My son is interested japanese mod cars

[The Rotrex Kid]

1430 said:

The Rotrex Kid said:

That’s quite a sweeping statement! There’s many different Japanese cars that you can buy/mod and insure at many different budgets. Not everyone is going out getting R34 GTRs and spring £300k on them and you don’t need to so so to enjoy the scene and the cars.

Personal experience from a kid who likes jap cars is nothing but frustration. I passed my test and the car themselves were worthless but... it's the UK and I can't insurance any. Now I'm older and insurance isn't an issue the prices have gone mad. A 32/33 GTR for 10k was very attractive now even a horrible spec skyline (NA, automatic, 4door) is about 5k.

Well yes, older Japanese stuff has indeed gone up as time goes on and they get rarer and more sought after, the same goes for old fords, Vauxhalls etc etc

The secret is to find an alternative, something that excites and you can make your own for a lot less money.

I also wish I’d bought a skyline many years ago for £10k or whatever silly you could get an R32 GTR for but it is what it is. Buy a GT86, turbo it and go and have a blast.

[TommoAE86]

Just got to find that "alternative" JDM car, I'd have a go with goo-net-exchange and just hunt around, click on every mad name and see what comes up. If you like the look of it then find out more.

When I needed something that I could use daily I knew it just had to match the performance of my R33 Skyline GTS-t, I ended up with my Crown after thinking "if Toyota can do a Chaser, what else can they do?", pure luck is that it's faster, more comfortable, more economical, cheaper to service/run than my Skyline and more robust

[samoht]

1430 said:

Personal experience from a kid who likes jap cars is nothing but frustration. I passed my test and the car themselves were worthless but... it's the UK and I can't insurance any. Now I'm older and insurance isn't an issue the prices have gone mad. A 32/33 GTR for 10k was very attractive now even a horrible spec skyline (NA, automatic, 4door) is about 5k.

I was going to agree with you, but actually on reflection:

• Subaru Impreza WRX £2k upwards
• Honda Civic Type R £5k
• Toyota MR2 Turbo £5-8k
• Nissan 350Z £5-8k

That's a choice of 4WD turbo, FF VTEC, MR Turbo or FR V6, all from £5k. All fast cars with decent handling. Or a MX-5, S2000, RX-8, or FTO. And that's before we get to Kei cars, Minivans or luxury cars.

The absolute most sought-after performance cars from the Japanese bubble era - the NSX, GTR and Supra - have seen quite significant rises, true. But there are still more cars that remain accessible than not.

Ultimately what's happened since about 2012 is that people have looked at cars like the GTR, thought that's a fantastic performance car for £10k or so, and thus prices have pushed up from there. Cars like those I've mentioned above are the performance bargains of today, you can buy them now or come back in another eight years and complain that they have also become too expensive :-)

[1430]

samoht said:

I was going to agree with you, but actually on reflection:

• Subaru Impreza WRX £2k upwards
• Honda Civic Type R £5k
• Toyota MR2 Turbo £5-8k
• Nissan 350Z £5-8k

That's a choice of 4WD turbo, FF VTEC, MR Turbo or FR V6, all from £5k. All fast cars with decent handling. Or a MX-5, S2000, RX-8, or FTO. And that's before we get to Kei cars, Minivans or luxury cars.

The absolute most sought-after performance cars from the Japanese bubble era - the NSX, GTR and Supra - have seen quite significant rises, true. But there are still more cars that remain accessible than not.

Ultimately what's happened since about 2012 is that people have looked at cars like the GTR, thought that's a fantastic performance car for £10k or so, and thus prices have pushed up from there. Cars like those I've mentioned above are the performance bargains of today, you can buy them now or come back in another eight years and complain that they have also become too expensive :-)

Yeah good list, ideally I wanted something manual, turbo and rwd. I was looking for a 350z before this pandemic interrupted me, wouldn't be my first pick but they seem good for the money.

I can appreciate Honda's but I didn't want a fwd car.

MR2 turbos are getting rare, I really the like styling and performance but I've got no experience with powerful midengined cars, I don't think it would end well.

I thought about an Impreza but most of them look rough, the amount that have had engine rebuilds is scary. I don't know if they're just abused or unreliable but it puts me off.

I suppose it was obvious that cars like the skyline GTR would appreciate in value with all motorsport success, big power examples, being featured in movies and video games. What I find interesting is the biggest price increases are in the base model cars, I couldn't imagine paying big money for a NA supra.

[The Rotrex Kid]

Always been quite tempted with a 350Z, get one and get it supercharged or a couple of turbos would be nice. Would be a hell of a machine!

[samoht]

1430 said:

Ideally I wanted something manual, turbo and rwd.

Ok, I see where you're coming from, yeah almost anything "drift spec" like that is scarce, expensive and/or rusty now. I see a couple of S14s under £10k, no idea what proportion of those is iron oxide though.

1430 said:

I was looking for a 350z before this pandemic interrupted me, wouldn't be my first pick but they seem good for the money.

Yeah, and I suspect that the values have pretty much levelled out now, so if you'd not lose too much if you decide to sell up in a year or two, keeps options open.

1430 said:

MR2 turbos are getting rare, I really the like styling and performance but I've got no experience with powerful midengined cars, I don't think it would end well.

I've never driven an SW20 but I remember seeing one being hustled around Blyton impressively. Might be worth getting some advanced driver training and trackday instruction, and seeking out a good one? Probably cheaper to get an MR2 Turbo and some lessons, than a GTR, and since it's a lot smaller and lighter I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually more fun too.

1430 said:

I suppose it was obvious that cars like the skyline GTR would appreciate in value with all motorsport success, big power examples, being featured in movies and video games.

Well, even though I was lucky enough to get the car I wanted when prices were lowest, I had no idea they were going up. There was a major shift in the whole marketplace, not only Japanese stuff. E30s rocketed, 911 GT3s doubled in value, the critically panned Z8 became worth a fortune, new Ferraris would sell for way over their list price at six months old. None of this stuff had really happened in the two decades prior, we came to expect car values to pretty much only go one way, i.e. down.

1430 said:

What I find interesting is the biggest price increases are in the base model cars, I couldn't imagine paying big money for a NA supra.

Yeah, I guess it's the "AMG Line" effect, people can no longer afford to buy/run the real thing as it's highly desired, so they start to develop a taste for the look without the huge performance. 2JZ-GE isn't a terrible engine, it's still a 3.0 RWD.