Is being "NZ New" important?

[m_power 0]

But, how can you really be sure the mileage is original? There is no 100% genuine way of working it out with an import

All cars get checked in Japan before leaving if there milage is incorrect they will tell you. And you could also get our own one done before buying it.

[rxsumo 33]

It all really "horses for courses".

Within the fleet we have 5 NZ New Cars, 1 English import, 1 South African import and 1 Japanese import.

Personally I wouldnt touch a "modern" car imported from Hong Kong or Singapore, and I have a preference of NZ New for my E34s, as the NZ spec cars are generally better spec'd than the imports. Service history isnt really that important, as in my experience, Dealer servicing typically goes out the window with the first couple of owners.

I dont have an issue with Japanese imports, most of the stories about the cars sitting for hours in traffic jams, in my experience are just that....stories, and as somebody has already mentioned, for Japanese cars, especially sporting variations, the JDM cars are the best ones to buy.

[jjs 64]

All cars get checked in Japan before leaving if there milage is incorrect they will tell you. And you could also get our own one done before buying it.

Yeah but that is just a visual inspection of a speedometer (screws etc). There is no way to know with new digital speedometers, all it takes is the right computer and software.

Japan doesn't care what the speedometer reading is of an export vehicle, thus they don't check them. If the car blantantly looks like it has been wound back (i.e. 50kms with no leather left on steering wheel or gear selector), customs will impound them.

The rules have tightened up of late, but be very wary of cars which were imported 10 years ago or more. I have seen quite a few shagged E30's which have "travelled" only 100 odd kms.

As said before, the only true way of verifying a speedometer is to look at LTNZ WOF history, check the spacing between each WOF and compare with the condition of the car.

[bravo 35]

All cars get checked in Japan before leaving if there milage is incorrect they will tell you. And you could also get our own one done before buying it.

As JJS rightly says, the tightening of checks on mileage only came in recently in the scheme of things. All e30's and early e36's would have come in under the old rules where odo winding was the norm, not the exception.

Ironically, it is these cars where whether it is an import and whether the odo has been wound matters the least as they have been here long enough for NZ service history and condition to be the deciding factor.

Edited November 8, 2007 by bravo

[hotwire 352]

But, how can you really be sure the mileage is original? There is no 100% genuine way of working it out with an import

Ours is - beyond doubt - services documented in service book + service paperwork matching dates in relation to milage travelled. Tyre wear 50% at 24k with same unused in boot. Car condition virtually as new.

I have seen plenty of dodgy cars through work to know the signs.

Yes you are right as to ease of tampering with digital dashes when in posession of the appropriate software, hense my statement as young, low milage, known history vehicles being those to purchase as there is less likelyhood of a high milage being travelled to require falsifying.

Agreed though - not always able to verify as not many have the paperwork to prove

Bringing in myself also meant direct dealing with Japan - as you say - Japan couldn't care less what the milage shows. I would say most of the milage tampering over the years has been instructed by or performed by unscrupulous NZ dealers either here or over there.

[rxsumo 33]

mileage tampering in Japan, happens for the domestic market as well as export.

the Japanese domestic market doesnt like cars with over 100K, so once the car gets to that stage the value drops off dramatically, car dealers are car dealers and will do anything to make a buck....so speedo's get tampered.

I have a mate that is a dealer in Japan, and one of his biggest problem is buying off auctions and finding that cars have had the mileage tampered with....and thats for his own yard in Hiroshima.

Even buying NZ new doesnt stop mileages being tampered with. It was common in the 70's and 80's for dealers to run their demo cars for months, without speedometers being connected, especially buying stock in October or November....run the car on "d" plates for a few months and sell as "new" ex demo car in the new year registered....you ended up with a car that was a year newer than manufacture date......

I know of lots of people that disconnected their speedos to keep the mileages down on their cars.....

Easiest way of buying....look over the car and drive the car....you will see how good the car actually is.

A "babyed" 10 year old car with 250K on the clock, will be nearly always better than the same car that has done 20K that "grandpa" has driven, not serviced, and hit every kerb between home and the RSA.

[westy 614]

Especially coming back from the RSA.

[hybrid 1043]

a simple check of the age of a lot of perisible rubbers on the car will give you a good idea of the age of the age (in most cases)

[antony 0]

I've got the only singaporean import?

It was imported 12 years ago though, so I think it's fair to say any side effects of it's origin would be all but gone.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

I like having registration plates where the letter prefix matches the age of the car. It makes it easier for me to pretend that it really is still 1990. It also makes it easier to act like you have had the car from new, though that would be pointless for me given that I was four when it was manufactured.

