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2003 Lupo GTI. 44k miles.


fz23
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Hi all,

I have a very clean low mileage black Lupo GTI inbound from Japan arriving in the UK in February. It's a 2003 model year and hence comes with the 6 speed transmission, as well as factory AC and side airbags. Otherwise very standard and unmodified. VIN reveals it's a Wolfsburg car.

The car was rated 4 for overall condition (5 being the highest) and B for interior (A being the best), for those of you in the know with Japanese auctions! I have the original auction report plus translation available showing any defects.

To be absolutely clear I'm a private individual and am doing this merely as a hobby and to build up a collection. The only reason I'm selling this one before it even hit the shores is that I've bought an exact second one with even lower mileage, as luck would have it (which may or may not be for sale also).

I have been desperately trying to source an unmolested GTI nationally with comparable condition/mileage and it seems that they just don't exist any more. Here's one to be enjoyed, to be stored in a collection, or to be displayed at car shows - it's that clean!

Apologies for the quality of the pictures as they were taken straight from the auction. I should have a more comprehensive set next week.

Anyway, offering it first here to the enthusiasts as otherwise it will go straight to auction when it arrives.

Will come MOTd and registered in your name as first keeper. Tax at your cost.

Make: VW

Model: Lupo GTI

MOT: 12 months

TAX: £270ish (PLG Class 11)

Engine size: 1600

Fuel type: Petrol

Location: London

Price: £7500 ono

IMG-20201209-WA0020.jpg

IMG-20201209-WA0021.jpg

Edited by fz23
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I hate to say it, but that's well overpriced. Even taking into account some haggle room. The big negative is that you need to declare the car is an import each and every time you insure it. Even it it gets an SVA from DVSA. Been there, done that. In my opinion not worth it. And usually imports are generally a bit cheaper than UK stock, comparing like with like.

And it's not a desirable colour. Mine's the same... :(

Now if it were fantasia green... Mmmm

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It doesn't. I've shipped from there, RORO and it cost me US$1100 (for any car up to 5.1m long, max 1.8 high). So about £750. Paperwork isn't expensive and depending on age makes it cheaper or more. Anything older than 10 years is cheaper. You get an MOT on the chassis number, regular price £30. If it's newer, you need a single vehicle approval, which also only costs about £150 (no idea of latest prices), which checks all the EU compliance stuff.

I've seen jap gtis go in auctions over there for about US$2000 in reasonable nick.

It IS a way to make easy money if the demand is here, which it is for the gti. You just need to clear two cars a month and that's your wages / mortgage for the year :)

 

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"I have been desperately trying to source an unmolested GTI nationally with comparable condition/mileage and it seems that they just don't exist any more"

 

Clearly you have not tried hard enough. There is one on auto trader that is newer in silver with ac asking less money than you are. (with a little bit more mileage)

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012026718055?model=LUPO&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&radius=1500&advertising-location=at_cars&make=VOLKSWAGEN&include-delivery-option=on&postcode=tn254qh&sort=price-desc&page=1

 

Edited by lupo1.0se
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20 hours ago, Y2ACP said:

Let's say it cost £1500 to ship the car over Mot do all the paperwork.What do you think is a fair price

What did it cost in the first instance; but even by the standards of cars advertised that have been to Japan its expensive, and its not a first rate car either from the sellers description. As its a hobby no warranty either!

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On 12/12/2020 at 6:47 PM, lupo1.0se said:

"I have been desperately trying to source an unmolested GTI nationally with comparable condition/mileage and it seems that they just don't exist any more"

 

Clearly you have not tried hard enough. There is one on auto trader that is newer in silver with ac asking less money than you are. (with a little bit more mileage)

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012026718055?model=LUPO&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&radius=1500&advertising-location=at_cars&make=VOLKSWAGEN&include-delivery-option=on&postcode=tn254qh&sort=price-desc&page=1

 

Mmm based on this it looks like I've priced it fairly well? ;)

To cut a long story short the 44k mls car has sold since. The pictures above are actually from the other one I've bought the same week, at 38k miles. I should have better pictures tomorrow or the day after which I will be happy to share, even if it's just for interest to the community.

It's generally an interesting conversation to establish a value for them as besides the one referenced above is one of the only benchmarks.

On the subject of values of the cars in Japan, you will be hard pressed trying to get one for $2k! The best ones have exceeded JPY 700k at auction recently, so around £5k. Add c.£1.5k for domestic shipping, auction fee, transport to UK and docs, not including clearance (duty & VAT). So you can see not exactly the easy money that you think it is. As explained, I've done it to tick off some of my bucket list cars and hopefully not losing too much money doing it!! 😄

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hope everyone was able to enjoy some time off; as promised I wanted give an update on the cars arriving. 

Both black, with standard Japan equipment (AC, side airbags), 2003 cars with 6 speed. One has 38k miles and the other around 43k miles. Both come with service records and were very good auction grades for the age (4/B).

The cars should arrive in the UK in late February, feel free to PM me if any of them might be of interest.

The 43k mileage car:

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Edited by fz23
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That’s the same grades mine came with,and I’m more than happy.Prices have been about £6000 with 60000 miles straight from Japan to garage with a service and timeing beltFor me price a bit on the high side,but how many more will become available with such low mileage?Get some photos from underneath,engine bay.As they say it’s only worth what someone will pay.

