₦airaland Forum

This is the amazing 2004 Toyota Crown Majesta. I was seriously tempted to call Siena on this one and see how we could arrange a LHD conversion. 
The Crown Majesta is simply superb!!

This is the actual model that replaced the Toyota Previa. It is called the Toyota Estima. Toyota Sienna is actually an exclusively American model and was not the Previa sequel or replacement. 

This is a 2008 Toyota's Liteace (or Townace) but in Naija we shall name it the 'Tweeter' (Junior brother of Hummer)

Your beloved Toyota Hiace!  Hummer abi?

A relatively unknown but pretty Toyota Verossa Sedan:

A lovely 2004 Toyota Crown Royal Series:

A 2000 Toyota Camry Wagon

I was on a recent trip (to an unnamed country) and decided to take pictures of the different models of cars available in this foreign land 

Just thot it would be nice share some with my Nairaland Toyota lovers!   

Feed your eyes  , blow your mind!!

First of all, there is no such thing as a "Camry Compressor" : All Camrys come pretty standard as a 2.4L OR a V6
If you decide to go for the MB, be adviced that there is both a MB 200 Compressor and a 240 Compressor (one is V6 and the other a 4Cyl). The Compressor name stands for "Supercharged Engine". This means that the MB brands are much more powerful and also solidly built. On the downside, it may cost more to maintain depending on your mechanic.
Hondas are very cool cars (Accord or Civic) but I will advise you not to go for the Hybrid models (the complexity of the system will make maintenance costly)

Your choice should be determined by the condition of the cars and perhaps the size of your pocket. Why do people always say "go for the Camry"??
Should the automotive landscape of Naija consist of only one car??  Camry, camry, camry, (hisses) I beg!!! give me a freaking break!!!
Look inward and do what suits your personality and style.

As for me and my household; we do not do what every Tom, privates and Ofreke does!!

still more images:

more pictures:

I HAVE A 2004 HONDA ACCORD EX AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE EXPORT. THIS IS ONE NICE EXAMPLE!. HONDA ACCORDS ARE BEST SELLERS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND THIS FACT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO FIND A NICE ONE AT A DECENT PRICE (EVEN IN USA DEALER AUCTIONS!). THIS PARTICULAR EXAMPLE COMES WITH AN ECONOMICAL 4CYL ENGINE.

2004 HONDA ACCORD EX 2.4L 4CYL:

VIN: 1HGCM56664A045486
ENGINE: 2.4L 4CYL 16VALVE VTEC DOHC MPFI
TRANSMISSION: 5 SPEED AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE
MILEAGE: 112,044

OPTIONS:

PWR SUNROOF
PWR WINDOWS
PWR DOOR LOCKS + REMOTE
PWR STEERING
PWR MIRRORS
DUAL CLIMATE CONTROL
ANTI-LOCK BRAKES (ABS)
CRUISE CONTROL
HEATED FRONT SEATS
VELOUR FABRIC INTERIOR
ALLOY WHEELS
REAR WINDOW DEFROST
BRUSHED ALUMINIUM TRIM
AIRBAGS (MULTIPLE)
AM/FM/CD STEREO SYSTEM



PRICE:  $9000.00
SHIPPING: $1500.00

TOTAL PRICE (CIF): [s]$10500.00 (Cost, Insurance & Freight for Lagos)[/s] SOLD
Interested parties should please email me questions @ midas02@yahoo.com

It is very sad!   What these politicians have done to Nigeria is simply inexcusable and very sad! 

I was just thinking of how Nigerians have been robbed of their purchasing power overnight!. The car listed above is honestly quite inexpensive for its quality and condition however, when one realizes the new exchange rate with regards to the Naira, it instantly becomes a tougher sell!. A year ago, a similar vehicle at the same price would have been considered a bargain and some might even be suspicious of the price tag. But now, it is altogether a different story - no matter how cheap you buy here (and you can only get so cheap!), it will get to Nigeria pretty expensive!! I will use the car above as an example:

A year ago (2008):  at $9000.00 the car would have landed for (N120 X $9000) = N1,080,000.00 (One million and eighty thousand naira only)

Now (2009): at the same price of $9000 the car will land for (N180 X $9000) = N1,620,000.00 (One million six hundred and twenty thousand naira!)

This is a full 50% over the cost last year!!. An overnight extra cost of N540,000.00!!
The saddest part is that we are not even sure we have hit rock bottom yet!.

