I'm buying the Japanese Rolls-Royce: the Toyota Century V12!

This is a Toyota Century and it's essentially a Japanese Rolls Royce. In fact it's the only Japanese car to have a V12 engine. I've actually been thinking about buying one of these for a long time, but I've never seen one in the flesh. This is the first time I've got up close and personal with one and I'm going to take it for a drive as well and by the end of the video I will decide once and for all whether or not I'm going to add one of these to my car collection because my car collection is lacking a V12 and I need a V12. I'd like to introduce you all to Lund Marr. Say hello Lund. Hello. Now this is your car isn't it Lund? Yeah this is mine. This is my baby. It's a big old baby. A big big posh looking baby. Massive. Tell me about this car. First of all let's start off with the design. They've been around for a while the Toyota Century wasn't it? From 1976 or something but the design has stayed the same. Because how old's this car? What year is it? This car was made back in 2013 actually but the design goes back to 1997 I believe. Okay. Yeah it's way back. But I think even before then like the first generation because there's three generations. This is the second generation. The first generation was from like the 60s or something. 1967. That's right but it had a similar look to it. It's quite an old looking car even for 1997 isn't it? It is. Here at the front right what headlamps have we got in there? Are they just old-fashioned halogens or something? No they're actually HID headlights. So xenons? Yes. So when it's the first turn it on the colour is actually purple. And then once the temperature goes up and the colour turns to white. So one thing about getting one of these cars at what point did the HID bulbs come in? I believe they started this in 2008. So before that they used halogen headlights. So after that they used the switch to HID headlights. Okay so I want to look out for that. Moving to the grille and stuff. So it's a Toyota right? But where's the Toyota badge? There's no Toyota badge. Is this? What's this? What does that say? It's actually just a letter C. For Century? For Century yeah. And then there's a golden bird. But that's actually a finnet. It's not a bird. It's just not any bird. So it's a royal symbol. A royal bird. A lot of chrome going on. What's this like to maintain the chrome? Lots of chrome around the grille as well. I've actually got PPF on the front of this car. And then I put ceramic coating all over it. You've ceramic to... Oh you PPF yeah? You PPF down there? Yeah the front of the car is all PPF'd. If I do that I'm definitely going to PPF it. Yeah you should. How much do you spend PPFing it? About £1,600. £1,600. The car itself though. How much is the car? To buy it in Japan it'd probably cost you around £13,000. But to bring it to the UK the total cost probably we're looking at £25,000. So £25,000 for this car. So you could have an S-Class. Mercedes S-Class from the same 2000... What's this? 2013? Yeah. You could probably get an S-Class for that. But not as reliable though. I'll point it out. We'll get to that in a bit. So let's move down down the side. So big thing about the Toyota Century that I've noticed is these. Look now in the UK we talk about wing mirrors. But all cars have door mirrors. The mirror's there. These are proper wing mirrors. Mirrors on the wing of the car. Yes. They look so cool. They do. But it does make it look like you're towing a caravan. It does. Do need a bit of time to get used to them. And then the wheel. Are these wheels standard? They look a little bit bling. No they're aftermarket wheels. So how much were they? £2,500. It's a bit of a shame that you appear to have curbed this one. Did they come with the car? Did you buy them afterwards? I bought them myself. Right. So your £25,000 has gone up now to like £27,000, £28,000? Yeah something like that. And then PPF we're getting to £30,000. It's going to £30,000. So I was thinking I could get one quite cheap but obviously not. If you just want to get a stock car, drive them around, you can just spend £20,000 to do that. I just don't like drive stock cars. That's all. I think I might keep it standard. I can really see the effect of that ceramic coating. It's really nice. There is a bit of orange peel on the paint. This is supposed to be Toyota's top-end car. You wouldn't think there'd be some... I'm sorry to like criticise your car. That's fine, that's fine. Can you see it as well? I can. I've been told the driver's side door might have been repainted at some point. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Was you away there? You're absolutely right. Yeah. That over there... It's very different, yeah. It's completely different. Yeah if you look here... Yeah. No orange peel. