With freshly imported standard Eunos coming in at a snip under £4000, are they worth the extra money over a well conditioned UK Mk1?
Something I have wondered about but I have no interest in buying a Mk1 so I am not trying to defend an action I have taken or would take.
There are those with minter UK supplied cars who are trying to sell for that sort money.
Most of the import cars have a good 40k to 70k miles on them as they are 20 years old, therefore as far as protected components are concerned i.e. those that are not open to the weather it must be a draw here with low mileage UK cars. Let’s say piston wear, main bearing wear and switchgear in the car.
Unprotected components, here I’m talking about alternators, suspension components and other parts that are open to the elements. If we believe that most of these import cars have been driven in a salt free environment and I cannot confirm this, it would be reasonable to say yes they may have had an easier life but some people claim their UK supplied car have never been out the garage after September and before May every year. So I would say a reasonable lead here for the vast majority of the import cars but there are some minter UK cars but possibly more difficult to find.
Now the problem area, the bodywork.
There are reports of Japanese domestic market cars and Miata’s in the states from the sunshine states having sill and rear arches needing replaced. It would appear to be a bit of a design issue with the cars but why would a manufacturer want their cars to last 25 years because you would not buy a new car every so often and keep them in business.
There are Eunos cars rusting in Japan
Therefore how do you find if the import is rusting in hidden voids that you cannot access or for that matter the same question can be asked of minter UK supplied cars.
Two suppliers of these import cars are Autolink down south and Goodwoodsportscars at the England / Scotland Border and there will be others, you can also import yourself.
I do not believe that these companies are conning people and looking underneath some of the Goodwood cars suggests very high levels of condition.
Therefore is buying an import the easy way to find a mint Mk1.
Only the purchase of a trailer mounted car lift, boroscope, etc. and a few months travelling the country examining cars that owners will let you drill holes in certain places will answer the question.
My thoughts, even you buy one of the better imports, you would have to do major rustproofing to keep them that way and they are then getting a bit too good to use!
Like “Speedy” who trailer his UK supplied Red Um to shows to win the prizes, sorry but what is that all about? I know winning prizes!!!
Get a nice car Mk1 to Mk3.75 or later, clean and rustproof, use it and after a number of years until it is time to move on.
So lots of words and a maybe answer!
It depends how lucky you are when looking…
Theres still bargains to be found in this country.My partner recently purchased a 1995 white 1.8 with 66k on the clock.
Unmarked interior,hardly a mark on the bodywork and well looked after under the bonnet.There was only 2months MOT on it but we’ve since took it for an MOT and it passed without any work.All for £1000.
I have been digging around on www.smilejv.com and http://japancardirect.com/. They seem to have an amazing auction system over there and if you can believe what you are told, the cars are thoroughly checked before being auctioned so you can get a comprehensive condition report. Having said all of that, I fail to see how a rust free Japanese import is worth over a grand more than a clean UK car that you have seen and driven yourself.
In my vast experience most JDM imports are almost mint .I wold give them 9 out of 10.Uk are generally rust buckets with some needing sill repairs,arches replaced, ,front chassis legs rotten (mk2/2.5) and extensive corrosion underneath.I advise import only.We are Dublin based and approx half the mx5 here are ex UK cars with rust issues where as the imports are generally perfect.And you can buy good import here for 2/2.5k approx EURO.Yes 1800 pounds approx.
I had this same thought, ended up going for a jap import through goodwoodsportscars due to the good review and my friend who has a 04 plate mx5 mk2.5 sport ended up spending around 2.5k iirc getting the rust sorted as the rear arcs on his mx5 were heavily corroded. I decided I would prefer to spend the extra to get a mint example then get a cheaper one and have to splash out heavily later on repairs. Dont get me wrong you could end up with a mint uk example but I fear they are hard to come by and would require a lot of searching and time spent to acquire.
Worth waiting for the right car imho, I searched for some months before I dropped on one which is an absolute beaut. I bought it from Sam Goodwin at Nuneaton and I cannot recommend the guy enough, he’s dealt in 5’s for years. I would be tempted to make contact with him tell him what you’re looking for, his cars sell very quickly and they are not that expensive.
As an aside a few weeks after I bought it one of the heater hoses burst, even thought the car came with 3 months warranty I was rather sceptical about a repair. I rang Sam on the Monday, on the Wednesday he came to my home ( 80 miles each way ) with his mechanic. He didn’t say anything but after they had left I noticed 2 old heater hoses on the drive and Mazda wrappings for 2 new ones, the guys had just changed them both and said nothing enough said eh ???
If like most people with a life and I do not consider myself having one, as I have a two post lift at home!
Assuming you have no expertise in examining cars and no interest in getting underneath them.
I would not take a few months to look for a car if someone had a number of nice cars in stock and I could afford to buy one.
Let’s get this in context.
Reasonable new 4WD SUV say £30,000 plus or minus £5,000. Yes there are cheaper cars.
Actual depreciation and finance charges over 85% newish of cars are on credit say £4,000 a year.
Cost of a nice import £2k in Ireland or £3.5k to £4k in the UK.
You will have that car Eunos for 5 years and then get £1k for it so less £800 a year in depreciation.
