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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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Import something old and fun! Cars from smaller countries have lower mileage and can be cheap because they aren't as valuable as a comparable car from the US. It isn't hard to find a 25 year old car with about 50,000 miles on it.
JDM cars are especially nice now because of how weak the YEN is. Look outside the popular JDM cars and there are tons of things with easy to find parts for dirt cheap.
Or hell, get a not top trim of a popular model, and you can get something cheap. Want a station wagon built on the same platform as the Nissan Skyline? The Automatic Stageas are cheaper because tuners don't want them because they're an automatic and don't have a turbo, which makes them slower, but also more reliable.
Nissan Rasheens with the 1500cc engine are easy to maintain and have an engine that was used in some American cars, get the first true AWD CUV for about $5000 plus import fees.
Another cheap option is a Toyota Caldina, get a reliable awd station wagon with a nice interior for 2 or 4 grand including import fees. (Avoid the 2000ish GTT version with a turbo, turbo manifold is prone to warping on that engine and said manifold is hard to find in the US as those engines generally didnt sell in the US)
Where are you finding things like this? What's parts availability like?
Carfromjapan.com has the best search features I've found, once you know what you're looking for https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/ is also nice because they translate the car condition sheets.
Parts availability depends on the car. For the Rasheen for example most of the engine parts can be found at any parts store for the 1500 and 2000 cc engine versions cause those engines were also in American cars though the 2000cc engine is far more common. I've also found English websites that are easy to order just about any parts you want for a Rasheen including body panels.
Amazon is also nice for finding parts, I was able to find parts for a SR18DE engine on Amazon and that engine was never sold in America. So you can just buy the parts yourself then take the car to a local mechanic for the work.
Once you find something that interests you just Google that car name parts and you can usually find someone talking online about how owning that car has been for them.
The best listings also have video of the car running so you can hear if something is off with it.
I used picknbuy24 to get a Nissan Tiida for $1200 USD with like 25k miles. Parts are normally the same as they are on already imported models.
How did Customs let it through? It has to have DOT spec stuff in the US. I don't know about more than 25 years old.