Other Buying an Import Type R

[lazytrev]

Hi,
I am currently Lookin into the possibilty of buying a new Type R from the company www.allbrandsnew.com

I have aleady made some general enquirys with them about the car and have been told the following information.
The vehicle is full UK specification
The vehicle is built in Swindon on the same production line as the UK cars and includes a 3 years manufacturers warranty.

Apparently the car is Brand new and unregistered and has been imported from Gibraltar. I rang my local dealer to see whether they would deal with any warranty issues, if i were to have any problems with the car, but they were unable to give me a clear answer because i couldnt give them the vehicle reg (it doesnt have 1 yet)

Basically i was wondering if anybody has gone down this route of buying a car before or whether anybody has any opinions on it. I am most interested in whether or not any Honda garage will look at the car should i have any problems with it?

Id rather not save myself around £1500 on a new car only to find i cant get it fixed should anything go wrong.

Thanks in advance for any information!!

[eyemdee]

I don't think you will have any problems getting warranty repairs but you should check carefully whether the warranty is the same as in the UK - ie 3 years 90k niles with full AA etc. as it may not be as good.

Also the part exchange value when you come to sell it may be much lower due to it not being first registered in the UK (i.e. an imported vehicle).

I looked at buying a N*ss*n M*cra C+C as a parallel import (Eire) from Motorpoint but decided that the cons outweighed the pros in the end and bought preregistered from a UK dealer.

[Bog]

If you gonna buy an import, why not go for the JDM Type R - The proper Type R!

[Munro]

It is worth telling your local UK dealer what price you can get your import for, and see how close they can get to the import price with a discount on a UK car.

[illegalhunter]

Warranty is universal , it dont matter where you got

[ASH]

Warranty is Pan-European (EU+). AA coverage is UK thing, I think...

[SHADEMASTER]

Originally Posted by Bog

If you gonna buy an import, why not go for the JDM Type R - The proper Type R!

In your opinion

Try OWNING the European Type R before you say anything against it

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by SHADEMASTER

In your opinion

Try OWNING the European Type R before you say anything against it

Yeh!!!

[SHADEMASTER]

Originally Posted by lazytrev

Hi,
I am currently Lookin into the possibilty of buying a new Type R from the company www.allbrandsnew.com

I have aleady made some general enquirys with them about the car and have been told the following information.
The vehicle is full UK specification
The vehicle is built in Swindon on the same production line as the UK cars and includes a 3 years manufacturers warranty.

Apparently the car is Brand new and unregistered and has been imported from Gibraltar. I rang my local dealer to see whether they would deal with any warranty issues, if i were to have any problems with the car, but they were unable to give me a clear answer because i couldn't give them the vehicle reg (it doesnt have 1 yet)

Basically i was wondering if anybody has gone down this route of buying a car before or whether anybody has any opinions on it. I am most interested in whether or not any Honda garage will look at the car should i have any problems with it?

Id rather not save myself around £1500 on a new car only to find i cant get it fixed should anything go wrong.

Thanks in advance for any information!!

I bought a Toyota MR2 roadster with hard top from an importer about six years ago.
The car came from southern Ireland and was full UK spec, it had a three year European warranty.

When the car was in for it`s first service the mechanic noticed the front disc's were badly corroded,
They could fix the car under warranty as long as i had the "certificate of conformity" (which i got with the car)

[lazytrev]

Wow,
Thanks for all the replies and thats really reasuring.
About the warranty, i believe that it may only be a 60,000 mile warranty but its it definotly 3 years which suits me down to the ground because ive got absolutly no chance of even doing 60,000 in 3 years.

The AA cover, im not really fussed on that either because im covered in a family policy with the RAC.

Originally Posted by eyemdee

Also the part exchange value when you come to sell it may be much lower due to it not being first registered in the UK (i.e. an imported vehicle).

Good point, ive taken that into account but ive thought that im getting it cheaper to start off with so if i lose a little more than a normal type R at the end, ive effectively lost nothing. The car hasnt been registered anywhere else, not even in the UK yet so wont be down on the log book as an import, so that *** help at the other end ( and i dont really wanna think about getting rid of it before ive got it hehehe)

Thanks again for all the fast replies, been a great help! Ill let you know how i get on!!

[ADE Type S]

if you gonna get an import its gotta be the JDM Civic Type R the FD2, the biggest importers of those are lichfield they had the 1st on in the uk! and also Dicksons of dumblane.

do a google search for "type r owners" and go onto the forum and under the FD2 type r and have a look on that. there are a few fellas on there who have got them now and i think most if not all have gone through lichfield imports.

[Bog]

Originally Posted by SHADEMASTER

In your opinion

Try OWNING the European Type R before you say anything against it

Yes in my opinion, and having driven one for 2 weeks (company pool car) I think I'm entitled to have an opinion which is it's a good car, but not a car I would want to spend my money on! At the end of the day it's a Honda Civic, no better or worse than any other model in the range.

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by Bog

Yes in my opinion, and having driven one for 2 weeks (company pool car) I think I'm entitled to have an opinion which is it's a good car, but not a car I would want to spend my money on! At the end of the day it's a Honda Civic, no better or worse than any other model in the range.

No better or worse than any other model in the range??, yeh right!!!! So you opt'ed for the 1.8 EX, over it did you? Is yours a company car?? I had a go in the CTR, the 2.2 Type s diesel and the 1.8 Type s, and I have to admit if I couldn't have had the CTR, out of the two Type S's I would have chosen the diesel over the 1.8 petrol. As you say though it is personal choice!!!

