New IS-F Member

[Matthew1995]

Hi Everyone

Finally pulled the trigger and have started the import of a IS-F in Ultrasonic Blue Mica,

Looking forward to the future meets when everything is normal! 

[scudney]

Hello Matthew and welcome to the LOC,hoping you find the forum educational and informative. Hoping  importation process all goes okay 👍

[Mr Vlad]

Nice one Matthew. How come importing one or was colour top of your list and none available here. Tell us more about it and where its coming from. You'll have to tell us about insuring it and if there's any additional cost. 

[Matthew1995]

12 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Nice one Matthew. How come importing one or was colour top of your list and none available here. Tell us more about it and where its coming from. You'll have to tell us about insuring it and if there's any additional cost. 

Mainly Decided to Import due to the age, knowing that they are in better condition from japan than Here Most of the time, 

The colour was an added bonus as its personally my favourite! , 

As for the car itself it is completely stock other than the wheels, comes with a sunroof which I'm not sure was a option over here? its a 2008 model with 45k miles which if very good for its ages. 

insurance I haven't sorted out yet as it is just a the japan port but hopefully will not be too bad with a specialist 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Oh so from Japan. From what I've seen the Japanese imported cars the radio buttons are in Japanese. Is that the case with what you're getting? Great looking car tho.

[Matthew1995]

23 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Oh so from Japan. From what I've seen the Japanese imported cars the radio buttons are in Japanese. Is that the case with what you're getting? Great looking car tho.

Unfortunately yes they are in Japanese which isn't too bad as I want to update the console with with the Facelift version with Bluetooth etc (if i can find one) Or Do the tablet style   

[Linas.P]

Sunroof was the option in UK, apart of that most UK car came all fully loaded. Not sure if the same is the case for JMD, but I am certain that US cars had much more paid extras, compared to UK ones where they just included as standard.

Considering this is early example, I just wondering how much it costs in Japan to justify the costs of importing it and potentially higher insurance (although probably cheaper road tax).

[Matthew1995]

22 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Sunroof was the option in UK, apart of that most UK car came all fully loaded. Not sure if the same is the case for JMD, but I am certain that US cars had much more paid extras, compared to UK ones where they just included as standard.

Considering this is early example, I just wondering how much it costs in Japan to justify the costs of importing it and potentially higher insurance (although probably cheaper road tax).

As Far as I know JDM Versions are the same the only options I could fine are sunroof and rear fog light?

True it is probably more expensive than getting a 2008 with 45kmiles here but the condition will be much better to most

out of interest how much would you this car would be worth if it was a UK model

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

6 hours ago, Matthew1995 said:

Mainly Decided to Import due to the age, knowing that they are in better condition from japan than Here Most of the time, 

The colour was an added bonus as its personally my favourite! , 

As for the car itself it is completely stock other than the wheels, comes with a sunroof which I'm not sure was a option over here? its a 2008 model with 45k miles which if very good for its ages. 

insurance I haven't sorted out yet as it is just a the japan port but hopefully will not be too bad with a specialist 

 

Hi.

If you need any help with insurance at all when you're ready then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[Linas.P]

On 2/16/2021 at 3:20 PM, Matthew1995 said:

As Far as I know JDM Versions are the same the only options I could fine are sunroof and rear fog light?

True it is probably more expensive than getting a 2008 with 45kmiles here but the condition will be much better to most

out of interest how much would you this car would be worth if it was a UK model

Not sure why you so determined JMD car would be in better condition? I assume Japanese are following strict service routine? But in that case just find car in UK with FLSH, cannot be that different. As well Japan has sometimes harsh winters, salted roads, narrow and often rough roads (many mountain roads) and if car is driven in the city then it is not good either, short journeys never good. And being 12 years old and only 45k miles just proves it was driven on short distances, maybe even tracked (actually looking at wheels - likely tracked).

Obviously, we all would like to believe in the dream that car was owned by pensioner who just wiped the dust and drove to the church on Sunday (or whatever are Japanese customs).

It is hard to say how much 2008 car would cost in UK now as it is rare car, what I can say that relatively low mileage car like that never costed less than ~14k, at their lowest point ~ 3-4 years ago, 2008 and 80-100k miles cars were going as low as £10k, lower miles probably could have been bought for £14k. Nowadays they increased in value, so my guess would be 16-17k maybe if you lucky to find one.

However again, I don't understand why people value low mileage. Low mileage is indicative of many short journeys, many engine cycles (cooling, heating) and that is what wears down the car. Just starting the car in the morning and going for 1 mile to the store and then starting it again and going back, probably does as much wear as just staring the car and driving it for 200miles straight on motorway - probably exaggerating a little bit, but it is the starting and "engine cycles" which counts, not miles.

Well... at least that is my experience and opinion, but I do see that many people in UK only cares about mileage as if lowest mileage is always most desirable. 