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely been done. Oh, check this out. Old-fashioned door handles. Look at that. And... Wait, wait. This is the test. So this is the very best car that Toyota can produce. So Toyota's engineers have put their hearts and soul into this car. Listen to how the door shuts. That is a heavy door. It must be so satisfying getting in and out of that each day. It does, it does. Just the weight of it. And then this chrome panel around here, it's so nice. I was talking about Mercedes S Classes. I'm pretty sure the lines don't line up as well as they do on this car. Probably not. Let me just check the back door. Because obviously this is supposed to be a car that VIPs are chauffeured around in. So when I say VIPs, it's more like your CEOs, your businessmen, isn't it? Yeah. You get... Also president and Japanese royals as well. So you know that Toyota really paid maximum attention to building this car to the highest standard. So once again, really heavy door. But we have soft close on the rear. Not on the front for the driver. Yeah, the driver is not important. And this is the sign that matters. V12. And then this is the thing that you probably have to... Does it open? Do you have to press a button in there? There's like a pulley. Okay. But I bet you open that a lot. Don't really want to talk about that. How much does it cost to put a full tank in it? I think that full tank is about 90 litres. 90 litres. So that's quite a lot. So that costs you what? 160 pounds, yeah? Yeah, something like that. And how long does that last? How many miles? 300, 350, something like that. Yeah. But it's worth it, yeah? But we'll find out when I drive it. Okay, let's move to the back of the car. Look at this. Old-fashioned bumpers. This is really 1960s, the back of this car, don't you think? A lot of people are saying that it looks like an old American car, actually. Big, wide, flat bottom. And is it like an American car where you have a huge trunk? Can I get into it? How do you get into it? You need to press a button. Is that the reversing camera that I'm trying to press? Yes, it is. I've never seen one of these cars before. Do we have to press a button inside? Yeah. Shall I do that? You go do that. I'll just admire the sentry, the way that's lined up with Japanese precision. I heard a motor go. I'm perfectly weighted. Look at that. I can lift it. This is just the slightest effort from my little finger. They've really judged that perfectly. So it's not got an electrically operated tailgate, but it's just so well balanced. I can't believe that. And then boot, nice and wide, very easy to get stuff in. That carpet, that's like Rolls-Royce. And I've got to do this, London. I'm sorry, I do this to quite a lot of cars. See if I can fit in. Shut it. Do you really want me to start the engine? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go on, shut it. I'm sure there's a release in here. Go on, shut it. Okay, I can't find the release. I saw it didn't say pull to release, but I can't let you let me out, man. I can't let you let me out. I thought I'd be able to release it. Yeah, look, it says pull, man. Look, can you see? Yeah. But that didn't work. That's for doing this. Oh, what an idiot. I thought it was like the release that they have in American cars. No. And one last thing I noticed there. What's that? Is that like a tool kit? Yeah, it's a tool kit. Let's have a look. To tell you the truth, I was expecting something a little bit fancier, just a basic tool kit, really. All right, and that came with the car. Yeah. And I was going on about these carpets. These are aftermarket, mate. Yeah, they are. You didn't say. I'm keeping the stock carpet because I nearly can't get them anymore. Oh, look, there's a release for the fuel filler cap. It's a weird place for it. It's an emergency release. So you put this in there to protect the standard carpet. OK. But actually, the quality is almost the same. Yeah. So that's what it feels like normally. Yeah. OK, I'm going to use the pull thing to actually pull it shut. Yeah, it's self-closing. There you go. It's lovely. Let's just check this side. Yeah, you can see the paintwork. Now, there's a bit of a scratch there. That wasn't me. But yeah, look at it. It's so nice, isn't it? It's beautiful, beautiful. Right. Loving the outside. It's got so much style. Let's check out the inside. Let's. I've got to say, Lund, the interior lives up to the exterior. It is gorgeous in here. It's very clean. So it says on the clock 200,000 kilometres. Yeah, that's about... This seems like it's new. Honestly, there's no way on the seat. All this material is in top quality. All this trim as well. It's solid as a rock. Yeah, nothing's shaking inside here. No, I mean, we were talking about an S-Class earlier for less money. This feels like it's new. An S-Class would be creaking and rattling and things would be a bit scratched and a bit worn. I'm not a big fan of wood in cars. But it works in here, doesn't it? It does. It's so nice. And the leather, soft and expensive feeling. This is a vinyl, isn't it, on the dash? That's not leather up here. But the seats, the leather, really nice. And the seats themselves are super comfy, aren't they? It's like a big sofa. It is like a big sofa. And obviously, you've got all your adjustment there, all electrical. Do you have heating? It must have heating. Yeah, it does. Seat heating there. There's a few windows. What is this little device? That's how to open the door. Oh, so you put your arm like that. That's neat. And of course, we've got the ashtrays, cigarette lighters. Real nice feel to that, actually. That's metal, not plastic, but metal. Electrically adjustable steering