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Japanese Import Lupo GTI's


Grumpy
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There appears to be about half a dozen of these currently on Auto Trader with the company in Bristol who are specialising importing them. The prices are no doubt attractive, however, how does an import stack up in resale terms against the equivalent Lupo GTI which was registered in the UK from new or are these imports going to adjust the UK second hand market down. Any thoughts gratefully received.

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With everything else that's imported they hold the value very well sales terms, rare for them to come with rust when imported aswell I think that's why makes them desirable 

also some Japanese cars have more optional extras(or several) 

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Grey market imports can really distort the local market or they can have little effect it depends on supply and demand in that market. As for prices anything is only worth whatever someone else will pay for it.

Gut feel says specs should be very similar to UK I doubt they can bring in enough cars to really push the prices one way or another, after import costs

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I reckon given the amount of UK GTIs that end up modded, written off or just kept in fairly poor condition, the Japenese imports will probably end up more valuable since they are imported due to condition and more likely to be bought by those who will take care of them. 

The quantity that are being imported is probably far too small to make any real impact on price, and personally I'm really happy that the availability of them is increasing both because I love the car and it also increases the potential supply of parts should I ever need them in the future. 

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Guys, many thanks for your thoughts. Spec wise I think Japanese Lupo GTI's have side airbags as standard and possibly aircon. I read somewhere that the only colours available for the Japanese market were black, silver or red so any hope of a laser, Raven or Anthracite are unlikely. I am selling my completely standard 2005 05 GTI with 18,300 miles on the clock (provisional advert on CL Cars for Sale) and I am about to place it on Auto Trader but I think I am probably going to have to adjust the price down somewhat in order that its competitive with these imports.

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Well, I have a Japanese Lupo GTi in the garage.

The only reason being that I wanted the best condition stock red GTi that I could find. This one was a reasonable distance away and the body/paint/interior is very good indeed.

I intend on keeping the car long term, so ongoing value don't bother me that much.

One concern was insurance, I've never owned a grey import before. Direct Line came up trumps, fully comp including business class use for both me and my wife came to £185. The best Adrian Flux could manage was £348 plus their excess was much higher.

Edited by Dubster
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they seem to be coming in with a higher condition than most GTI's available in the UK, better extras and also they where sold in higher numbers in Japan so is much easier to pick the best from he crop and send them over here to be the best on the market.

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1 hour ago, Rich said:

does it have the minidisc ?

No :(

I understand that the importers remove the factory units as the radios won't work in the UK.

 

 

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9 hours ago, Dubster said:

No :(

I understand that the importers remove the factory units as the radios won't work in the UK.

 

 

Buy a band expander....?

For example: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=131664708016&globalID=EBAY-GB 

Martin.

Edited by Tourist
Missed something out, oops....
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I will find one of these, there was on on fleabay in September, sold for £25......

I don't care about the radio or the fact the volume is on the wrong side, I just want to listen to my 90's trance collection with oem style.

Edited by Rich
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