[Bog]

Originally Posted by Dimplyred

No better or worse than any other model in the range??, yeh right!!!! So you opt'ed for the 1.8 EX, over it did you? Is yours a company car?? I had a go in the CTR, the 2.2 Type s diesel and the 1.8 Type s, and I have to admit if I couldn't have had the CTR, out of the two Type S's I would have chosen the diesel over the 1.8 petrol. As you say though it is personal choice!!!

I bought my Civic in Sept 2006, before the 3 door was launched!

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by Bog

I bought my Civic in Sept 2006, before the 3 door was launched!

My point was, all three cars I had a go in were very different. To say that one is no better or worse than any other isn't really true, especially as in this case we are referring to the performance of them.

[Bog]

Originally Posted by Dimplyred

My point was, all three cars I had a go in were very different. To say that one is no better or worse than any other isn't really true, especially as in this case we are referring to the performance of them.

Well you are the one refering to performance and implying that the less performance the engine has, somehow your Civic is not as good.

For alot of people owning a Civic is not about how fast it goes, but more about reliabilty, cost/cost of ownership, getting from A to B, economy, equipment levels etc. (Horses for Courses)

Like I said at the end of they are all Honda Civics

[Unknownsoldier]

I looked at all of them and decided the Type R wasn't worth the extra cash (especially not when your effectively paying more for less), and decided the 1.8 was enough for my needs at the mo'. What the point being made was, everyone wants their car for different things be it commuting pleasure or lugging large odd shaped pieces of cheese around....all the civic's are great (bar the Hybrid), they just do different things for different peoples needs ....whew just off to broker peace between Israel and Palestine now......

Tom

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by Bog

If you gonna buy an import, why not go for the JDM Type R - The proper Type R!

Can you remember posting this? I thought you were encouraging lazytrev to buy one because the performance is better than the FN2

Then you say this

Originally Posted by Bog

Well you are the one refering to performance and implying that the less performance the engine has, somehow your Civic is not as good.

For alot of people owning a Civic is not about how fast it goes, but more about reliabilty, cost/cost of ownership, getting from A to B, economy, equipment levels etc. (Horses for Courses)

Like I said at the end of they are all Honda Civics

I'm not saying the less performance an engine has then the civic is not as good generally, I'm saying the civic has less performance. Simply really. If we're not talking about performance all of a sudden, then why encourage lazytrev to spend an extra 5-6k on a car with more performance. But performance aside, like you say they are all Honda Civics, and I really like the look of all of them. And would have been happy to have any one of the three I had a test drive in.

Unknownsoldier seems to understand what I'm saying anyway.

[Unknownsoldier]

Thanks Dimply', I try my best

I must admit I loved the Type R, but three bits put me off it:

1. No Glass Roof,
2. Really Nickable (this really put me off, especially with the violence involved in many of the thefts),
3. The lack of the third seat in the back (Which whilst I don't use often, I like the option of having, especially if I can't fit the rabbit in the other seat cos they are full of junk).

I can see why many go for it, I really can, but it didn't tick all my boxes (If I really need a fast car I'll borrow my mums 330ci, seriously fast, but sod all room in the boot/back, thats why we don't use it much) [It may well tick others boxes, and it may well tick no boxes for other people]. I've loads of 'stuff' to lug around a lot of the time [mostly useless, but some is useful ] and so it seemed obvious to go for the 1.8 Type S (a bit sporty, but still a fair bit of room).

The JDM is not faster than the Euro civic (although more power mods are avaliable and it is better built, sadly), and I believe it is the same shape as the Hybrid?? which would make for more room, but other than that is it worth 6k extra???? Not really.

To every person there are different needs, just like our women, we all like different types [Ducks head as bullets start to fly ]

Tom

[Dimplyred]

Originally Posted by Unknownsoldier

Thanks Dimply', I try my best

I must admit I loved the Type R, but three bits put me off it:

1. No Glass Roof,
2. Really Nickable (this really put me off, especially with the violence involved in many of the thefts),
3. The lack of the third seat in the back (Which whilst I don't use often, I like the option of having, especially if I can't fit the rabbit in the other seat cos they are full of junk).

I can see why many go for it, I really can, but it didn't tick all my boxes (If I really need a fast car I'll borrow my mums 330ci, seriously fast, but sod all room in the boot/back, thats why we don't use it much) [It may well tick others boxes, and it may well tick no boxes for other people]. I've loads of 'stuff' to lug around a lot of the time [mostly useless, but some is useful ] and so it seemed obvious to go for the 1.8 Type S (a bit sporty, but still a fair bit of room).

The JDM is not faster than the Euro civic (although more power mods are avaliable and it is better built, sadly), and I believe it is the same shape as the Hybrid?? which would make for more room, but other than that is it worth 6k extra???? Not really.

To every person there are different needs, just like our women, we all like different types [Ducks head as bullets start to fly ]

Tom

For me it was only your point number three that was a consideration. I sometimes have to ferry my mother in law about with us, and as I have two kids and a wife the numbers just didn't add up. Whereas for you it was a dis-advantage, for me it was an advantage!! Only kidding she is great really.

I thought the JDM Civic handled better?? And when I watched it on, I think it was Fifth Gear, it went around their track faster than the FN2.

Anyway to get the thread back on track, I personally wouldn't consider an import, I can see the advantages, but the dis-advantages, insurance being one of them, for me anyway, would put me off buying one.