when I got them, so I bought them to an aircon specialists in london where I was living he proceeded to kick the tyres off my aircon system then finally begrudgingly offering to try and fix my system for £1800 and even then it might cost more! Now having just spent £1600 on the car I thanked him for his kind offer and left and just googled the pants off car aircon systems and it seems that it is not rocket science I could not break it anymore than it was broken so I bought a condenser from US ebay for £80 including delivery with a lifetime warranty swapped mine over an easy job bought some gas from halfords in a car and squirted it in the car.... and DADA working aircon so don't look past the fact you can do it yourself. I am no mechanic good luck let us know how you get on

I had my alternator go last year on my 430 after my ps pump leaked on it... I bought a replacement from Paul Frost (although I only see Colin up there in darwin) although I got the wrong model Alternator 1st and had to run up to change it on the same day... being that my car was in bits check the plugs they are the give away. It was straight forward enough... just jack the car up or drive it onto a set of ramps access it from the top for the ps pump if I remember correctly and the bottom for the alternator the worse part was getting the connectors on. Speaking of ramps has anyone found some wide enough for the Ls430? I am going to weld some up as mine are way to narrow and to short for my Taste as it is always a bit of a risky business finding the very fine line between on enough and falling off the ends got to be an inch in it. I think mine are made from 20mm angle iron I think 40mm angle would be better also more of the blobby stuff as the factory seemed a little tight with the stuff like its done with gold wire even the sealey ones I ordered in once... I remember one of the struts even had only 2mm of weld on it they had missed the rest No quality control it seems even for a big company and it may just be a personal thing but if I am under the car (using axle stands also) I would like some faith in the kit i am using.

Thanks Phil I will try my grand plan out and if it works I will set off the flare to celebrate

I think its from the Electronic Toll Collection

Good idea here is something we find the light is on even when the car is off. The flare is in there and I'm gonna set it off when I'm bored one day i was thinking about the second bottle of screen wash.... when I work out which one is which I may fill one with rainx glass cleaner as the rinse there for re-applying it as I go.

Just glad I can get a converter always nice to pay less though 2nd photo is the remote start which I got working. The others might be something to do with the toll road reader thingy in the centre armrest. Last one is a police radar detector

Yeah the radiator is the next job well maybe after the speedo conversion I bought one of theses https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPEEDO-CONVERTER-DELIMITER-TOYOTA-SUPRA-CELICA-LUCIDA-SPEEDOMETER-CONVERSION/400661416049?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 If the wiring has not changed to much It should fit as the instructions are for the ls400. The paint on the century .... was just amazing

It was selling for 4.5k Malc. I saw the black one while i was there or dark blue I am not sure it looked very nice also I might have seen a Toyota century also which lived up to my very high expectations if I am honest the century is what I thought about mostly on the way home.

Well looks like the gs300 idea did not last very long, it's not that the 300 was a bad car It was infact one of the best cars I have owned being under 90k miles and solid It was just a little small for my family even my 86 year old mum grumbled to me "oh it is not as nice as your old car or as comfortable". I found a white 2005 celsior on ebay the guy selling it turned out to be a very nice man and very hospitable and should be joining this forum soon enough I hope. Thanks to Phil turning up today after a crazy traffic ridden drive on the M25 today nice to have met you, your advice was invaluable. The car has some interesting quirks come I expected some I did not (but that made me giggle). The lady talking to me as I started the car making some sort of service announcement maybe was nice although that may wear thin so I may ask her real nice to shhhh. The beeping while in reverse like a lorry HAS to go (if anyone knows how I will be in your debt) The cruise control was good but much to my surprise I thought I had broken it on my 1st drive however I soon found out that It only works up to 68mph and won't set any higher which might need a new control box maybe. Does anyone know what that little black thing is near the stereo in the red circle? I did find there was a remote start thingy with it which was a nice thing to find I have not been able to make it work yet as It came with no instructions although I have been able to find a picture of it using google It would be nice if that worked. One of the best things about this car is that it does not have the premium package so no air shocks and still rides lovely Tbh I was going to change the airshocks out I thought were on the car out to coil-overs the week I bought it so happy days. Again thanks Phil

Thats a bonus I am not sure I would like to try it as it might make traveling in the UK even more dismal knowing what you are missing 😆

I do sometimes wonder why people in japan buy cars if they are not going to use them. Its all good for us though

You mean the VSC light was not on and was actually working. I have had a bit of a drifting experience day on a cold day lucky it was 3 lanes. still its nice to know you can handle a drift or two

I kinda like them maybe because they are anti IKEA and I'm against anything making me walk around in circles pushing a trolley for 5 hours with 10000 men in equal misery while my wife uses the old meatballs on a stick routine. I have been looking on a Japanese auction site for cars, I think I might have better luck then getting one from here as the pool of celsiors tends to be a little on the small size. The guy that runs it seems to have a lot of very good reviews from the auto industry instead of the usual made up random customer ones. Has anyone used this guys company? On the idea of a elgrand has anyone had a toyota alphard they look great

Hey guys ,,,, the Ls/celsior is the safe bet. I personal think the crown is a shorter version of the toyota century which also has kept the basic retro look for a very long time until the new one came out last year... or was it this year. Being the only v12 to come out of japan I would like a go oh god its ugly inside but its so ugly that I want it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REDESIGNED-TOYOTA-CENTURY-GZG50-5-0-V12-JAPANESE-EQ-MAYBACH-ROLLS-ROYCE/352540802166?hash=item521511bc76:g:YnUAAOSwXtNabIHH:rk:1:pf:0

Good evening guys, Perchance has anyone ever heard anything about one of these toyota crown hybrid thingys? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MODERN-CLASSIC-RETRO-JAPANESE-TOYOTA-CROWN-2-0-SUPER-DX-MILD-HYBRID-ELECTRIC/352540802147?hash=item521511bc63:g:tsAAAOSwlMFZKV05:rk:3:pf:0 To be honest I never have not online or speaking to anyone about cars has this model ever come up. I can't find anything out using google although I am still looking. After a long love affair with a ls430 she betrayed me, so I bought a low mileage (for me) Gs300 which is ok to drive as it's easier to get around the tight twisty roads than the ls430 the problem is with the gs it is just not big enough in the back for my family , so while I was looking for a new to me LS I somehow thanks to the google wormhole came across this crown, and as I am always (stupid) up for a new adventure thought it might be worth a shot. What do you think? Thanks for reading and helping, feel free to tell me not to buy it as I seem to have no one at home tonight telling me its a silly idea. I mean I was always promising myself to buy a Celsior then throw some BC racing shocks on the moment i got it surely that seems a better idea anyways I will stop waffling on

Hi James, I am just about to do them myself I have this video as a guide... although its up to you how adventurous you get with the job. Mine isn't leaking so I am not doing the gasket's. Good luck let us know how you get along James