2016 Vellfire is already the 2.5 one ?  Then just take the Vellfire, it's a Toyota, quite reliable and FC is ok for its size.  Try to inspect properly to avoid buying a taxi from Japan with high mileage but tempered meter.

Starex is just a ppl carrier, won't give you a lot of comfort, lower maintenance cost yes since it's new.  FC is also great, but if you are the driver, you want to be seen in a Vell than a Starex.

Dont own both cars, but been in both as passenger.

Vell/Alphard is more luxurious without a doubt in terms of refinement and finishing. Starex is not far is terms of ride refinement but lost by a mile on interior finishing.

1 particular deal breaker for Starex is the fact that its sliding-door windows are not your normal powered windows; they are pop-out type. Just take note.

Thanks bro for sharing. Yes 2o15 onward vellfire is already 2.5ltr cvti...In fact they are diff in price tag too, about 40k more on the vellfire, but it’s within my budget...and the vellfire comes with 5 years warranty from a reputable panel (GGS or GGC can’t remember)...

I brought the vellfire to my trusted mechanic to check on the car thoroughly, inside out and under for leakage and suspension, and was told it’s in great condition...was also told by a few mechanics and friends who own the vellfire that this car seldom give issues/headaches on a long run...only thing to lookout is the gearbox and steering rack (both covered by warranty)

I did quite a lot of research on the Starex and has driven one (rented) for a few days and were impressed by its FC, and was told the vellfire FC and power is not as good as the Starex (also due to lower torque)..so I’m wondering how much diff is the Fc..I know the Starex is around 10-13km/ltr....from my research, the vellfire is about 8-9km/ltr?

Also on the Vellfire, I was a little skeptical as I saw a glue stain from sticker on the front passenger dashboard which I suspect it was probably a ‘No Smoking’ badge, not sure if it’s used as taxi before..any other signs for me to spot if it was a taxi unit before? pic as below

Did you look at the disc rotor to see if it's very thin ? 
Check suspension link, arm and ball joints to see if they worn out ?
Check suspension to see if they leak ?
Brake fluid color tally with the ODO mileage ?
Take out the carpets to see if the original floor carpet has any burn mark from smoking prev owner ?
Have OBD plug in, to see how many times the car had been reset for after oil change service

Hi guys, am contemplating between these 2 vans..just want to hear from anyone with experience between these 2...in terms of pros and cons...fuel consumption and power between 2.5 cvti vs 2.5 turbo diesel..comfort..reliability and etc..urban driving..road trips etc.....carrying about 2-4 adults and 2-3 toddlers.. tyvm!

Fuel consumption - Starex diesel wins.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/hyundai/starex/2013
10km-11km/l for Starex.
Vellfire expect around 8km/l

Power - Starex has like 441nm of torque. Even the Vellfire v6 (which has only 353nm torque) doesnt match the torque of 2.5L turbo diesel.

Comfort.. abit harder than Vellfire.
One thing vellfife suspension is quite soft. Its like on a cruise liner. May cause car sick for some people like me.

Yes i know Vellifre will give you the gaya and the status with the trade off for lesser seats rhan the Starex.

Reliability? Lets be honest - Starex is also built as a commercial van in other countries, minus the seats so it should be reliable what more with a diesel engine.

2016 Vellfire is already the 2.5 one ?  Then just take the Vellfire, it's a Toyota, quite reliable and FC is ok for its size.  Try to inspect properly to avoid buying a taxi from Japan with high mileage but tempered meter.

Starex is just a ppl carrier, won't give you a lot of comfort, lower maintenance cost yes since it's new.  FC is also great, but if you are the driver, you want to be seen in a Vell than a Starex.

all imported toyota's from japan will have tempered meter before selling to customer
it's just a matter of how high the mileage is when it's at japan only...that's the only thing TS need to find out and whether or not he can accept that mileage
for a 4 year car, average mileage will be 80k KM...if lower than that is consider low mileage

I have just checked on Scrut, with its chassis number/VIN number, and the mileage tallies to the one shown on odometer, so I believe this car’s mileage hasn’t been tempered. It’s a paid service and I even see photos of the car with Japan plate number pre export.