I have had awful NZ new and awful Jap import cars, and lovely ones of both too. So it's really down to the individual car. I've never cared much about spec, as long as I have a sunroof and a foot actuated clutch. Mechanical and bodywork condition is the most important part of buying a car.

Edited November 9, 2007 by ThreeOneEight

[hybrid 1043]

with the e46/x5/e39/e38/z3 (not sure about e36 ODB1) but the milage is recorded in the DME as well as the intrument cluster.

Take a laptop and a serial to i-bus interface, and read in the _real_ milage straight from the ECU. This cannot be hacked buy convetional methods as you need a special BMW specific interface chip to talk / write to the DME / k-bus.

[*Glenn* 854]

Mileage will still be recorded in LCM, EGS & ABS as well in some models

BEEN THERE

[AntonyG 0]

Sorry to drag up and old topic, but I wanted to add my 2 Cents...

NZ New BMW's all the way!!!! Their is a difference, trust me I work

on them.

Good luck clocking a modern BMW.. what a misson!!! They have

gone out of their way to make this extremely difficult.

Edited December 21, 2007 by Antz

[tonylauno1 7]

All the horror stories people tell of Singapore imports are Mercedes; Mercedes are known for electrical problems no matter where they come from. Mechanics says the wires are too hard, can't be twisted or something along those lines, this is coming from mechanics in Singapore and Malaysia - they have alot of problems with Mercedes however not with BMW or Audi and definitely not Japanese cars.

You can't judge a Singapore import base on the high percentage of Mercedes that come from there; it represent Mercedes only, it doesn't represent Singapore imports.

Another reason you might want to avoid a Singapore import is there are alot of owners who never service their cars because they know in 5 years time or at the most 10 years time they will get a new car. To them there is no point in spending such a large amout servicing them so a backyard mechanic will do.

There are alot of Jap imported BMW which is why I buy them, I will buy cars based on conditions & specs just because there are not enough NZ New BMW to choose from even though knowing that there are lot of Jap parts inside which takes longer to get if BMW NZ happens to run out. I buy BMW for the ride quality, it doesn't matter to me if they use Jap parts; it's still comfortable and handles well.

I have seen a few NZ New BMW and they sell at average price so you don't need to pay a premium for NZ New cars infact alot of NZ New or ones that have been in NZ for a couple of years are actually selling less than fresh Jap imports. So if you buy a NZ New, thinking that you can sell it for a premium later on, it's not going to happen; people just go for Jap imports as the condition of the car are generally much better than NZ New. When it comes to Japanese cars the NZ New ones are not as highly spec which is why I always go for Jap imported Japanese cars.

As for odometer fraud on BMW, it is nearly impossible as someone told me there are 7 areas where it is recorded and the car will change the way the engine function according to the odometer reading and all of these can be tracked - someone can tell us all how true this is.

[isnowi 0]

My 2 cents:

It seems that no mateer where you buy a car from (nz new, jap import, uk import, etc etc) someone will tell a horror story, somethimes factually other times it was something that happened to a mate of a mate of a mate. Personally i judge a car on it's individual merits, i've had nz new and jap imports, both euro and japanese cars, and i have found (moreso now in the past) that the general gap in price between similar spec jap and nz cars is often unjustified for the following reasons:

1- mileage , many people still beleive this to be a major issue, as far as i was aware the original issues with winding back of speedo's was done by unscrupulous importers (generally speaking) so as to maximise the value they get out of the car, the language barrier served to cover their tracks. Aside from this digital odo's and OBD systems are much harder to fool these days, I'm not saying it can't be done, i'm sure there are plenty of ways, however with the focus on mileage in recent years, it is surely much more difficult to get away with.

2- service history, i've heard (and seen first hand) horror stories of japanese maintenance, or lack thereof as the case may be, but NZer's can be just as bad. How many people drive around for months on end with a blown headlight or bald tyre, only to bemoan the fact that they fail a WOF and have to spend hundreds of dollars to fix their car to a WOFable standard? As far as proactive maintence (not just vehicles are prone to this) NZ is terrible. In the industry i am in we maintain major passenger carrying equipment that in some cases has exceeded it's design life specification by a factor of 3 or even 4 times, and when something does break we are expected to repair rather than replace, when replacement is a far more viable and cost effective option.

3- Some cars are just bad, i don't mean some makes or even some models, just some cars fullstop. Friday jobs we used to call them.

Anyway, those are my views, feel free to agree or disagree, thay are simply the observations i have made over my (somewhat brief by some standards) history of car ownership.

Thanks, Dan

[Apex 693]

Personally I cant stand used imports and wouldn’t buy one. I wish they would shut the doors on them.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

One down side of any NZ new cars that has been missed is the fact that they all look like they have been fired at with a shotgun after more than 20k due to the number of stone chips.

It must be down to the chip and seal roads rather than the smooth tarmac used abroad.

