C90Club.co.uk

horobags wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:54 am

Will they need to be UK registered??

The Jap import cars they sell are UK registered. I haven't read the whole blurb so I don't know about the bikes.

I bought a Mazda 323 from a Brighton back street dealer some years back. That was a Jap import. It had just over 40k miles on the clock (although the odometer was in km if I remember correctly.)

When I took it to the Mazda dealer for a service, the mechanic showed me the difference between mine and Eurozone spec'd ones. Things like a single row, skinny camchain on mine as opposed to a double row heavy duty one on a UK 323. Other things were obviously much more cheaply made.

The reason explained to me was Japan's strict regulations regarding used vehicles and their equivalent of our M.O.T system being so strict that cars over 4 years old and above 40,000 miles were rare, so it wasn't worth building home market vehicles to last as long as some exports.

That said, it ran like a Swiss watch for a year and another 16000 miles before I sold it privately for not a lot less than I'd paid.

horobags wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:54 am

Will they need to be UK registered??

As far as I can tell the bikes aren't UK registered but they will assist in the process.

Capitano wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:20 am

The reason explained to me was Japan's strict regulations regarding used vehicles and their equivalent of our M.O.T system being so strict that cars over 4 years old and above 40,000 miles were rare, so it wasn't worth building home market vehicles to last as long as some exports.

That's mostly correct, I'll just expound. It's not on a 4 year cycle, but a 10 year one.

It's done by the government mandating only 1 inspection and registration every 3 years for new cars, 1 every 2 years afterwards until the car is 10 years old, and then after that the cars are hit with inspection and a yearly tax. This doesn't seem like a big deal outside of Japan where inspections and registration might equal 100 quid give or take, but yearly tax on i.e. a Toyota Camry is (when I lived there) about 2 grand. So basically once cars hit 10 years old, off the to the scrap heap.

It is true though that a lot of Japanese market cars are built WORSE than foreign market versions, and that's why there's such a high turnover rate of cars at higher mileage also, because...they simply don't last. Don't ask how I know...

AE86 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:02 am

It's done by the government mandating only 1 inspection and registration every 3 years for new cars, 1 every 2 years afterwards until the car is 10 years old, and then after that the cars are hit with inspection and a yearly tax. This doesn't seem like a big deal outside of Japan where inspections and registration might equal 100 quid give or take, but yearly tax on i.e. a Toyota Camry is (when I lived there) about 2 grand. So basically once cars hit 10 years old, off the to the scrap heap.

It is true though that a lot of Japanese market cars are built WORSE than foreign market versions, and that's why there's such a high turnover rate of cars at higher mileage also, because...they simply don't last. Don't ask how I know...

That explains it better, thank you. In the case of my Mazda they don't so much head to the scrap heap as head to a container bound for the UK.

Capitano wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:30 am

That explains it better, thank you. In the case of my Mazda they don't so much head to the scrap heap as head to a container bound for the UK.

A lot of people find it amazing that "we" Japanese have to pay people to take away our "rubbish". Likely, someone paid a pretty penny (called the recycler's fee) to take that Mazda off of their hands. It's actually because of this why I scored several bikes as a teenager literally for free. I just had to show up, sign some papers, and push it home, pretending I had a breakdown so I wouldn't get fined by the police.

I bought a Honda SL230 from them in December. A fantastic bike and it was great to see their multitude of Cubs in the showroom.
I have to say they were really helpful and a pleasure to deal with

My brother bought a Kawasaki 250 from them last year. It's a great bike, & they sorted the UK registration & MOT. Very friendly & helpful.
Chris

Yes indeed ,they have some nice bikes.

my pet hate....putting 'rare' in the title for honda cubs for f***'s sake...

jammy james wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:34 am

my pet hate....putting 'rare' in the title for honda cubs for f***'s sake...

Mine too!