Do You Trust An Imported Vehicle Mechanically?

[w34ponGT]

hey guys now i know it probably runs through everyones head when importing a GTR. its alot of money and purchasing a car going by pictures is nerve racking. ive spoken to carizma/jspec and there very helpful and will guarentee their inspectors will find a perfect body.

but the question is.. hows it mechanically?

i cant find a decent gtr vspec in melbourne and its shitting me because i want a compression test done. so importing may be the only option, but how do i know engines not on its way/gearboxs fried etc . i know there bullet proof but there are hack drivers out there

opinioms/thoughts

[ido09s]

They are far from bullet proof. Depending on the model of GTR i use to tell my mates to have a spare $10k handy for a rebuild as the way they drove i knew it was a case of when, not if, that the engine was going to let go.

Most people i know that buy GTR's buy them to drive them hard.

You will never know. The speedo's on most of them have been played with or arent original, books are very rarely with them. Unless you know someone in Japan that has owned one since new you will never know what its going to be like. Its just the rsk you take

[mickey]

yep you're just going to have to assume the worse...even things like compression tests can only tell you a few things.

but in the almost 3 years of owning my GTR it hasn't cost more than the regular servicing, battery (due to lack of driving), tyres and coil pack. Actually quite cheap to run for a 12 year old car...but I baby her

Edited July 4, 2011 by mickey

[w34ponGT]

yeh the cars going to be a weekend driver and i will baby her to, but after paying full price and then to rebuild the engine would kill me, id rather buy a blown rb26 for cheaper and rebuild it anyway, but yeh its a big decision as they 99% of the time get driven hard..oh well decisions decisions

[Iron Chef]

Oddly enough, buying from Japan gives you a better chance of getting a car with legit kms than buying one locally. At least you can get the export certificate as verification of the kms, even if it doesn't have books.

Like anything, you get what you pay for. If you want something with books, then bump your budget up accordingly and I'm sure your broker will get you something nice.