E 320 Coupe 124 jap import

[coupe deville]

What are the pros and cons of a japanese import [ apart from the price ]

http://www.ccbenz.co.uk/30621/61457.html

 

[Vlad]

Not a lot....Mercs sold in Japan tend to come with high specifications and tend to be very well looked after and normally fairly low mileage.

 

[crammy69]

Pro - They don't use salt on their roads, so rust will likely be less.

Con - Their stereo's radio bands dont go as high as ours so it'll probably need replacing. Oh and if its like any Japanese car I've ever bought it will have holes in the interior from the attachment or some wierd gadget or other!

Not surprised its expensive given the drop in GBP/Yen exchange rate! but I have to wonder how dealers such as this and others like Charles Ironside, will fair in the next year or more. I can understand people with a little extra disposable income paying somewhat inflated prices for neo-classics/ young-timers when times are good, but lets face it that cars at least £5000 over priced (IMHO).

 

[A210AMG]

It does sound a lot to me.

I know its 'sort' of classic status but putting miles on it will eat into the value and at the end of the day its still an older car to drive will fewer of the goodies the new ones have (ok less to go wrong...)

When you can get a much newer CL for the same money it seems odd? I know completly different cars but as nice as the old W124's are unless its a E500 or something special I would rather have the newer car sorry.

Such as this (or even the new shape CLK's for 10K)
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/815514.htm

 

[AMGeed]

In the past, quite a few things needed looking at before a Japanese import was road legal in the UK. The speedo for instance needs to be reading in MPH not KPH. Is there a built in rear fog light, and do the tyres come up to standard. A speed limiter (112mph) was also fitted to many cars.

These were some of the things that had to be addressed when my nephew brought in a Toyota Celica from Japan a few years back.

Needless to say, the dealer should have dealt with anything amiss before putting it up for sale. Looks a nice car

 

[grober]

The front grille is non standard so not completely original ( I quite like it personally) . Don't like coupe photos with the windows wound down because its difficult to judge the how scored all the side windows are ( very few are perfect!) When you are trying to sell a car- charging a premium price for it, and publishing lots of pictures why omit pictures of one side of the car entirely? Makes no sense if you really want to present the car well.

 

[janner]

Nice example but crazy money.
Does it have a sunroof?
The other thing is insurance. Many companies will not touch a Jap import, lots charge extra. I know it doesn't make sense but often when you declare it the 'computer says no'.

 

[A210AMG]

Just some other thoughts,

I imported a Eunos Roadster (MX5) from Japan.

That needed, fog light, speedo, radio but also the boot was for a smaller number plate. A dead giveaway that its an import.

I managed to source the corrrect boot and rear bumper / badges cheapy so even when all fitted it worked out much cheaper.

Good thing is the car had a lot of money spent on it, think the japs like to tune their cars up.

Insurance just takes a few phone calls more to specialists but I had no problems.

OOh and and service history may well un readable unless you speak the language.

 

[Skintia99]

It's up for a lot but if you wanted a mint (?), high spec W124 coupe I suppose it would suit, Would ask for new boot lid though first (to fit UK plates)

 

[pint6x]

It's nice, but i think it has a later "Avantgarde" grill fitted to it.

At 10 grand, someone somewhere is taking your trousers down.

 

[Will]

It's pretty nice, but I agree that it doesn't look like ten grand's worth of car!

I for one would prefer a UK-sourced car (originality, provable UK service history, UK spec (eg boot lid, speedo etc).

Surely you could pick up a very nice UK car for less cash than that, there's plenty of rich old people who must have bought these new and cherished them!

Will

 

[mercboiuk]

Most Jap W124s (below E500) and W126s I've seen don't seem to have sunroofs - something which appears to be the norm for the UK.

Just something else to bare in mind. There's no mention of a sunroof in the advert, although it could have one

Darren

 

[mercboiuk]

Would ask for new boot lid though first (to fit UK plates)

The Coupes have a separate plastic number plate surround, so I would assume you could get away with changing only this, rather than the whole bootlid

Darren

 

[The G.F.P]

the car is stunningly original and looks like new but £10k is way too much like others have said

you will find one like that for sale in this country less and less nowadays and if there was one id expect it to be up for around £6k (which is still too much)

lovly looking car

id love to have had a w124 e320 coupe from new