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A novices guide to Elgrand acquisition

This really helped me buy my first Elgrand...thank you!
 
This is an excellent start for me. Thanks very much Stempy, very useful. In fact, just did a check on mine, and all good. A little bit more piece of mind. Right, what's next? :)
 
Many thanks for all this useful info, I’ll be booking in the 2nd cat decore as soon at we get it, I’d never have known had I not read it here :)
 
Thanks for all the useful information about buying - I will certainly be checking the recalls and ordering a carvx report! Thanks again
 
Here’s my Elgrand buying experience in case it helps anyone else in the buying process.

After deciding that I really wanted an Elgrand, I found a dealer quite near to me. I had already decided I didn’t want to spend time and expense trawling up and down the country looking for my new car, so some internet research led me to the more local options.

Being a novice in the import vehicle field I also decided that I was willing to pay a bit more for someone else to deal with procedures involved in bringing a car in from Japan rather than trying to do it myself. I could also be sure to see the vehicle before making my purchase.

I found a likely candidate at my nearest dealer who were advertising it as low mileage and top quality on their website and ebay. The vehicle in question had not yet landed from Japan, it was a silver Rider model but sounded from the description that it would be just what I wanted.

I visited the dealer and left a deposit on the strength of their pictures, advertisement and description. Then, whist awaiting its arrival I thought it might be a good idea to do some further research online and signed up to this club to seek advice and information about my impending purchase. Good move.

After much reading and advice from those more experienced in Elgrandery, I discovered the many ways of checking how closely the dealers spiel matched reality. As it happens I saved myself a wait for a vehicle that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It turns out that the dealer in question are importing low grade auction vehicles then tarting them up on arrival. Happily, they refunded my deposit without quibble when I approached them with the discrepancies I had found.

Here’s what I checked using the vehicles chassis number.

Firstly, they claimed the the vehicle had Jevic mileage certification. I checked the chassis number on the Jevic website https://www.jevic.co.uk/index.html but it returned no results. Warning bells started to ring.

I next paid for a CarVX report at https://carvx.jp/ costing £25 plus £3.50 for the translation of the Japanese auction sheet. The report showed that this vehicle was a low R grade auction rating, had been repaired following accident damage and had a replacement door panel which was an incorrect shade of silver. It was rusty underneath, dirty, smelly and marked inside and full of pet hair, and had numerous dings to the bodywork amongst other horrors.

On the plus side, the recall history was complete which can be checked here http://www.Nissan.co.jp/RECALL/search.html and this shows that important recall work has been carried out, most importantly correction to the over fuelling problem which adds to the premature disintegration of the catalytic converters, and also the dodgy fuel gauge issue. But even so, this seemed to be a poorly maintained vehicle and certainly best avoided I thought, and I note it was subsequently removed from sale by the dealer.

Finally, I also checked https://Nissan.epc-data.com/Elgrand/ which shows up some basic info on specification, including factory options, but doesn’t show any spec for vehicles which finished production at Autech such as Rider models, as they all leave Nissan as basic VG models before receiving the Autech upgrades. For any further information, Nissan are quite helpful and can be emailed at postoffice@Nissan.co.jp.

Further searches found two more likely vehicles. The first I checked was a white Rider but it had not had the over fuelling recall carried out and although it showed a full Japanese service history it didn’t have Jevic mileage certification either, so I passed. It had also been pimped somewhat in Japan and I was looking for something that had not been too interfered with.

Third time lucky I found a gem from an ebay trader and Japanese import specialist in Kent. A low mileage 4x4 twin sun roof white Rider with verified Jevic mileage certificate, full service history and 4.5 auction grade shown on the CarVX report with no issues reported on the auction sheet. All recalls have been carried out and on inspection I found it had been very well looked after by its Japanese owner, modifications being to the side and mirror repeater indicators, a remapped ECU and a throttle control unit.

It is quite hard to believe that this is a 15 year old vehicle, with only 44k miles it looks only two or three years old and is in super condition. As you can tell I am delighted, as without this splendid club I could well have ended up with a lemon.

Just as an addendum, when you have acquired your piece of masterful engineering you MUST have the secondary catalytic converters de-cored or fit bypass pipes or your lovely new Elgrand WILL die prematurely. It's also a very good idea to have them undersealed as JDM vehicles are bare underneath, so factor the cost of these things into the cost of the purchase or risk an unnecessarily short ownership or huge expense down the line.

It's also worth checking the age of the tyres as many ship over with the original factory fitted tyres due to the much lower annual mileage that the Japanese do. So even though they have tread enough to pass the MOT they will have degraded and there have been numerous reports of blowouts due to disintegration.

