How To Move The Middle Seat Forward

It was a pleasant surprised to receive a call from a reader who resides in Indonesia while I was driving to KL. Since I was driving in the middle of the city, it was not convenient to speak to him over the phone. Anyway he contacted me via email to find out how the passengers at the 3rd row seat of an 8 seaters get out of the car if the passengers in the 2nd row do not give them a helping hand to move the middle row seats forward.


It is truly an interesting question but I guess I understand his situation. I regularly bring my family out in my giant and I can see those sitting at the 3rd row struggled to push the middle single-seat to the front in order for them to get out. I have to constantly remind them to use the lever at the back of the middle seat!

At the back of the middle seat, there is a black coloured lever that does the job as shown below.

Those at the 3rd row seat just need to push the lever down and this will release the middle seat from the seat rail. It also lowered the back rest of the middle seat to give the 3rd row passenger more space to move out. When the back rest is lowered, you will find it not easy to push the middle seat to the front as the backrest does't give you much to hold. The best way is to use your leg to push the lever down and push the lever to move the middle seat to the front.

If you leave the lever in the unlock position, meaning with the backrest lowered, the middle seat is actually not locked to the seat rail. If you were to brake hard or accelerate hard from standstill, the middle seats will move along the seat rail. This could be the reason why you heard those loud banging sounds from the middle seat when you brake hard or accelerate hard!

I haven't heard from my reader if he has some issue with the lever not functioning and it need to be fixed. If you are in the same situation, remember the black coloured lever at the back of the middle seat.

I Am Back - Hopefully More Blog Posts On The Giant

I got a few emails from my reader asking me why I haven't been blogging for quite some times. I do ask myself the same questions many times over and I guess I know very well why.


Procastination!
I guess that no excuse but looking back I know I have procastinated because I always think I will get to it later. Later as in when I get back to my car I will be able to complete my post so I'll work on it later. It drag on and eventually I have a vacuum period of few months without any posts.
In fact it is almost 4 months since I last posted.
I was on assignment to the kiasu land for six months so I left my giant at home. While I was there I constantly thought of writing something about the giant. However since I was without my car I just can't seems to complete my writing everytime I started. The reason being I always like to confirm my writing by showing the features/functions of the giant or I like to take a photo shoot of the subject that I am writing about. However since I was away i couldn't do this so I thought I postpone it until I get back to my giant.
Even the few times when I came back to town, there are many other things that took my attention away that I didn't manage to look at my giant and completed the posts. So it just keep dragging on this way until now I am finally back for good.
From the various comments I recently I also needs to review some of my posts to see how I can improve on them. One questions I keep getting query on is the door lock programming. I have been forwarding the same reply I sent to one of my reader to a few others that asking about the samething. I'll have to review that blog post to see if I can make it clearer and hopefully the readers will get a better understanding on how to do it properly.
I will work on my blog posts more often again.

Where Do You Get An Indicative Price?

Lately I have received many queries from my reader on what is the right price of the model they are looking for? I actually don’t have the price information but I do have a way to find out. I normally will call up my dealer to ask for specific model price but I also refer to the Star Classified on the latest market price.

In this post, I will show you how I find out the indicative price of a particular Toyota Alphard model.

You can either read The Star newspaper classified page or start with The Star homepage (http://www.thestar.com.my). I then click on the Classified link at the top left of the page, enter Toyota Alphard into the search box, select Cars For Sale from the drop down list and then click Search.

Usually I will get two to three pages of listing from the search results. I will then scan through the listings starting with the latest entries to get a feel of the prices. I normally discard those lists that have a price that is too good to be true or those that don’t list down their prices at all.

In the list shown above, the 4th entry has a starting price of RM150K which is rather on the low side and compare to the one listed above it.

Given the fact that the Approved Permit used can only be used for car below 5 years, the oldest model that they advertise will be from year 2005. Since 2005 is also the year when the new facelift model was introduced, therefore you should check the listing to see if it includes the wording “new facelift” or NFL. In the above photo, the first entry shows that it is NFL model with quite a high specification but the dealer choose not to include the price. A NFL model typically carries a higher premium than a PFL model. Check this post to see the difference between PFL and NFL model.

The other reason for the price difference between two 2005 NFL models advertised by two different dealers could due to the effect of exchange rate. Depending when that dealer brought in the car, they may be paying a higher duty due to the higher Japanese Yen exchange rate at that time.

In the above list, you can see that there is a difference of RM16K between the price of a ’05 NFL in the 1st entry and the 4th entry (see red arrows). Even though the later entry has a slightly better spec I don’t think it worth the price difference so I can only think it is due to the exchange rate effect.