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9 minutes ago, Y2ACP said:

That’s the same grades mine came with,and I’m more than happy.Prices have been about £6000 with 60000 miles straight from Japan to garage with a service and timeing beltFor me price a bit on the high side,but how many more will become available with such low mileage?Get some photos from underneath,engine bay.As they say it’s only worth what someone will pay.

Will do once they are over here, think they've been loaded already.

Agreed, I was planning on having a service + belts done to give peace of mind.

A red one with over 75k miles sold for £6500 on Collecting Cars earlier in the year. Although I think that one had a leather interior, heated seats and sunroof.

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I've had mine now since mid 2018 and have enjoyed it hugely, especially as I felt I'd bought something free from potential corrosion concerns.  Whatever is said by some, the cars from Japan - like mine - tend to be in really good underside condition with nothing more than isolated superficial rust-affected areas.  I also think many are like mine in that they seem to have had moderate use, have not been modded with all this lowering etc. nonsense practiced so much here, and have evidence of a good service history.  We get some intemperate view-stating in threads like this from people who apparently resent such imports.  I'd never dreamed of importing a car before, but found I 'had' to because decent, late Gtis are so hard to find here in England.  I have all the paperwork and reckon I easily paid at least twice what the car was knocked down for in Tokyo, but I got what I wanted, so I'm perfectly happy and good luck to anyone/everyone who made a buck in the chain.  Relax . . . it's only a li'll' ole motor car.  Christmas Greetings and Happy New Year. Regards. David.

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17 hours ago, davy26 said:

I've had mine now since mid 2018 and have enjoyed it hugely, especially as I felt I'd bought something free from potential corrosion concerns.  Whatever is said by some, the cars from Japan - like mine - tend to be in really good underside condition with nothing more than isolated superficial rust-affected areas.  I also think many are like mine in that they seem to have had moderate use, have not been modded with all this lowering etc. nonsense practiced so much here, and have evidence of a good service history.  We get some intemperate view-stating in threads like this from people who apparently resent such imports.  I'd never dreamed of importing a car before, but found I 'had' to because decent, late Gtis are so hard to find here in England.  I have all the paperwork and reckon I easily paid at least twice what the car was knocked down for in Tokyo, but I got what I wanted, so I'm perfectly happy and good luck to anyone/everyone who made a buck in the chain.  Relax . . . it's only a li'll' ole motor car.  Christmas Greetings and Happy New Year. Regards. David.

Personally I don't have any issue with imports, however, I think you have to accept that a like for like UK Lupo GTI against a Japanese import commands a higher price and for the OP's ask of £7.5K, I would only be shelling out on a very top end UK GTI in Laser, Raven or Anthracite.

Or this:

2005 Silver Volkswagen Lupo 1.6 GTI 3dr for sale for £6650 (autotrader.co.uk)

Edited by Grumpy
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1 hour ago, Grumpy said:

Personally I don't have any issue with imports, however, I think you have to accept that a like for like UK Lupo GTI against a Japanese import commands a higher price and for the OP's ask of £7.5K, I would only be shelling out on a very top end UK GTI in Laser, Raven or Anthracite.

Or this:

2005 Silver Volkswagen Lupo 1.6 GTI 3dr for sale for £6650 (autotrader.co.uk)

I have found that given recently improved accessibility of the auctions via the dozens of agents, the prices achieved in Japan have become much more representative of the value on a global level. In the case of the Lupo, as they are all RHD in Japan, the only other market with real buying power is the UK, i.e. the price at auction + fees + shipping + clearance etc. usually reflects the perceived resale value fairly well!

While I would agree with your statement that like-for-like (if that exists) a UK car would outprice a Japanese car, the reality seems to be that overall the average quality of a Japanese GTI will beat that of a UK one, for reasons already mentioned in the thread. So yes I suppose one could take advantage of a discount with a Japanese car, hence my argument would be to work back from what the value of a very good 38k miler in the UK would be; at least that's how I came up with my number (but perhaps I am wrong!).

As a final casing point: the second car, the 43k miler I have inbound would be available at roughly the same price as then you have referenced above, highlighting the benefit over an inferior condition UK car with 10k more miles.

I am fortunate enough to be able to acquire (mostly) directly avoiding the agents and thought unmolested low-mileage examples might be of interest to this community, so again I am open for offers on the two cars!

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20 hours ago, fz23 said:

 

As a final casing point: the second car, the 43k miler I have inbound would be available at roughly the same price as then you have referenced above, highlighting the benefit over an inferior condition UK car with 10k more miles.

 

I don't think you can say the UK car I have referenced is inferior unless you have physically seen them both which obviously you haven't.

I have bought and sold 3 superb Lupo GTI's over the last 8 years and remain very close to the market. Despite people banging on about future classics and an appreciating asset the price of a standout UK car has remained sub £7K. There was a company in Bristol a few years ago who imported a fair few Lupo GTI's from Japan and they priced them about £750 to £1000 below a comparable UK GTI, which I think is right. 

The Japanese imports are only available in the least scarce colours of black, silver and red. They have increased standard spec of aircon and side airbags but I have never seen one with a sunroof, leather or heated seats which leads me to think these options weren't available for the Japanese market. Service history etc is of course a whole new ball game.

I wish you well and it's nice to think there will be a couple of more GTI's available soonish.

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