mitsubishi G.T.O

Cappy · Post by **Cappy** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 7:27 pm

Erm stay away from the 5 go for a 6 but then again get one imported by CCC ( colt car company) dont get an imported one....

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 12:48 pm

I always loved the GTO BUT if its a Japenese import which I suspect it will be, do yourself a favour - don't touch it with a barge pole!

Japenese greys are notoriously expensive on parts which often have to be imported from Japan. Service history on imports arn't worth the paper they're written, because its just too hard to verify if they're simply made up or not. Similarly there are no easy checks to ensure that the car hasn't been stolen from that far abroad. 10K sounds way too expensive for a 93 GTO even if it is the 3.0 litre, lesser 10 year old examples go in Top Mark, locals and auto trader for around 4.5K, need I go on?

Robbie.

britboy · Post by **britboy** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 5:55 pm

Just a few things to bear in mind

1) Is the car RHD? Otherwise -- couldn't stand it myself ...

2) Jap cars have less rust-proofing on them then European models

3) Speedo has to be in mph, not kph -- the dealer will probably just stick a sticker on it that sayd 'mph' which looks cack.

4) Yes - it has been driven very, very hard.

5) It may not have a foglight on it (in fact it probably hasn't) -- it will have to have one attached

6) The rear number plate is probably square looking -- so everyone who knows anything will know it is a grey.

7) Spare parts = nightmare

8 ) Some garages will refuse to work on grey imports

9) The garage registering it will register themselves as an 'owner' so officially it will gain a new owner

10) GTOs are notoriously robotic and unexciting to drive anyway.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 6:10 pm

so i take it u dont recommend them then

Cappy · Post by **Cappy** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 10:36 pm

No I agree stay away from them..

paul_y3k · Post by **paul_y3k** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 9:21 am

Just a few things to bear in mind

1) Is the car RHD? Otherwise -- couldn't stand it myself ...
yep all jap cars are right hand drive
2) Jap cars have less rust-proofing on them then European models
err dunno ....
3) Speedo has to be in mph, not kph -- the dealer will probably just stick a sticker on it that sayd 'mph' which looks cack.
To import a car it needs to be sva'd a process which involves having the speedo correctly changed
4) Yes - it has been driven very, very hard.
more than likely ... however my supra is 10 yrs old with only 60,000 miles on the clock so half the mileage of an equivilant uk spec at the average of 12000 a year.
5) It may not have a foglight on it (in fact it probably hasn't) -- it will have to have one attached
sva'd again ... it needs one to be sold.
6) The rear number plate is probably square looking -- so everyone who knows anything will know it is a grey.
uk spec supras also have a square plate.
7) Spare parts = nightmare
not really, if the car exists in the uk market place
8 ) Some garages will refuse to work on grey imports
quite rare as you wave enough case at anyone they will do ya bidding !
9) The garage registering it will register themselves as an 'owner' so officially it will gain a new owner
that's correct
10) GTOs are notoriously robotic and unexciting to drive anyway.

yep .. buy a supra

Cappy · Post by **Cappy** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 7:26 pm

And a tool kit for the roof.

paul_y3k · Post by **paul_y3k** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 9:28 am

grrrrrrrr
I'll get you for that

charlieannear · Post by **charlieannear** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 2:16 pm

I saw a piece on TV, might've been Top Gear or Watchdog or somewhere that said you have to be very careful buying performance Jap imports. Something like 9 out of 10 of them are stolen. Trouble is when you do a search on the car it will not show up as stolen because the databases don't include Japanese records. However, the Police know if it's stolen because they DO have the Japanese records. On this particular TV show it said in Hampshire (that's where the article was filmed, with the police being interviewed) they stop just about every GTO, Skyline etc that they see, and check the vin plates and other identifying marks. If it's nicked (and about 90% of them are) they take the car away from you there and then. You have no come back from who you bought it from (even the dealers sell stolen cars as they 'don't know' they're stolen), you can't claim on your insurance, nothing. So the unlucky, newly created pedestrian has no car, no money and a nice walk home ahead of them.
I can't remember, but I guess you need to get the police to check (fat chance) a car of this type before you buy?

paul_y3k · Post by **paul_y3k** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:52 pm

errr thats alarmist pants ...
when you import a car, most reputable delers buy from auctions. For the car to be in auction in japan then it goes through lots of security checks including to see if it's been nicked.
If it's in an auction it's fine - I can even produce all my auction documents for inspection if you'd like .. admittedly they are in japanese !!!!

charlieannear · Post by **charlieannear** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:55 pm

Well it might be alarmist pants but it was on the telly! He looked like a real rozzer to me!

Cappy · Post by **Cappy** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:39 pm

It happens if dealers are selling imports they are not always on the straight and narrow.Imports= hassle.