Japanese Car Imports..

The Northern Monkey

Anyone got/had a Jap import?

Just wondering if there are any complications other than the possibility of a higher insurance than usual?

I've seen there are a few companies that bring over some nice Japanese cars and sell them at very reasonable prices and have good warranties with them.

Do the Japanese have the same sort of MOT at the UK? I'm almost certain that I've read somewhere that its far more stringent than the UK MOT but i'm not sure... anyone know how often a Jap "MOT" is?

Obviously all the imports are sold with full UK MOT etc etc...

JDM cars seems to have a much better spec (not just engine, gadgets etc) than UK and are cheaper (probably because they're imports. Just trying to find out what the catch is!

TheNorthernTrain

catch is generally left hand drive I believe. Small price to pay for a great car otherwise. We have a jap import garage near us. They get some luuurrrrrvely cars in.

I believe the undersides of the cars are generally in better nick too due to them not using salt etc on the roads.

cooldad

Huge business in New Zealand. Had a few. I'm open to correction but I understand that the Japanese MOT is very stringent and at 3 years it is very difficult and expensive to get a car through, so lots of people simply buy a new car, meaning there are loads of cars for sale.
They are well specced and cheap.
Only problem is as they know they will probably only keep the car for 3 years, they don't bother to look after them or even service them.

cooldad

Japanese cars are right hand drive.

cooldad

And mainly automatic.

97th choice

Japanese drive on the same side as us. :roll:

Insuarnce is normally OK now, it's been a long time since people started importing jap cars.

Downside is if you pick a model that has no UK alternative, that way spares are harder to come by and can be more expensive. So try to pick common engines at least.

Also jap tyres can be crap, and they are often not undersealed.

EDIT: I've had three BTW.

TheNorthernTrain

I knew that :oops: .... obviously

Was busy looking at lancia imports, all of which were left hand drive - just jumped to conclusions. If only I had a nice 15 grand.

cooldad

Geography is presumably not your strong point.

TheNorthernTrain

cooldad wrote:

Geography is presumably not your strong point.

Not at all, somehow still managed to get a degree in it though. :? Judging by my map reading skills today... I do not know how.

The Northern Monkey

Yup, Jap's are right hookers...lol.

Good point about the undersealing, I guess they don't use salt on their roads like we do so its not needed.

There are a few completely standard Subaru Legacy GT-B ETune's knocking about on some of the import sites with low mileage and price. But as you said, spares may be a problem...

I've been looking at getting an estate (probably won't be until after xmas to be honest) as the 206 is starting to feel a tad small!

Anonymous

A guy in college with us imported a Lancer Evo from Japan, and had to have the wiring checked. Curiously.

The power station I worked in also received some technology from Japan, and although it was safe, their safety regulations didn't match ours in terms of clearances and safety margins etc, so we had to rewire the control units before installation.

I presume if anything IS needed on the cars, that an importer sorts it out though.

supertwisted

I'm not familiar with the Subarus but used to be into my JDM Honda's.

Insurance will likely be a bit dearer than a UKDM, go to a specialist, Chris Knott are good.

History is harder to come by, if you get any jap sh its a bonus. Good if you can see its auction sheet (90% of JDM imports come from auctions). Grade 4 is top condition down to 1. R graded cars have had at least one panel replaced.

It may well have been tuned for 99RON so be prepared to pay for premium unleaded if you want the same performance. More than likely safe to run on 95RON as it will have a knock sensor, but it wont make the advertised power obviously.

Check the SVA mods have been done properly, you see some real bodges with fog lights rougly chopped into rear bumpers - urgh.

Spares usually not as bad as you would be led to believe, owners clubs are a good start, plus platform unity means that a lot of parts are common with UKDM versions.

Good luck hunting - my nice car days are long gone sadly.

Stevo_666

I didn't import one myself but I bought a Mitsi Lancer from bloke here in the UK who had imported it new from Japan.

The conversion to make them UK road legal and get the SVA cert is pretty straightforward and quite a few companies do this (its' stuff like putting in a rear fog and changing the pseedo/odometer to miles from kms. There shouldn't be any big problems with mechanical reliability etc compared to UK spec cars, but definitely get it undersealed as the Japs don't usually bother with JDM cars. You get a few funnies like the safety intruction stickers in Japanese but nothing major.