column. Yes, good. So listen to the horn. It's a solid horn. That feels nicely damped as well. Then we've got the climate control there. TV. So you've got a tape player and a TV. Yeah, in Japan, you actually can watch TV inside the car. Can you watch TV on this? Yeah, you can, if you want to. So I've noticed you've got Apple CarPlay on it. That wasn't original, right? Come on. No, it's not, no. So you can upgrade it to have Apple CarPlay? Yeah, it's like a little device. You can just connect it to the centre console. You can have Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, yeah. Now, all this is in Japanese. If I press these buttons, will you be able to get it back to the setting that you want? You can touch anything. Yeah, that's fine. Japanese sat-nav, and it thinks we're in the middle of the ocean. You don't understand any of that, do you? Like 50%. Right. The driver's display. So we've got a digital speedometer, which is in kilometres an hour, which is a bit of a problem in the UK. Can you convert that to miles an hour? I think you can. But why haven't you then? I just don't want to mess around with the stock gauge cluster. Just in case it goes off. Yes. Forever. Right. So how do you know what speed you're doing in miles an hour? Do you use your Google Maps or something? I actually installed an aftermarket speedometer, so that's in miles per hour. Oh, that's what that is. That's not your boost gauge then? No, it's not. I suppose this is naturally aspirated to this engine, isn't it? Well, let me just check out some of the other bits to check the quality. So, oh, yeah, that's okay down there. What is this? Is this a cup holder or something? It is. A very shallow cup holder. A very rubbish cup holder. Have you got a bottle, actually? There you go. Does it work? Sort of. Yeah, that's all right, sort of. And then the door bins, they're not very big, are they? No. But they are lined with felt and soft. And obviously you've got carpet down here as well, so that feels quite nice and expensive. As does the aluminium kick plates, which say Century on them. And you've got your aftermarket mats in here with, what is it, Junction Produce? Yes. Sounds like a grocery store. What's that? It's actually a Japanese aftermarket brand. Yeah, they produce aftermarket parts for VIP cars. Right. Okay, so it's in keeping with the type of car that this is? All right, let's have a look under here. Centre console with some storage. And you've got your USB port there, which you've installed. Yeah, once again, lined with felt, so it feels nice and expensive. What's going on with this? Behind that thing is actually a TV. Oh, so that's for the rear passengers. It's just... Does that get on your nerves a bit? Sometimes, yeah. Yeah, because it doesn't go down. All right, yeah, that is a bit annoying. That's quite a big gear selector. That's aftermarket. Do you know what that's like? Yeah. That's like BMW's crystal clarity. It does, yeah. Is that like a rip-off of it, really? I think so. Okay, so let's have a look in here. I'm disappointed in that. That's not damped. What's going on with that? We do have, what's this, your CD player there and some storage there as well. Right, what's going on with this? What's this? That's a sun visor. Oh, so when you put that down, the sun doesn't get through this bit here. Exactly. And they're big visors, and they're soft and squidgy, and yeah, a big vanity mirror. And it all feels so nice. Do you know another way you can stop yourself being bothered botherssome when you're driving? Yeah. Right, look at this. Because there's not a place to keep the glasses in the car, I'd notice, but look. So these, right? I'm sorry I'm wearing these. They're Transitions drive wear lenses. So look at that, right? They change colour depending on how light it is outside. So the lighter it is, the darker they get. And they're specifically designed for driving. So it gives you a high contrast when you're driving, so you can see the road much better. You know when you're driving down the road, right? And the sun's in your face, and it's really bad, and you're getting reflections from water. It just deals with that, stops all of that. And they're also polarised as well, so you get that increased darkness, but also the polarisation, so you're not bothered by reflections so much. Do you want to try them? Have a little go then. Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah, honestly, I love them. They're like a game changer for me. Yeah, they're suiting you. And you can get them with a prescription. So things are probably a bit blurred for you right now, aren't they? But it's very comfortable, to be honest. They're brilliant, yeah. Anyway, so if you want to check out some of these Transitions drive wear, you can get them from glassesdirect.co.uk. I've put a link in the description below. You can go check that out. Okay, there's also a link in the pinned comment as well, but I found them really, really useful. Just makes driving in different changeable conditions so much easier, less hassle. And obviously, you don't have to keep on changing glasses and stuff like that because they change darkness depending on the amount of light. Love them. Anyway, enough about that. Let's carry on with the car. So