Buying In NZ vs Importing from Japan
 

Hey guys, Im Steve, a home mechanic with a little qualification, and Looking to get my first RX-7. I know they are a lot of work, but there's nothing I like better than spending the day out in the sun working on engines.


My Dream would be 3rd gen 13B-REW, though I definitely am looking at other models

My question is this; I'm looking at spending about 7-9 K on the car, and then working on it to bring it up to scratch. Is It better to buy in NZ or import from Japan?
(Im not really sure how much they go for in Japan)

Here's a couple of links of different models in different states to show you how much they sell for in NZ

Modified!
Mazda RX7 FD 1992 | Trade Me

Mazda RX7 SAVANNA S4 1987 | Trade Me

and at the higher end of the scale (This is listed as 88, buts actually a 97)
Mazda s5 rx7 1988 | Trade Me

Has anyone on here imported to NZ before?

hey mate.have had a mate whos been bring in a few fds and gtrs in from japan.battys are costing him about 7g but and its a big but they can be complied.make awesome circuit cars or donor cars for another build.he just had a gtr arrive that was fucked.must have been in tsunami as the carpet was only thing holding it together!hhaha.the way i buy my 7s is look for a car that has everything you want parts wise or looks mint etc and then build motor up.i look for the ones with the blown engines as that way you know what you are getting rather then being told its been rebuilt etc

I reckon it would be worthwhile importing from japan - straight from the source

I am looking at getting a series 6 that's in the process of getting imported. The paints real rough, but its only 6.5K NZD landed!

Im probably a little bit slow here but you can no longer import an FD and road register it in NZ.
Only cars that have already been imported, and are already registered can be registered as road legal.

You can import one as parts, or as a track only car but you cannot import one and road register it.
You see people selling these type of non registable cars saying "xxx price, excludes on road costs" - yea well they exclude on road costs or arnt already registerd because it cant be!

That's why legit road registered cars (even with a blown engine) cost so much more then non-complied cars or cars that "exclude on road costs".

Believe me mate, if you want an FD on the road, you need to look elsewhere.
Hope im not too late and you havent jumped the gun and tried to get a fresh import!

Actually....I DID buy a fresh Import (a 1992 rx7 FD) .... AND GOT IT ROAD REGISTERED and LEGAL :icon_tup: Just 2 weeks ago.

This is through the normal channels as well... NOT Special Interest Vehicle.

There's also a guy called alex clark who has a company that brings FD's in and gets them legal fairly regularly to sell.

A bit late, but just to chime in...

Cars older than 20 years can be brought into the country as a classic car. So S6 FD's are fine for this. Also, there's no yearly limit as opposed to bringing a car in under special interest.