No more imports?

[mr butter]

Hi,

I'm new to the site as I'm looking to get hold of my first Beat! The cars I've seen for sale are few and far between, and seem to need work - unfortunately while I love to tinker and do my own servicing I really need something I can drive for a couple of years without performing major surgery every other weekend! I was checking the past import threads which seemed quite promising for a low km example, anyone doing imports at the moment?

Regards

Butter

[john s]

Hi and welcome

Best of luck in your search for a Beat. Just thought I'd mention that there are some Beats in excellent running order currently for sale in this country - on this site even! I'm not knocking imported cars (after all, all our cars were imported at some time!) but at least you can see and try what your getting before you buy a UK Beat. Plus all the fiddly paperwork has already been taken care of.

Regarding reliability - these are Honda cars and have usually been maintained by enthusiasts - all the Beats I've seen in UK have been lovingly restored and kept in A1 condition. You do have to remember tho' that most Beats are around 15 yrs old, so things do wear out and need replacing/repairing. A lot depends on how you look after them - the Beat is a simple, undemanding little car which certainly doesn't (or shouldn't) require major surgery every weekend if you take reasonable care of it.

regards

john s

[Wh1teLeopard]

I aggree if you take care of them then they will last you well. Mine wasn't well looked after, the clutch fluid was empty, my steering wheel loose and the whole front passenger side was badly repaired after an accident. Oh and they hadn't bothered to replace the head gasket.

If you're going on what's been said on here all the posts like 'my head gasket has gone' 'i need.... part' don't forget no-one ever posts 'my car's running a-ok' :p

I don't know much about importing them, i know it's a lot of work and can sometimes cost more.

I don't think you should be too turned off by a fix me beat, because once you've done the work it really really pays off.

[LawrenceHarding]

Practical Performance Car magazine due out 26th Jan is supposed to include an article on importing a car from Japan. My copy hasn't arrived yet. Check it out at the bookstall.

[LawrenceHarding]

I've now read the article. They quote the following websites www.japan-partner.com, www.cbn.ne.jp/e and powervehicles,com .
Their deal was done with "Andrew@powervehicles.com". The car in question was a NISMO-kitted 1991 Nissan Silvia QS priced around £1200. Quoting from the article "Andrew vouched for the quality of the conversion, inspected the whole car and e-mailed me the photos and a 50Mb video of the car running." For a total payment of £1500 which included the purchase price Andrew also arranged deregistration and shipping. Shipping costs were an additional £400 and UK taxes £360. There is to be more next month which I would hope includes how to get it registered etc in UK.

[LawrenceHarding]

This site http://www.japaneseauctions.co.uk/index.php has loads of info forum etc . Register (user name, E mail and password ) and you can get access to auction listings with photos and auction sheets (in Japanese) they do however have a vehicle diagram showing body damage in a comprehensible form. I understand auction sheets can be translated for a modest fee.
At time of posting there were 14 Beats listed.

[mr butter]

Hi, thanks for the info and advice, it has really helped.

I checked the auctions and past prices. It seeems UK cars represent good value once all the shipping, taxes and hassle are taken into account! I guess it would be worth importing an exceptional car, but that would be out of my price range....

I'm checking autotrader etc, and there are some cars available nationally, but too far for a casual viewing. Ebay has a nice silver Beat that looks affordable. It has done 160k km, but has had a recent engine rebuild is this too much mileage (I'm thinking driveshafts, gearbox etc)? Last time I looked it was £1500 with a couple of days to go. I'm particularly after a silver one to please the missus, so I'm quite interested. Anyone know the car?

Regards

Butter