Another awaiting newbie on the lookout

[Mikel_L]

Oh another question, can any facelift owners shed light on their road tax bands? Am guessing around the £270/280 mark?

 

[Rom]

Well i think they do another Cat 1 system, but has less features, might be called Sterling or something.

The Ai606 is Cat 1, which means battery backup siren, dual immobiliser circuits, rolling code fobs etc.
Features wise, its extremely customisable, it can run tilt sensor, shock sensor, glass break, dual zone microwave, ultrasonics, phone interfaces, pagers, full closure, remote boot release, remote start. You name it, it can probably be made to do it with the right know how.

Ive only ever had one fault, and ive probably had 4 Ai606s. It was a faulty ecu, but was found at install, so cured before it was ever a real issue.

Tax wise, PFL and FL should be the same. Was 2001 emissions came into force for banding. Most arent on emissions, they are down as PLG which is a fixed fee, £230 i think. Ive seen others for sale saying they have really low tax, id guess an error on import meant they got a low banding.

 

[Mikel_L]

Well i think they do another Cat 1 system, but has less features, might be called Sterling or something.

The Ai606 is Cat 1, which means battery backup siren, dual immobiliser circuits, rolling code fobs etc.
Features wise, its extremely customisable, it can run tilt sensor, shock sensor, glass break, dual zone microwave, ultrasonics, phone interfaces, pagers, full closure, remote boot release, remote start. You name it, it can probably be made to do it with the right know how.

Ive only ever had one fault, and ive probably had 4 Ai606s. It was a faulty ecu, but was found at install, so cured before it was ever a real issue.

Tax wise, PFL and FL should be the same. Was 2001 emissions came into force for banding. Most arent on emissions, they are down as PLG which is a fixed fee, £230 i think. Ive seen others for sale saying they have really low tax, id guess an error on import meant they got a low banding.

You must be well excited in anticipation of your dc arrival in terms of being able to collect it haha!

I Am still waiting to source one of satisfaction.. How long was it before you sourced and successfully bidded on one from the time you put deposit down?

 

[ste01]

Keep waiting pal, it's better to buy one to your standard instead of just settling for one. Trust the importer to keep looking, one will come up eventually.

Although if you keep getting outbid it could be down to having a too low budget for the standard you want....or the cars you pick have decent amounts of Japanese MOT remaining.

I spent a few months personally going through the auctions to find my car...roughly 3 hours a day looking at auction sheets/photos before eventually finding a absolute stunner 8)

Paying a deposit to picking up the car was about 5 or 6 months for me

 

[Mikel_L]

Keep waiting pal, it's better to buy one to your standard instead of just settling for one. Trust the importer to keep looking, one will come up eventually.
Although if you keep getting outbid it could be down to having a too low budget for the standard you want....or the cars you pick have decent amounts of Japanese MOT remaining.
I spent a few months personally going through the auctions to find my car...roughly 3 hours a day looking at auction sheets/photos before eventually finding a absolute stunner 8)
Paying a deposit to picking up the car was about 5 or 6 months for me

Thanks for the reassurance, how did you manage go through the auctions yourself and get translations?

Did you buy the car on your own?

 

[ste01]

Thanks for the reassurance, how did you manage go through the auctions yourself and get translations?

Did you buy the car on your own?

No I didn't buy it on my own, way too risky buying long distance over the internet with no one accountable there to oversee, not to mention the hassles of getting IVA tests and things once (if) it got here.

I basically did the import direct with Torque GT, they sorted out vehicle inspections/shipping and all that side of things like usual but I searched for a car myself.
I didn't need translations really so to me it made sense that I would do my own looking in addition to their search...and the fact I was desperate for a teg or S15 so could happily spend a few hours dreaming and looking at cars!
Once I eventually found the one and sent Torque the auction link to ask for their opinion (this is after all their job and they will have a better understanding of what the cars are really like, not just how the sound from descriptions/grades and look in the limited lowish res pictures available). They said it looked good and then got it inspected for me, their team in Japan said it was really good...so then I went ahead with it and won/bought it cheap as chips below my budget haha

 

[Mikel_L]

No I didn't buy it on my own, way too risky buying long distance over the internet with no one accountable there to oversee, not to mention the hassles of getting IVA tests and things once (if) it got here.

