Importing a car from the UK
 

Anyone think it's worth importing a Vauxhall VX220 from the UK or would the costs of shipping/registration/inspection from the UK not be worth while. My budget would be 30k roughly and I always loved these cars over lotus for fraction of the cost.

Ex. Vauxhall VX220 2.2 i 16v Targa 2dr

If a Lotus Elise can't be imported to be road legal here, I'm not sure if a Vx220 can either. I would look into this.

Isn't that because of the 15 year rule

If it doesn't fit the regulations it doesn't matter how old it is. It has to be up to Canadian standards. This is why people swap headlights and stuff on JDM cars.

Berz out.

I thought the issue with the Elise was when people tried to bring <15 year old ones up from the US. Either way you'll need DOT headlights for it which is unlikely.

Any 15 year old car is importable, they are exempt from RIV. They might need headlights to pass OOP but they are importable.

Lotus Elise will be importable from USA once they are 15. You can get a Japanese Elise if it's over 15 or see if they have any speedsters/vx220

Ok they are importable yes but you may need to modify or adapt them if they aren't up to our inspection code.

Berz out.

Yes, the requirement for the Japanese and US imports is often modification requirements and recall documentation are a little bit more difficult to come by.

The Opel version meets Canadian regulations without modifications from what I heard. LHD, Kilometers, certain models have day lights.

The difficult part is finding someone who has knowledge or has done this successfully in BC.

There is someone who did it in Ontario.

Greetings from Canada - Opel Speedster new member

http://trueautosite.com/wp-content/u...dster_5015.jpg

oh and for reference, the engine used in this car is GM Ecotec L61. The same engine thrown in the Chevy cavalier, Cobalt, Malibu, pontiac G5, sunfire, etc so most places would be familiar with how to work on this car.

Just get a Saturn Sky.

For what it's worth, I have seen a red Opel speedster here (same vehicle). It sometimes parks at the McDonald's on russbaker way

You need to go over this site and maybe even call to confirm.
Imho I think its a waste of time to import such a car from the UK.
Importing vehicles from countries other than the United States - Transport Canada

Get an Opel Speedster from Japan

http://blog-imgs-31.fc2.com/g/a/r/ga...213420698f.jpg

TVR or nothing. Considering these the cars are literal death traps, they are still possible to import. I've seen at least 2 here. Not these two but you get the idea.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zBLfepC3MVM/maxresdefault.jpg

:accepted:

hmm.. I never though about Japan, we have a ton of brokers here that can find out. Thanks.

The reason for the car is it is very nimble and light. Lighter than a miata and much quicker. Also relatively cheap, reliable and shares many GM parts.

get the 2.0 Turbo?

This is not correct.

I brought over a Land Rover Defender from the UK. I had to have it inspected but I didn't have to change anything. It really wasn't all that difficult.

It may be that nothing needed updating to North American DOT standards. This is not the case many vehicles.

Berz out.

You can import lotus elise as long as its 15+ aka mar 4 2002 or older.
I was debating on bringing one over from the UK, as the prices over there are way more realistic. 18-25k for a clean title with low kms. add 2000$ for shipping, 1000$ for bullshit, 2-3k for tax in canada, 1000$ for customs, inspection, ac fee, permits, etc.

insured 23-30k.

A lotus elise is more realistic as you can get headlights etc IF NEEDED, good luck finding vauxhall vx200 headlights that meet with code.

Half the cars that are brought in thru japan, are "passed" with multiple "illegal" components installed, theres actually an entire list the inspection shop needs to verify, but rarely do, unless they are trying to rip the person a new a#$hole.

Defenders are way way outside of DOT standards. The lack of airbags, and roll over protection are why they can't sell them here. It was obviously right hand drive, so the lights were pointing left.

It wasn't leaking anything, and there was no rust and everything worked so it passed inspection without any issues.

I imported an EVO X from the US back in 2010, and it was more of a hassle sorting that out then the Defender.

You do realize that Elise is quite a bit lighter than Vauxhall/Daewoo/Opel Speedster though.

Also Honda K20/K24 swap kit available for Elise.

http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/garage_te...6/76a23945.png
http://ipocars.com/imgs/a/i/f/t/p/lo...1996_2_lgw.jpg
http://pics.imcdb.org/0is238/lotusel...iljm6.6474.jpg

True, but the Elise is also 1 second slower for the same price and is more expensive to work on.