Not sure how accurate but Scrut is quite a well known portal and was featured on Paul Tan’s page too. Hoping for the best.

what you're seeing in scrut or from other similar website is the auction sheet in japan
and yes, the mileage on that sheet is the actual mileage
you're lucky u got a car that hasn't been tempered mileage or the mileage is low enough, they didn't tempered it
because if the mileage is 6 figure, i can guarantee u they will tempered it

About 38k for a 2016 car, guess it’s not too bad..overall quite good condition..of course can’t beat a new car though, especially with a much lower price tag..

38k for a 4 years old car is consider low mileage car
hence why they didn't tempered with it
at the auction sheet, did u see what the car's grade is?

Not sure about grade but the rating is 4.5, which I assume max rating is 5 (according to Paul Tan’s page)....the auction sheet was written in full Japanese, so I used a translator app to read the details and it tallies well into the car (specs, condition), they even mention details such as ‘dashboard has glue stain’...lol

4.5 is VERY good condition
5 is literally flawless or brand new

the grade isn't there for fun, it's being graded by the auctioneer so it's reliable

Indeed the car is in very good condition when I test drove it, with some minor wear and tear along with my trusted mechanic’s feedback..I think this car ok to buy..

Now is to hear more feedback from others as to compare this to a brand new Starex..personally I’m more inclined towards the vellfire..but the Starex is also good...and the brand new part is a major ++...

if you wanna talk about FC, forget Vellfire. it is  the worst MPV when it comes to FC!

no way you can get 8km/L. it is a very heavy Van.

This is ANH30 2.5l cvti, u sure can’t get 8km/l? A few told me it varies from 8-10km/l...hmm anyone else can confirm on this?

Vellfire is about 2000 kg, while the starex is 2,250kg but the fc on starex is quite marvelous, about 10-13km/l easily...of coz it’s running on diesel though..

Yeap, I’ve driven a rented one (older model 2016) and it was quite impressive, especially the torque and fc...hence I’m trying to benchmark how far behind the vellfire is....aesthetic wise the starex is far behind the vellfire though, interior exterior and dashboard, even the passenger comfort is way better on the vellfire, but again it make sense for better comfort in exchange with the lesser seats (lesser seats = bigger and more comfy seats + spacious)

I have an old Estima 2005 2.4 4 spd auto at home, which weight about 1780kg, average FC on city 7.5km/L, on highway it's about 10-11km/L.

I have also a Kia Sorento 2.2D 8 spd auto at home, which weight about 1980kg, average FC on city about 11-12km/L, on highway it's about 14-15km/L.

Vellfire is heavier than a Estima, but having a newer 2.5 engine and CVT, I guess it should be about the same, maybe slightly better than Estima's FC on highway due to CVT.  On city, be prepared to see 7km/L, anything better than that you should be happy.

Another MPV to consider, which has better interior and also diesel is the Kia Grand Carnival. Lesser seats than Starex but hey at least it looks quite handsome.

Yea I went to see grand carnival, but the 2020 version is a 11 seater which is bad coz they squeeze all the seats into the already small interior, and the seats are not removable. Even the 2019 ones are quite different category than the starex, it’s more of an estima category..it wins starex as a family car as it has all the nessesity i.e 3 pointer belts and etc which the starex doesn’t..

https://www.mudah.my/2019+Kia+CARNIVAL+SX+2...19-69198472.htm

Appears to have some last orders, if there is, quickly grab one !

family used to own one starex and im dealing with vellfires on daily basis.

i can say that comfort and refinement wise, they are on different level. starex is really barebone, other than the higher number of seats + more powerful engine, everything else loses to vellfire.

fc on vellfire is pretty alright given the size and weight, i can get 10kml+- on normal driving and 12-13kml on highway cruise.

grand carnival feels as big if not bigger than vellfire to me, definitely not the same class as estima.

Thanks for sharing. power wise, is it much more powerful than the vellfire? And how about fc on starex? (Based on your same usage as the vellfire)

Carnival doesn’t feel the same as vellfire to me and my family, we find it rather cramped on the 2nd and especially 3rd row, drivers seat was alright and spacious, also the ceiling is much lower..

hard to compare the power delivery between both car, one is NA petrol + CVT while the other one is turbodiesel + 5-speed auto. i preferred how the vellfire accelerates compared to starex, very smooth and relaxing.
due to the diesel powertrain, starex can definitely handle full load better than vellfire.

that's a bit surprising to me, given that the carnival's dimension isn't far off from the vellfire from what i remember.

just wondering, are you looking for 2016 ZG vellfire?