[Matthew1995]

Better images, wheels need re-furb (not sure if i am changing yet) but other than that it looks great! 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Really really nice looking car Matthew. Personally speaking I'd dechrome the grill to a satin black. As to what Linas stated about older low mileage cars take that with a pinch of salt. Why? I have a friend whose been a taxi driver for over 30 years. He has taxi driving friends too. So you can imagine just how many stop starts those cars have had. Oh and guess what. No issues what so ever. The friend has only had a few cars in that time each covering over 3.5k miles and each car still rather sweet as a nut. Yes those cars were looked after with regular servicing. So just coz your new car has only 45k miles. Don't worry. Its probably just run in.

Before you get the car I recommend you buy 2 bottles of ZX1. 1 bottle treats 2.5 litre engines that's why you'll need 2. When you finally get the car before you drive it home pour the ZX1 into the engine oil. It's the best thing you'll do ever to that car.

[Matthew1995]

 

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

Really really nice looking car Matthew. Personally speaking I'd dechrome the grill to a satin black. As to what Linas stated about older low mileage cars take that with a pinch of salt. Why? I have a friend whose been a taxi driver for over 30 years. He has taxi driving friends too. So you can imagine just how many stop starts those cars have had. Oh and guess what. No issues what so ever. The friend has only had a few cars in that time each covering over 3.5k miles and each car still rather sweet as a nut. Yes those cars were looked after with regular servicing. So just coz your new car has only 45k miles. Don't worry. Its probably just run in.

Before you get the car I recommend you buy 2 bottles of ZX1. 1 bottle treats 2.5 litre engines that's why you'll need 2. When you finally get the car before you drive it home pour the ZX1 into the engine oil. It's the best thing you'll do ever to that car.

Thank you I'm very excited! coming for the beginning of may! yeah there is a few thinks I want to do, never been a fan of chrome, there is loads on my volvo and just think it ruins the look , 

I am , there is always the argument that low mileage on big engines is a bad thing as it could mean a lot of short trips etc, but with how expensive cars like this are to run in japan I'm more leaning too, weekend car/toy  which again has its good and bad sides but will hopefully mean it was looked after extremely well like I will be doing. 

thank you for the advice on the ZX1 I will have a look into it!

 

[Linas.P]

5 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

As to what Linas stated about older low mileage cars take that with a pinch of salt.

I didn't say it will be somehow bad, I am sure it being Lexus it will be absolutely fine, I am just not convinced that JMD cars are in better condition than UK cars... and the only way I can understand this claim is being the lower mileage. And to that extent I am just saying mileage is not everything.

The car looks nice... I mean it is IS-F, little but dirty, but after detailing it will look superb!

Sorry, I didn't meant to sour your purchase and I am sure it will be amazing car to own. I was just surprised with claim JMD cars are much better condition than UK ones. Would be interesting to know why you think that, perhaps you have some research to share which would benefit everyone.

[Matthew1995]

22 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

sorry, I didn't meant to sour your purchase and I am sure it will be amazing car to own. I was just surprised with claim JMD cars are much better condition than UK ones. Would be interesting to know why you think that, perhaps you have some research to share which would benefit everyone.

One of the main advantages of buying from japan is they don't salt there roads ( other than in the north ) meaning if you get a south car they are much cleaner underneath with no road salt to rot away at everything, which yes can be achieved here by not driving in the winter but unlikely to still be in the same shape,

Also another major point is with a car like this the costs are much higher than here as it is all based on engine size ( why they have .6L Kei cars ) so a car like this is more likely to be looked after.  also on they are a lot more stringent on the servicing and MOT , 

Plenty of information google 

obviously like buying any car it can be a game of chance, but for me the no salt is a winner , especially when the cost  of the car is pretty close to a UK one 

[steve2006]

I have a JDM import bought back in 2006 with 62,000Km certified, still hasn’t hit 100,000 miles.

No rust anywhere and still going strong.

Recently been looking myself to import but prices have recently gone through the roof, even more so when you add in the shipping/insurance, import duty and VAT then the hassle of registration, MOT ( it will need a rear fog light conversion please don’t stick one under the rear bumper integrate it into the rear cluster).

Fortunately I avoided all that as I bought the car in the UK. 

They do have some quirks, along with Japanese controls look for the “Flare Tube” under the passenger foot well and hopefully the complete lack of any EGR system which is not required in Japan.

[Matthew1995]

16 hours ago, steve2006 said:

I have a JDM import bought back in 2006 with 62,000Km certified, still hasn’t hit 100,000 miles.

No rust anywhere and still going strong.

Recently been looking myself to import but prices have recently gone through the roof, even more so when you add in the shipping/insurance, import duty and VAT then the hassle of registration, MOT ( it will need a rear fog light conversion please don’t stick one under the rear bumper integrate it into the rear cluster).

Great to hear! Hopefully mine will manage the same as i can't see me selling it ever if it doesnt get all rusted, 

I will be changing the rear lights with Vland (i think) so that should sort out the fog light issue