specialedition

Im wondering everyones thoughts on this issue, Now ive voiced my opinion on this discussion multiple times and its fair to say i do indeed favor JDM cars over domestic, I want to know what you favor and why.

Reasons for me is

JDM
- No rust on body/Underbody/Framerails and suspension parts
- Low Kms
- More affordable
-Tons of selection compaired to finding a domestic RX-7
-ect...
- Amount of A/M goodies that come with the car (Performance parts and electrical components)

Domestic
- Often Found rotted out and or lots of rust on the body and so on.
- Higher Kms enough to scare me away anyways
- More expensive for the same car +/- Condition
- Hard to find a nice car at a good price


All and all i dont mind Domestic i just find the values of JDM to be stronger then what we can find here.

Crymson

I'm tall and can't get in a JDM because the seat didn't slide back far enough.

I would disagree about the value, mabey if you had just two radom cars -- but with most domestic FD's, you'll have long and detailed service history, an owner that you can talk to before hand to get a feel for how the car was treated, and with a comminity like RX-7 club, possibly other peopel to vouch for the car's condition.

Everyone i know who's bought JDM, has regretted it as it eneded up costing them more than what an high priced domestic version would have cost them.

7_rocket

iTrader: (6)

Why do I get the feeling this thread will go south real fast..

thebisnac

iTrader: (5)

I have not regretted mine for one minute. It's true that the ones from Japan are more affordable. You can't find a LHD rx7 with 90k for 8200 bucks in Canada

HEVNSNT

iTrader: (3)

The KM's from a JDM car can be misleading. The KM's are not a good indication of wear on a JDM car when compared to a Canadian car. There are more highways in Canada than Japan (highway mileage is less wear). You can tell by the wear in the seats, gas pedals, shift **** etc. It is highly unlikely that any FD in Canada is winter driven. FC's are a different story.


My car has 90K and it is in better condition than many JDM's with 50K.

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

it depends on the car.

If you compare two cars of identical condition, chances are the JDM will be cheaper though. Beat LHD FD's still fetch $10k, beat JDM ones are worth $4-5k.

some RHD parts are harder to find. heater controls, steering racks, etc.

Most RHD FC's are in MUCH better condition than their north american counterparts - it's getting really hard to find clean FC's anymore and their value isn't reflecting that yet. So you tend to find the opposite with FC's - cheap LHD ones and expensive RHD ones.

In the end, buy whatever you like more. I have an RHD skyline that is cleaner underneath than any 15+ year old unrestored car I've ever seen that lived its life in canada. Winter driven or not, canadian roads suck, and there's still salt residue on them or something that makes cars slowly rust.

Most JDM cars have 100-150k km, if you find one with 50k it's probably IMMACULATE. Especially if it's a higher end car, skyline/FD/supra/etc.

B6T

iTrader: (2)

One close call making a left turn in a busy intersection and you'll see why the domestic cars are preferred.

specialedition

Thats what i could never understand, Everyone is talking about the left hand turn, ive never once had this problem i can see everything perfectly.

Crymson- How tall are you? Im 6 foot 7" 220 pounds and ive fit in every jdm Car ive owned perfectly.

Alak

iTrader: (9)

Keep in mind JDM's are 'cleaner' because they have to be thuroughly cleaned before they enter the country.

Another Negative of JDM's is the probability that a particular car could have sat for years and years before it was even moved.

Biggest thing is typically theres no history. I've seen nice clean models come over in great shape, still with new car smell. And I've seen nice looking cars that turned out to be track day cars with crazy milage and everything was worn out. It looked clean however.


It works both ways. In the end I think it comes down to budget and preference. In my personal experience, typically JDM's require a budget for any immediate repairs what might arise.

Zhé

iTrader: (2)

i think after hearin about tiger auto, jdm sounded a lot worst to me than it did before

DaoNhatHai

iTrader: (38)

All of your points are false.