Thanks..actually the power for full load is not crucial coz it’ll mostly be on 2 adults 2-3 toddlers....I supposed not too much to handle..how many km/l do u get on a Starex?

The carnivals dimension is about same as estima, even the sales advisor confirmed it..and also the shape (bullet shape) as to compare to vellfire Starex’s dimension..at least the height is visible..

I’m looking at a ZA vellfire 2016..

The Vellfire you identified looked good, just go for it.  FC is high, but it won't kill.  7-8km/L is ok...ish for such a big car, it's unreasonable to assume anything near 10km/L.  When you get that, take it as bonus.

BTW, Carnival is bigger than a Vellfire, footprint dimension (length x width) wise.  In US, it's matched against Toyota Sienna, the biggest MPV of Toyota, longer, wider but lower than a Vellfire.

Estima length = slightly less than 4.8m
Vellfire length = slightly less than 5.0
Sienna length = 5.1+ m

hahah...10km per litre for city driving on a Vellfire?? Dream on! kalau tak tahu, jangan nak tunjuk pandai dan cakap apa2 yg bodoh.

still wanna show your silly stupidity and talk some more? 

The confusion may come, when we have not defined city driving. Generally we should go by city driving speed. If speed anot recorded for city driving then the comparison is not apple to apple

Higher the city driving speed, better the fuel consumption

Bro, I got my vellfire 2018 model, back last October. Already owned it for 6 months.

I was actually looking at 2016 and 2017 car like you but most units I view have heavy smoke smell. Then I went to view one 2018 model facelift, straight fell in love with how great the condition is. My advise is go for 2018 facelift model cuz it comes with toyota safety sense and also avoid 2015-2017 model because most of it will have torque converter problem. My cousin got 2015 alphard already change gearbox twice.

Yea understood, but a figure to benchmark is always good...i.e 7-9km/l or etc...
Thanks bro, yea I heard a lot about the torque converter issue on 2015-2018 model, unfortunately budget doesn’t permit to get the 2018 facelifted model so guess i’ll have to opt for the older models..btw there’s a 5 years warranty that covers engine, gearbox, and steering rack...wonder if the torque converter is within coverage? And if it’s not under warranty, any idea what’s the repair damage like?

I think you're better off with the starex bro, unless you plan to keep the vellfire for only 5 years. At least the starex is new, so you dont have to worry about gearbox failing.

Plus, 38k km for a 2016 is abit high. I have seen many 2016 vellfire with only 15k to 18k mileage bro.

All in all, it is all up to you as it is your money. Good luck bro!

This is ANH30 2.5l cvti, u sure can’t get 8km/l? A few told me it varies from 8-10km/l...hmm anyone else can confirm on this?

Vellfire is about 2000 kg, while the starex is 2,250kg but the fc on starex is quite marvelous, about 10-13km/l easily...of coz it’s running on diesel though..

I think you're better off with the starex bro, unless you plan to keep the vellfire for only 5 years. At least the starex is new, so you dont have to worry about gearbox failing.

Plus, 38k km for a 2016 is abit high. I have seen many 2016 vellfire with only 15k to 18k mileage bro.

All in all, it is all up to you as it is your money. Good luck bro!

i dont know about any 30,  i am driving ANH 20 2.4L, if at highway average speed 140-180km/h  i can get around 9km/l , if speed 120-140 km/L  i can get 10-11km/L ..
town drive around 9.3km/L

is true, many good conditions recon unit outside , easily can get nice one, if u know someone . but now can't go out . 

if after 14/4 /2020  no more covid-19 can pm me. i have friend sellng recon car. nice one

9.3km/l for city drive is not bad I supposed..but I’m not sure how different is it between anh20 and 30..need others to share their input..
Thanks bro, actually I found one quite good..about 47k 2016, 4.5 rating and B for both int/ext on papers..looks pretty good condition happy with the overall condition actually...