So today I went shopping for a new car...

Dunphus

And by new i mean brand new secondhand of course!

I went to a couple of dealers and saw that they had some automatic VW golfs and Polos but all of them seemed to be imported Japan. A quick gander on carzone makes me realise that a lot the golfs and polos are imports.

What's the story there? I'm sure swapping out the radio wouldn't be an issue but are they going to be a nightmare to insure or are they potentially clocked or something? Call me a skeptic, but if it seems to good to be true...

I took a search through boards and most people just seem to ask about the radios so maybe they're grand?

NIMAN

Is there really a lot of imports from Japan? I know it was popular back in the day but we import 100,000 from the UK annually, do we really need to go as far as Japan for cars?

pah

Eh, who's importing Golfs and Polos from Japan?

bazz26

They did sell VWs in Japan and there are a number of them imported from Japan alright as they are petrol and automatics which are scarce here.

Atlantic Dawn

I've seen lots of VW Golf's, Polo's and also some S40's on Donedeal, auto petrols, they are a complete mess, better stick to something either Irish or UK import, removing the radio/infotainment system will make the car appeal to about 5 people at resale.

bazz26

I don't think the original stock Japanese radios work here or may not be in English. If buying from a dealer I'd expect them to sell it with a stereo that works here in English. Also check your insurance as Japanese imports can be difficult or more expensive to insure than similar original European cars.

beauf

Dunphus wrote: »

And by new i mean brand new secondhand of course!

I went to a couple of dealers an...

When you say dealers what do you mean?

Dunphus

pah wrote: »

Eh, who's importing Golfs and Polos from Japan?

A couple of dealers it seems. Take a look on carzone and you can notice a few that have japanese infotainment systems or you can spot an emergency light in the passenger footwell which I presume is a legal requirement in Japan.

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I've seen lots of VW Golf's, Polo's and also some S40's on Donedeal, auto petrols, they are a complete mess, better stick to something either Irish or UK import, removing the radio/infotainment system will make the car appeal to about 5 people at resale.

See this is what I'm struggling with, in what regard are they a mess? Surely they're still produced in Germany or to the same spec (if not better given that it's Japan). One of the dealers I spoke with said they could swap out the infotainment and as long as it works as it's in English and gets the same frequency range I don't see an issue there.

What I would be concerned about would be the history of the car and compatibility of spares so I suppose I'm curious if anyone has any experience with them. There is a thread here on boards where someone found a japanese motorcheck website but didn't post the link. I'm sure a quick google would throw it up though.

bazz26 wrote: »

I don't think the original stock Japanese radios work here or may not be in English. If buying from a dealer I'd expect them to sell it with a stereo that works here in English. Also check your insurance as Japanese imports can be difficult or more expensive to insure than similar original European cars.

They we're mostly in Japanese that I saw today and the frequency range doesn't match ours, it goes from late 70s or so to about the mid 90s on the FM band. To be fair, one of the dealers said they sold replacement systems.

The insurance thing is what I consider the potential dealbreaker. See, is it a japanese import or a german car? As far as I'm aware insurers don't like Japanese imports because of the difficulty to source spare parts but is this an issue with a German/Japanese car (Throw in an Italian radio and you really have an axis of evil import!)?

Unfortunately, the insurance part of it is something I won't know about until I've bought the car and I'm calling around which I suppose is why I'm wary and seeing if any of the good folk on here have any experience with it.

beauf wrote: »

When you say dealers what do you mean?

I encountered two dealerships yesterday but I think there are a few imports floating about if you have a gander on carzone. So much so that one advertisement seemed to feel the need to explain "Irish car" in their additional info section.

J.R.

Dunphus wrote: »

Unfortunately, the insurance part of it is something I won't know about until I've bought the car and I'm calling around which I suppose is why I'm wary and seeing if any of the good folk on here have any experience with it.

Get the reg of one Irish car and one Japan import in DoneDeal and go on-line for an insurance quote.

Input Japan import details - then do the same with an Irish model - that will tell you immediately if there is an insurance loading.

Most insurance quotes I've searched for ask if the car is an import - I'd don't think they are asking to give me a discount - I'd imagine it will increase the quote due to parts availability if different from German spec.

projectgtr

Dunphus wrote: »

And by new i mean brand new secondhand of course!

I went to a couple of dealers and saw that they had some automatic VW golfs and Polos but all of them seemed to be imported Japan. A quick gander on carzone makes me realise that a lot the golfs and polos are imports.

What's the story there? I'm sure swapping out the radio wouldn't be an issue but are they going to be a nightmare to insure or are they potentially clocked or something? Call me a skeptic, but if it seems to good to be true...

I took a search through boards and most people just seem to ask about the radios so maybe they're grand?

My Missus just imported this one recently, have to say i was very surprised by how nippy it was with the DSG box specially for a 1.2 turbo

The radio is a simple swap, i have been told the jap ones can be recoded but we upgraded outrs to an OEM with apple carplay and it was quite cheap, installation took less than 5 min. Personally we have had 3 imports in the house we have sourced/imported ourselves the standard of cars over there is very high in general. If you are buying from a dealer here its always good to see the auction sheet if present

NIMAN wrote: »

Is there really a lot of imports from Japan? I know it was popular back in the day but we import 100,000 from the UK annually, do we really need to go as far as Japan for cars?

