Here are a bunch of case studies. If you have had an experience that you think others would benefit from hearing, drop me an email. My address is on the main page. I'm particularly interested in facts that would help a person decide whether to import a car or to buy locally. I'd also be very interested in stories from anyone who went through a Japanese agent or who imported an unusual vehicle - such as a motorbike, a commercial vehicle or a race car. Any unexpected costs? Any problems obtaining spares or getting rego?
Me: My car finally arrived in Australia and was complianced by SSPI (Southside Performance Imports) in Sydney. It's a 1989 Skyline GTR that became eligible for import under the '15 year rule' in December 2004. Of course, it got caught up in the Christmas holiday slowdown, which at least meant I only have to pay the 10% customs duty, not the old 15%, but it's finally here, and finally registered. Before going for my registration check I had the suspension adjusted so I had a legal ride height. I had read about the ACT registration people being very serious about this in the forums in Shogun Club Division, the site for an ACT based group of Japanese performance enthusiasts. I was only knocked back on the tinting being too dark. That was it. Whew!
Now that the importing is over and done with, I would have to award full marks to Craig and Ben from J-Spec, and to Nicki from Seaway Logistics for keeping me in the loop and answering all my endless questions cheerfully. I also have to put in a plug for Todd from Cool Rides, a mobile tinting service in Canberra. He stuck to his original quote, even though it took over 4 hours to clean off the old tinting. You don't often find people with that much integrity. He did a great job too. In fact, everyone seems to have done a good job on the car so far, except the suspension people. The car seems a bit vague in its steering, but that's probably only just an adjustment.
Advice 1: Get as much as possible organised before you hand over your money. Once an agent or dealer has your money they seem to concentrate more on new customers.
Advice 2: Once you get your car, use the local network to find out who the good tradespeople are.
Advice 3: Check the boost and general condition before you give your new car a good run. I had mine tuned, and they found something wrong with the boost tubes. This ran the turbos at 24 pounds boost. I thought it seemed to be putting out a lot of power :). Something similar happened to my close friend (below). From memory, his problem was split hoses. Whatever the reason, the lesson is the same -you can quickly do permanent damage. I was lucky I didn't. Do yourself and your car a favour. Get it tuned and carefully checked before you do anything. It goes without saying that you should also replace all fluids, check all hoses and belts etc. This service will help it run safely and reliably, and the tune will help your car cope with lower octane Australian fuel. Those probably sound like motherhood statements, but this page is trying to state the obvious.
Update: No wonder the steering felt a little vague. The two rear shock absorber mounts, the control arms, and the pillow bearings on top of all four Quantum coilover shocks are worn. That could be just a little expensive. Oh - and I'm still trying to figure out why the turbos feel as though they are fighting each other from around 2,000 to 4,000rpm, after which the car takes off like a rocket. You guessed.... it could be expensive. Sigh.
Update June 2005: I'm told the Quantum shocks have dual cylinders with low pressure gas, which gives a nice ride on the road, and is still firm on the track. I contacted TRIAL Japan who are agents for Quantum, and they have some useful stuff, if you can read Japanese. Take a deep breath before you ask the price on new shocks, and the company say that they can only be repaired in Japan. But we'll see... :)
Update July 2005: I'm having the shocks reconditioned by The Shockabsorber Reconditioners in Queensland. The shafts have nicks on them which is cutting the seals. They're getting the shafts of two of the shocks replated, and polishing the nicks out of the other two. All up the reconditioning will cost about $850 ($550 to recondition, $220 to polish, the balance for postage etc). At the end they won't even give me a warranty! They also say that two of the pillow top mounts are worn. They hope they can tighten the bearings up with a little machining. Fingers crossed. I also had my control arms replaced by adjustable units. At the end of all this I should have the suspension back to standard. Or have a set of dud shock absorbers. Did I point out about how money starts flowing once you start fixing these cars?
