Recon Estima

Not me........Just cant find new car that fulfil my needs and my budget. Thats all. frankly, I prefer new car. A

there is no dipstick for ACR50 estimas, especially for models with CVT gearbox. they are using Toyota's new type of ATF fluid, known as World Standard or WS. the fluid is designed to last a lifetime (not life of the car, but the period one will own the car but Toyota Motor recommends it is safe to use up to 100,000 miles or 160,000km)

for a normal person driving an annual mileage of 20,000km, this will take him 8 years but expect the car sold in its fifth year.

for some one else doing 30K mileage, in 5 years time he is doing 150,000km by which, he would probably sold the car too.

a little different scenario in malaysia where car ownership nowadays stretches as high as 9 years.

this WS ATF fluid is also being used in new Toyota cars sold by UMWT and they are

1. Prius with CVT
2. Corolla Altis with CVT
3. Camry automatic with torque converter
4. Vios automatic with torque converter
5. Avanza automatic with torque converter

other than ATF WS, Toyota is also using 2 other ATF for current and older cars. They are ATF D-III and ATF Type T-IV.

Hi Alldisc, how do you know if the car is CVT ? anyway to check, and can i say all estima come with CVT ? am going to get a aeras G 2007, any way to know it ? coz SA can tell us everything..

as far as i am concern, only the latest ACR50 is using CVT. the reason why Toyota engineers didnt put dipstick is to prevent owners and workshops using a different type of ATF. many people say Honda was pioneer for CVT with Honda Jazz and City but Subaru was one of the Japanese leaders with their Justy 4WD back in the 80s.

Suzuki was using CVT for their scooters as early as 1990/91.

previous Estimas TCR10/TCR20/ACR30/GSR35 do not use CVT as Toyota was still doing R&D for the transmission.

i am not sure about Estima 3.5 V6 though (GSR55) whether CVT or conventional automatic. but for the 2.4, the CVT have 6 forward gears (made available virtually by clever electronics). Quite similar to latest Altis 2.0 with '7 speed' CVT.

Hi, I'm here to share with you who is planning to get Estima/Alphard. My previous boss, driving a recond Estima, the price he bought the car was RM200K++ then. After driving the car for less than 6 months, the car starting to have problem. First was the car suddenly engine stopped while driving on LDP. Sent back to workshop to repair and the cost was RM1600. After 1-2 months, the car got problem again, the engine can't be started and this time was me to follow the tow truck back to the workshop there. When I reached there, I asked the tauke there why this Toyota got so many problems. The tauke answered me "normal case" due to direct import from Japan. He said this kind of vehicle actually not intended to sell in Malaysia, so Toyota never tested the car in such hot and humid climate. That tauke said not only my boss Estima got such problem, other Estima/Alphard also got many problems when using at here. The tauke there warn me not to buy any direct import vehicle that is not inteded to sell in Malaysia, unless you are rich and willing to pay the repair bill. But I don't know how true is the tauke words!!!!

TQ for sharing your Boss's experience .. pitty him.:-(

I bought my ACR30 NFL (2004 model) on April 2008..
so far my ACR30 engine didnt give me problem..
regular service at 10k km ie: engine oil, ATF enough already..

previous ride:
Mitsubishi Tredia
Toyota LE
Mitsubishi Super Touring
Mazda 626
Ford Escape
Rexton
Nissan X-Trail 2.5,
latest CRV..
but the ACR30 very comfort for my whole family..

i tend not to agree with the tauke's statement..maybe ur boss's luck not so good when buying the vehicles with unpredicted unseen bad conditions..i'm driving recond wish almost 2 years here but so far no problem at all..

i second wanida's opinion.

buying a car is more about luck. but buying a car without knowing its history is a different issue issue then. often the car was bought from japan without the importer driving them first for at least 10km as they normally bought them in bulk numbers.

the reason why there are so many and many grey estimas, wishs and alphards on the road are because they are highly reliable. but of course, be careful what model we buy becuase some specifications are different especially on electronics. some wish models even though using similar powertrain to altis and camry but when plugged in to Toyota's Intelligent Tested they refuse to communicate. reason is simple - the cars are not compatible with local specs.

teman8778, i like the list of cars you owned. the Tredia with combination of 8 manual ratios, simply said 8 speeds that many youngsters never heard of.

I did owned a Galant Super Touring and a Wira after that, and a Persona now. But the Galant has a unique character, unbeatable balanced chassis and space (to consider it is from the 80s) and miles better than Wira and even Persona. It was very low on power too... ha ha ha...

Talking about luck. hope mine is superb on my estima. Trying my best on finding english Estiam acr50 manual. replaced my cvt oil on second day I got mine. Using Toyota CVT oil( white colour tin). Normally how many litres of oil used? As per japan manual, I think there is 8.4 liters of oil inside gearbox. About 4 liters of oil used my I replaced it.
2nd - pollen filter for aircond - is it avail here?
3rd - spark plug? As per that manual - to use Denso Iridium long life SK20R11. How long is the life of this plug?
4th - anyone has all seats fitted 3 point ELR seat belt? including mid seat of 2nd and 3rd row.
5th - Anyone has estima come with VSC, radar sonar for auto cruise?
6th - can we tune TV using japan headunit?
some new Estima still using 4speed torque conv. (eg. Singapore's Estima- checked in their website). Most of ours are 7 speed CVT . When u select to manual shift and there are 7 gears can be selected, then I think it must be CVT.

[quote name='alldisc' date='Jan 8 2011, 04:32 PM' post='1653103']
i second wanida's opinion.

buying a car is more about luck. but buying a car without knowing its history is a different issue issue then. often the car was bought from japan without the importer driving them first for at least 10km as they normally bought them in bulk numbers.

the reason why there are so many and many grey estimas, wishs and alphards on the road are because they are highly reliable. but of course, be careful what model we buy becuase some specifications are different especially on electronics. some wish models even though using similar powertrain to altis and camry but when plugged in to Toyota's Intelligent Tested they refuse to communicate. reason is simple - the cars are not compatible with local specs.

I was also thinking of MPV and the Estima does impresses me with her comfort and versatility. But buying used unit depends so much on luck that I was wondering why don't people consider the new and with warranty Mitsubishi Grandis?