BC-FD3S

iTrader: (2)

After owning my Skyline, I had my fun with RHD. Sure they are cheaper, but I wanted to get a RX7 that I could keep for years. I don't want to be 35, cruising around in a RHD RX7. I am planning to get into Real Estate, and it was time to move up in the world. It would be pretty embarrassing to meet a potential client in a JDM RHD car. And the fact that I got my FD for a killer deal in the USA back when our dollar was still good helped in the decision.

userjh5174

RHD or LHD, Whats the diff...Drive what you enjoy.

orion84gsl

iTrader: (5)

No first hand experience but I would want to be able to see the car I'm about to fork money over for. If the car gets here and needs a ton of money to actually become road worthy then I might as well of saved myself the headache and bought a domestic car. At least if I don't like the way it looks or runs I can walk away. Try pulling that with your importer.

BC-FD3S

iTrader: (2)

Well from the car that I imported I had a great experience. You have to shop around for the right person to bring you your car. I didn't use a local "importer," but a very well reviewed "exporter" in Japan. Adam @ Feast Japan. He was great and I got exactly what was advertised.


I actually like shifiting and driving on the track BETTER in a RHD car. It feels more natural to me. But the LHD is the norm in Canada so I decided to go with a DOM.








Anyways, I found this little bit of information and thought it was interesting. Just for you viewing pleasure.

1. Cyclists (illegally) coming up on the right is a major concern when making right turns in urban areas. In a LHD vehicle the only safe way to check for this is to look back over your right shoulder, thus loosing sight of what is happening in front. This method is actually specified in the commercial driver training manual. In a RHD vehicle the driver only has to drop his vision to the right hand mirror for an instant and he can see everything to his right rear without losing sight of what is happening in front of his vehicle.

2. When turning left in a LHD vehicle the left side windshield pillar is much closer to the driver’s eyes and therefore blocks more of his field of view (FOV). In a RHD the windshield pillar is farther away and therefore blocks much less of the FOV. That windshield pillar can easily obscure a pedestrian when turning left through an intersection for example. Furthermore, when turning left in a LHD the area of worst visibility is the LH rear. The LH door frame and pillar being very close to the driver’s eyes in a LHD vehicle, block the view to a great extent, even when the driver looks back over his left shoulder (and not many do). In a RHD however the door frame and pillar are farther away and block much less of the view. The driver in a RHD also does not have to turn his head as far to look to his left rear, allowing his peripheral vision to cover more of the usual blindspot to the LH rear.

3. At night it is much easier to see and follow the white line on the RH (curb) side of the road than trying to see the yellow line in the center against the headlights of oncoming traffic. By avoiding looking directly at the oncoming headlights the driver’s night vision is better and he is more likely to see pedestrians, cyclists, animals or other hazards on the RH (curb) side which are less easily noticed by drivers in LHD vehicles whose attention is focused on the center line of the road.

4. In a head-on collision the impact is most likely to occur on the left front of the vehicle; being seated on the right the driver is less likely to be injured and injuries if sustained are likely to be less serious.

5. When parallel parking in a RHD the driver has a much better view of the curb and the LH rear of the car in front of him. This means faster and better parking with less obstruction of the curb lane and the dangerous and illegal swerving around vehicles trying to parallel park that we see so often.

6. In a RHD vehicle the driver gets out of the vehicle on the curb side rather than the road side. Obviously much safer for the driver as well as cyclists and other drivers.

7. When pulling out into traffic, there is a risk of "T-bone" collisions. In such cases the driver of a RHD vehicle is safer, being on the opposite side from where such an impact would occur.

7.1. When pulling out into traffic, it is much easier to do "shoulder check".

8) RHD drivers are better able to jude how far to the right they can move on a narrow road to allow oncomming traffic to pass safely making a head on collision much less likely.