A close friend: His story is not a happy one. He did all the right things - he researched the subject closely, followed the market, built up a rapport with the agent, selected the type of car he wanted, then bought a bargain offered by the agent. It came from Yahoo Japan and the description was excellent. Sadly, the car was not. Also, it was not inspected before purchase. It is now over half a year since he received the car, and he is still trying to get it on the road. MUCH money, much frustration, and it is still not registerable. Nothing went right. The compliance was quoted as $1,200 but cost $2,000. The 'minor smoke problem' was a 'MAJOR smoke problem'. Both turbos had to be rebuilt (one had blown its turbine wheel out through the exhaust). The intercooler was full of oil. Parts were really hard to get, and prices were outrageous. The oxygen sensors did not work. The ECU wiring was a mess. The tow point had been ground off. The bumper only had two screws holding it on (instead of about 10). The turbos took days to remove and replace (hint: take the engine out if you are considering this).
Update: IT LIVES! 167KW at the wheel at moderate boost. It is finally on the road but still needs the two rear rims replaced or repaired, and it has a rather ominous noise in the diff. The engine is getting better and better as it frees itself up.
My friend's best piece of advice would be to get an independent report before buying the car, and to have an agreement with the agent about what happens if 'things go wrong'.
A work colleague: He has owned three imported cars. One was water damaged on receipt. One had a problem that took a couple of different mechanics and $4,000 to solve (a faulty air sensor). His Soarer broke a door lock and locked his wife out of the car. He finally has them all working well, but is trying to cut down the number of cars he owns, and is having trouble selling either his Soarer or his Skyline (maybe he should have sold them while they still had problems - a lot of people seem to do that with their imports). Soarer prices in particular seem to be dropping fast.
Update: He sold his Soarer at a ruinous loss. Well, he thinks the buyer paid too little and the buyer probably thinks he paid too much. Now the Skyline is on the block. He's downgrading to something with better fuel economy.
His advice: either don't do it, or buy through a dealer and get a warranty! He also points out that imported cars are not the bargains they once were, and that you may lose lots of money selling them on a slow market (hmmm - sounds like the problem with new cars...).
An ex-next door neighbour: He loves his Soarer. He has never had any problems with it. It has lots of luxury features that are not available in Australian cars of a similar cost, and a superb understressed V8 engine. He considers it a bargain and would not part with it.
Chris from Canberra: (his words). After owning a Honda S600, Datsun Fairlady 1600 and an MX5 in my pre kid years I decided I wanted a convertible again but needed back seats. I saw a Silvia convertible in Cairns. After ringing a few car yards and importers I was under the impression that they were very rare, but I could get one for around $15,000 in as-new condition. This seemed like a bargain compared to the few other 4 seater convertible options like a BMW, Golf or Peugeot 306. I decided on SVI and paid a deposit. Finally after about 5 months a car came up that was already in Australia but unregistered. SVI checked it out and said it was in better condition than normal so worth the agreed price of $19,200. That was the full price for a complied but unregistered car delivered to my house. As it had previously been registered I had less hassles than expected to get it registered so I was on the road after a few repairs, stamp duty and rego for $21,500.
Three weeks after owning it, it blew a head gasket. I had really wanted a manual so I took the car to EVO Motorsport who fixed the headgasket and replaced the gearbox and radiator, which ended up costing $4600. The car has been very reliable for the last 2.5 years and I hope it will be reliable for the next fair few years.
Apart from the initial mechanical issues the other disappointing thing was the overall presentation of the vehicle. The outside was OK but has more faded and chipped sections of paint than I am really happy with. The inside was also the plain grey that the Japanese liked in the late 80's and was rather worn. I bought new S14a seats from Crow on the Shogun club and ended up spending more money having the car fully retrimmed in a cream leatherette.
All up I have spent about $31,000 on the car and I doubt I will get much of that back if I sold it. I am now happy with the car and really enjoy driving it, especially now it is a manual. I would like it to look a bit newer, but I am not sure if a respray is worth it. I think it could make the car look great, but as I drive the car to Civic for work I am not sure it will look great for long before it gets the odd car park ding here and there.