My advice to people is that if you see a good deal in Naija, BUY IT!!  Most car importers are cutting their losses and taking a big loss just to get their money out of the system! And most importers who have managed to get out OR are just getting out are not interested in importing another car! (once bitten, twice shy I guess). The fallout of all these is that after the current supply of imported used cars, which is a spill over from the excesses of the previous era, there will be a drastically diminished supply of imported used cars with the consequence that prices will shoot up to cover the new exchange rate and the lower rate of supply.
So I will repeat myself, if you get a good deal on a car that has already been in Naija for some months, you better BUY IT, cos getting a similar car from abroad (with the prevailing exchange rate) will probably cost you a lot more.

This is just my two cents!

interior images:

more pictures:

see pictures below:

I HAVE A 2003 MITSUBISHI DIAMANTE LS AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE EXPORT. I HAVE EXPORTED QUITE A FEW OF THIS UNDERSTATED VEHICLES TO NIGERIA AND THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE NICEST!. DIAMANTE IS THE SEDAN FLAGSHIP OF MITSUBISHI MOTOR CORPORATION. IT COMES WITH AN ECONOMICAL V6 ENGINE. IT'S DESIGN AND ENGINEERING IS TAILORED TOWARDS MATURED DRIVERS (BIG-BOYS!)

This car comes loaded with, Leather interior, power sunroof , windows and locks, Factory alloy wheels and much much more! Beautiful Champagne Silver metallic exterior finish with complimenting tan leather interior. This one is in remarkable condition inside and out, and it rides and drives quite and smooth. Here's a really GREAT VALUE for the money!

2003 MITSUBISHI DIAMANTE LS:

VIN: 6MMAP67P13T004220
ENGINE: 3.5L V6 24VALVE DOHC EFI
TRANSMISSION: 5 SPEED AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE
MILEAGE: 98,600

OPTIONS:

PWR SUNROOF
PWR WINDOWS
PWR DOOR LOCKS + REMOTE
PWR STEERING
PWR MIRRORS
DUAL CLIMATE CONTROL
ANTI-LOCK BRAKES (ABS)
CRUISE CONTROL
PWR FRONT SEATS
HEATED FRONT SEATS
LEATHER INTERIOR
ALLOY WHEELS
REAR WINDOW DEFROST
WOOD TRIM
AIRBAGS (MULTIPLE)
FOG LAMPS
AM/FM/CD STEREO SYSTEM



PRICE:  $7500.00
SHIPPING: $1500.00

TOTAL PRICE (CIF): $9000.00         (Cost, Insurance & Freight for Lagos)

Interested parties should please email me questions @ midas02@yahoo.com

@Jenju, your kind words are much appreciated. We all pray that president 'Yar-do-nothing' will do something soon! And I wish you too the best of luck.

@Siena, your complaint is well noted and something will be done about it immediately!. Thanks.

I was just reading somewhere in some guy's thread that certain people 'drove' Midas02 underground!

I beg ooo!!. Nobody drove me underground. I simply had my hands full with some stuffs going on here (US) for a while.

It is obvious that the Nigerian car Market has gone soft and is no longer what it used to be. This can be attributed to the massive hike in exchange rate (N180 to $1) and also the fact that the economy has suffered a massive blow from the recent recklessness of the financial industry and money markets. Nonetheless, I will continue to offer cars everytime I am opportuned to do so, albeit with greater emphasis on cost and good value for money.

I also want to use this medium to express my gratitude to past and recent customers. Many thanks and God bless.

Like others said, your camry is a hybrid uses a combination of two power sources to propel your car. However you must be mindful of how this particular technology works and is applied in your particular car.

The Camry Hybrid uses a gasoline/petrol engine in combination with electric drive system. The electric drive is powered by a 650V electric motor which is fitted with special NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery for electric supply. The entire system is controlled by a system called VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management).

Based on traffic conditions and driving habit, the VDIM controls and decides what mode of power to use for propulsion. Essentially, your car switches to electric power in snail paced or slow traffic. However, when you demand power to accelerate to highway speed, both the electric motor and the gasoline engine work together (automatically) to give your smooth and fast acceleration. At highway cruise speed, the gasoline engine works alone while also charging your NiMH batteries. The system is also design to regenerate some electric power for re-charging your batteries when you brake.

In Lagos traffic, many times your Camry will be completely silent - this is becos it would have switched to electric power! The advantage of this technology is better fuel economy for both urban and highway driving conditions. The disadvantages as far as using it in Lagos are however numerous:
1) Hybrid Camry shares very few mechanical components with the other regular Camrys.
2) Hybrid Camry may require special mechanic expertise which I doubt even the big Lagos Toyota dealerships can give you. (If your VDIM goes bad or electrical problems arise)
3) Hybrid Camry uses a different petrol engine as compared to the standard 2.4L 4Cyl engine.
4) Hybrid Camry is fitted with a CVT transmission as compared to the standard 6 speed Automatic in the regular Camry
5) Consequent upon the above stated reasons, your Hybrid Camry may be costlier to maintain (however this may not be the case if you are a meticulous user!)