Supertwisted already mentioned the petrol grade thing - you can always get the engine managment altered (for a price) to take 95 ron if needed.

Insurance not a big problem if you find a decent specialist company that deals with imports. I used Pace Ward in Stoke and they were very good. Some dealers can be a bit sh1tty about servicing imports but again, find a decent specialist and you will get better service and save money. The car forums for whatever you're getting can help on this one - 'Scoobynet' is the big subaru forum.

lostboysaint

I've had a few. Always Subaru Legacy estates with varying states of turbocharging.

Insurance, not a problem, plenty of brokers around but believe it or not the Aviva "Special Vehicles desk" always took a lot of beating. Those guys are proper petrolheads and know exactly what they're insuring and do great deals. Don't expect to get them online though!

Superunleaded/Shell Optimax is the fuel of choice. Again, the potential for remapping has been mentioned and I did that on one of the later models (the GT-Spec .

The condition of the cars is generally fantastic, the SVA situation has been covered in other posts (fog light etc.)

The last thing I would suggest is the waxoyl/rust prevention treatment of the underside. The Japanese don't use salt on their roads so they don't treat their cars as they aren't being shot-blasted on the underside. We all know what our roads are like so get it done, quickly.

Funnily enough I do keep coming back to that type of car. I miss all my Legacies quite badly and although I know about the fuel consumption and the lack of opportunity to really use them etc.etc. I still can't help thinking that I get another...............

Stevo_666

PS: spares will not be a problem if you get a decent specialist garage that know what they are doing. I even imported some of my own bits from Japan to save money.

Also on the estate front if you hancy a real road burner, there are a few of these around in the UK: not great on the looks front, but basically it's an Evo with a big boot.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/60116/mitsubishi_evo.html

Tim.s

A good friend of mine owns a company that imports and preps cars from Japan and business is booming for him. He prefers Nissans (Skylines and Sylvias) but only as thats his own interest.

Not as risky as you might think but ALWAYS use a professional importer and ALWAYS agree an on the road price before signing on the line. Doing it yourself is a bit risky as the car you choose on a website will bear absolutely no resemblence to the car which actually arrives at the docks!!!!! Its very common for parts and accessories to be stolen/lost during transport.

Bear in mind that Japanese cars may be pricey and availibility will be low because of the earthquake, if you are after a SUV the South African market is worth a try.

cooldad

Just a point on the SA market - there is no annual MOT. You just need a Roadworthy certificate when you buy a car to register it, so no regular check up. Coastal cars can also suffer badly from rust.
And an SUV/LDV is called a bakkie.

Pinner

I got a nice Jap import Subaru Outback 3.0R in NZ, 2003 model with only 50,000KM on the clock. Had a full service history, servicing every 6 months, or roughly every 3,000km! Absolutely mint condition car that hasn't had any problems at all.
Only thing is insurance is hard for me as it is a $25k car with 180kw of grunt, Still got decent insurance through a company that specializes in insuring race cars...
Could be something to do with me being 18 yrs old though.

Stevo_666

Pinner wrote:

Only thing is insurance is hard for me as it is a $25k car with 180kw of grunt, Still got decent insurance through a company that specializes in insuring race cars...
Could be something to do with me being 18 yrs old though.

Thought you didn't have to have car insurance in NZ?

cooldad

You don't but it's probably prudent - this is the hub.
Interestingly you can't sue someone for bodily injury, only property damage, so premiums are much, much lower.
Injury is picked up by a govt scheme (ACC).
It's also why adventure sports etc are big in NZ. If they forget to tie the bungee cord, tough luck.

anjs

So cars which are not under ten years old have to go through a ESVA which is much harder to pass

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Bu ... DG_4022105

also some cars are mapped for 100+ ron and will required remapping rather than just using super.

Stevo_666

cooldad wrote:

You don't but it's probably prudent - this is the hub.
Interestingly you can't sue someone for bodily injury, only property damage, so premiums are much, much lower.
Injury is picked up by a govt scheme (ACC).
It's also why adventure sports etc are big in NZ. If they forget to tie the bungee cord, tough luck.

