driving in japan

[Guest reggin]

hello all, i am moving to japan this july as part of a uni exchange program and wondering if it would be worth getting a car while im there, or if id really even need one at all? i will either be in hiroshima or okayama, if i was to get one i was thinking about an r34 gt and bringing it home under the personal import rule, how much would something in decent condition cost on road? any feedback would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

[DaiOni]

if you're in the city you won't need one.

if you're going to buy one you need, effectively, to be there more than one year.

an early r34 turbo is going to cost you, on road, at least 1.5 - 1.8 million (for something worthwhile, though with relatively high kms). The best ones are going to start at the low 2mill mark.

insurance is not going to be cheap, and, if you're going to be there for over a year, there will also be car tax (the first year should be calculated into the initial price).

getting the car home will cost you a packet too - shipping, agents, agents in oz, quarantine, import duty, gst, compliance, then re-rego, stamp duty, etc etc etc... make sure you're aware of all the costs before you contemplate doing it

[Guest reggin]

yeah i'll be there about 13mths and i was looking at getting an r34 gt (non turbo) how much do they sell for? and is a personal import cheaper than someone buying a car from japan who's already in oz?

[DaiOni]

you'd need to buy it straight away (not too hard - I had an r33 by the end of my first week here).

yes - a personal import will be marginally cheaper than buying from an import yard - as you cut out standard compliance (p.i is much less stringent) + their mark-up

there are three big plusses for p.i:

1. you get a car in japan (great if you're in a semi-urban or rural locale)

2. you don't have to comply to ADRs - just safety regs (bald tyres, etc) - so you can get away with a lot more (re: defects)

3. you don't have to put the car back to stock when complying

personally, I think a non-turbo would be a waste of time. You'd be better off buying an older performance car - perhaps an evo V?

[tigeryas]

Hiroshima! hah, i was born there.

it'll be a b!tch driving around a big car like an R34 in japan, that's why i hardly saw any Soarers or Supras there. Just too inconvenient to get around.

Hiroshima - depending on where u live, u probably wont need a car, there are quite a few buses around, if u can catch the Astramline (the monorail) then that's a bonus, they come every 10 mins off-peak and around 3 mins peak time (ie 6-8am, 5-7pm...)

be prepared to pay a bit on getting around though, it can get quite expensive...

[DaiOni]

"it'll be a b!tch driving around a big car like an R34 in japan, that's why i hardly saw any Soarers or Supras there. Just too inconvenient to get around."

I'm going to disagree a little there (for one, being a forester driver here...) - where I live has the worst roads (in terms of width) that I have seen in japan - lots of alleyways, roads where you have to wait for opposite traffic to come past, etc - yet it doesn't stop countless people driving cimas, cefs, crowns - and just about every other v8 lux0barge you can imagine

VIP urge > common sense

[akeenan]

it'll be a b!tch driving around a big car like an R34 in japan, that's why i hardly saw any Soarers or Supras there. Just too inconvenient to get around.

? ? ? um these cars are everywhere.... ???

[tigeryas]

well i didnt see any supras or soarers... *emphasis on I*

just saw a lot of Honda Life's, WagonRs, the small boxy cars. Ok, i saw big cars too, just dont see myself driving around in one thats all.