I've added a PDF of this and more for download below.
great info thanks, just got the recall info on the E51 I’m currently buying, would not of had a clue about it otherwis.
fortunately it has had two which included the cat check/ replace 👍
 
@Gazali did you manage to find one locally or did you have to look further afield? I’ve been to Bradford and back and looked in Glasgow. I feel like Bono here in the sense that “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”
 
@Gazali did you manage to find one locally or did you have to look further afield? I’ve been to Bradford and back and looked in Glasgow. I feel like Bono here in the sense that “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”
Hi
yes found one about 75 miles away, was picking up this Sunday but my circumstances changed so it’s this Saturday 4th instead.
lovely g30 pearlescent too, will post photos this weekend ish.
had two recalls in Japan too, so over fuelling/ possible cat change done 👍
thankfully the car vx checked out 100%,well worth the £22!
Cheers
 
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Yeah the CarVx report is really handy, one I was enquiring about, got the report which included the auction sheet, used Google translate and this showed rust under the door panel and check light illuminated , I asked the seller about this to which he replied this has now been sold. Funny thing is the van is still shown as available and still hasn’t been taxed by the “new” owner
 
Yeah the CarVx report is really handy, one I was enquiring about, got the report which included the auction sheet, used Google translate and this showed rust under the door panel and check light illuminated , I asked the seller about this to which he replied this has now been sold. Funny thing is the van is still shown as available and still hasn’t been taxed by the “new” owner
interesting that, what grade was it?
also how did you do the translation on Google, I started by using another platform but gave up in the end?
I did read somewhere to avoid cars fro northern Japan as their weather is similar to ours which equals rust!
cheers
 
@Gazali, it was a grade 4C ,everything on the report looked good until I got to the comments section, that’s where I saw the check light mentioned and the rust. I did see that about certain auctions, this was from one of the decent action houses. Regarding the translation I have the Google photos app, all my photos are backed up there, I took a screenshot of the auction sheet, opened it in Google photos and select the settings option, there’s a translate option there. It’s not 100% but it certainly gives you key words that you can pick out.
 
When you get your carvx report it gives you an option for translation. Only costs an extra couple of squid. Well worth it.
 
Great advice, thanks Stempy, would not have thought of all that!
 
Hi there,
We are new to Elgrand’s and really hoping you might be able to help us/give us some advice please.
we have seen a E51 Series 3 we’d like to buy, but doing some of the research suggested above (thank you!) it has showed a couple of queries:
- on the CAR VX site they have advised there is no auction history available and it does not show on the government vehicle registration website.
- and on the JEVIC sites it didn’t show at all
However, it did return a result on the Nissan website. Has anyone encountered this scenario at all please?
All advice appreciated please!
Thank you 😊
 
Hi Stempy. I'm a novice here too. Am looking to find an Elgrand and your post is very useful re pros, cons and pitfalls. You mentioned a local dealer and some concerns you had. I see you're in the Midlands - where in the Midlands was the dealer based? It seems like a bit of a lottery trying to find a vehicle. Thanks.
 
Hi Stempy. I'm a novice here too. Am looking to find an Elgrand and your post is very useful re pros, cons and pitfalls. You mentioned a local dealer and some concerns you had. I see you're in the Midlands - where in the Midlands was the dealer based? It seems like a bit of a lottery trying to find a vehicle. Thanks.
Welcome along 😀
Stempy is now in France and no longer on the forum. Check out the Trade Sales section of the forum which has details of several dealers who are members of the forum and they can all be trusted. They all know Elgrands well, offer first class service and sell good quality vehicles. Off the top of my head there's also Vine Place in Durham and Colin Price in S Wales who have good reviews and there may be others.
Happy hunting!
 
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Welcome along 😀
Stempy is now in France and no longer on the forum. Check out the Trade Sales section of the forum which has details of several dealers who are members of the forum and they can all be trusted. They all know Elgrands well, offer first class service and sell good quality vehicles. Off the top of my head there's also Vine Place in Durham and Colin Price in S Wales who have good reviews and there nay be others.
Happy hunting!
Ooops! Thanks, looking at the recent dates I thought he was still on the forum - but obviously he isn't any more.
 
The importance of paying for a Car VX report and auction sht. translation, had set a brief criteria that my purchase should be E52, (PE52) under 105Km White 2012/2016 4/4.5 condition, the one I found had 80K miles (129Km), you can't have it all. Now going through the report this model went through 3 auctions before sale, but then alarm bells started to ring, condition 3.5 and how can the mileage be lower at the forecourt 151,431Km. My search goes on.
 
Thanks for the great guide, hoping to put some of the information to use soon :)
 
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