I also normally like to refer to the listings of dealers who give prices of the model from different year so that you get an overview of the price range. In the photo above, both the 1st and 4th entry gave indicative price from year 2005 to year 2007 and I typically use these as a reference.

From what I have observed, the price different between each year is about RM10K or more. If you have the budget, consider getting a later model as they normally have slightly more feature than older mode. For example, AS model from 2006 or later have a camera on the underside of the left side mirror while the 2005 AS do not have this feature.

Let say you scan the list and you find the model that you are interested in and the price is within you budget, I would suggest you to call up the dealers to enquire if the unit is still available. Since the ads are not removed from the Star Classified until after the expiry date of that ad, that car may not be available when you see the ad after several days since it listed.

Let say that unit is still available, you should ask the dealer some basic questions like the year of manufacture, model, colour, specific feature etc just to confirm that it is indeed the car you wanted. Check out this post on what options should you choose for your Alphard.

If you are satisfied that the model you want is available from that dealer, take a trip to visit them to check out the car in person. Verify the year of manufacturing by referring or check the model code to confirm the specification.

Make sure that the giant has all the features listed in the ad. Also check out some of the features like LCD, Radio, DVD player, multi-function steering, front/rear camera etc are working. Start the engine to see if it is in good running condition. Open the engine bay to check the condition of the engine, the rubbers, hoses, etc.

Of course take a test drive of the car to test the power delivery as well as the suspension. Listen while you are on the move to hear if there is any knocking sounds from the suspension or rattling sounds the rear seats.

If you are happy with the car, try to bargain with the dealer for lower price. I normally start with RM10K less from the asking price as a starting point for the price negotiation. Do note that the method I listed above only show you the price of Toyota Alphard on sales in the central region. I heard that most dealers in East Malaysia especially Kuching offer cheaper price. However I am not familiar with their offering so I can’t recommend any.

I like to use the Star Classified because it is easy to use and I can copy the details for reference. Also the listing in the Star Classified usually include contact number that you can call immediately as you scan through.

If you like to see photo of the giants, you can also use MotorTrader to find the indicative prices. Similarly you can also refer to mudah.com to find the list of Toyota Alphard for sale. Both sites allow you to refer your search by year as well.

Happy hunting for your giant.

Folding The 3rd Row Seats

One of my reader asked me on this post how to fold the 3rd row seats. In this post I will show you how to do it if you have not tried it before.

You might want to create a large space between your rear seats so that you have more room to work on this.

First of all you need to find the marker for the 3rd row seat. Only when the 3rd row seat is in this position, it can be lifted up from the rail. I have tried but somehow my old digital camera couldn't get me a clear picture of the marker as shown below.

Maybe because of the beige colour and the reflection from the side wall from the flash light such that the marker doesn't come out clear. However, you should be able to find it right in front the edge of your 3rd row seat. I have circled it in the above photo.

Slide your 3rd row seat so that the front edge of the seat is level with the marker.

Now pull the level on the side of the 3rd row seat (as shown below) to lower the backrest so that it is flush with the seat.

Here is a view from the rear of the car when the 3rd row seats are in flat position when the backrests are lowered.

Now pull the level that lock (as shown) the 3rd row seats to the rail on the floor to release the seats.

Once the seat is released from the rail, you can lift it up as shown below.

Finally under the seat, there is a velco strap that you can hook your seats to the roof-hook as shown below.

Give this a try if you want to fold your 3rd row seats.

Hope this help

Creating a Large Space Between The Seats

I have a reader asking me if it is possible to turn the middle row seats in a 7-seater giant (Toyota Alphard). However I don’t think this is possible as this feature is only available on the 8-seaters.

The original Japanese manual do have some illustration on how to turn the middle row seats but if you don’t read Japanese, you may struggle trying to understand what the manual is trying to illustrate. In this post I will show you how to turn the middle row seats to face the rear row seats.

In the photo below it shows that the left middle seat has been slide forward slightly and the back rest is folded.

Only in this position will the middle seat turn. Turn the middle left seat clockwise as shown below

until it is facing the rear seat as shown below.

Finally you lift the back rest up and then slide the seat all the way to the front.

Do the same for the right middle seat but this time turn it anti-clockwise.

When middles seats are turned 180-degrees, you will now have a very large space between the seats.

This arrangement is very handy as it allow parents to reach the young children without having to climb over the middle seats.

Unfortunately, in the new generation Alphard/Vellfire, this feature has been removed. I wish they maintain that feature in the new generation Alphard/Vellfire as I think this is very useful. I am hoping that when I upgrade to the new Alphard in many years later I can still have this feature but looks like I have to settle with what I have at the moment.

Hope this help.