Well, long time no post! But I'm finally making it to RRG this year, so thought I'd create a thread for my p&j, a 2000 Toyota bB - Most of this is copied over from another thread as it's Monday morning and i'm still half asleep - but enjoy!
The story begins in December 2018....
So, 6 or 7 weeks back I sold my cherished Integra DC5 (to a fellow PHer!) after gradually coming to the realisation that it was basically going to waste sat on my drive, and it just didn't make sense having so much money tied up in something that wasn't getting used as intended. A head over heart decision, that I don't regret, despite missing the car itself.
This was the first time in my 12 year driving history that I had sold a car without another lined up or already bought...and I truly had no idea what i wanted other than it had to be J and under £3k.
I spent some time nosing around, and considered ignis sports, MR2s, honda preludes, all sorts really...it was kind of tough narrowing it down, so I was hoping something would jump out at me given enough patience (not a quality I am abundant in).
I have always liked boxy JDM stuff, so started more seriously looking at Honda SMXs. the thought of something i could use for road trips and camping was pretty appealing, and the japanese really packed some interesting design into that box on wheels. Unfortunately they are thin on the ground in the UK, and the ones that come up are often succumbing to rust.
Due to a lack of tidy SMX, and my decreasing patience, the toyota BB sprang into my head...I was always dimly aware of them as basically a toyota cube...but had never seen one in the wild, only ever one or two at J shows. Nissan cubes were an option, but I've always liked more rare and obscure JDM stuff, the cube is positively common by comparison.
I joined the BB UK owners facebook group, which has a booming 182 members at time of writing! Put up a wanted ad and by a pure stroke of luck I was contacted by a lovely guy who was looking to sell up due to importing another daily from japan, and needing the driveway space.
Deposit paid back in october, and I had 7 weeks of agonising waiting while his new car made it's way here on the boat from Japan....patience almost at breaking point, weeks of being car-less, and just hoping everything panned out. FInally the day came this weekend, 5am start to get a train down to the south coast, and realise my JDM box on wheels destiny!
So, just before I introduce the car in question...my car history has definately been on the sports/performance end of the scale. the J bug started with a mk2 mx5, i then discovered a JDM unicorn in the utterly brilliant but far too much of a project that was my Mitsubishi mirage asti ZR (former PH readers car of the week, hilariously). The taste of MIVEC and 9k RPM redline made me hunger to upgrade to VTEC, so I enjoyed rev happy and reliable Integra DC5 performance for 2 years. I had no idea what i would be like going to something with half the BHP of the DC5. and the driving dynamics of a brick....and, shock/horror, my first ever automatic!!
Here she is then, a 2000 Toyota BB (or bB apparently). ZX trim (whatever that means), 1.5l vvti engine from the yaris T sport, 4 speed auto box. It was imported from japan two years ago, and has about 52,000 miles on the clock. everything is still in KM for that authentic JDM speedo maths-on-the-fly experience.
This was the first time in my 12 year driving history that I had sold a car without another lined up or already bought...and I truly had no idea what i wanted other than it had to be J and under £3k.
I spent some time nosing around, and considered ignis sports, MR2s, honda preludes, all sorts really...it was kind of tough narrowing it down, so I was hoping something would jump out at me given enough patience (not a quality I am abundant in).
I have always liked boxy JDM stuff, so started more seriously looking at Honda SMXs. the thought of something i could use for road trips and camping was pretty appealing, and the japanese really packed some interesting design into that box on wheels. Unfortunately they are thin on the ground in the UK, and the ones that come up are often succumbing to rust.
Due to a lack of tidy SMX, and my decreasing patience, the toyota BB sprang into my head...I was always dimly aware of them as basically a toyota cube...but had never seen one in the wild, only ever one or two at J shows. Nissan cubes were an option, but I've always liked more rare and obscure JDM stuff, the cube is positively common by comparison.
I joined the BB UK owners facebook group, which has a booming 182 members at time of writing! Put up a wanted ad and by a pure stroke of luck I was contacted by a lovely guy who was looking to sell up due to importing another daily from japan, and needing the driveway space.
Deposit paid back in october, and I had 7 weeks of agonising waiting while his new car made it's way here on the boat from Japan....patience almost at breaking point, weeks of being car-less, and just hoping everything panned out. FInally the day came this weekend, 5am start to get a train down to the south coast, and realise my JDM box on wheels destiny!
So, just before I introduce the car in question...my car history has definately been on the sports/performance end of the scale. the J bug started with a mk2 mx5, i then discovered a JDM unicorn in the utterly brilliant but far too much of a project that was my Mitsubishi mirage asti ZR (former PH readers car of the week, hilariously). The taste of MIVEC and 9k RPM redline made me hunger to upgrade to VTEC, so I enjoyed rev happy and reliable Integra DC5 performance for 2 years. I had no idea what i would be like going to something with half the BHP of the DC5. and the driving dynamics of a brick....and, shock/horror, my first ever automatic!!
Here she is then, a 2000 Toyota BB (or bB apparently). ZX trim (whatever that means), 1.5l vvti engine from the yaris T sport, 4 speed auto box. It was imported from japan two years ago, and has about 52,000 miles on the clock. everything is still in KM for that authentic JDM speedo maths-on-the-fly experience.
This is how it looked when I picked it up, standard aside from the headlights, tails, and wheels.
Initial impressions back then-
It's bloody brilliant!!
Pretty immaculate inside and out for its age, drives very tight, and is no where near as slow or boaty as i feared it might be. it weighs about 1050kg, so i think the auto box would put it about 10 secs to 60. The suspension is pleasingly firm and it benefits from hydraulic power steering, so feels pretty direct and responsive for what it is. Pretty fun to blip around in, although i'm still getting used to not having control over the gearbox. Column shift and the handbrake being operated by foot pedal is very alien indeed!
It's essentially a yaris T sport mechanically, service parts seem easy enough to get hold of, and there are various bits floating around in the USA, where these were sold in large numbers as the Scion xB.
It has some brilliant little JDM touches, such as a little optional switch that changes the dash lighting through a variety of colours...it also came with a bundle of original brochures and documents, all totally unreadable to me but cool to have. Comforts wise, it has electric windows, aircon, and about 400 cup holders and cubby holes! There's a ridiculous amount of space inside, 4x wheels with tyres fitted in the boot without even having to move the rear seats. It is truly tardis like, and really isn't a big car from the outside. Tax is cheap at £155 for the year, and insurance came in at £250.