I basically did the import direct with Torque GT, they sorted out vehicle inspections/shipping and all that side of things like usual but I searched for a car myself.
I didn't need translations really so to me it made sense that I would do my own looking in addition to their search...and the fact I was desperate for a teg or S15 so could happily spend a few hours dreaming and looking at cars!
Once I eventually found the one and sent Torque the auction link to ask for their opinion (this is after all their job and they will have a better understanding of what the cars are really like, not just how the sound from descriptions/grades and look in the limited lowish res pictures available). They said it looked good and then got it inspected for me, their team in Japan said it was really good...so then I went ahead with it and won/bought it cheap as chips below my budget haha


Nice one, good on you buddy. Where abouts are you from?

would not mind having a look at the auctions myself but think i would prefer translations to be safe as like you say is buying long distance after all.

what auction sites did you use just in case I am tempted to have a little search myself over the weekend ?

 

[Mikel_L]

Apologies, not quite sure what happened with the font there..

 

[ste01]

I don't really want to go giving out specific auction sites as it's not fair on the various importers who rely on using these sites to find cars for their business. You could probably find stuff on google though.

As for searching/choosing a car at auctions, to get it right you would definitely 100% need translations to do it. I didn't mean that I didn't need stuff translated as it's not important, just that I could read the auction stuff without getting it translated. Otherwise you'd have no real info on the cars mods, actual interior condition/description, etc. knowing only what it's overall grade and kms are as it's easy to read normal numbers and A,B,C... Lol.

If it was me, I'd just hold on and let the importer find a car. They know what they are doing, it'll be just waiting for a good one to come up at auction at the moment. You just have to hope someone in a quiet part of Japan has a nice one, that is running out of MOT and they need to sell it!

 

[Mikel_L]

I don't really want to go giving out specific auction sites as it's not fair on the various importers who rely on using these sites to find cars for their business. You could probably find stuff on google though.
As for searching/choosing a car at auctions, to get it right you would definitely 100% need translations to do it. I didn't mean that I didn't need stuff translated as it's not important, just that I could read the auction stuff without getting it translated. Otherwise you'd have no real info on the cars mods, actual interior condition/description, etc. knowing only what it's overall grade and kms are as it's easy to read normal numbers and A,B,C... Lol.
If it was me, I'd just hold on and let the importer find a car. They know what they are doing, it'll be just waiting for a good one to come up at auction at the moment. You just have to hope someone in a quiet part of Japan has a nice one, that is running out of MOT and they need to sell it!

Na thats fair play. I certainly am gonna stick with torque gt though no doubt. Was just gonna look at the auctions to see the standards around as i say i wouldn't be comfortable without translations.

Yeah just waiting really and hopefully find a top quality one soon

 

[Rom]

From my looking, most seem to be graded 4C, with a few 4.5 and B thrown in.

Pretty much all cars will have bolster wear, its almost impossible not to have by now.

 

[ste01]

As Rom said, plenty of lower grade ones circa 3.5C or high milers graded 4C. Result of these cars getting on a bit now, crazy to think they're 6-13yrs old!

It's all down to luck and whatever comes up during the time you're willing to wait+search

 

[Mikel_L]

Am looking for facelift dcs so hoping for a 4b minimum and willing to wait but will see how it all goes.

 

[Rom]

Id like to be there and see some grading.
From what I've heard, C can mean holes, burns etc, but Torque say they are always fine.

I mean holes in interiors isn't common, and they are all going to have some marks on door cards and stuff.
I'd like to see what separates them to be honest

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[ste01]

Yeah it'd be good to see how they grade the cars.... How strict they are seems to vary from place to place slightly so the range for each grade seems pretty broad too.

Sometimes things stuck on the dash can lower grades making a car look worse, my car had a tv stand sticky padded on above the a/c controls on the dash. Even though it was easily removed with no evidence it had been there, it still lowered the grade. I've never sat in a C interior so can't say how the compare in real life to A/B's but in the pictures grade C never look bad, some just need a good clean! Haha

 

[Mikel_L]

Yeah there have been a few 4.5s with little dents on them although the standard auction grading says 4.5s have no dents at all.

Therefore i guess it is a little subjective and dependant on different auctions.

Not many dc5s have come up recently but i suppose i am Not only bidding against people in Japan but all over the world probably including folk in the UK that may be looking for facelift dc5s

 

[Mikel_L]

What would be the general consensus on the value of a 4.5 rated facelift dc5 with around 50000 miles just out of curiousity? I know it is difficult for an exact valuation but just putting it out there..