Hi
I am new to this forum , well i been on the site several times for the last year to learn about the RX7 (dream maschine).
I was always a big fan of the Ford Mustang until i saw a RX-7 driving past me since then i cant get this beautiful beast out of my mind. I am saving all my money at the moment and looking to get a RX-7 next year ... i was thinking to spend about 6-10 K for a nice untouched RX. I would not mind if it has minor mods , but i would liek to start my baby from start and mod it to what i would like it to be.
I was wondering if you could help me with something i been reading about importing a RX from Japan , but i am not to sure about it as i dont like to see my money go to the other side of the planet without having even seen the car in the flesh. To my questions .... How safe is it to import from japan , what do i have to look out for when getting it are there any hidden charges when importing ??
Thanks for you help guys .....next year i\'ll be one of you guys driving the ultimate dream .....
Hi and welcome.
I am not the most knowledgable person on here but I have owned 4 import jap cars in the last 6 years so I have done a fair bit of research.
I expect (like me) the main reason you are looking at importing yourself is the price. No mark-up from a 3rd party between you and your dream vehicle. It\'s normal to want to do that :)
Importing the car yourself will be cheaper, no doubt about it but its not without its pitfalls.
Importing a car sight unseen has many problems.
You can use one of the many import/auction sites on the net (isicar.com etc) and go off their reports. Most will provide a rear and front view of the cars plus an auction sheet showing mods, damage etc.
This is great but the bottom line is thats only a superficial check. No one has driven the car and no one is saying how it sounds/feels.
The damn car could be a beauty, 100% original etc, but it could still be 2 minutes from rotor failure.
There is no 100% sure way of knowing unless the car is inspected or driven - so importing is a lottery in that respect. Also there have been a few horror stories of people paying for cars with stereos and or expensive rare wheels/body kits only to find when they pick the vehicle up they are missing or replaced with nasty cheap bits (somewhere in transit....)
Then again you can get a beauty cheap and have no problems - its a lottery really.
A good way to go would be to use a company like Newera (see vendor links above) who will look for the car you want AND when they find it, check it out for you with someone in japan, rather than just hoping it a good one.
This will cost more - but a 3rd party will usually guarantee the car etc.
Bottom line is - you takes your chances when importing to a degree.
A specialist import company might help.
Hope thats a little helpfull.
(the only reason I didnt do it myself on the RX7 is:
A. I am impatient and couldnt wait 2 months for import.
B. I bought a members car off here. Gave me peice of mind)
Thanks very much for the info Agroupuk , yeah sounds like i might have to get a third party involved or just get a Car from the UK.
To be honest i am abit like you i could not wait 2 months either to get the car important , also i think i need a test drive in the car to really get the feel of it and fall in love with .....(which should not be to hard)
Could you maybe tell me , what do you think i would get if i would spend 6K in the UK for an RX. Is there like a list where they would say for this money you can expect this kind of car ??
Thanks
Also could anyone tell me what the RX7 Efini difference is , i saw a post where they explained about the bathhurst and all other RX-7\'s but not the Efini ....
Hi,
In answer to what you can get for 6K. I brought an R2 on an M with 35,000miles on the clock. Jap srv book (Which means nothing to me) but no UK history about 2 months ago which was advertised for £6500 and I paid £6100.
I had to travel and looked at a couple of nails prior to that but if ya careful it is possible.
Hope this helps
Chid
As far as I am aware the Efini badge is purely the jap mazda badge - no difference. (I think, although jap ones may have a little more power - I wait to be corrected)
As for 6k - I would take a look at the cars for sale on here first - buying one from an educated member is much, much better than buying it from someone off the street. Just do some homework on the seller (i.e. check out thier previous posts to see they havent been asking about rotor failure symptoms etc. Sneaky I know - but worth doing)
You will have to travel a bit to find a good un. Dont be too impatient.
Quote from: KaiserCould you maybe tell me , what do you think i would get if i would spend 6K in the UK for an RX. Is there like a list where they would say for this money you can expect this kind of car ??
I doubt there is a list as prices seem to be very variable at the moment, plus the RX market seems to have slowed right down.
I\'ve just been to RoTechniks last weekend and your 6k would buy you an extremely nice, extremely clean and completely standard one with the usual dealer backup. I have driven it and it\'s very, very good. But the wrong colour for me (red).
You could go the other way and try to pick up a standard car on fleabay - there tend to be quite a lot of them advertised around 3-4k, sometimes even cheaper. Check it out, take someone with you who knows these cars etc blah blah. Keep the rest of the money in a decent savings account for an engine rebuild/refresh when necessary and you\'ve also got a 6k car.
Option number 3 is to find one that\'s got a duff engine but is good otherwise and cart it to a reputable specialist for an immediate rebuild. Downside is that you often can\'t drive the car so there may be other issues hidden away, but it\'ll be the cheapest option to get one with a warranty\'d engine if you buy the right car.
I\'m currently looking into option (3) as RoTechniks have a car in my preferred colour that does need an engine rebuild so I\'m hoping I can get the car, engine rebuild and a couple of sensible breathing mods (mostly on the exhaust side) for around 6k. If that doesn\'t come off I\'ll probably look into the second option I described above.
Hey guys
Thanks to Agroupuk , RX& R2 & elford tim
Your info is very helpful , towards my RX-7 ... yeah i think i need to take it slow and look at my options .... Might get my girl to sell her MGTF and get me a RX :Laugh ...... i just wanne get into this car today and feel the power ....
Thanks for your help guys ....