UK vs Jap Import?

[Darryn]

As some of you may know from other forums, i currently drive a Suzuki Swift 1.5, 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... 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.