There aren't many people about that touch in or re-spray panels to repair the stone damage from what I have seen when looking for cars.

Just to back up what most are saying, judge each car on its own condition, forget Odometer reading and where it came from, look at the car.

[darkwolf 0]

IDGARA (JFGI) whether it's NZ new or otherwise (my last 3 cars were Japanese). It's the condition and general information that I have more time for. I found out 6 months after buying my first car (1989 Toyota Corona 2.0GL) That the synchro's were notoriously weak in the NZ gearboxes. The japanese imports didn't have this issue. So in that regard it is a better bet to buy an import of NZ new.

Another example is my latest car. Bought at an exceptional price. And it has a full service history from BMW Japan. Though to be fair I can't read anything that was done to the car, but knowing it is there is a comfort. Yes having a manual that is in Japanese can be annoying especially when trying to work out what the hell some of the buttons do like the one by the foglights that has 0-2 on it. Japanese tells me that it changes something from 2-5 but that something could be the angle of the sunroof for all I know (though I doubt it).

[1rotty 40]

IDGARA (JFGI) whether it's NZ new or otherwise (my last 3 cars were Japanese). It's the condition and general information that I have more time for. I found out 6 months after buying my first car (1989 Toyota Corona 2.0GL) That the synchro's were notoriously weak in the NZ gearboxes. The japanese imports didn't have this issue. So in that regard it is a better bet to buy an import of NZ new.

Another example is my latest car. Bought at an exceptional price. And it has a full service history from BMW Japan. Though to be fair I can't read anything that was done to the car, but knowing it is there is a comfort. Yes having a manual that is in Japanese can be annoying especially when trying to work out what the hell some of the buttons do like the one by the foglights that has 0-2 on it. Japanese tells me that it changes something from 2-5 but that something could be the angle of the sunroof for all I know (though I doubt it).

Mate,I agree with you 100%.

I've owned around 8 imports from a WRX to a cosworth & several beemas without a single major issue.

If you get suckered then its because you're a dumb f**k & didnt do your homework.

The button you're talking about is probably the headlight levelling adjuster (use if you have a trailer on etc)

[Avenged.SSE 0]

I think it all depends on the quality of the car itself, I bought my car when it had done around 96ks on the odo (it was a Singapore import) and all these electric problems people are complaining about are non-existent, car is very reliable, excellent condition and came with service history + 2 keys.... all for a very very reasonable price, so I won't hesitate to get another import of the same quality!

[kiwi535 538]

imports are good prices of course...but they have decimated the resale value of all cars....when i bought my 535 6 years ago for 16 i thoought it was good value,and that the price was pretty much bottomed out but the value has dropped so much its not even worth selling.....prolly would struggle to get 6 for it

[greenday-rulz21 6]

imports are good prices of course...but they have decimated the resale value of all cars....when i bought my 535 6 years ago for 16 i thoought it was good value,and that the price was pretty much bottomed out but the value has dropped so much its not even worth selling.....prolly would struggle to get 6 for it

Agree with you, just look over trade me. One 330 motorsport had a valuation of $25k private sale and ended up going for just over $10k!

[Avenged.SSE 0]

imports are good prices of course...but they have decimated the resale value of all cars....when i bought my 535 6 years ago for 16 i thoought it was good value,and that the price was pretty much bottomed out but the value has dropped so much its not even worth selling.....prolly would struggle to get 6 for it

I remember 3 years ago, I used to drool over the E36s, most of the ones I saw were going for $10kish.... now... it's possible to obtain a 1995 318 or 320i for what... 4-5k? Halved in value within 3 years O.o wtf is happening with cars!!

[Apex 693]

Yep, I hate them for what they have done, not for what they are.

I like the system in Australia and England where to sell a import it has to be different than what was available new in their country, this protects there industry.

I will only buy NZ new and will try to purchase models that aren’t available in Japan to save with depreciation.

[briancol 3]

I remember 3 years ago, I used to drool over the E36s, most of the ones I saw were going for $10kish.... now... it's possible to obtain a 1995 318 or 320i for what... 4-5k? Halved in value within 3 years O.o wtf is happening with cars!!

And you're complaining?

The second hand Japanese import industry has been the best thing that has happened to the New Zealand motoring industry.

Most of you on this site wouldn't remember what it was like before the Jap imports started. N.Z. new cars were the poverty pack versions and very highly priced, then along came the imports with power steering, electric windows, air conditioning etc. and about half the price of the NZ new equivalants.

You guys would not be able to afford your E28's E30's etc if we didn't have the imports.

I will admit some dodgy cars were brought in by some unscrupulous dealers, but the majority of us dealers are honest people striving to make a living, and selling the best possible cars that we can get.