@Danchicks,

You better come and give us feedback here oooo!! I am curious, I want to get to the bottom of this.

Your car is alright, @Mr Kelly. Your check engine light is supposed to do that.

The average temperature in Lagos is 28C to 32C even on cool mornings! Honda engines are calibrated to go thru the warming up cycle only when the ECU senses the need for it. Even here in the US, many Hondas (including one which I delibrately started this morning!), do not go thru the cycle of warming up (2000rpm etc) in summer temperatures. However, when the temperature drops, the car responds differently and appropriately.

So @Mr Kelly, stop worrying about this problem cos it is not a problem!

Is your 'Check Engine' light on If not, can you turn on your ignition without starting the car and see if it comes on. Let me know.

Never moves 
Or do you mean it never goes thru the warming up cycle? Which do you mean?

@Mr Kelly,

Warming your car is important, however, the warming characteristics of modern engines differ from the old world Peugeot 505 days!

I do not know what car you drive but if your car was built from the 1990 upwards and is fuel injected, then you have little to worry about
Electronic Fuel injected cars from the 90's are equipped with temperature sensors(TS), throttle position sensors(TPS) and airflow sensors(MAFS). This equipments communicate with the ECU (Brainbox) and maintain an optimised equilibrium and that is why you do not need to rev your car (Vrooom, vroooom, vrooooooooom!!!) in the morning like we use to do with the old carburettor cars!

In modern cars, when you start your car in the morning, the engine Rev (rpm) is automatically pushed to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000-2500rpm before settling down back to the normal 850-1000rpm idle after a few minutes. It is neither necessary nor advisable to push the throttle (the car handles it itself). The whole warming up exercise takes a few minutes in a modern car (Maximum of 3 minutes, probably a lot less cos Naija is in the tropics). In the Western hemisphere, car drivers warm cars for longer becos they are dealing with extremely cold weather and they not only want to warm the engine but they also want the warm engine to deliver hot anti-freeze/coolant to the 'Heater Core' which will in turn warm the inside of the car to the desired temperature.

It doesn't matter a great deal if you do not always wait for the engine revs to complete its cycle (The ECU will complete its cycle whether you stay still or you start driving). Your engine will consume a little more gas when it hasn't yet fully warmed up becos the lubricants are still cold and therefore dense and viscous, however, your engine will only be in that mode for a few minutes anyway and the desired temperature will be quickly reached. I believe the amount of fuel consumed during this period is actually negligible unless you are 'Mr Scrooge' the miser!

If you are one of those people who are super meticulous, then I will say that you should always allow your car to get back to its 'normal' idle revs in the morning before moving off.(which should take a few minutes). If not, it is not a big deal (especially in the tropical weather of naija), however I expect that a person doesn't start up a car in the morning and start revving like a mad man! This is becos it is good to let oil circulate before before putting pressure on the engine components. It only takes a minute to get oil circulated just as long as the car has oil. Therefore make sure that your car always has clean oil and that the oil is 'gauge'(lol). This is why proper oil change is much more important.

I hope this helps resolve your conflict.

@Danchiks:   Your recent statements just revealed a lot of stuff that should have been revealed earlier.

I will give you a very likely scenario: You said that you steam cleaned the engine huh? Now I know that you have just blasted a lot of moisture into the ignition system and your distributor is the most likely culprit. When professionals steam clean engines here they take special precaution to keep the distributor dry and clear from the blast of the pressure cleaner. I am 99.95% sure the guys in Naija did not do that. So Here is what to do:

1) Instruct your mechanic to remove the distributor and to replace it with a 'borrowed' used one or new one (whichever one you lay your hands on, make sure it is a good one!)
2) Start car and check it out for the same symptoms
3) I am now 90% sure that car will run fine, if not, you can re-install your old distributor and return the borrowed one
4) If car runs fine, then you could either buy the 'borrowed' distributor OR see if yours can be dismantled, cleaned and refurbished before re-installation
5) If car is still not running right then you could try the exhaust check

What you installed on your car is not a muffler!. From what you explained and just showed in the picture, I can deduce that what you installed is an 'Exhaust Tip'.
And did you say your muffler is new?? - that eliminates the muffler as a culprit. However, permit me to talk just in case there is confusion about what we are both refering to as muffler.
Muffler is the big oval boxy portion of the exhaust system that is at the rear of the car, before the exhaust tip. If your muffler or the entire sytem is old and was disturbed during the installation of the exhaust tip, it is quite possible that weak or old inner components of the exhaust system may have been knocked loose and the debris can easily block or severly restrict exhaust vents and thus impede free breathing of your engine (I am not just talking, I have seen and I have dealt with similar problems in the past). However, if your muffler is new, then this is most unlikely.

