Is there any difference between the japanese imported rx8 and the rx8 sold in the USA? I found a 2004 mazda base rx8 with 30k on original engine that has the steering wheel and column on the right..... Also has new set of tires and rims and is tinted. I'm meeting the guy tomorrow at his house. Anything I should know about an rx8 from japan?????

 

As long as it has been registered before it should be legal right? I would totally buy a RHD RX-8. Pretty rare. You might have to pay more to register but Idk. depends on the state you live in. imported cars must meet the safety regulations etc.

 

As an individual, you can't import a foreign car less than 20 yrs old for use on the road. Some Nissan Skyline owners got in trouble for doing just that. You can import it for parts and convert a US registered car to rhd. Reusing the ecu would likely get you in trouble during an emissions test.

 

He could have used a loophole to get it over here and registered. I know you can import cars without many regulations as long as you say it will be a track car only and never see the road. Sometimes that is only temporary though. Then some people will register it as a kit car as if they pieced it together themselves and built it. Others pretend they have modified a LHD vehicle and used only the front clip from a RHD car but that can be very illegal very quickly depending what you do.

Also it is 25 years old to be exempt from everything. I think emissions is 15 or 20 years and DOT is 25 years to be exempt.

 

no! the STATE will register anything, however to LEGALLY import the car you need paperwork from the FEDS.

so if there is a California reg and title (for example), the federal government can come and seize the car anytime they want, and sometimes they go after the guys who imported it too. since the car isn't here legally, you have no recourse.

the ONLY way the car can be legal, is if you get DOT/EPA kind of paperwork. you can also get a tourist visa, and then i think there might be some kind of show car exemption too.

as an aside you would think a JDM Rx8 would be importable, as its the same as the US one except for where they put the steering wheel, and it wouldn't be hard to put the LHD lights on it. it has the same emissions equipment too.

 

In most cases the cars are pretty much the same. There are exceptions though. My friend has a legit rhd crx and the doors are crazy light compared to the us version. So you can be pretty sure they are not as structurally sound or rigid as the us version also. I've never seen a rhd rx8 in person so I can't say for sure what the differences in manufacturing are but there are probably subtle things that might disqualify it from passing DOT.

 

Sometimes i see this black Toyota Supra driving by and the driver is on the left hand side, and i think that car is imported from Japan...

 

It doesn't do you much good in Cali, but I know its easier to register a grey market car in a commonwealth state. I know a kid who has a rhd Integra type R that he was able to register in PA as his family has land there and he lives in CT.

 

BUMP! this guy wants 11 but he said he would go 10,500 for a blue 2004 base rx8 with original engine. The blue rx8 has custom nice looking 18" rims with stagged .5" tires bigger in the back 9" and 9.5". This is the 4 speed automatic cloth but is honestly clean like a gt. Perfect interior and right hand side steering.... 37k miles but only reads in km (60k km). Asked him if he changed the spark plugs at 30k and he said "I dont think this has spark plugs" lmao but I need a realistic opinion from somebody in the rx8 community. Is the value more because of the imported car????

 

For 10.5 you can get a clean Grand Touring 8 here in the states. Why import one?

 

Two things:

Do you really want to buy a car from someone who doesn't even know that it has spark plugs?

Do you really want to buy a car that has NO manufacturer support?
They won't help you with ANYTHING on the car.
If the engine dies, its on you to buy a new one, period.

There is nothing on the face of the Earth that would make me buy that car.

And no, it being an import doesn't raise the value.
It decreases it.

BC.

 

omg he said no spark plug?!!?? run away come get my rx8 for 10k

 

If it is a legit imported rhd then yes the value is raised depending on who you talk to. It will be worth more to certain people and less to others because of the possible hassle with registering and insuring it. If I were you I would check over the whole car and try to find a VIN on it in the rear half of the car. What a lot of people do is just get the front clip of a rhd and swap that into their usdm car. If you check the trunk and anywhere back from the firewall you should be able to figure out if that was done or not.

I wouldn't want a 4 speed automatic rx8 lhd or rhd. If I were you I would keep looking and find a better car.

 

people register RHD JDM cars in CA all the time, then the FED's show up, crush the car and start looking for people to throw into jail.

CA registration only keeps the CA people happy, not the feds

its kind of like marijuana, its legal in the state, but not federally.

 

there are ways to import almost any cars anywhere, but the cost is so high that unless it's a really rare model or you just have too much money to waste, it's just not worth the time.

the R32(GT-R) will soon reach the 25 years old exemption, and there WILL be a lot of them coming in. it still won't be cheap though, it's cheap in Japan but most of them are pretty f-ed up by now (I seen them) and people who knows how to fix them in the states are RARE, and RB26 is a bitch to fix.

 

R32 = roll windows down, run a chain thru and use it to keep your ship from floating away....

 

No way it's a good idea.

Only A Nutcase Would Import A Car To America. B.S. Wants To Change That, And He Needs Your Signature | The Truth About Cars

 

I signed it. I would even be happy with something like Canada has, I think theirs is 15 years.

 

1. Its 25 years 2. Thats not how that law works 3. Yes you can import a rx8 bc (except the spirit R) it was sold in the united states. Look more into laws before you talk about them man. Also there are ways to import cars that dont fall under the 25 year law legally but we’re talking millions of dollars to do that for a car that costs like 5 grand so no one does that except hollywood.

 

Last updated 6 years ago...

And importing an RHD... Have fun with insurance.