Buying an import

Some imports have had the odometers wound back. Check that all of the numbers are in a straight line.

Take off the oil filler cap and scrap some oil residue from under the rocker cover with your finger. See if it is thick and sticky. Some Japanese vehicles have spent a lot of their life just idleing and have not had the oil changed very often (if at all !)

Stephen.

The Toyo 3L TD (Should be 3L engine designation) is a good engine. As mentioned previously speedo haircuts are common. My brother in law used to import them and tells me wind backs are the norm. Some imports are fairly fraught with danger, the 2.4ltr surf is known as a dog of an engine with cracked cyl heads being common amongst other things. If you buy it make sure you do regular oil changes,for the 3L engine i would reccomend 5000km intervals. Parts can be an issue with jap imports but most service parts and used parts are fairly abundant.
Don't pay too much, apply your own Jap import discount as the resale is not as good as aus spec cars.

Regards

Greg

Carefull Insurance can sometimes be a bit of a trap !

Other than that you can come across some good deals

Dont do it

Stephen,
people that say "don't do it" without any further advice probably have never owned an import and have a need to be heard, simply to justify their own existence.

I have an import, Nissan terrano. Things to lookout for in an import are:

1. Comprehensive Insurance - may be double. I've only insured mine for third party fire and theft $200. Full insurance was around $1200 on rating 1. For a car that's only worth $6000 I don't know where they get their numbers from.

2. Odometer - don't look at it. Check the condition of the car and engine without looking at the kilometres it has done. Almost all imports have their clocks wound back because their is no legislation preventing them from doing this off-shore (I believe). It would be likely that it has been a city car with lots of idling anyway.

3. Check for availability of parts - All the parts may be available in Aus but on a couple of different vehicles. For example - my car's engine, body, suspension, interior are available in Australia on either the Navara or the pathfinder. Sometimes you have to take the old part to the shop to get them to find the identical one for a different vehicle.

4. Check for rust. Japan uses salt on their roads in winter.

The imports are generally cheaper and in far better condition the local stock. They have options and accessories that were not even available to Australia. If you look and buy carefully you should have no probs with your choice of vehicle.

R