Searching for Toyota Alphard MZG

I have a reader of my blog contacted me offline to request for some input on his search for an MZG. He was considering various options whether to go for new facelift model which carry a much higher price or look for aregistered pre-facelift MZG and use the savings to facelift the car. He read my blog and we exchanged emails on what are the best options to go for.

Yesterday we arranged to meet up at two dealers to view 3 units of MZG. The first unit was a white colour full spec 2004 MZG. It has twin power doors, sunroof+moonroof, front and rear camera, leather seats, electric curtains, theatre sound systems, roof-mounted LCD, front electric seat and heater for both the front seats, adjustable suspension. It just came out from the bonded area so it was not really in it best condition. It looks like this unit was heavily used by the owner and his passenger as both the front seats are rather worn. The middle and rear seat are still in very good condition. The nice feature of this car is that it comes with 18-inch sport rims. The only down side is that the rim caps are all missing. Also the dealer was not able to show us the smart key and the head unit was not fitted yet. The dealer is asking for about RM198K which is about the same price I surveyed back in January this year. It seems the appreciation of the Japanese Yen has kept the price of the 2004 MZG at the same level.

Next to the white MZG is a registered black colour 2006 MZG. It also has full spec and the interior looks clean and has low mileage. It comes with standard 16-inch rims and has no body kit so the previous owner has kept it stock standard. The asking price of RM245K is slightly on the high side considering that a unregistered unit is going for about RM268K or slight lower. But given that it is a full spec model, it is not a bad choice if one is desperate to get one. The only downside is that it is considered a 2nd hand unit so the bank would normally not offer high loan amount.

The 3rd unit was what this reader really keen on. He saw the advertisement in Motor Trader and has actually viewed the car the day before. We met up at another dealer to view this car and it was a surprised discovery. The reader was attracted to the fact that it was advertised as a 2005 new facelift model registered in Jan 2009. From the exterior, it looks very much like a new facelift model as it has the new light clusters. Also it has been retrofitted with MS-style body kit and MS sports rims. However when I looked inside, there is no way this is a real new facelift model. The head unit gave it away as it is the smaller sized HU from the pre-facelift model. Then a check on the toolbox cover confirmed that it is a manufactured in March 2004! The smart key is from the pre-facelift model. The model code of this car shows that it is a pre-facelift MZG. The previous owner must have done a facelift of the car (front and back) and then try to sell it off as new facelift model. When we looked at the registration card, we are surprised how did the previous owner managed to register it as a 2005 model when it is in reality a 2004 model.

With this discovery, the reader suddenly has more bullets to bargain for a much lower price. Now it is up to the dealer to decide if they want to reduce the price or the reader move on with this search.

I am happy to help out the reader with this kind of research as I felt more confident now with the knowledge I have gained in the last 9 months learning about Toyota Alphard. I am glad that I was able to help him in his search for an MZG. Hope he will find his unit pretty soon.