A novices guide to Elgrand acquisition

[DominicWarren]

Some great info, thanks.

 

[gred]

Awesome info. Thanks for taking the time to write that up for us. Cheers from downunder.

 

[Fens]

Thanks for the great post. I put a chasis number into jevic and no return and then searched on recalled and came up with text below in red box, any ideas? I'm not getting a good feel for this vehicle!!


★マーク付のリコールが未実施の場合、平成30年5月から継続車検が通りません。
On RECALL with ★ mark, you cannot pass the SHAKEN (Vehicle Inspenction), if your vehicle has not been repaired on this RECALL.

 

[Dave Marshall]

Great advice I am looking for one at moment really helps.

 

[LeStempy]

Thanks for the great post. I put a chasis number into jevic and no return and then searched on recalled and came up with text below in red box, any ideas? I'm not getting a good feel for this vehicle!!


★マーク付のリコールが未実施の場合、平成30年5月から継続車検が通りません。
On RECALL with ★ mark, you cannot pass the SHAKEN (Vehicle Inspenction), if your vehicle has not been repaired on this RECALL.

If you aren't getting a return from Jevic it means it hasn't been mileage verified. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it is one more safety net to have. If you have the CarVX report done you will receive the entire vehicle history and it's well worth it.

If all the recalls haven't been done then it may mean the car has been neglected in other ways. The Shaken is the Japanese MOT so if they are saying it won't pass due to a recall not being carried out then that seems to me that it is not road legal in Japan.

You wouldn't buy a car here without an MOT unless it was extremely cheap and you had funds to fix it. Only you can decide how much risk you are prepared to take.

 

[Fens]

If you aren't getting a return from Jevic it means it hasn't been mileage verified. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it is one more safety net to have. If you have the CarVX report done you will receive the entire vehicle history and it's well worth it.

If all the recalls haven't been done then it may mean the car has been neglected in other ways. The Shaken is the Japanese MOT so if they are saying it won't pass due to a recall not being carried out then that seems to me that it is not road legal in Japan.

You wouldn't buy a car here without an MOT unless it was extremely cheap and you had funds to fix it. Only you can decide how much risk you are prepared to take.

Thanks abiding my time, that is really helpful. checking chasis numbers and doing checks looking for a sub 50k mileage has leather pr partial leather seats 2wd 07/08 grade 4 around the 8k mark is that too ambitious?

 

[LeStempy]

Thanks abiding my time, that is really helpful. checking chasis numbers and doing checks looking for a sub 50k mileage has leather pr partial leather seats 2wd 07/08 grade 4 around the 8k mark is that too ambitious?

You should be able to find a real decent one for £8k. Finding one with all your required options is the hard part. If you have a look in the trade section of the forum all the dealers there are extremely helpful and trustworthy and you won't be disappointed with any Elgrand supplied by them, and you can relax a bit with all the checks as they will be done for you.

 

[Fens]

You should be able to find a real decent one for £8k. Finding one with all your required options is the hard part. If you have a look in the trade section of the forum all the dealers there are extremely helpful and trustworthy and you won't be disappointed with any Elgrand supplied by them, and you can relax a bit with all the checks as they will be done for you.

Thanks v much, so 10k is high fir tgat spec 07 are 48 on clock? I'll also have another look at trade section, hadnt seen many.

 

[AceImports]

Thanks v much, so 10k is high fir tgat spec 07 are 48 on clock? I'll also have another look at trade section, hadnt seen many.

It's rare to find someone selling a series 3 on 48,000 miles for 8k - they're relatively expensive so unless it's a low grade it'd be hard to make much of a profit at that price point.

An 07 with the series 2 head and partial leather may be viable, but that's essentially a late model series 2 as opposed to a series 3.

 

[LeStempy]

Thanks v much, so 10k is high fir tgat spec 07 are 48 on clock? I'll also have another look at trade section, hadnt seen many.

Best to have a conversation with someone like Matt in the above post. He will be able to guide you as to grades and prices and what to expect for your cash better than I can. As previously mentioned the trade section here is the safest place to shop. There are some rather unscrupulous fellows out there who will sell you a lemon for a highly inflated price, hence the need to take your time and research.

 

[Fens]

It's rare to find someone selling a series 3 on 48,000 miles for 8k - they're relatively expensive so unless it's a low grade it'd be hard to make much of a profit at that price point.

An 07 with the series 2 head and partial leather may be viable, but that's essentially a late model series 2 as opposed to a series 3.

Thanks Matt, do you have anything else due in? What do the grades mean?

 

[AceImports]

Thanks Matt, do you have anything else due in? What do the grades mean?

We have quite a few arriving this week and a nice grey 4WD arriving next month - https://www.aceimports.co.uk

We generally don't stock the series 3 as I feel like it limits the market due to being more expensive - so we tend to stick with competitively priced series 2 models. We pretty much have one of every kind of series 2 arriving

Grade refers to auction grade in Japan. A grade 4 car is a good condition vehicle with no accident damage, which is what most reputable importers are importing, however there are some out there who choose to import lower grade (3/3.5) or grade R (write off) in order to save more money. It's always advised to ask to see the auction sheet when viewing an Elgrand.

 

[Kezz19]

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 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 has been removed from sale by the dealer.

Finally, I also checked https://Nissan.epc-data.com/Elgrand/ which shows up some basic info on specification, but doesn’t show any spec for vehicles which finished production at Autech such as Rider models.

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.

Enjoyed this a lot. A great help to this novice.

 

[mac 15]

many thanks good info to take in

 

[Shaleshifter]

I second everyone's comments about this thread being a great help in finding an Elgrand.
Looking to get a Rider series 2 version soon as this current mess is sorted.
And I've sold my car to get some of the funds towards one!

 

[Paulwhite1987]

Great write up. I always wondered why we were told our cats were removed as we were unaware of the drama. We got ours from an Elgrand dealership in stockport.

 

[markr333]

Thank you for this, some great information for a newbie!!

 

[David1972]

Please can somebody advise me if it is possible to translate this page to English? I can see that you enter the VIN code, but the results are in Japanese.

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.

Thank you

 

[LeStempy]

Please can somebody advise me if it is possible to translate this page to English? I can see that you enter the VIN code, but the results are in Japanese.

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.

Thank you

If you use Chrome it will automatically translate the page.

 

[David1972]

Silly me - thank you @Stempyuno