Looking For A 260Rs - Import Or Local?

[Messiah]

Ok so i've been given the green light by the mrs to buy myself a car. The rules are simple $20kish price, avoid any massive up front expenditure (eg she'd prefer finance over 5 years to buying it outright) and practical (e.g cope with dog surfboards and passengers) all other choices are left up to me.

Now to clarify we're not tight up for cash so i can afford to maintain whatever i purchase, but the request to avoid big upfront costs is just to maintain the pool of saving we've been buying.

It strikes me that a 260RS is the way to go (seeing as i always wanted a gtr but i cant fit a dog and a mini-mal in a gtr). currently there are 7 on carsales (one in nsw) and an unknown but larger number in japan.

I have done some searching/research, but i'd like to get some confirmation that my results are correct so far.

So now on to my questions.

1. Is there anyway to obtain finance on an import vehicle (eg one that still in japan) i've done some googling and have so far found the answer is no... but sometimes yes. Am i correct in that yes is a corner case or has anyone in the importing business had decent success with this? I can get finance through by bank at around 8.5% but i dont think getting it on a car in japan will work with them.

2. Assuming local is the way to go, how big a pig is it to shift rego from interstate to NSW. In the searches i've done it seems it needs ALL slips (blue,green,pink) so if there are any mods i'm in for a bad day.

3. If all of the above are no-go's... anyone know of any good 260's up for sale in nsw (white preferred)? the only one i;ve found has been rebuilt had has 165lk on the clock (and if its no good i'll have to sit and wait for more to come up). and yes i'm posting this up in the stag and forsale sections.

Thanks guys.

[nashy311]

Dude I was in a similar position a month ago when I pulled the trigger on my 32. Luckily I didn't have to worry about the practicality bit.

From my experience

1. No you can't get secured finance against an import, even if it's already in the country/state. Personal loan is the go. Pushing it for 20k tho. Plus having savings and debt doesn't make financial sense.

2. State to state is fine as long as it's pretty stock. Otherwise a 'random' (it's an import) inspection will suck.

3. Don't be in a rush. Wait for the right car to come up. Importing might actually get you the right car quicker. I wasted months in the local gtr market before deciding to import.

[JapaneseOdoCheck]

There aren't enough cars to make a good decision in Australia.

Especially in regards to 260RS. Best off importing.

Iron Chef is the man, ; so don't waste your life searching on carsales.

[the spruce moose]

Hey mate i'd say importing may be your best bet. As previously mentioned, there aren't enough nice examples available locally. I see you're in NSW. Head over to JLM and speak with Adam. He is an expert on 260 Autech stags as he has personally owned 3.

Good luck with your search

[RBN1]

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?productid=21177&cat=379&page=1

[Messiah]

Thanks for the advice all.

Nashy that was just the kind of break down i was looking for. Thanks for that.

As for importing, i'd really like to as i;ve seen some really nice example over there (theres one at auto sports rabbit that looks mint but is $34k), but the biggest problem is stumping up a majority of the cash up front without taking a big hit to savings.

Maybe its worth parking for a while and putting some money aside just for it. if a nice example pops up in nsw i can grab it, otherwise bring one over when i'm ready.

Thanks again all.