My Dax Rush was fast, brilliant, after all I had built it, but not very practical. Having sold it, I bought a BMW Z3 which was great although it wasn't an automatic so my wife couldn't drive it. Next I bought an Audi S4 avant; practical, automatic so my wife could drive, very very fast, and the most expensive car I had owned, but unfortunately it seemed to attract attention. In the eventful year I had it, it was stolen within 2 weeks of me owning it, recovered within a day, but spent 3 months in Wakefield Audi having the locks recoded. Having had it returned to me the chrome wing mirrors were then stolen ! After that I never felt like leaving it anywhere.

So I started searching for something a little bit cheaper; must be powerful, automatic, preferably 2 seater, reliable, preferably not too old with high mileage so that ongoing maintenance was an issue, and with plenty of parts available to modify and upgrade. I had set my budget at between £12 and 15K and looked at the likes of a mini cooper S, Golf GTI / R32 and Porsche Boxter. I had previously looked at a Nissan 350Z which ticked all the boxes except that it wasn't an auto, however didn't realise until searching further that the Japanese version was available as an auto. As they are also right hand drive, no major modifications are necessary to drive them in the UK. In fact you would be surprised how many cars on the UK roads have been imported as second hand cars directly from Japan.

Searching further on the internet, I visited various sites (see links section) which gave advice on importing a car from Japan and plenty of import agents offering services to buy and import vehicles for you. There are plenty of forums which discuss importing but I haven't come across many diaries of importing experience, hence the reason for this, so anyone reading can judge how good or bad my chosen agent and shippers have been and whether I consider at the end it was worth it or not.

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