Bit of a no brainer and lots cheaper than a Mk4 / ND.
Having sold my Concours pristine as new everywhere 1996 Mk1 with only 18k on the clock for a five figure sum, I decided to purchase a really good fresh import Mk1 from Japan, I contacted Andrew from Autolink and he very promptly found a 31000km 1989 Classic Red Mk1 with a host of very expensive JDM bits already added, now having only got 20,000 miles equivalent on the clock and being 26 year young you would think there was some serious issues underneath, Wrong. A wash with some Autoglym Powermax 3 non caustic TFR was all it required to bring the inner wings up like new, now you cannot tell me a 1989 UK car can compete with the results or can you?
Worth the money?
YES to get a MK1 in a fresh rust free condition you bet it is 
Thing is, there are owners in Japan who are now having to get their sills welded, despite having very shiney undersides.
The paradox is the difference in the values of the cars from auction and those retail in Japan. Generally, all the importers buy from the auctions, though there was one, Japatrans, is specialised in buying retail, as they got a better grade of car.
Take this:
http://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/CU1837330083/index.html?TRCD=200002
Its nothing special, on the face of it; a 1994 Roadster, with some light mods, worn drivers seat from a scrapped car (so likely replacing a bucket seat) and over 200,000kms on it. If you wanted to buy this car, it will cost you £4000 to get it off the forecourt. To get it over here, you will need to add a local agent’s charge; £500-600, including FOB, shipping @£500, then shipping insurance @7%, duty at 10%, VAT at 20%, so nearly £10k landed, and that before MOT, registration, so allow another £500. A dealer will want to make a bit of money on it, so this will go on a UK forecourt for £12k. Will anybody buy it? Not at the moment.
Cars going through auction are a bit cheaper. Why is that; in part, because it is an auction. But there is a decent market still in Japan for used early Roadsters, so the cream of the crop will end up on Japanese forecourts. It is a fact that its always been the case that a relatively high proportion of imports have an accident history. There was one Japan based M5 specialist who had a habit of exporting some horribly repaired cars that were probably worthless in Japan. The M2-1002 I had was exported in 1999 to the UK, but it was hiding evidence of a pretty big biff to the front, hidden by lots of filler. The S-Limited I have now, described at one time as one of the best S-Limited in the country, and imported by one of the well known Essex outfits, well, in the course of restoration, I uncovered so rear quarter accident damage… A Tokyo Limited that was on this forum turned out to have a shocking history, when contact was made with someone who knew the original owner (car was involved in a bad bad wreck, and they thought it was scrapped). The grading system and auction sheet supposedly gives a measure, but when I got my first imports, the grades went 1 to 5, with 5 being as new. Now its 1 to 6 in many auction houses, a Spinal Tap moment (it goes to 11), probably to try and introduce some differentiation amongst some damaged/repaired cars. If the import business is kickstarting again, because of the premium now being applied (diametrically different to the dynamics of the market in 97-00, when imports were discounted against UK values), I would consider it mandatory for the importers to offer up the auction sheet to buyers, along with an independent translation of the document (which doesn’t cost so much).
The dynamics of this market are interesting, from an Analyst’s POV. 2014 was significant; 1989 cars were now 25 years old, making them legal for the US. 10 years ago, they became legal for Canada. Canadian Miatas suffer frightful corrosion, with the result being that a significant number of Roadsters went to Canada from 2004, leading to price inflation, in the same way that UK buyers outbid New Zealand buyers in 97-2004. IN the US, a decent 1990 Miata with 100-150k miles will sell for around $6-7000 at a dealer, £4500 or so. Low mileage cherished cars will sell for lots more than that. US demand for Roadsters might be a little low; 2015 will be the first year they can have the V-Spec, and there is a lot of demand for BRG cars in the US. From 2017, they are going to be able to access some of the better trim levels and special editions. That might lead to further inflation in the value of imported Roadsters, given that US/Canadian bidders are importing into a higher ASP market. There is also the ND factor; will its appearance, and that its so obviously trying to recreate the original formula lead to increased interest in the NA? Will the overall UK market start to inflate?
Overall, the return of imported cars to the UK market is welcome news for the enthusiast. But we can’t just accept the mantra that imports are automatically rust free. Roadsters do rust in Japan, and in a way different from the UK (you won’t really find them with a crumbly car, just socking big holes in the sills. Google search ??? for examples. A truely shocking example:
http://haematherm29.rssing.com/chan-15389736/latest.php
The owner spent a lot of time and effort using fiberglass and a popriveted plate to make a repair…
This car has a clean underside, but crumbly sill
If paying up front with an importer to bring in a car to spec, make endoscope imagery of the sills part of the contract. In the past, the reputable importers have always stood by their cars, in that if the car you paid for turns out to be not so good when landed, you get your money back.
If viewing freshly imported cars already here, don’t skimp on the checks for rust, and be supercritical of any accident damage; there is no HPI check, and the Auction Sheet is a bit legally worthless.
And lastly, treat obdometer readings with a pinch of salt, unless you are able to contact the owner.
Is MX5City a good outfit to deal with? They have a nice looking Eunos at the moment.