jmblimo

iTrader: (1)

I've read mostly on the UK forums, where a used Celsior can be purchased very reasonable in Japan. They don't care for used cars I hear. It's supposed to be a superior car to our LS. Has anyone on the board imported one? Is it do-able? What are the costs involved?

Brett

Considering the probable cost and the fact that youd be driving on the wrong side of the car(possibly illegal in your area), i would guess its not worth it

chas

Just because you would drive it from the right doesn't mean the car only drives in the right lane.

It can cause a lot of headaches though, toll booths, drive-in windows and the like. I've driven an Australian Ford Falcon (Mad Max car) here in the states and yes, it is a trip but you eventually would get used to it.

Obviously the Brits wouldn't have any problems with the right hand drive.

Chas

LS430inTX

I don't know what specifically the cost would be, but you would have to have the car modified to meet U.S standards (emissions, lights, etc) if it doesn't already. I can tell you from experience that when I lived in Korea several years ago and had my made-in-USA-for-sale-in-USA Mercury Sable imported back into the U.S., Customs gave me a very hard time and tried to claim that it doesn't meet emission standards. Fortunately, because I was in Korea for the U.S. gov't, I had the military re-certify the emissions on the car *before* it left the port of Pusan. And I had that little certificate to prove it. Otherwise, Customs was gonna tell me that I would have to have the emissions overhauled before it would be allowed back into the U.S. And from what I had heard from others who had gone before me, it was common to run into this situation with Customs. And based on this experience I had, I can't imagine what a nightmare it must be to get a non-US spec car imported into the US.

Wide LS

I know someone who was trying to import a Toyota Aristo. It was a mission. First if your a US Resident they are going to ask you why you want this car imported. If they accept your reason the car most go through many US inspections and then the car can only stay in the US for 1 year. If your a tourist it's totally different. This is what my friend told me. I'm not sure how the tourist thing goes. I know he told me to ship a car from the caribbean on a ship is like $1,000 So I can't imagine how much it would be from Japan.