9. Less likely to be blind of upcoming LHD bad ajusted headlights.

10. Safe for driver(RHD) to get from car to side walk on the street with busy traffic.

specialedition

please elaborate

Black91n/a

I happen to know someone who imports cars from Japan, one thing is that the cooling system is often shot, since they sit idling in traffic MUCH, MUCH more than a Canadian car. He's had some good experiences with the cars, but his business partner brought a Skyline to the track last year (only got it registered the week before) and promptly blew the turbos. Not saying that's going to happen to everyone, but you can't test drive it before it ships, so there's always a risk.

Lots of things on the car age just as much based on age as they do based on KM's. Even if you could find a car with NO km's on it, you'd still be dealing with cracked, rotted rubber parts and such things.

I wouldn't worry so much about turning in a RHD car, it's passing that'd scare me, as you won't necessarily be able to see around the truck, RV, bus, etc in front of you to see if there's any oncoming traffic or not. So you'll either have to sit back and wait (BOOOO!) or risk going out without being able to see very well.

Rx72Heaven

iTrader: (2)

That happened to me this summer in my FD and thank god i was on the right hand side and there was no pass anger, or else my or the passenger head would have went thought he window.

I do one day in the near future want a LHD, but until then, im am overly content with my JDM counterpart.

-Mark

DaoNhatHai

iTrader: (38)

Originally I thought you were comparing USDM cars as in a Camaro to JDM cars as in a Skyline. I understood the post like that and those points just didn't make sense to me.

ScrappyDoo

iTrader: (7)

It is ridiculous to suggest that you can see everything perfectly while seated 3-4ft further to the right. I experience difficulties in a LHD car at busy intersections when both directions of traffic are attempting to make left turns simultaneously.

I am not saying that it is impossible to drive RHD cars in Canada safely. I am saying that it takes more care to do so, especially making left turns at busy intersections. Denying this just suggests bias in your reasoning.

As far as JDM vs. Domestic generally.
It is a personal choice. I appreciate a nice car regardless of what side the wheel is on. But I would probably only ever buy a RHD car of a model that did not exist in LHD form. LHD FDs are available so I would never buy a RHD model.

specialedition

how do my points not make sence? Ive owned 4 jdm cars and 2 usdm Cars and everysingle time this was the case,

JDM - No Rust, Low kms, Very affordable

and when i has usdm cars this was the case

usdm - Rust on frame rails and underbody also on suspension parts, High Kms over 140,xxx. And affordablity is what you want to pay.

Bottom line on this "I THINK" is your going to pay that much more for a mint Usdm car then a mint JDM car.

Now another point that was brought up was the cooling issue on jdm cars, Now i understand that The cars sit for long periods of time which in some cases allow the seals to dry up and evnetually leak and no longer do there job. Now this only happens occasionally ive yet to have a car do this to me and ive owned 4.

I think alot of this is speculation people are assuming alot of negative stuff about jdm cars because of other peoples stories. Just like Tigre JDM auto. I myself would never buy a car from them unless i was planning on making it my track car in this case i would rebuild the engine and put a new 2 way lsd and suspension parts ECT. Like every used car dealership you need to know what your looking for otherwise your going to get ripped off.

I myself dont understand why there is so much hate towards jdm cars in alot of car scenes here included. Alot of people have bias opinions because they have yet to own or even drive a jdm car and there just siding with usdm because they dont know better.

just my .02$

specialedition

Im being 100% honest with you on this, I have never once had a problem turning left in an intersection busy or not. Is that so hard to believe. Im not saying im king of the world im just saying that problem has yet to happen to me.

Ka Kui

iTrader: (36)

Drive what you have and enjoy it............ I prefer LHD though....

Rx72Heaven

iTrader: (2)

I just avoid green lights on turns, and just go 1 intersection up where they have a green arrow for turning, solves it all.

ScrappyDoo

iTrader: (7)

Exactly my point, you have changed your driving style in appreciation for the increased danger. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

What is unreasonable is to suggest that there are no increased risks that need to be addressed, which is the what specialedition is saying.

This should not be a concern when buying an FD. Maybe you'll save a little on initial purchase price, but they will cost the same to maintain. Maintaining an FD is what is expensive from my perspective, not the initial purchase.