AN iconic car brand’s luxury saloon can be yours for under £7,000 even though it was never sold in the UK.
The model dates back almost 70 years and is considered a desirable classic in the US but never made it to Europe.
The Toyota Crown made its debut in Japan in 1955 and has remained on sale since then.
As well as a long production run in its home country, it also enjoyed nearly 20 years in North America, with the first four generations available up to 1972.
Currently in its sixteenth generation, there are four different versions spanning the SUV, sedan, sports car and estate classes.
Japanese sales peaked in the late ’90s but remain strong today, with over 43,000 distributed in 2023.
That’s in addition to sales of its sibling cars, the Corona and Corolla which act as smaller variants of the full-size Crown.
Sadly for Brit drivers, the model never made it to our shores even as demand for cars like the hybrid crossover currently available in Asia grows in Europe.
But some imported examples do pop up on the second-hand market from time to time – and a real bargain is up for grabs now.
A listing on sales platform Motors offers a 2009 example with 94,000 miles on the clock at a very reasonable price.
Offered by Japanese MPV Motors in Birmingham, the five-door hybrid fits into the Crown’s thirteenth generation lineup.
It boasts a hybrid version of the 3.5-litre GR V6 engine developed by Toyota for the Highlander.
At the time, it was a revolutionary motor, with the world’s first-ever collision avoidance system using a front-end radar and brake assist, as well as a pedestrian detection system and a Driver Monitoring System that can detect if you fall asleep behind the wheel.
The seller states that the car is in mint condition and the photos attached to the listing certainly appear to back that up.
Finished in a glistening white paint job, the interior is trimmed in spotless black leather and plush carpet.
It boasts a spacious boot, five comfortable seats and an easy automatic transmission.
All that is up for grabs at just £6,495.
For reference, that’s about half the price of the Dacia Sandero, the UK’s cheapest new car, which retails at £13,795.
It comes after dash cam footage captured the horror moment a £740,000 Rolls-Royce suddenly burst into flames on a busy motorway.
