SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

[dog789 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dog789]

We have a 2004 V6 Grande, which has been great.
My son is looking for a 4WD, but not as big as the Prado, and newer than 2000... So far it's pretty much the new SWB Paj (bit spendy, and a bit soft, although I could be wrong) Wrangler (i wouldn't say there's enough space for touring, but he reckon's he'll be able to pack light enough.. heh.. Also the fuel economy is bad and I haven't heard good things about the reliability) Jimny (he even agrees that this one is too small :P) and errrr nothing. But then coming on here I saw a bunch of shorty 120s, that would be PERFECT! Bugger never available in Australia... Waiiitaminute what about imports!
So, anyone ever seen an import shorty 120 in aus? How difficult would one be to come by? How much would you expect to pay for a lowest spec '03-'05ish? How difficult is it to import cars?
Thanks!

[jcas24 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close jcas24]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

the only one that I have seen (be it a while ago) was a personal import from NZ. Im pretty sure you need to have owned the vehicle overseas for 12mths or so first and then it would need to comply with ADR etc. which isnt not much problem on late model vehicle.

Would he consider a Hilux?

[dog789 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dog789]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

the only one that I have seen (be it a while ago) was a personal import from NZ. Im pretty sure you need to have owned the vehicle overseas for 12mths or so first and then it would need to comply with ADR etc. which isnt not much problem on late model vehicle.

Would he consider a Hilux?

Hmmm, that sounds quite hard... How expensive do you reckon the shipment would be... The 12mths thing is the biggest pain though...
The Hilux is a good point... He never mentioned anything about utes... It'd have to be a dual cab since he wants to be able to carry 4 people if he has to... I *think* that the more recent models end up in the region of 30k up pricewise, which would be too much... I'd imagine thinking about it that importing, when taking into account the costs other than buying the car would probably end up quite expensive too... hmmm

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

There is some good information on importing vehicles on this website:

http://www.importdriver.com.au/importing.htm

Mick

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

Imports I would steer clear from ... When you need parts for them and as soon as you mention imports to the parts salesman they put their hands up and dont want to help , also I am not to sure now but when imports first started hitting Aus in ealy 90's they where trouble not built for the Australian climate slightly different in water galleries / jackets in blocks and heads causing alot of over heating issues . At the end of the day how much bigger is the Australian 4 door to the shorty ?
I reckon after driving both you will hardly notice any difference in size .

Just throwing my 2 bob in . Hope your happy with what ever option you go for

[dog789 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dog789]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

Thanks Mick and Fishfinder...
Eish, yeah the costs really do go up for the import... Impractically so...
He also said he wants an auto...
I think he's looking for something that doesn't exist... :?
Thanks anyways...

[BBB Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BBB]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

You guys who get The West Australian might be interested to hear and see in the motoring section a write up on the new Prado with pricing and photo of a 3 door SWB model.

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: SWB 120s Imports? (Australia)

After helping a mate do this for a business a couple of years back with GTR's EVO's and RX7's and the hoops you jump through i would not go near one.

If you do in most cases running gear is the same as aussie equivelent except for above smaller radiator different head in some cases oh and due to frequency differences most of the ones we got youhad to replace the radiator however panel differences is normally what brings you unstuck.

Add to this the fact that the 3 door is now in Aus you could only do this as a private import meaning you would have to buy it in japan and then store it for a year or so over there and then bring it in as your own vechle so unless youi have a buyer over there you trust implicitly or the cash to go over yourself and can speak japansese fluently or are prepared to hire a translator that understands the language hand singnals and etiquiette of japanese motor auctions leave it alone. We also had problems over there with cause the k's driven are so low service shedules are rarly adhered to so turbos stuffing up as the oil was so old it had turned to sludge was a problem, so in our case you were between a rock and a hard place the tuners over there would flog the cars like it was a VK commodore and the mums and pops that had the model you wanted drove so little that it probably had its 1000k free inspection and has not had an oil change in the 4 years since