Malaysia’s favourite large MPV is back with the unveiling of the third generation 2016 Toyota Vellfire which took place at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre.
No, this family mover wasn’t officially launched by UMW Toyota, but instead brought in by parallel importer, CHY Autoworld during a public launch over the course of last weekend. As Malaysians prefer to obtain their supply of large Japanese MPVs from grey importers rather than through official channels, there’s little surprise to see a grey importer playing host to the model’s ‘official arrival’ here in Malaysia.
The Vellfire as we know is the Alphard with sporty credentials. This example of the new Vellfire in Executive Lounge trim has Modellista body kit equipped to compliment the car’s bold design. While the 17-inch rims may look physically unappealing, perhaps it’s for good measure considering our road conditions. Other goodies that await passengers include two electronic leather captain seats, JBL Premium sound system, passenger entertainment system, ambient lighting system, sunroof and so on.
Also, this Vellfire is propelled by a 276 hp 3.5-litre V6 engine mated with a six-speed Super ECT automatic. The Alphard/Vellfire has two options for the 2.5-litre variant; the normal petrol 2AR-FE engine that produces 182 hp and the hybrid 2AR-FXE engine that produces 208 hp given with two electric motors. The normal 2.5-litre variant uses the seven-speed CVT transmission while the hybrid utilises the eCVT transmission. CHY Autoworld brought two variants of the 3.5 (Executive Lounge and VL) and a sole petrol variant of the 2.5 (ZG).
The Vellfire 3.5 Executive Lounge is all yours for a cool RM568,000, followed by the 3.5-litre VL variant at RM468,000 and 2.5 ZG variant at RM438,000. If you’re wishing to drive this home for next year’s Chinese New Year, then bad news as deliveries for all variants are expected earliest by March 2016. However, there’s good news for eager customers. There’s a limited time promo offering RM70,000 discount for all variants should they place their bookings now.
IMAGE GALLERY
