Imported Cars

[Ant]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying an imported car (i.e. from Japan)?

[marty_t3]

It's very dependant on the car itself... some imports are better spec'd than the equivalent UK cars and vice-versa.

[SR20DET]

And some cars are only available as an import

Daniel

[John Bennett]

Insurance can be twice as much for a Jap import :( .

[dunc]

Originally posted by JohnBennett
Insurance can be twice as much for a Jap import :( .

Yeah, other dissadvantages include SVA (I think its called) which is a disgustingly tough MOT for imports and also they might require undersealing for this country.

Advantages are, a real nice car, good spec, rare.

Dunc.

[shadowninja]

easier to buy one thats already been imported :) unless you are desperate to save the money

[marty_t3]

Imports are usually cheaper anyway... but the spec is not always better. The Jap Supra TT has 20hp less than the UK model and the UK 300ZX is better equiped than the Jap model. Also, it's not as easy to find cheap chips/maps for imports.

[mattygti-r]

i.e the pulsar has no clock...the uk GTIR has...dam i want that clock! grrrrrrr

[Zenki]

The main disadvantage is that you are buying the car "as you see it" because you rarely get any service history or documentation with them. I had an imported EG Civic VTI which was a great car but a bit of a risk initially. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to insure because it had the later 1500 VTI engine from the EK chassis in an EG chassis. This caused a lot of "too hard lights" to come on when I was ringing insurance companies.
Some parts can be awkward too. I had to get a new battery but when I went to fit it the terminals were a completely different type. I had to cut them off and replace them with UK size ones as I could not get a batttery to fit the terminals as they were apparently Japanese size only :confused: .
Advantages are as already said, better spec and the price overall is lower but you have to weigh it up carefully as the price of imports is not as low as it used to be.

[cherry1809]

Thats cos company's are getting greedy.If you're prepared to do the footwork yourself,you can pick the cars up cheap in Japan.

[shadowninja]

Originally posted by Zenki
The main disadvantage is that you are buying the car "as you see it" because you rarely get any service history or documentation with them. I had an imported EG Civic VTI which was a great car but a bit of a risk initially. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to insure because it had the later 1500 VTI engine from the EK chassis in an EG chassis. This caused a lot of "too hard lights" to come on when I was ringing insurance companies.
Some parts can be awkward too. I had to get a new battery but when I went to fit it the terminals were a completely different type. I had to cut them off and replace them with UK size ones as I could not get a batttery to fit the terminals as they were apparently Japanese size only :confused: .
Advantages are as already said, better spec and the price overall is lower but you have to weigh it up carefully as the price of imports is not as low as it used to be.


yep insurance and parts are a problem.

had problems getting decent quotes for skyline (esp as it's an auto... quiet at the back :P eg some co's wont insure auto cos it just wasnt listed)

parts... make sure you know a company who deals with your import model... eg I'm not far from Abbey...