What I took the time to instruct you about is designed to help you narrow down to the exact issue. You cannot go messing with things like Throttle position sensor (TPS) and Airflow meter (MAFS) if you haven't even eliminated the cheapest, most basic and easiest possibility!! But,,  what do I know, I am just a 200Ibs talking gorilla!. Perhaps,,  it may truly be best to talk to Wale.

Once again, I am 90% sure that it is the Distributor. I wish you the best!  Let me know.

Shekenah!!! @Mowire,, there is your solution!.
You better talk to @Komekn and locate this Wale guy. If he truly services all the vans for that company then you are set to go!.

@Komekn,
You are the bomb!!!. Impalas are well loved here too and was the standard issue car for police departments.

Don't waste your time,  the US Honda Accord is completely different from the Euro spec in every way, and this includes dimensions and car width.
The Euro Honda Accord is essentially the same with JDM (japanese market) and there are not a lot of them in Naija. I will advise you to talk to boys in
Europe (especially Germany),  they may be able to procure you a used LHD dashboard.

You should also remember that the Dashboard is only one of the myriads of components you will need for a decent conversion. If you are going to get the dashboard from Germany, I will advise you to speak to whoever is doing the conversion for you and get a list of every component he will need for the conversion. You might as well get them from the same spot (donor car). Hopefully you will get a favourable response and price from the German boys. Goodluck.

PS: Talk to @Martins00

@Sultaan

Yes ooooo

Oh boy, this one no be cotonou car oooo

Cotonou ke Audi's make excellent cars and most people that complain are simply clueless. It would be better for you to buy the A6 3.2 Quattro because it is cheaper and much easier to maintain. The Audi A6 4.2 is the sportier and much faster version but this performance advantage comes at a cost - the 4.2 has a high performance V8 engine ( higher gas consumption and maintenance).

Audi's are built rock solid but you cannot just take it to any Toyota mechanic to fix. finding a competent Audi technician is a must. Most people complain about Audi's becos they have incompetent mechanics who ruin the car. A well used, well maintained Audi will outlast most cars simply becos of the build quality and high quality material.

I expect that Siena will be here to lecture on and defend his beloved Audi pretty soon

It is working the way it is supposed to. As @Promise72 said, your car has a 'Thermostat' that measures the engine temperature and only kicks on the fan when the engine temperature rises to the preset degree.

The fan 'Thermostat' get overided when you turn on your A/C, that is why it works when you turn on the A/C. This is so because the use of A/C requires the condenser (which is in front of the radiator) to be cooled and this means both fans have to work to blow cool air through both the radiator and the condenser.

I advise you to relax. Your car seems to be performing ok and don't let any slowpoke mechanic "work a useless solution" for you and ruin your car.

@SexyLogan & Lomaxbien

You are both right although there is a little confusion about what you are both refering to as 'bulldog'.

Originally, the 1992/93 Honda Prelude was nicknamed the 'Bulldog' however, this car was imported in very limited numbers. In 1992/93, the popular Honda was the Honda Accord which was called 'Skira' or 'Shina' and later on became known as the ubiquitous 'Halla'. In 1994 the Honda Accord was replaced with a new model, this new model which were US specs started trickling into Naija and later became known as the 'Bulldog' again. The reason why the name 'Bulldog' was re-enacted was because the new American Spec Accords looked very much like a 4 door version of the earlier Prelude. In the eyes of many, they both looked very similar with wedged nose front and the bubblous rear end treatment and the half crescent tail light treatment. Anyhow, this is the history of the model and name confusion.

These days, Naijas generally refer to the 1994 - 1997 Honda Accord as 'Bulldog'. The 1992 -1996 Honda prelude is extremely rare and not well known in Naija anymore.
So to clarify the issues, I will say Honda made different Accords for different Markets, so do not be confused:

1994-1997 Honda Accord (American Spec) - is called 'Bulldog' in Naija

1994-1998 Honda Accord (Euro Spec) - is called 'Bullet' in Naija

1998-2002 Honda Accord (American Spec) - called 'Baby boy' in Naija

1999-2003 Honda Accord (Euro Spec) - this a little rare but available in Naija; same as the JDM Accord (I do not know if this has a nickname)

2003-2007 Honda Accord (US Spec) - called 'End of Discussion' & 'Discussion Continues' in Naija

2003-2007 Honda Accord (Euro Spec) - This car is the same as a US spec Acura TSX

1994-1998 Honda Accord Aerodek & Coupe (Euro Spec) - These cars are actually the same as Yankee (US) specs Accord wagon, sold as European specs.

2008-Present Honda Accord (Euro Spec) - This is the same as the new US spec Acura TSX