Sourcing A Jap Import Altezza

[zeo]

greetings,

i am a new visiter to your great website. however, i am not a owner... yet.

looking very hard for a good one at the moment.

can someone tell me the pros and cons for auctioning one straight from japan?

i personally prefer to see it, touch it, test drive it before buying it.

how many people got their altezza from a jap auction. also, do you guys know any good, reliable agent/dealer in new zealand?

thanks for your help. really looking forward to be a owner.

[greeneyes]

Welcome to the club Zeo.

No shortcuts available I'm afraid.

Least likely to get ripped off- Buying a Signature car from a Toyota Dealer.

Most likely to get ripped off- Buying a car that you've never seen.

Cheapest- buying a car you've never seen from Japan through pvte "dealer".

Most expensive... that Signature car from the Toyota dealer!

Friend of mine bought a red hot Supra while he was in Japan, picked it, drove it & paid for it. When it arrived it was NOT the car he had paid for!

After some problems with investing overseas, I now NEVER deal with anyone I can't take a baseball bat to! Other than that, its all gambling.

So, good luck with your search. Maybe Matt can send you one from HK!

Keith

[Muzza]

:D Hey Zeo where you from dude. I got mine straight from the importer. It was in the country so i could see it touch andtest it. Not only that it was about three grand cheaper than any i'd seen on the car yard's at the time

[jasestu]

I'm also still in the hunt for an RS200, haven't seen any particularly good examples in the past couple of months, but still have my eyes open... If anyone knows of some in the Bay of Plenty region please point me in their direction...

Cheers,

Jason.

[greeneyes]

I put LOC cards on three in a dealer's yard by the start of Old Taupo Rd in Rotorua yesterday. "Sports cars" or "Performance Cars" or something like that. Left-hand side going South just before the lights at the road that goes to Paradise Valley.

Very standard tho'. I don't think any of them were modified.

You could ask Wayne Richards (ceo@tr.toyota.co.nz) if they have anything in Paeroa that he would be willing to bring down and show you. (or coming through the factory in Thames) That's where I bought Greeneyes from, after he bought it up to Auckland for me to see.

keith

[jasestu]

I'm heading over to Waihi this week, so I might take a hoon through the gorge to Paeroa... Gotta be a good stretch of road for test driving an Altezza...

[KiwiMR2]

It's ashame you guys feel that way, Iv'e imported a few cars and so far have been very happy with the quality of the vehicles and obviously the price :)

I'll admit there is always a risk buying a car you have only seen pics of but if you have someone over there that you trust that can check those little things for ya then it's a good way to save $$ as well all know how much mark up the yards put on there cars ;)

For example me and a mate whom I work with get offered cars all the times....like this little beauty:

1999 Toyota Altezza Turbo

6 speed manual

67,000 kms

2 litre DOHC, air conditioning, power steering, 17Inc alloys, stereo, power windows, dual air bags, HKS adjustable suspension.

17" AVS MODEL 7

Trust Greddy exhaust

Zard fuel hoses

Gauges

Aftermarket ecu (Im unsure at this point exactly what but it is tuned already & Im guessing you would need to run the car on 98 ONLY)

Blitz ebc

Driver side recaros

Apex turbo timer

Greddy fmic

I HAD PICS HERE WHICH I CAN PUT UP IF ANYONE WANTS TO SEE :)

Now Im in the position to have the above here and on the road for about $25K NZ. Im SURE you'd be hard pressed to find anything like that availible here. At this point were not bringing it in as...well we just don't need it but if someone was intrested we could. More out of intrest than anything else I have asked him what BRAND of aftermarket ecu it's running.

So if you have someone you trust or someone there who can just double check the condition of the car etc It's a nice option. Some other examples, I just got in a 1996 Legnum ST-R with 81,000 kms...all the usual electrics etc lowered here and on the road for about $8000 nzd's, it was such a good deal my in-laws took it :) I got in a 1996 Glanza S in for my missus a year or two back with 69,000 km's for about $8000 nzd's...at the time the same thing if you could find one went for about $13,000.

Before the Glanza we brought a 1994 GT-Z Tureno freshly imported from an LMVD yard in Auckland.....within 2 weeks we were in a situation where the car had deeper underlying structual damage that was picked up during compliance but not repaired properly. Withen a month we asked for our money back but ended up having an un-usable car in our garage for around a year...$1500.00 in repair + investiagtion bills, plus all the uneccesary junk that goes in withen the court process. In the end we won and got our money back, and the certifier shut down but it was not a plesent experiance and a waste of time.

So there ya have it..... :)

Cheers

KiwiMR2

Just something to keep in mind :)

[jasestu]

For example me and a mate whom I work with get offered cars all the times....like this little beauty:

1999 Toyota Altezza Turbo

6 speed manual

67,000 kms

2 litre DOHC, air conditioning, power steering, 17Inc alloys, stereo, power windows, dual air bags, HKS adjustable suspension.

[snip]

Sounds like a nice machine... There are certainly advantages to picking up a car that way, as long as you can have someone reliable do an inspection. It's a lot of money to 'risk', hence why most people are prepared to pay the extra $$$ for something that they can physically see etc etc...

I'll have to see if I've got any contacts in Japan to inspect that vechical... :)

[DRIFTO]

Hi Zeo,

I recently picked up my RS200 Z-Edition (E Shift) Metallic Mica Grey, that has only done 58,000km from Toyota Signature Class in Albany, comes with a 2 year unlimited km warranty, which is always a plus to pay a little extra and those dudes will mint up the car, my whole car looks brand spanking new from the outside to inside to the underside to the engine bay. They touch up the paint work, service the car thoroughly, replace any faulty bits...etc. (Can't tell that the car is used unless you see the odometer) I didn't have to pay too much from the average market price...and the best thing is, you can still mod the car and it will not void the warranty (unless if the fault is attributed to faulty installation or because of the mods done) - if you want to see pics of me car just email me

Cheers

DRIFTO

[AltezzaScott]

Welcome to the club Zeo.

No shortcuts available I'm afraid.

Least likely to get ripped off- Buying a Signature car from a Toyota Dealer.

Most likely to get ripped off- Buying a car that you've never seen.

Cheapest- buying a car you've never seen from Japan through pvte "dealer".

Most expensive... that Signature car from the Toyota dealer!

Friend of mine bought a red hot Supra while he was in Japan, picked it, drove it & paid for it. When it arrived it was NOT the car he had paid for!

After some problems with investing overseas, I now NEVER deal with anyone I can't take a baseball bat to! Other than that, its all gambling.

So, good luck with your search. Maybe Matt can send you one from HK!

Keith

Surely can`t be that bad to import one to NZ??

I regualrly import them to clients over here in the UK... Not had a single complaint yet!

I`m sure there must be trustworthy import agents in NZ?... if not i might have to consider moving!!! lol