Toyota Previa / Estima, talk to me

[sphinx]

Hi Guys and Gals

I'm looking at Toyota Previa / Estimas for various reasons, and I'm wondering what people's opinions and/or experience is of them?

Basics first, the Previa is the UK market car an the Estima is the JDM one yes? What are the Lucidas then?...I'm confused.

Now, what are they like in general, reliable? things to look out for? parts hard to get etc?
I'd be wanting a diesel, as something tells me that's the one to get in such a big car, but is this right? or is the petrol pretty special and something I should consider?

Anything and everything considered here people, good or bad.
The various reasons I mentioned earlier are as follows:
1) I'm moving and want something to lug things around in
2) I considered cheap vans but they're mostly battered heaps
3) That made me think of people carriers, which are slightly nicer things and I would hazard a guess, better looked after.
4) I just fancy an excuse to get something silly for a bit.

Thanks all

[bigfella2]

Never owned one, but head gasket and head are problematic. Also alledgedly terrible on diesel, very thirsty. Sure some owners will chip in too.

[sphinx]

Ah, interesting to know about the head gasket problems. That might be the deciding factor really, as they're not exactly the easiest things to work on.
Any more input greatly appreciated

[Jizmondo Scrotmondo]

A bloke I work with has got onw with a V6 in it and he says parts are expensive. It's not very economical either. Loads of room for his horde of sprogs though.

[zoompod]

We ran one as the family car for three or four years and it wasn't too bad on fuel, i never worked out the consumption but it was better than our 1.8 auto Zafira is. I have only seen one petrol engined one and that was a monster, can't remember what engine it was but it was turbo'd and flew.
Not many parts are interchangeable with the previa as it's about and inch and a half narrower but some parts like the tail box can be made to fit with little work.
I never had a problem getting parts, even our local toyota dealer got bits in for me HOWEVER.... they are bloody expensive, example. The flourescent tube above the side door was £18 from Toyota but 2 from e-bay were about £15.
In our years of ownership i changed the front brake flexi's, the tail box and the side door tube and thats it.
Another handy thing was that i even changed the flexi's and serviced it on the driveway in a couple of hours without having to jack it up.
Go for 2WD and listen for a tapping noise from the front that goes away when the revs are raised, this tells that the ally doughnuts with rubbers in are worn out on the ancillary driveshaft, not that expensive but can be a fiddle to do.
Took a day to fit and wire a towbar, i'll never do another due to no standard fitting points and double skinned panels but they tow brilliantly.
Capacity, our 8 seater version with 5 in still took my eldests 80cc quad in the back, all the kit for three of us to ride and pulled the trailer with my 350 quad and my youngests 50cc as well with no real loss of economy.
Unfortunately, the cam belt snapped on the way back from the dealers after having it underwritten at 2k but sold it on e-bay for £900 within an hour of listing it.
So, paid £5000 ( about 5/6 years ago) did approx 60000 miles in it and sold it for £900, not bad in my book.
Sorry to waffle on but we loved it. Hope this helps.

[waveman1500]

If you want another name to add to the list, they're called the Toyota Tarago in Australia. My mum always wanted one when my sisters and I were young, but we could never justify one because they were so ridiculously expensive. That is all the useful information I can give! The older ones at least seem to last forever, as most of them are still going. Their interiors do mostly smell of weed and/or surfboard wax now though.

[rmad]

Previas are the UK version, they are thirsty but then again, they are VERY spacious and blinkin' useful. If it wasn't for the (lack of) economy I'd still have mine.

Eminas and Lucidas are all imports...they're narrower than Previas (and non Emina/Lucida Estimas - I've never seen a 'wide' one imported though). Most of them ended up being cheap people carriers and have been suitably abused! A lot of those are Diesel but I can't comment on the economy as I've never had one.

iOf course, all of the above info is about 'egg' Estimas, rather than the later, pointy ones...I don't know anything about them!

Find some more info, and a few cool pics here:
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=65873&page=1#885345

[chairchild]

Until very recently, my nan had a Lucida. She's had it as long as I can remember, with VERY few problems over its lifetime!

IIRC, the Lucida is the "high-end" version. Even came with electric curtains on all rear windows!


Nearly bought one myself, but when I found out the derv versions do as little as 30mpg... I changed my mind

[timmy201]

We've owned a 1992 Toyota Tarago since 2000. It's up to 350,000km and the only problem has been the diff centre going (we did have it loaded often with people and towing a small boat though). All of the ones for sale in Aus have mega high km and still hold their prices pretty well.

Its a 2.4 petrol, and a rare 5 speed manual. The economy is marginally worse than the diesel

[ditchdigger]

Not familiar with the UK names but these are what were called Previa over here.



The Dash is crazy. It is an odd wraparound thing that makes you feel like the captain of the starship enterprise.

I have a friend with one and I don't often have to touch it. It is a Toyota after all. I don't like driving it. If you are over five and a half feet tall you have to bend over and crane your neck up to see traffic lights. Since you are sitting on the motor the seat cannot be adjusted down. There just isn't anything you can do about it.

Neat looking things though. They have a cult following here. I predict in 20 years they will be as collectible as a VW bus.

[sphinx]

Thanks for all the input guys!
I'm still a little undecided. On the one hand I need something to big for the next couple of months so I don't miss out on the 'collection only' sofas and tables etc I need.
On the other hand, I don't really want something that's going to ruin me lol but that being said, I'm used to poor mpg with my current car, it's just re-sale I'm concerned about.
Oh, one other thing, are they chains or belts?

Thanks again, I'll keep my eyes open and see what turns up.

[chairchild]

tbh.... what's stopping you throwing in a more modern derv to get it into respectable mpg figures?

[sphinx]

Nothing really, apart from the fact I only want one for a couple of months lol