The Hunt is on...

[alanbradley]

This weekend I drove an 800 mile round trip to try out a car I didn't want to buy.

Crazy, huh? The thing is that there are so few VXs in the UK that one coming up for sale is pretty rare so the chance to try one is not something to be missed. This one had been in the UK since 1999 and had had 3 owners. Not too bad, but the killer for me was that it had no service history whatsoever. Nothing. Rien. Nada. Oh yeah, and being a Scot the price was a bit on the high side (short arms, deep pockets, etc., etc....)

Anyhow, I loved it. It burbled, it cornered flat and in a not-at-all-tall-vehicle way, the Recaro seats were super-comfy (fabric in JDM spec) whilst the Momo wheel was a joy to hold. The slushmatic was smooth and the shifts almost imperceptible whilst the (3.2 litre) engine pulled strongly with a twitch of my right foot.

And it burbled. Better than a 350Z we decided.

So anyhow, I'll be looking for a JDM spec 1999 or later in any colour other than yellow or white (preferably black). An A-bar and chunkier wheels will be desirable ;)

Cheers folks. I know I haven't posted much but I have been reading and absorbing what you've all been saying.

:thumbsup:

Alan

[Joe_Black]

Much luck in your search! ;) Personally I would've snapped up the 3.2 regardless of service history if it looked and sounded good at a personal inspection. I've got a lot of respect for the 3.2 twin-cam as it's proven very robust and has an excellent history. The 3.5 is essentially the same mill, but I've had some great worry-free fun with the 3.2. :)

[thedutchguy]

you lookie for rhd?
Ask Dutchie in Japan If he knows one FS over there? ;Dy;

[alanbradley]

I have friend who's a Japanese Performance Car specialist and he's going to do the importing and registering for me. That gives me some sort of comeback should it go pearshaped whilst costing about the same as the one I looked at at the weekend.

He has a "man in Japan" who test drives and physically views each car too so he only imports mint examples ;)

I'm getting all excited just thinking about it! :lol:

;)

A

[PHO2GR4]

Wow...I'd be excited too. Good for you!

Nothing like getting a VX direct from the source...

Be sure to post some photos in your gallery when you get it, okay? I'd love to be able to see all of the differences between the JDM version and the ones we get here in the Colonies.

Best of luck!

[dutchie]

Yep I can get one at the auction for less than 700.000 yen which is about 6000 us american and around 4000 with around 40000-80000 k. in perfect condition.
sterlinghttp://www.carsensor.net/CSphoto/bn/M/070221/69/H102756690101010101B0001004L.JPG
beautiful in pink or
http://www.carsensor.net/CSphoto/bn/F/070215/71/F162019671L.JPG
orange
http://www.carsensor.net/CSphoto/bn/E/070215/79/H204497790101010101B0001019L.JPG
in silver

Cheers!

[thedutchguy]

Hello Serge,
Glad to know you still visit this forum.
Any luck of you visiting the netherlands shortly?

richard

[alanbradley]

Dutchie, those look great and the prices make sense to me too - jsuat about what my research had picked up.

The orange is actually quite smart...

I just keep flicking through the galleries and grinning. :rolleyes:

Cheers again for all of your replies,

Alan

[alanbradley]

Well, bad news I'm afraid...

It seems that about 18 months ago they moved the goalposts for SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) grey-imports coming into the UK and, as there are hardly any VXs in the UK nobody has had a "model report" done and made it in any way public. This means that to get one in Here I'd be looking at paying about £2700 in testing fees with no guarantee it would pass and having to pay it all again if it didn't. That's on top of Duty (10%), VAT -sales tax- (At 17.5% and applied to the 10% duty too), a standard Ministry of Transport inspection, etc, etc...

What I'm trying to say is that it is in no way viable to import a VX to the UK from Japan. Which is a bugger.

There are only about 50 in the country so I'm now lying low and waiting for a good one to come up. This could take some time...

I;ll let you know how I get on,

Alan :(

[PHO2GR4]

That's bad news, Alan.

Do what I did: Get a 350Z FIRST, and then pick up a VX when one becomes available!

That's the perfect 2-car arrangement...

[Y33TREKker]

Best of luck finding the one you want. Hope it occurs sooner rather than later. All I can say is they're worth the wait. :cool:

[alanbradley]

That's bad news, Alan.

Do what I did: Get a 350Z FIRST, and then pick up a VX when one becomes available!

That's the perfect 2-car arrangement...

lol! You know, you're not the first person to have said that to me! :cool:

Sadly finances only allow the one car so I'll have to substitute "350z" with "diesel Yaris"... :p

Thing is that now I've driven one I know its worth the wait...

A