A lot of the time these guys who pay out on imports say that theyve had one themselves. The thing you dont realise is that they have probably picked one up cheap somewhere thats had its ass raped by the previous owner or it has been poorly maintained.
Most of these v8 bogans are completely narrow minded and don't have much mechanical or car knowledge except for what Damo, Ricko, Davo or Marko have said, if you know what I mean.
As people have mentioned before; most jap cars are ultra reliable and if its stock and you maintain it you won't have a problem.
f**k, my old RB20DET had close to 350ks on the clock and it ran perfectly. It used to be in a drift car that saw a lot of track days before I owned it and was running a larger turbo too. Even when it was mine I had wound the boost up on it the stock turbo and thrashed the shit out of it. I only rebuilt it because it was using a bit too much oil for my liking in the end!
So in summary; don't buy a lemon!!!!
Oh yeah and the resale value off holdens and the like is terrible!