I Almost Bought 7 Different JDM Cars Before This One
ImportJDMrhd.com
How I Imported My Second JDM Car! Part 1: The Decision
00:00 Intro
00:50 Choices
01:50 Auctions Japan
04:50 Auction Win
With an enormous amount of legal JDM choices from 2008, what did I pick?
Van-Fave Toyota Vellfire? Legendary Skyline R35 GTR debut? Maybe the stonking V8 Launch of the Lexus IS-F?
Nope!
Boomer-spec, Honda Japan Marketing GE6 – that’s the 1.3l engine with CVT!
Yes, I did get the Marketing Material Honda complete with the didn’t-know-it-existed Honda Skyroof!
I secretly want the glory of machines hailing from Initial D or Van Kulture but I’m quite content to sip fuel in JDM-style with the sun beaming through the roof!
While I was happy with my previous yellow GD3 purchase, the process lacked formalities. A fully detailed invoice, confirmation of shipping directly to my home, and consistent communication are the points I was looking for. It’s a fair demand when you’re shelling out that much coin.
A local Honda Fit group led me to a new Import Broker that addresses the demand gap. I recommend word-of-mouth recommendations to anyone thinking of doing the same.
Price and reliability were big deciding factors with my budget set square at $5,000 landed in Canada. This filtered my choices down to Honda Fits and Toyota Vitz. Ultimately the Honda Fit won out due to much better interior packaging.
GD’s (1st Gen Honda Fit) are priced lower than GE’s (2nd Gen Honda Fit) but are just as plentiful.
I was shooting for the stars with my select choice at Honda Fit RS GE8 with manual transmission in the same Helios Yellow, but reality opened me up to anything from Honda Fit.
A total of 8 different auction lots came through before I pulled the trigger!
1) A GE8 RS, high grade 4.5 with decent mileage and CVT was priced out of budget at a starting bid of ¥290,000.
2) A GE7 1.3l engine and AWD for excellent winter traction would have been under budget, but black wasn’t my favourite and was looking for something with higher options (auto climate control, smart key…)
3) A GE6 1.3l engine with a high grade 4 and only 56,000km but in the end, I decided to wait at least a week to see what else came up before settling.
4) Here’s the coveted yellow at auction, GE6 1.3l, CVT with low mileage and a decent grade 3.5 and well under budget! Luckily the import broker caught a front pillar dent harbouring the possibility of a collision and I didn’t want to gamble on it. It’s precisely, for this reason, I recommend a good broker with inspectors on the ground to spot bad purchases hidden from the auction sheets.
5) OHHH BABY! Here she is, GE8 Honda Fit RS, 5-Speed Manual in my 3rd-choice-colour-blue high grade 4 with a paltry 61,000km on the odometer. Unfortunately, and predictably, the starting price was already more than double by budget and “let her go.”
6) The sensible choice GE6 showed up! Perfectly acceptable options, with CVT but I was drawn to the ultra-low mileage of 26,000km – averaging just 5km/DAY! I walk MORE km than this car everyday. I was ready to bid for August 3rd.
7) With nearly the same specs as #6, this GE7 trumped it with AWD and a still-perfectly-low 35,000km. With the auction finishing one day earlier on August 2nd, #6 became my backup bid!
8) Mid-life-crisis-spec has entered the chat. A GE6 CVT with my coveted SKYROOF showed up. After Helios Yellow Y66P, this Skyblue Metallic was my choice colour, and I ignored the fact that it had more than triple the km of Auction #6. What pushed me the most to bid was the high grade 4.5 and verified by the broker. With the auction set to finalize just hours before #7, I had two backups in case my $5000 bid didn’t win!
LUCKY #8
On the advice of the broker, I agreed to increase the bid price to $5250 because of the rare skyroof option and high-grade condition.
Four hours later, I increased it again to an even $5500 just in case because YOLO!
Good thing I did because it closed at $5500 and change and I was a happy new owner of a skyroof GE6! This one closed on August 2nd and a month later she finally found some room on the transport vessel!
At the time of this writing, she’s currently sightseeing her way to Hiroshima, Japan with an ETA in Canada for mid-October!
Follow along as I document the journey to my doorstep and any tips for those of you thinking about importing your own JDM vehicle!