lwells

I swear to god...

Try contacting FunkyMonkey (Shan) on here: I remember him mentioning something about having access to the parts needed. LW

/me waits for Shan to say something about JAD LW.

What's the plate stand for? LW.

Rezz: change the "url" to "/url" LW.

Hmm, I have never seen the black R34s, then again I spend most of my time on upper campus (arts student). I do however notice a grey R34 with custom plates constantly: HDSTAR or HWSTAR.. LW.

KILL HSV: Glad to hear you got your car, and without bits being stolen, but sorry to hear about the paint damage. Perhaps contact your broker and suggest they let the storage place know that parking under a tree = bad. That's partly why I asked for a car cover on mine (although that can have its own problems) Tomorrow looks like the big day for picking up the car... LW.

Personally I think LM GT-4s or TE-37s look great. Classic combo LW.

That's funny, Toyota thinks it does:

The Jake: The reason people are irritated is because its totally irrational. To use a metaphor: if you use a buyer's advocate to buy a house for you, their service charge is not included in the final purchase price of the house (upon which such taxes as stamp duty are charged). Why should an import brokerage fee be any different as they are fufilling the same basic service? Yes their fee should include a GST charge (as its a service), but it shouldn't be considered a component of the vehicle's purchase price. It is completely illogical, and I think (as I said) any decent lawyer should be able to drive a truck through it. The question is (and sewid alluded to the problem), who is going to engage a solictor rather than just pay off the $150-odd ? LW.

No need to apologise -- as I said, its a stupid marketing driven distinction and is highly confusing (in fact, if I was a cynical bastard -- which I am -- I might suggest the confusion is intentional). Besides which, we all know Japan is the place to be LW.

Rezz, I am not disputing what you are saying, in fact I think the AWD/4WD distinction is pretty stupid because it means different things to different people. But rather than writing 'full time 4WD' or 'variable 4WD', the writers of motoring mags/papers now just use the 4WD and AWD respectively. Thus they have entered the Australian lexicon with particular meanings. I imagine the distinction was originally made so that companies in Australia couldn't be sued for suggesting that their 'soft-roader' cars had real off-road ability (which, arguably, the 4WD tag might imply). By creating the new 'AWD' class, they have effectively tried to meld the idea of the safety of 4WD traction without the ability to go off-road (and perhaps also, the negative conetations attached to big offroaders re fuel, etc). LW.

The distinction has only really been made by the Australian motoring press (and marketers) in the last two or so years as Australia has seen an explosion in the 'soft-roader' market. These terms are obviously location specific and rather fluid LW.

sewid / mmmgtir: I spoke to Famous Insurance some time ago and asked what alarms they prefer and they said (direct quote) "we love Brant". Now admittedly Famous is a little different to most insurers: they seem to take much more interest in how a client sounds over the phone than others (I guess you could call it a personal touch), but they did have the cheapest premium for my circumstances last I checked. In regards to tracking, I remember wrxhoon from this thread. Personally I would likely go with a monitoring service anyway for the reasons I set out in that thread (ie. I want someone looking out for my car when I am asleep / mobile is off / etc). The question is, what is the best alarm to compliment the tracking unit Brant got back to me on prices today: "Normal NEMESIS price is $ 990.00 and AA02A is $ 648.00." Ever get that feeling that your not sure which way to jump? Appreciate your thoughts and input guys As you might be able to tell, I haven't exactly made up my mind. Lucien.

I know what your saying, but I think "AWD" has come to signify cars like the GT-R (and numerous others: Honda CR-V for instance) that have a bias to either front or back, and engage the other set of wheels depending on conditions. This is distinct from "4WD" which implies some sort of constant drive delivered to all wheels (nobody mention the 1% going to the R33 GT-R's front ). LW.

As its a GT-R, he would want the same width unless he has a torque split controller. LW.

If you read what is posted, it is Customs not the ATO that is making the fuss; they are claiming that you should pay GST and duty on the customs agent fee because its supposedly part of the purchase price. In other words, it would affect everyone using an agent. LW.

~$7k seems to be the 'over-the-web' price. I am sure you could do better than that by searching around and negotiating. I assumes its a R32 GTS-4? LW.

No, my point is that it is not a cost in the actual purchase of the vehicle; its a fee for an associated but seperate service. LW.

coco69: I think your over-doing the posting -- 7 posts out of 14! The GTS-t vs RZ comparison is not a fair one: different animals, different price points. There is no doubt an RZ would be a performance upgrade over a GTS-t; it would also be a substantial cost upgrade (purchase price, parts, insurance, blah). If you can afford an RZ I would also check out the more direct competitor (ie. a GT-R). Either way, great cars. Oh, and I had a look at a Supra when I was car hunting. Sat in the drivers seated and hated the interior layout; just a personal preference LW.

That sounds totally retarded. The broker fee is payed for someone to source/locate and organise the purchase and importation of the car; it is not a condition or prerequisite of the purchase proper nor a necessary cost. I would imagine any half-decent lawyer would have a field day with this. LW.

Its interesting. Perhaps I am biased, but it seems to me that outstanding examples (Grade 4+) have always been quite expensive, but what has happened lately is that Grade 3-3.5 cars have started reaching stupidly high prices (and Grade 4s have maintained a -- somewhat reduced -- premium). LW.

rev zone: that's very interesting, because almost everyone I have talked too that has brought something through the Queensland or NSW docks have had things pinched: everything from gear knobs, to steroes, to gauges and dials, and in the most extreme case, $2500 worth of parts in the boot. Perhaps its a case of those that loose something complaining loudly, whereas those that don't loose anything say nothing. Either way, it doesn't seem an uncommon occurance. Maybe the Melbourne ports are better? Some good advice on minimising risk but regarding posting parts, when they are worth a lot of money you get slapped by customs, and if you send them by sea they take forever. Also, photos don't help because the Australian docks are just as likely to claim the stuff was stolen on the Japanese docks or in transit. You can try and get to the car when it hits the Australian docks, but as I said in a previous post, apparently its a real pain to try and get an inspection of the car when it hits the Sydney docks so its almost impossible to get photos once it arrives. Lucien.

Time to revive a thread: no real prizes for guessing why I am currently looking at a Brant nemisis for two reasons: 1) the insurance companies seem to love them 2) they currently have some October specials on. I have heard both good and bad things about Brant: its hard to know which way to go. I do have some hesitations: * Obviously they cost more than just about anyone else. * They still haven't released their tracking unit addon. * So much comes down to the installer: you obviously don't get to choose with Brant. * Their remote looks cheap (but this is negated by the special which includes a different remote). What are others' thoughts? What did people end up getting? Cheers, Lucien.

PHATR32: heh, if only that was the end of the process At the moment it feels like my car is just an expensive folly that sucks up far too much of my time... I'm sure come thursday (or whatever fricken day I get to pick it up from the docks) my mind will be changed. As others have said, its all about having immense reserves of patience. LW.