The Funbus has finally landed

[Flat4]

Meet Bash, so called, because it has lots of them but they'll fix These photos are the most flattering I could get lol

 

1997 Toyota Granvia AWD, 7 seater. The rear seats fold flat to bed just big enough for me to sleep across the bus, planning on taking the middle row of seats out which will give me room to put the dog crates and a folding table to cook on.

 

 

This is also underneath the massive sun roof so there is some where in the bus I can stand up in

 

 

It was a bargain buy but arranging collection from Devon turned out to be more problematic than I thought. Other half wasn't well enough to look after the dogs in April, then early May I had a minor accident in my daily drive which may have been related to my health issues so I didn't feel confident doing a massive drive to collect it. Booked a carrier 2nd week in May who said he'd pick up within 10 days - didn't bother replying to me asking for updates. Booked a 2nd carrier for last Thursday, he stopped speaking to me until uShip booted his arse but he couldn't collect til Wednesday. Eventually found an expensive carrier on Shiply who came good and picked it up within 24 hours and delivered it on Thursday morning

 

So far, I'm really happy with it. No nasty surprises, barring it could use some fresh tyres and curtains are more expensive than I thought lol It drives pretty smooth for a van, except I'm having to do alot more steering than I'm used to and touch wood, I can't find any mechanical faults with it, except the alt belt needing tightened. The plan is to keep it that way - get the belts and water pump refreshed, new MOT and tow bar (it'll be my back up tow car), then get to work on the body. I am, however, desparetely in need of a driver's side mirror if anyone knows of anything cheap. The blind spot in this thing is MASSIVE. Or maybe I'm just not used to driving a van.

 

Either way, hope you'll welcome Bash to club Autoshite

 

[spartacus]

A Hi-Ace in drag, you won't go far wrong there I don't think.

[Dirk Diggler]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-GRANVIA-REGIUS-SPARE-BREAKING-PARTS-/291334269893

 

If no luck there, there's a few being broken in Ireland

[phil_lihp]

Love it, I'm very jealous of your posh Hiace. Useful to know there's some being broken in Ireland, there's not a lot of options for breakers in the UK.

[Flat4]

There's a guy breaking a few on the UK Granvia Owners group on FB but he's quite expensive imo. Am trying a few on eBay now as my partner has a friend who does vinyl wrapping, so I figure if I can get something cheaper the wrong colour, I could wrap both mirrors and it wouldn't look terribly out of place

[Twiggy]

A lovely bit o` kit is that.

[taxi paul]

Very nice I have the petrol awd regius. I think it's a bit narrower than your one. Will get an alphard one day but for now mine is great.

[Flat4]

That's a rare beastie, didn't see many petrols when I was looking but then perhaps not on my budget! Believe the Regius is narrower but also more toys, built to be more upmarket. Have you much experience of the AWD in winter? Main reason I like to have AWD, apart from handling, is to avoid getting stuck on snow and muddy pitches but it doesn't seem to be as good as system as what's on say a Delica or an Elgrand. Wondering how it is in practice?

[taxi paul]

To be honest never had to try it out has such. We may get some snow this year and I can then have a go. I believe it's the same has the landcruiser. Mine has ordinary summer tyres on though so rather defeats the object. I think a lot of the awd ones get converted to campervans.