I am thinking of buying a Lexus IS 200 but have noticed that I can also buy a Japanese import Toyota called Altezza RS200 which is pretty much the same car but with a much much better engine. They tend to be much lower mileage and in fact less money for the same reg/spec car. the only downside I can see is most have cloth interior rather than Half leather.

Has anyone got experience with this car or other japanese imports and what are the pros and cons when buying a Japanese import. I gather that insurance might be more. What about repairs/parts etc.

I picked up my Subaru direct from the auction at the docks and samed a fair bit. They did have some Altezza's there, six speed with a nice dash and the beams engine.

Parts are not too bad as they did a celecia with that engine in the UK. Find a good forum and your should have no problems.

[Edited on 28/6/07 by rusty]

seconded on the forum front, I've had 2 imported MR2 Turbos and they are generally great, but watch to make sure an SVA has been done, that the tyres are correctly marked and that VAT has been paid on import. Japanese imports generally don't have underseal either so that's something to think about...

hth

Rusty,

What do you mean by the auction at the docks? Can you give me details? Did you have to get the SVA yourself? Any other tips would be great too.

Cad monkey,

What do you mean by correctly marked tyres?

Speed ratings for tyres in Japan are different to the ones here, and if the car has Japanese domestic tyres it will fail an MOT and therefore the SVA.

You can go to docks like Southampton and some in Eire and buy cars straight off the boat from Japan, going this route can save you a lot of money on the initial purchase price but you are then on your own when it comes to converting, SVA'ing, MOT'ing and registering the car; so you'd have to:

Convert Speedo to MPH
Fit Foglight
Check/replace tyres
convert radio
Have SVA
MOT
Register showing VAT etc. has been paid.

HTH

quote:

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Originally posted by Keith Weiland
the only downside I can see is most have cloth interior rather than Half leather.

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While I remember, I was once told that the reason Jap imports are more pricey to insure is that insurers claim that parts can be difficult to get hold of from Japan - I never found this with my MR2's as the engine was the same as the Celica GT4 and the bodywork is identical to the uk model.

Be aware though, that on some imports like the Supra Mk4 the Jap version had smaller, less powerful discs!!

Ok, thanks for the info. I think it would be a lot of trouble to do all of that when there are many which have already been done. I wonder how much I could save. I would have to be able to buy an Altezza for less than £2k to make it worth my while I would think.