Looking To Buy Toyota Harrier/lexus Rx300 Advice Please

[Evil_Stewie]

Hi Guys,

Newbie here, been looking to get hold of an RX300 for the Missus and have been coming across the Toyota Harrier through my searches. I have the following questions regarding the Harrier and would like to know if anyone can help;

1. Are there any obvious cons being a Japanese import to be aware of?

2. Does the standard Japanese radio band pick up any common FM stations or will the unit have come out and have a wave band expander fitted (dont wish to do that if all I get some of the popular FM stations?)

3. Do they all have side airbags fitted as standard, otherwise I would know if inspecting one

4. Anything else I should be aware of and to keep in mind when looking at a Toyota Harrier?

Many thanks!

[MartyCee]

There are a few, some may affect you some may not!

External mirrors can be a giveaway come resale time. Residual values on such far eastern imports are (with very few exceptions) dramatically lower than UK supplied vehicles. Not a problem if you plan to buy & run it 'til it drops, but otherwise beware.

The Harrier was never sold here, so any mechanical, electrical & trim/panel differences may have to be resolved via parts & advice from Japan.

I dare say there are specialists out there, so check on this before you buy.

I'm not sure about the radio, but if its like the USA item I once encountered the FM skips in 0.2 steps so a lot of European (inc UK) stations were missed because of this. Maybe a list of Japanese radio stations would show up the increments apart they use & guide you? Google I think!

Air bags, I have no idea, sorry.

Above all of that you should check if your car would have to undergo a full SVTA test before being legal (single vehicle type approval) similar to a kit car before it can be UK registered. Pan_european stuff is usually OK, but you're buying from further afield so this might apply. It checks everything you can think of, if the pain is hard, think of it as being a sure fire way to know if there's anything going to make your car dangerous. sadly reliability isn't included!

Me? I'd buy in the UK & avoid the potential problems, especially as the values of petrol SUV's is falling now due to pump prices.

[Evil_Stewie]

Thanks for response, I was thinking of looking at ones already in the UK and that have been here for a few years etc. thus having old MOTs etc. I would rather get a UK model but white seems to be a rare colour to find one in however there quite a few harriers in white hence the consideration of it.

[Duncan Roberts]

You asking some very odd questions.

All RX300 sold for the UK market have accessories such as your describe that work in the British market and older examples are now cheap. Why bother with the Harrier, whatever that might try to be?