I'm really, really liking the interior of it. Extremely nice. But really, the Toyota Century, it's all about being in the back, isn't it? Yes. Let's check that out. Got to say, the back seats of this car are worthy of a president and even an emperor. It's absolutely lovely. And I can't believe that it's done 200,000 kilometers. Once again, it feels like new. One thing I've noticed that, well, knee room's good, headroom's good. The floor seems quite high up. I want to stretch my feet into the chair in front, but I can't really do that here, even though there's quite a lot of room in the footwell. Although that's not really an issue because this car's got a special feature, which I'll show you in a moment. But some of the things to talk through. Just in case your driver gets too carried away. Some big handles, aren't they? Look at those grab handles. Absolutely massive. I've never seen such big grab handles as in this car. I like this as well. Just the feeling of the switches. So if I turn that on, look, I've got a dimmer up there. That's really nice, isn't it? With the vanity mirror. Just the quality of the headlining as well. And this bit. What's that? That's a headrest. I thought it was like an airbag thing because it says curtain airbag there, but it's a headrest. I suppose, yeah, look. Yeah, that's how you're going to sleep, isn't it? It's like they've thought of everything. Expensive fitting pockets on the seat backs. What's this? That's the TV and sat-nav. Yeah, so you've got sat-nav. And then the most confusing remote control in the world. Oh, there's Japanese writing on it. Or Chinese. That's Chinese, isn't it? And that's Japanese letters there. But I like the way it fits in there. That's nice. You've got your cup holders. And so you can watch telly on there as well as... You can. And DVD as well. Oh, yeah, look at that. We've got a DVD player down there. Your auxiliary's in and stuff like that. What's under here? Oh, look. Just some storage and... What's this for? Climate control. So it's your climate control. And then... Oh, hello. That's where the pot is. Ah, yeah. Look, it's all these seat controls. So can I move that seat out of the way? Yeah. Oh, I'm moving this seat? Yeah. Oh, I can recline these seats. Okay. How do I move that one out of the way? No. These two buttons. Right. So that moves that front passenger seat forward to create more room. So I obviously can't move the driver's seat. Right. So this, what does this one do? That's my headrest. Yeah. Okay, let's run through them. That's my headrest. This one is... It's moving the headrest, the angle of it in and out. We've got seat cooling. That's the backrest for that. That's that backwards and forwards. This is that side seat cooling. So that's the same. That's the headrest. This is my recline. Oh, yeah, actually. It's kind of knackered my knee room a bit there, though. And I can make it go up and down. And that's lumbar support, isn't it? And that's my memory. Wow. Quite a few functions there. And in the door, what have we got here? We've got heat. So you've got your cooling there and your heating there. Yeah. What's this? That's a massage. A massage? Okay, let's have a go at the massage. It's basically just vibrations. Yeah. Oh, it gets faster. Ooh. Now, do you know what? One of the stumbling blocks for me getting one of these cars is because my girlfriend, Jo, just doesn't like them. She's like, no way you're having one of these. I wouldn't want to go in this car. But I think with the vibrating seat, that might win her over. Anyway, hopefully she won't watch this. Oh, yeah, yeah, ashtray there. Surprise that's not full because the CEOs in Japan often like a cigarette, don't they? Yeah, lovely. But there is the party piece of this car, isn't there? Shall I do it? Yes, go ahead. If you really want to stretch out. Now, I've seen this online. Look at this. So you've got a footrest there, right? And you think, oh, yeah, that's all right, isn't it, that footrest? But the main thing is this. Look, you can slide that down. And then you put your feet through there. And then if I move that seat further forward and then go for the full recline, this is such a brilliant solution. That is so comfy. That is better than what they do in the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series and the Audi A8, where you have the footrest that you have to reach forwards. This just brilliant. Obviously, it's not so good if you got a front passenger, you can kick him in the back. But oh, my gosh, that is just pure Japanese luxury. That crazy fold down passenger seat is one of my favorite things about this car. But the real showstopper is, of course, the engine, the engine. So first thing, I'm going to try and open the bonnet. Right. Never done it on this car before. Let's see how it goes. Yeah, you just wait there. Let's see if I can do it. That's easy. It's actually like on my GR Yaris. Right, it is a Toyota. Yeah. Then the next thing is, how easy is it to actually release the catch? Can I find it straight away? Actually, there it is. Look. Oh, my gosh. That's seriously damped, that is. Right then, what we got here? So V12, obviously. Yeah. How many liters? Five liter. Five liter V12. Naturally aspirated. And what's the horsepower? It's