UK vs Jap Import?

[Darryn]

As some of you may know from other forums, i currently drive a Suzuki Swift 1.5 (http://darrynreeder.com/images/MyNewCar2.jpg), ive only been on the roads 6months now, having passed in January :)

Anyway, time has come to upgrade from the Swift as basically its too slow... I know its not the best reason to upgrade after only having driven for 6months, but i feel im experienced enough for something with a little more grunt.

So, ive narrowed my choices down to the UK Civic Type R (FN2) or Jap Integra Type R (DC5), ive test driven the FN2 and really loved the power delivery and handling, ive had a short blast out in a DC5 and it felt pretty much the same, I will obviously have a proper run in a DC5 before buying either, my concern is the UK vs Jap issue.

Ive had quotes from many insurance companies on a 08plate CTR all coming in at about £1300-£1800, the only company that has so far been able to quote me online on the ITR is Adrain Flux and their quote was £1000... This seemed too cheap to me, so for a comparison i ran a quote thru them for the CTR and it came back at £1800... :confused: This makes no sense, why would a rarer, more powerful, similarly priced car cost SO much less to insure?

What issues am i likely to run into with a Japanese Import? Ive got TDI-North quite local to me that would be doing all the servicing no matter which i buy, their servicing prices are pretty much identical for the CTR and ITR.

Anyone own or driven either car have an opinions on them? going by online reviews and various car forums the DC5 ITR is the better car and pretty much the best FWD car on the market, in my price bracket.

What would you buy in the price bracket? £16k-£18k
Have you had any experiance buying an import car? what kind of things do i need to be wary of? Can you recommend any importers? Currently im looking at importing using www.200bhpcars.com

Sorry for the long post, thanks for any help and advice, Darryn.

[Dr. Z]

The DC5 is a long way better than the Civic. The Civic is good, the DC5 is pretty much the finest FWD car ever made. I suppose the DC5 is just a vastly more focussed "version" of the CTR.

However...

Are you after something faster generally or more focussed? The reason I ask is that normally, either of those cars are pretty gutless unless you thrash them to near death, which is irritating around town (having had a car with similar power delivery!), whereas bigger / more torquey engines feel an awful lot better low down and more often than not have the same sort of power, just a different delivery.

There are plenty of cars that are a step up from your car in your budget that are fun, reliable, well built and are equally as fast. I'm just interested as to why you feel that those two are the car for you (especially after only 6 months of driving, not a judgement thing more of a car experience thing).

[Flibster]

What I would buy for 16-18K?

Off the top of my head *these may be slightly off the wall suggestions - I have a habit of this. :D*

Mazda RX-8 231 in red with the red and black leather interior.
Vauxhall Monaro in yellow.
Lotus Elise
1970's Lotus Elan *this would get you laid ;)*
Smart Brabus Roadster Coupe
Lotus Sunbeam *under 10k - but you'll need to rest to keep it good*
Clio V6 *if you decide you don't like life...*
Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 2 *if you decide you don't like money*
Alfa Romeo GTV
Alfa Romeo GT
Honda NSX

Insurance may be an issue on many of them though. For that money, my choice would come from that list though.

Although, on the initial question. I certainly wouldn't buy a Civic Type-R. Especially the new ones. They have wussied them up and they aren't great to drive.

[Darryn]

The reason behind wanting a Type R, after getting taken for a blast in Dups (of OcUK) old CTR (ep3 iirc) i fell in love (with the car, not Dup). My current driving style is the old "drive it like you stole it" and even in my poxy 100bhp Swift i enjoy a good highrevving spirited drive. From the test drive the FN2 didnt feel any less gutless at low revs than my Swift, and a whole lot more fun when the revs built.

Ive test driven a Golf GTI and Volvo C30R 2.0 and was pretty un-impressed with both.

Some of the suggestions there Flib are great, but, id prefer a newer car for the reliability aspect, which rules out the classics and the Alfas. The Monaro is too big for me, Lotus Elise was on my list until i test drove one out of my local Lotus dealership and it was a dog, ive upped my budget since then but it put me off. My sister had a Smart which blew up on her, that was enough to put me off that brand. I dont like french cars or Fords in general and would prefer to stick to Jap. From that point of view, the RX8 is a great car, the off putting things for me are the high servicing costs due to ****elness and also the RWDness which due to my heavy right foot would no doubt end up killing me sideways. I borrowed my sisters MX5 as i had thought about buying that off her when she replaced it with the Z4M and even that being the lowly old 1.8 was too much fun sideways, first time being accidental coming out of a petrol station and i knew straight away i enjoyed it too much. Also as she is a hairdresser i know it would definately be a proper hairdressers car.

[Belmit]

That money would get you the new MX-5 roadster coupe, which I've grown rather partial to myself over the last few months.

[Flibster]

I found the Golf GTI to be pretty uninspiring as well. TC and ABS kicked in way to early.

I like revvy engines but the Vtec system just annoys me. It's almost like a diesel. No power...then everything in the world... then change gear...

IMHO avoid Toyota. I tried the Celica for a couple of days and it gave me chronic backache. It was also loke stepping into a car form the mid 80's. Cheap and nasty black interior. Although the Yaris and Aygo are pretty good on the other end of the scale.

I did like the Focus ST - the problem I had with it was that if I bought one it would still be a Ford Focus.

Megane RenaultSport F1 R26 230? Very very good cars indeed. One of the few cars that works in yellow. Rapid and compentent. For throwing around the back roads I would certainly consider one of these.

You must have found one of the only Elises thats shagged *that I didn't break...;) * Mostly people crash them and have them badly repaired. From a Lotus dealer it should be pretty good. S1 Elises can be a bit tired now, but a new set of dampers and springs and bushes will sort that out. S2's should still be good.

RX8 servicing is cheap. Surprisingly so I found. There's about 3 moving parts in the engine itself. All it really needs is regular oil changes.

[Muban]

The only thing I found different with regard to insurance on an import was: In the event of repairs they would not povide a courtesy car until they had confirmation that parts were available. This is only really a problem if you have a very rare import where parts are like hens teeth and take months to get on back order. Otherwise it was roughly the same (mine was 2 groups higher than a UK spec but didn't make any real difference to me in terms of cost).

I like revvy engines but the Vtec system just annoys me. It's almost like a diesel. No power...then everything in the world... then change gear...
Personally I've never had this problem, if driven well you won't notice it. The difference of being in and out of lift can be more prounounced in some engines than others though. But for the performance engines I haven't ever found this to be the case. Of course a lot of this will depend a lot on your driving style and how you like to drive as to what suits.

IMHO avoid Toyota.
Couldn't disagree with this more :p I've never had a problem with comfort in any of the Celica Gens and they are very fun cars to drive. As for looks and interiors, well again that is personal taste :)

I would personally recommend Hondas and Toyotas to anyone wanting a rock solid reliable engine and a fun car to drive that brings a smile to your face. the thing is it's all about what you like best. Get a list of all the ones you like and them take them out for a good spirited drive. Only you can say what you will think a good car is :)

[Flibster]

Couldn't disagree with this more :p I've never had a problem with comfort in any of the Celica Gens and they are very fun cars to drive. As for looks and interiors, well again that is personal taste :)

The older Celica's were fine - especially the GT4s. This latest gen just seemed so dull inside in comparison with the competition.

Even the Hyundai Coupe has a better interior.

[Muban]

Well the 7th Gen was the weakest of all the Celicas so I guess I can let you away with that one ;)