buying an ex Hong Kong car

[16simon]

Hi all,I'm looking at an early 90s Merc that spent most of its life in Hong Kong. As a rule are HK cars likely to be in better condition than UK cars, due to different climates or any other factors?

[GC8]

Their watches certainly arent! Salt is the killer though. Thats said: salt in the air comes a close second to salt spread on the road.

[16simon]

Ah, so not necessarily going to be any better than if they'd spent their life in the UK?

[GC8]

Sat here thinking: most people in Japan live on the coast and their cars come here looking new when theyre 7-10 years old in many cases, so theres no reason why it shouldnt be the same with HK. A friend of mine used to import cars from California and always avoided the SF bay area, because cars corroded there, but this alone isnt enough to comdemn a car from HK.

[slowx]

16simon said:

Hi all,I'm looking at an early 90s Merc that spent most of its life in Hong Kong. As a rule are HK cars likely to be in better condition than UK cars, due to different climates or any other factors?

No.

HK is a very humid place for around 8 months of a year, it's not uncommon to have 90%+ humidity in HK and together with short spells of rain follow by bright sunshine in summer time plus most cars live outside you'll end up with a crap condition for keeping cars.

Unless the car is being kept inside and taken care of very well, it'll mostly be a bit of a gamble buying without seeing.