[FoxMcCloud]

This is pretty much just to know, but here are some questions I have about importing a Japanese STi Prodrive:
1. How hard would it be to actually have the car ordered and shipped over to the US?
2. Would it be impossible to have it "Americanized"?
3. Would I have any problems with emissions (Virginia) or maintainence with one?

Thank you very much if you can answer these questions. I've been wondering about these things ever since I first saw the STi.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FoxMcCloud on 2002-02-15 23:23 ]</font>

 

[chawklit]

It'd be a big pain in the ass.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

I had already figured on that :smile:
Pretty much just wanted to know in case I instantly became rich or something.

 

[thermite]

almost impossible. Ill take the skyline gt-r for example. You can get a brand new one here in the US for 90K$. The GT-R is only a 40K car in japan. But heres what you do to get it. You pay the company inn the US the 90K or whatnot. In tern you now belong to a group of people. Because they buy them in groups and really you are buying 2 GT-Rs. Because theyll take 10 ppl and do this with so they can crash test the 10 cars which you payed extra for. emmissions isnt the big thing. Its the crash testing thats required by the federal trans. dept. that gets expensive. Be like the rest of us, the STI will come to the us. I talked to the owner of a dealer the other day at mastro subaru and he said they are testing it for use in the us for the 03 or 04 model year. He said he didnt know anything about production numbers on the sti. he said the info he gets is limmited. But hes positive well get the sti.

GLen

 

[celm]

Give Evolution Imports a call if your thinking about importing a JDm STI.
WWW.Evolutionimports.net

 

[alfredob1]

A thread about EvolutionImports at evolutionm.net. Aparantly they are a questionable distributor.

 

[celm]

Why dont you give Evolution Imports a call, Instead of listening to people who never even did business with them

 

[alfredob1]

Because I don't want to buy a car from them. And until I start reading something good I will post what I find, which happens to be not good. But I can't help that can I.

 

[celm]

I bought my EVO 7 from them.

 

[alfredob1]

Well congratulations then. Were you pleased with thier service as a distributor?

 

[celm]

i am really happy w/the sevice i got a recommend highly

 

[wojo]

i am really happy w/the sevice i got a recommend highly

Service is one thing, but is your car actually legal to drive in the US?

 

[titsataki]

i am really happy w/the sevice i got a recommend highly

Service is one thing, but is your car actually legal to drive in the US?

Yup this is the question. Were you able to aquire a title for the car and register it as any other car.

The thing about California is true. They do not like you to buy a car and bring it over in new condition. They are ok for someone to bring it with more than 7,5k miles as a used vehicle.

Here is what the CA DMV is saying:

What should a California resident look for when buying a new vehicle from another state?

California residents are prohibited from importing, purchasing, or leasing a new vehicle from another state, unless the vehicle was manufactured for sale in California and the Environmental Protection Agency label certifies the vehicle has California smog equipment. California considers a new vehicle to be any vehicle with less than 7,500 miles on the odometer at the time it is purchased or aquired.

Also http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/noncaveh/noncaveh.htm


Cheers

Nick

 

[darwood]

Hmm this brings up another point. Does anyone know if all the STi's brought in will have the same California emissions certification even though the car is bought in another state? Are the WRX's this way? I plan on "importing" an STi into California and this could pose a problem. I assume they will all have the same emissions.

 

[titsataki]

Hmm this brings up another point. Does anyone know if all the STi's brought in will have the same California emissions certification even though the car is bought in another state? Are the WRX's this way? I plan on "importing" an STi into California and this could pose a problem. I assume they will all have the same emissions.

Well unless you can get an exception(listed in the link) you cannot import a car with less than 7,500 miles. Any particular reason you cannot buy one in California?

I would suggest going to the DMV and get some info more attuned to your specific case.

Cheers

Nick

 

[CloNeGTS]

Uh.....maybe this is a stupid question, but why would you want to import the JDM STi? You do know we are getting them, brand new with no miles on em, right?

Most imported cars are used and have gone through any level of abuse. And, of course this has yet to be completely determined, but it looks like our version will be better than the JDM version anyway.

 

[darwood]

Well unless you can get an exception(listed in the link) you cannot import a car with less than 7,500 miles. Any particular reason you cannot buy one in California?

I would suggest going to the DMV and get some info more attuned to your specific case.

Thank you but, this doesn't really answer my question. I'm wondering if all the STi's will be California certified or if only the ones they bring to California will be. Does anyone know if the all the WRX's are California certified. Can someone, who doesn't live in California check under the hood and see if it has a California certification? There should be a sticker on the bottom side of the hood. I'm assuming they will all be California certified since then they would only have to make one engine variant. If it is California certified I should have no problem bringing the car into California.

The reason I'm not buying one in California is because I'm 8th on the list at a dealer in Phoenix. I'd buy one in California if someone could find a better ranking than that for me at a high volume dealer.

Thanks

 

[CloNeGTS]

I didn't think they made cars different for the different states?

But then being from the Midwest....we know nothing about emmisions control.

 

[chawklit]

No, I think all sti's in america are the same. They're made to meet the toughest state's emission regs.

 

[Agent Chobos]

They must have started building "all 50 states" cars fairly recently. It makes sense not to have to build different variants. I remember when you used to see official specs with separate HP figures just for California. Always lower, of course.

The tag under the hood of my truck (1998) specifically says it's NOT to be sold in CA. But I'm sure the new ones are for all 50 states.