I remember a mate who lives in Christchurch explaining why there were so many boy racers/chavs driving around in souped up Japanese cars that they would never get insurance for in the UK, but the details were lost as were were a few beers in at the time.

Must remember that point about the bungee jumping if I ever go down there again...

mintedox

I have a 1993 supra import which can be insured as a classic. Solid car with no rust, cant really be said for many cars that age that have lived in britain all of their lives!

It runs on the higher RON petrol.

Pudseyp

I have had a MR2 TBar and and an Evo, they are cheaper but insurance is usually more as they are non uk spec, so spares the plus side is though although the may be souped up, due to low speed limits, tight laws, and low emissions usually the cars are low milage and well looked after....

The down side is though the value when you come to sell will be 30% less than a UK spec car...so buy wisely.

Mojo_666

Pinner wrote:

I got a nice Jap import Subaru Outback 3.0R in NZ, 2003 model with only 50,000KM on the clock. Had a full service history, servicing every 6 months, or roughly every 3,000km! Absolutely mint condition car that hasn't had any problems at all.
Only thing is insurance is hard for me as it is a $25k car with 180kw of grunt, Still got decent insurance through a company that specializes in insuring race cars...
Could be something to do with me being 18 yrs old though.

When I was in NZ and looking to buy a van my mate was telling me something about the Japanese running their engines in the parking garages during the cold season so imports could have low clock mileage but huge engine mileage......any truth to this?

cooldad

Couple of my clients there sold Jap imports. Very dicey characters - wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of them haven't been clocked. Didn't stop me buying a few though. Cheap.

turnips

bought an import EK9 just under 18 months ago and since then it's been a cracking motor! It had 67K on the clock which was reasonable for its age ('97) and i don't think it shows its age...and i seriously doubt that it's been clocked but who knows at the end of the day. Have tweaked it a bit (not the engine yet) but these guys seem to take a sensible view and don't use every upgrade as an excuse to bump your premium unlike the other blighters! http://www.acorninsure.co.uk/car-insurance/import-car-insurance/

agg25

I bought a Nissan 180sx when I was back in Oz, there's heaps of imports in Australia as well.



Awesome car, 0-60mph in 6 secs, was stock as a rock and cost me about £5000 ($13,000) at the time. Had about £6000 worth of mods stockpiled before I decided to sell them all and come live in the UK :-(

I've seen plenty of 200sx's over here but hardly any 180's. There's heaps of Skyline's (R32, R33, R34), Silvia's (S13, S14 & S15), RX7's, Supra's imported as well (well 5 years ago there was anyway, think they've cracked down since)

delcol

i had a jdm honda crx delsol for over 7 years it was fine had it undersealed when i bouhgt it. the car was faultless
there are so many myths out there about imported cars. most are complete crap, yes insurance is around 40% more on a jdm import.. and on the crx some part were slightly different to the uk model. i never had anytrouble getting parts for it...
i could prove the mileage was genueine on mine as i had the export and import docs even had the jap service history with it, all the numbers matched...
i would say do your research before you buy, as there are some bad examples out there...


i miss my little crx.... such an amazing car...

Dazzza

Just whatever you do, don't go near keithley imports, nothing but sheds there.

Love my 94 wrx, no idea if it had an sva as it was still kms, did have a rear fog and a uk mot guess they must have a very friendly tester.

Great if you want to run a decat, pre sept 95's don't need a cat, plus the information to run the test isn't available so defaults to a non cat test.

Knowing the mot rules has a lot of benefits

Stevo_666

Dazzza wrote:

Great if you want to run a decat, pre sept 95's don't need a cat, plus the information to run the test isn't available so defaults to a non cat test.

Knowing the mot rules has a lot of benefits

Even better, know a friendly MOT tester.

I ran my old Mitsi Evo decat all year round as it would be a pain taking it on and off for track days. When it came to MOT time the garage that did the work on it booked it into a tester who would be 'looking the other way' when they stuck the exhaust gas probe up the tailpipe of a Nissan micra which was just by chance parked right next my car ;-) If the friendly tester wasn't around I'd left the cat section in the boot and they just stuck it back on for the test & took it off afterwards.