Buying a used imported Japanese car - anyone done it?

[Barleysugar86]

We need to buy a new car and I'm seeing lots of amazing spec/ low mileage Japanese car imports available. I'm a bit worried about extra costs on insurance/ repair parts/ whether I'll be able to change the language to English/ whether the speedometer will be in mph/ if I'll have trouble with any of the paperwork. You get so much more for your money though!

Has anyone bought one? I'd love to hear whether it's caused you any difficulties or if you thought it was worth it.

I LOVE Japanese import cars and am on my third!

I've had my current one a year and bought it for its practicality and slightly quirky features.

I bought from a dealer who happened to have one in the exact spec I wanted.

Insurance was fine - went with a specialist but Admiral are often recommended too.

I'm first uk owner so all the converting has been done. Got a usb speedo for mph. Display unit thingy is very Japanese but I get by with its randomness. And the parking sensor is a Japanese lady who comes out with various phrases - the kids are quite fond of her now.

Was there a particular model or requirements you had in mind?

I did. Not in Britain it was a Japanese import into Greece. No problems with it at all, it was a dream to drive.

On my 5th- absolutely fantastic.all of them

My daughter had one. She loved it. No problems with insurance etc.

You usually pay a premium for Jap cars so where are you seeing them? It's usually boy racer specials or obscure people carriers like the Alphard.

They need an underseal cos our salty roads rots them.

Don't bother. My mate has an imported van she's converting to a camper van, bespoke to her disabilities. Can't change the language on the radio, so having to pay a fortune to have it replaced as part of the conversion.

Lots of other snags like lack of available parts...

Unless this is literally your only option for an obscure reason, I wouldn't touch it.

It was the VW Touran's (7 seaters) I was really drawn to. We only have the three kids, but how lovely to spread them out on journeys when we don't have much luggage, or to put them next to each other and have all that boot space for camping, or to be able to take the kids plus my parents out on trips in one car now they are getting on a bit.

I never even knew USB speedos were a thing- thank you for your reply t's wonderful to hear it's been positive overall.

Yup, we have one. Great fun, but we love all the little quirks so haven't changed the head unit etc. Parts ok to get, having a mechanically minded DH helps though 👌

They come up a lot on Autotrader. It seems a lot of dealers import the car I was looking at for resale (VW Touran)- I'm seeing hundreds of them available. Certainly not a boy racer, we are in the market for a very boring people carrier 😂

How bizarre, a German Japanese import. They tend to be Japanese models for obvious reasons. Parts should be available as its just a normal car sold on the Jap market rather than a car that was only sold over there. Dependng whos selling it, it should lready be UK registered and clocks changed to mph and mileometer.

If you ask any specifics on Pistonheads forum they can advise you well.