purchasing an actual jdm r?

gsrjigga · Post by **gsrjigga** » March 3rd, 2006, 11:37 am

hope this isnt a waste of a post..

but i was curious.... i was browsin the net for a while and was getting my self convinced to purchase an actual rhd itr and noticed they were goin for like 18k and up!! i mean.. that sounds fair, caz they mostly are low mileage, and rare.. and all that good stuff....

and then, while browsin itrca

... I noticed that there was a post from a guy way over in Tokyo, Japan (TachiTJRS) that showed his Type-rx ... and in that forum, he mentiond that regular itrs go cheap.. and then on HT i found out they for like 6k-10k in japan... ??

if that's the case...... i was wondering, how much would it cost to go there, find one, explore tokyo for a while, and then ship the newly purchased itr and what ever honda goodies i get my hands on back to the us? Has anyone done this before, thought about it? or even done their own research? would this be more cost effective?

if someone knows.. what steps should i take,, and what should i really be lookin for?

are the itr's over in tokyo realy that much cheaper than our UsDm itr's?

this is jus my curious phase... so.. its all out of curiousity for now

Sprockett · Post by **Sprockett** » March 3rd, 2006, 2:23 pm

You could do that...but the car wouldn't be legal here in the US, couldn't be registered (legally), and therefore couldn't be used on public roads. Some people get VINs from wrecked DC2s and transplant them onto the JDM car, but that's very illegal. The cars just haven't been through the same emissions/safety/etc tests...the Japanese have different standards for that stuff and the US doesn't recognize the tests they do as being sufficient for a car to be legal here. The only other way I know of is to get a letter from Honda (not just a dealer...Honda) saying the car OK to be legalized in the US, and good luck with that.

And yes...ITRs are much cheaper, probably because there's a lot more of them over there and because there's no issue with importing or international taxes or anything like that.

gsrjigga · Post by **gsrjigga** » March 3rd, 2006, 2:31 pm

ya.. as far as the resitration thing goes.. ive seen 3 done legally w.o cuttin and pastin vin #'s

hehe.. but yeh.. my main focus is tryin to get one over here.. and after that.. ill bug on of these ht members, or that local shop i know of on how to legalize it... legaly! (ironic, isnt it!)

i jus want to know about customs, shipping fee's and gettin around tokyo to find the right dealer to buy a itr...

Reid · Post by **Reid** » March 3rd, 2006, 9:18 pm

gsrjigga wrote:and then, while browsin itrca ... I noticed that there was a post from a guy way over in Tokyo, Japan (TachiTJRS) that showed his Type-rx ... and in that forum, he mentiond that regular itrs go cheap.. and then on HT i found out they for like 6k-10k in japan... ??

While I agree that you can find ITR's this cheap, personally I bought an "expensive" one as I wanted one in mint condition. I paid ~$18K USD for the car. The ones under $10k are usually 96 Spec's or really beat up 98 Spec's.

With the amount of salt that they put on the roads here during the winter, and the fact that most people can only afford one car, I would be wary of buying a car from Japan. I would much rather have a nice ITR from California, that has never seen snow.

gsrjigga wrote:if that's the case...... i was wondering, how much would it cost to go there, find one, explore tokyo for a while, and then ship the newly purchased itr and what ever honda goodies i get my hands on back to the us? Has anyone done this before, thought about it? or even done their own research? would this be more cost effective?

It's going to be really hard to find a nice example of an ITR in a short amount of time. It took me 3 months to find my ITR. I would count on spending $3-4k just on the trip to Japan alone.

In the end, there's absolutely no advantage to having a JDM ITR in the States as a street car and I do not think it's worth the time or effort.

ã‚³ ãƒ–ãƒ©ã‚¹ã‚¿ · March 4th, 2006, 12:00 am

I second the post above, Japan is WAY overated in terms of cars. As said before you do not want a car from Japan, I looked and looked for 6 months before I found an ITR that was in suitable condition. I'm ashamed at the nieveness of the American public with this JDM thing. (1. It does not offer any advantages. (2. When you get it then what? you will not be able to drive it legally.(3. Coming to Japan to buy a used car that's really a waste of money. If your not a wealthy car collecter traveling here for an exotic car ex.(Skyline Z tune) there's no point. (4. Do you speak japanese or know someone over here because if you don't where will you go? You'll just be busting your own balls without a gameplan. (5. Something like that would only increase your chances of a car thief clipping you 10 fold.(6. Stick to autotrader there are ITR'S for sale every day. Iv'e just gave you a 6 reasons to try more realistic options, I could write more but my hands hurt right now

. Note this is not to knock you, just give you some tidbits of reality Tokyo is extremely expensive so if you haven't been saving or have Japanese girl friend to chill with, you better regroup your game plan.

silver · Post by **silver** » March 4th, 2006, 8:17 pm

gsrjigga wrote:ya.. as far as the resitration thing goes.. ive seen 3 done legally w.o cuttin and pastin vin #'s

hehe.. but yeh.. my main focus is tryin to get one over here.. and after that.. ill bug on of these ht members, or that local shop i know of on how to legalize it... legaly! (ironic, isnt it!)

i jus want to know about customs, shipping fee's and gettin around tokyo to find the right dealer to buy a itr...

1st paragraph- something was not done legally with these cars at some point from leaving port in japan to the dmv mailing the title and reg.

2nd paragraph- i don't see any irony

3rd paragraph- you will spend a couple thousand to ship in a container. then you'll have to pay a duty on top of it for the declared value. then you'll have to figure out some way for customs to allow you to bring the vehicle out of port...since those vehicles are not legal for importation in the u.s.

summary- unless you have over 100k lying around to begin a true importation process that will change laws...you'd be better to either buy one of the 3 that you saw legally registered or get a usdm one.

gsrjigga · Post by **gsrjigga** » March 6th, 2006, 10:59 am

heh.. so .. im guessin.. to conclude..

a waste of a post?

i still want to go to tokyo for a tour..

and i still want an imported jdm car...

but i guess ill stik to jus buyin one thats already here, and find a girl in tokyo to go chill with

StatGSR · Post by **StatGSR** » March 6th, 2006, 7:25 pm

i belive there are companys in the US that import cars and get them legalized first then sell em. you should try to find out more about those companys.

Dawn, Destroyer of Worlds · March 7th, 2006, 1:04 am

Hey! Not sure how you feel about E-Bay, but there is a 96 JDM RHD ITR for sale in Gulf Port, Mississippi and I wanted to point it out to you.It has 38,000 miles, and the highest bid is $5,100 right now.The buy it now price is $19,000 and it is 100% street legal and street driven from what the seller says.May be you should check it out.

Dawn

ninetails · Post by **ninetails** » March 7th, 2006, 11:53 am

ya.. i spoke with him on HT.. i wouldnt spend 19k on a 96, when there is a 98 itr local for 17500..

an still i.. jus curious to see if i can find one cheaper...

gsrjigga · Post by **gsrjigga** » March 7th, 2006, 3:56 pm

ninetails wrote:ya.. i spoke with him on HT.. i wouldnt spend 19k on a 96, when there is a 98 itr local for 17500..

an still i.. jus curious to see if i can find one cheaper...

ya.. id rather buy a 98 for that much, I figure 96-97 should go for no more than 17k

Dawn, Destroyer of Worlds · March 7th, 2006, 7:07 pm

I just thought I'd let you know.Keep the hope alive....

ITRCA

purchasing an actual jdm r?

purchasing an actual jdm r?

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