They are starting to come back , im seeing a lot more on the roads, i can only see that increase more if brexit goes ahead

pah wrote: »

Eh, who's importing Golfs and Polos from Japan?

My missus did , theres actually a LOT of japanese VWs over here

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I've seen lots of VW Golf's, Polo's and also some S40's on Donedeal, auto petrols, they are a complete mess, better stick to something either Irish or UK import, removing the radio/infotainment system will make the car appeal to about 5 people at resale.

I done the radio on my missus Polo , it took less than 5 min and i replaced it with an OEM headunit with Carplay and Android auto, it was a very cheap upgrade too

bazz26 wrote: »

I don't think the original stock Japanese radios work here or may not be in English. If buying from a dealer I'd expect them to sell it with a stereo that works here in English. Also check your insurance as Japanese imports can be difficult or more expensive to insure than similar original European cars.

J.R. wrote: »

Get the reg of one Irish car and one Japan import in DoneDeal and go on-line for an insurance quote.

Input Japan import details - then do the same with an Irish model - that will tell you immediately if there is an insurance loading.

Most insurance quotes I've searched for ask if the car is an import - I'd don't think they are asking to give me a discount - I'd imagine it will increase the quote due to parts availability if different from German spec.

The insurance on ours was not loaded and afaik parts are the exact same with the exception of the radio, i have been told these can be recoded but its cheap to upgrade so i never looked into it.

Conor.d2

I am also trying to buy a VW Golf Automatic and can only find Japanese versions for the colours I want. I dont know a huge amount about cars but I have found one that can be imported for me if I pay a €4k deposit up-front. Any one heard of Western Imports..? westernimports.gemsites.com/
They dont seem to be a 'proper' dealer so Im not sure how Id be able to get my deposit back if I dont like what I see when I go to collect

I have a few reservations...

- my insurance co. wont quote me unless I have the Irish reg of the car
- how would I know if its been crashed or clocked?
- the warranty they offer is only for €2.5k
- the radio issue (but seems like its been answered above)

Can anyone help me - should I go for it or run a mile..?

Tails142

Sorry bumping this thread, about to buy a VW imported from Japan.

Seems like insurance is the only possible issue, dealer assures me there won't be a problem but I don't believe him lol - Will be shopping around anyway for a quote so I'm sure policies on this vary between insurers like everything else.

The spec on the car is really good, way above anything I've seen on recent UK or Irish ones up on sale. I'm told mechanically all the parts are the same as Irish so shouldn't be a problem on that end. The garage is a main dealer for another brand so that is reassuring but I was a little bit surprised to hear it was a jap import, I was asking was it a UK import when he mentioned it, why would a main dealer be doing this? I guess there is demand.

He says they swap radio, so menus will be in English. I will be checking sat nav and reversing camera to see if that all appears in English similar to Irish spec cars.

From being in other jap imports over the years, I guess the only evidence might be in airbag stickers and labels like that, all other instrument knobs are probably just symbols to avoid issues like the? Tyres are another to check that they have the E mark, maybe windows too, probably fine though as its a VW but possibly if one has been replaced with non OEM?

Would be interested to hear if anyone did this and had issues, I'll be going in eyes open anyway, was getting excited about the car but a little dissapointed to hear it is a jap import but maybe there is nothing to worry about?

Tails142

Also, it's a 2016 so tsunami flood damage or radioactivity aren't a concern, which is something else I've seen to look out for lol

Do cars when they're getting inspected for VRT now go through the same as NCT? Or it will be NCT'd by dealer anyway due to age I suppose so this should catch any issues with tyres and windows also? Assuming all above board?

User1998

He’s right insurance probably won’t be an issue on a Golf. Some jap imports have different names than they do here like Honda Jazz/Fit, Toyota Vitz/Yaris. So they can be difficult to insure sometimes but not Volkswagens. Parts are all the same as well.

Just do an independent Japanese history check using the VIN number as an Irish history check won’t show any of the Japanese data

It won’t fail the NCT on windows. Sometimes the tyres don’t have an E mark but if they are a good brand like Michelin etc they will. Anyway thats the dealers problem assuming they sell it with a new NCT

projectgtr

We had no issue insuring our Jap Polo, none seemed to care if it was japanese. Ive driven nothing but imports for the the last 10+ years so i understand how awkward it can be insurance wise, but here were zero issues here. On tires its hit an miss, ours came in with basically brand new Bridgestones and it pass the NCT with zero issues. fast forward two years and we NCTd it again the lack of E mark was a fail. So it can be test center/tester specific. I had planned to upgrade the wheels/tires on ours so it wasnt a big deal.

Honestly i wouldnt be worried in the slightest if its a good car. If its a high grade car then they tend to be leaps and bounds above anything on irish roads. Only issue we had is that the manual and VW service history is in Japanese but nothing the google translate camera app cant sort.