How did I get here?

 I cannot even remember how I stumbled across the world of imported minivans, but at some point in 2020 I saw a Nissan Elgrand E52 for sale online and jokingly showed my daughter as a potential new car for the family.  The advert seemed to show an impressive luxury 7 seater with way too much chrome and way too many electric gadgets.  The joke quickly turned into 'why don't we go and see one' and two weeks later we were off to a local importer to check them out.


We visited Lakeside Imports who had an impressive array of imported cars including a long line up of Elgrands.  Nestled in amongst the older E51 models were two E52's poking out, both Autech Rider models
in black. The 2010/2011 cars made an immediate impression with their raked chrome fronts, blacked out windows, sliding doors and high end leather seating.  A quick look at some older E51s showed how much of an improvement Nissan has made moving away from the boxy van shape with its 70s dashboard to a car that looks at home in 2020.  After a quick test drive we were convinced that our lives would be improved if only we could have an Elgrand.  We left the importers to do some more research and to sell my current estate.


Over the next few weeks I looked at a lot of information, read a lot of forums and was ready to commit. Some of you at this point might think, ' well couldn't you import one from Japan and save money'..  Well, as a car dealer my brother in law has imported lots of cars from Japan over the last 30 years and he offered to help us with the process.  Decision was made and we began the search for a suitable car in auctions and dealers in Japan.


Fast forward three months and the Figaro car transporter ship was arriving at Southampton docks carrying an Elgrand E52 Autech Rider in Phantom Black Pearl with my name on it!  Almost unbelievably it took another two months to receive registration documents from the DVLA and at last I can get it on the road.

Here in the UK there are very few E52s on the road and information about them is hard to find.  I have plans for my car, to switch out the Japanese media system, to fit some extras and just to keep it services and in good shape.  I will share what I find out along the way here and hopefully it will be of some help if you decide that your life is also missing an Elgrand!

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