Importing European Type R under 25 year rule?

[SWFL_NSX]

Is anybody planning on importing a European Type R after the 1998's are eligible under the 25 year rule? The prices seem compelling but I've never done it before.

Here is a CW with about 70k miles for 20k USD. https://www.theparking-cars.com/used-ca ... 9D4C.html

Not the cheapest one I found either.

[Wibbs]

I've long wondered why American buyers didn't look at European market ITR's. They're cheaper, they look like the USDM examples and if they're from mainland Europe and not the UK/Ireland the steering wheel is on the wrong/right side too. And they're better specced than the USDM examples with Recaros, nicer looking wheels(IMHO), ti gear knob, slightly better engine specs etc. Plus keep an eye out for the Swiss only examples of which 200 were supplied, in yellow with yellow Recaro interiors.

[aw614]

I've long wondered why American buyers didn't look at European market ITR's. They're cheaper, they look like the USDM examples and if they're from mainland Europe and not the UK/Ireland the steering wheel is on the wrong/right side too. And they're better specced than the USDM examples with Recaros, nicer looking wheels(IMHO), ti gear knob, slightly better engine specs etc. Plus keep an eye out for the Swiss only examples of which 200 were supplied, in yellow with yellow Recaro interiors.

Do they salt in Europe as much as they do in the Northeast in the US?

[Wibbs]

Do they salt in Europe as much as they do in the Northeast in the US?

Well Europe is a lot of countries with wildly different climates(and local authorities) so it varies. From what I recall they salt the roads in Germany, but not nearly so much in places like Italy and Spain, mostly because they don't have to. Here where I am in Ireland they used not to, but started ten years ago after an unseasonably snowy winter. They've always been very liberal with it in the UK.

The other thing to consider is that most European/EU countries have pretty extensive mandatory yearly car checks and structural corrosion is a fail. You don't tend to see too many wrecks on wheels driving around.

The way I'd look at it would be these cars are now "old/classic/vintage" so those still driving around are the survivors and generally looked after at this stage. They were a rare car in Europe anyway as not that many were officially sold and again tended to be looked after. The exceptions to this would be the big JDM import scenes in the UK and Ireland, particularly the latter in the late 90's early 00's. Where nigh on every second car seemed to be a JDM import and usually a cool one. DC2 Type R's(and non R Tegs) were very common in Ireland and hit the "banger" market by around 2010. They could be had up until around 2018 for under 4000 euro/dollars(they were heavily weighted by insurance companies and insurance is mandatory). Even today though sellers think they're worth north of 15k, they actually sell for more like 8-10. They usually have ten or more previous owners and suffer from that. Anyway those UK/IRE cars are RHD so...

TL;DR? I'd not be overly concerned buying a Euro car, just do the usual checks like asking for pics of the rear quarters and sills and if you can look for one from Southern Europe where it's warmer and drier.

[SWFL_NSX]

I've long wondered why American buyers didn't look at European market ITR's. They're cheaper, they look like the USDM examples [...] Plus keep an eye out for the Swiss only examples of which 200 were supplied, in yellow with yellow Recaro interiors.

There is a law in America called the 25 year rule where you can't import a vehicle until it's 25 years old. The type R's EUDM launch was in 1998 so they're just now beginning to be an option. Not sure what this will do to the USDM type r market.

Love that yellow on yellow Swiss type r though!

http://www.integratyper.org/specs/special-editions.htm