Eunols V Brit Car

[GPSS]

Hi guys, I'm sure this has been done to death but the search facilitie is down at the Mo. Im looking to spend about 3k so in general whats the best buy at that money Eunos or Brit car. Cheers

[Munter]

Either. It really does depend on the condition of the car. However you are more likely to find a Eunos in better condition with lower miles. Less salt on the roads in Japan and they tend to do less miles per year.

If I was looking theres no reaon I'd specifically look for a UK car.

[pmanson]

Munter said:

If I was looking theres no reaon I'd specifically look for a UK car.

Unless you're under 25 in which case it can be difficult to get insurance on an Eunos

[Risotto]

Many years ago, the consensus was that all imports were dodgy and you'd be a fool to buy one. As time went on people realised this was nonsense and I'd now say the Eunos Roadster is more sought after than the Mazda MX-5. Despite this you still see adverts that stress the fact that a car is UK-spec.

There are factors that apply to all examples (most imports have generally lower mileage, less rust, etc) but there are advantages that are specific to certain models (e.g. later 1.8 imports have a Torsen LSD which UK cars never had).

There were also far more special editions in Japan. If you wanted leather/wood they did the V-Specials; if you wanted uprated suspension/bucket seats and so forth there was the RS-Ltd and so on. Special editions in the UK tended to concentrate on tartan gear gaiters...

The only factors that can really be cited in favour of the UK cars are insurance and service history. Insurance will be less than it will for an import but if you shop around, the difference can be marginal. As for service history, it's a bit of a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. The fact that imports usually arrive without evidence of service history doesn't mean they haven't been serviced. Japanese Shaken tests are pretty strict and so maintenance standards are generally high. The MX-5 is fundamentally reliable too, so evidence of servicing isn't as important as it would be for some complex Italian V12.

Having said all that, these are all small points - fundamentally, they were all built on the same production lines and are pretty much the same cars regardless of whether they were badged MX-5, Roadster or Miata.

[MKH9130]

I tried everywhere and couldn't insure a Eunos for sensible money! Cheapest quote I had (including the specialist insurers) was near £700!

In comparison, I insured my Merlot (UK car, same engine size) for £285 on better terms/excess.

[OnlyMX5ives]

Personally I prefer Imports as they have a better spec and usually less rust.

Some insurers still want a premium for 'imports' some don't.

However as none were made in the UK, really they are ALL imports !