about 290 horsepower. Is that all? Yeah. Five liter V12, 290. It's a cruiser. Just lazy. What's the torque? I think it's a bit more than 400. Okay. Right. And it drives the rear wheels. Yeah, rear wheel drive. And the gearbox is? A six-speed automatic gearbox. Now, I know earlier versions of this model of Century had four-speed. When is it cut over to the six-speed? I think it's around 2008. They turned it to the later six-speed gearbox. So if I'm thinking about getting one of these cars, is it really important to get the later gearbox? I would say so, yeah. We'll find out what it's like when I drive it in a moment. What I want to do first, though, is hear what it sounds like. Right then, Lund, start it up. Oh, that is smooth. I can see the exhaust pipes there. Go on, rev it. Whoa! Oh, that's so smooth. And really quiet as well. Go on, give it some more revs. Don't worry, that's not smoke. It's water vapour. Let's just do it one last time in slow motion. Here we go. My first time driving a Toyota Century. I've got to say, Lund, it's pretty chilled, isn't it? It's very chilled. I mean, the steering is so very, very light. Look what I've done. Only that'll catch me out. It's that side. Remember, I had a Mark 1 MX-5 and the indicator was on this side. I've now got a Mark 2 one and the indicator's on that side. Really quiet. I don't even know that the engine is ticking over. It's a bit like an electric car. It is, isn't it? There's no sound. Hasn't he got something like eight silencers or something ridiculous on the exhaust? It's something like that. And three catalytic converters. Exactly, yeah. Because this engine, I've heard people on YouTube, they're doing individual throttle bodies and modify the exhaust and it sounds insane. It's a bit like an F1 car. It is, yeah, a V12 F1 car. But this, I can't hear nothing. It's so cruisy. The other thing is, because I've got aftermarket wheels on this car with a stock wheel, the road noise is much less than this. Really? Yeah, even quieter. And it's really quiet as it is. And really good sound insulation as well. Yeah. It's so cool. Now, you've got aftermarket air suspension on this car, haven't you? Yes. Why have you got an aftermarket system on it? Why? Why would you do that? What are you playing at? It's just too difficult to deal with the stock air suspension. So I just thought, well, just get an aftermarket one so people know what to do with them. What do you mean? I don't understand. Why is it too difficult? Why does it need to be difficult? Because the stock air suspension has a specific ECU to control that whole thing. And that thing has to be diagnosed using Japanese software. And nobody knows how to use them in the UK. So did you have a problem with the air suspension then? So you just replaced it? We think the stock ECU is broken or something. But we don't know for sure. I don't really want to throw money to risk it. So, yeah. So this is the problem with this car, isn't it? If something goes wrong with it, they don't sell them in the UK. It's very specific, very Japanese. You've got to import all the parts from Japan. No one's going to know how to work on it. So you basically got rid of the air suspension and fitted aftermarket air suspension on it for a cost of how much? £5,000. OK. So now then, the price of the car is, 30 plus that five, £35,000. But I've got to say, the way it's driving, it feels easily worth that. It's worth double it. It's so smooth. The handling is so much better than before. Oh, with the aftermarket air suspension? Yes. Was it like a boat before, all wallowy? Yeah. Wallows all over the place. OK, we're going to find out now. We're going to go round a roundabout. Oh, the steering. Look at that. Oh, yes. This is a real extensive test of the handling. But I see what you mean. It stays totally flat, doesn't it, with this air suspension that you've got fitted to it? That is impressive. It's just not leaning at all. And it actually grips pretty well. It's not pushing on or anything. You know what I'd like to do as well? I'd like to drift it. You actually can. OK, I won't. I won't, because that could be really embarrassing if I crash your car. Can you guess what I want to do in it? You want to launch it, don't you? I definitely want to launch it. Let's see how quick it is from 0 to 60 miles an hour. Let's do that. Right then, Len. Let's launch it. Oh, smooth pickup. And now it's going. Come on, what are we going to do? 7.6. It's all right. Not too bad for a big, heavy car like this. And one that accelerated so smoothly. I think we'll take that. I've wanted a Toyota Century for ages now, even though I've never driven one. Now I finally have. I absolutely 100% have to add one of these cars to my collection, even though I don't really need any new cars because I've got so many. But this is such a unique vehicle, and I absolutely love it. I'm going to import one from Japan, and that process will take quite some time. But to make sure that you don't miss out, for when I do finally get it and upload a video on it, click on my face there to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell icon to turn your notifications on. If you want to watch some of the videos right now, just click on those windows there. Thanks for watching.