Opinions/Experiences/Suggestions Needed on Legnum

Hey Guys,

As most of you probably have experiences on importing legnum's etc

I am in the market for one, not sure if I want series 1/2. The series 2 seem to have recaros std but manual is hard to find?

I have looked at a series 1, stock interor, manual, sun roof, catback 3" (fujitsobo), stock cooler. etc etc pretty standard.
Has done about 83k km's, engine sounds smooth, body is straight, got no service history though? interior is like new. they are asking 17k for it, its a 97 model. Is this reasonable? or do you save much more by importing and complying your self? How much risk is involved by importing your self? What sort of time frames have you guys experienced? I could wait until mid November at the latest for a car....

If you guys could feed me some advice that would be great.
Also, my other half prefers the leather... is it hard to get a manual leather?

Thanks,
Regards,
Brent

 

Brent, If you can handle the wait, importing is definetly the cheapest way to go. The downside is that you don't get to see the car in the flesh. Buy locally and you get to see the car first but you may pay more. There where a few on ebay in QLD that where well priced though.

The wait for importing can be around 12-15 weeks, though some will be a bit shorter and longer than that.

The decision over Series 1 & 2 VR-4's can be a hard one. I decided on a Series 2 because I wanted an Auto and they are 206kw as compared to the Series 1 Auto's 194kw.

The Recaro's are an option on the VR-4's, as is the leather.

So, if you want a Manual with Recaro's you may have to wait a while (or PM Rasi with a big offer !!)

Try the two importers that advertise on here, as a fair few of us have used them and are happy.

 

Unfortunately (as Hawks mentioned) you won't be able to import one yourself by mid November.

You might get lucky with an importer that already has one on it's way over or waiting compliance.

To give you an idea of the savings, that car you mentioned would probably be on the road for around $12-14K if you had imported it yourself.

cheers

Lee

p.s. I bought a manual with leather, but it's a bit of a lottery as to what comes through the auctions at the time your ready to buy. I think I waited about 3 weeks for mine to come up after seriously starting to look.

 

If you want manual and facelift then be prepared to wait a little while, if you want things like leather or Recaro's and a sunroof then you're going to be waiting for a long time!

 

At the end of the day can u buy any other car with the power, options, practicality (legnum boot), style, sex appeal ... in Australia ??
$17,000 sounds like an ok price ... I ahve seen a few for round the 20 thousand mark. I would recommend that with any car u wait around and get what u really want. There are a few manual facelifts around this forum so there is proof u can get them although there are more and more people looking all the time. Have a chat with Ben or Iron Chefy ...
Good luck on ur hunt mate!

 

Paul has a very good point, there isn't much eles out there for under $20,000 that has what the Legnum has? and with a dealer you will get a warranty and get it a hell of a lot quicker, so if you can afford to spend a few more grand on one, buy locally

 

Yeah,

alot to think about!, im going to test drive the legnum at a dealer tommorow, so ill see what they will give me trade on the outlander and go from there, i called a place in brissy today also, they have 2001 coming in, but dont have much details, they are going to call me on friday with the details....

I have a mate in melb, who's old man use to import and still has resources so he is keeping eyes out for me also... i was stupid, there was a 2000 manual with 40k km's that went for about 17 comp and landed....i shoulda got that but not to matter.

Have you guys been happy with the cars you have imported in terms of condition etc?

Regards,
Brent

 

Both Jspec and Iron Chef have buyers in Japan that can inspect and report on the condition of the cars in Japan, so you're not buying a car totally blind.

I was told my car was dam clean and it was, there were a few little touched up stone chips on the bonnet, but its a 10 year old car, you are going to get little wear and tear things like that over time.

As has been said, if you cant wait for a car, dont import it youself, go for a yard. But be prepared to pay a premium for this, my car sounds similar to the one in the yard you are looking at but i paid significantly less than 17k

 

Yea i paid a little over 17k for mine but that was for a car already here in aussie complied etc, but not from a car yard however it is quite rare, 2000 manual, and sunroof thats not white ( http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131 ) few little extra's and that

I reckon would of paid a 2 - 3k less if imported my self but i was happy so keep an eye out for the one that you like i reckon

 

I'll have to see what the dealer will do on this 97 tommorow and go from there.

Understand that evo brembos dont fit on the series 1's? thats a big thing as I was going to source some.... so may change things with a series one, did series 2's start coming out in 98?

Bryan,
love your car, it looks great, who did you source that through? was it local? If you could pass me their details I would be keen to contact them.

Thanks

 

Don't worry yourself about the brembos. I will soon have something to fix that. As soon as I get my car I'm working on it straight away and it'll be available in DIY kit form

 

woohoo!

 

Yeah, late 98 to 2002. Mine is the first of the facelifts (late 98)

http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202

 

If you find something you and your wife agree on, then buy it, regardless of how much you have to pay. I've found that finding a manual Legnum with leather and sunroof is easier than finding my wife's approval

I've got a manual leather one in Japan - if you bought today you would have it here and on the road before Christmas (I'm trying out another workshop that also has plates now, in addition to the one I already use), if that's of any help to you.

http://ironchefimports.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=78&Itemid=38

Either way, have fun test driving one - they really are sensational value for money.

 

Hey Kristian,

I take it that legnum dont have sunroof? I want a sunroof more importantly than leather haha.

Do you have anything else that is up coming?, so you reakon the wait would be up to around x mas?

Regards,
Brent

 

Brent, if you're serious about importing one yourself, you have to realise that it could take quite a bit longer than that. I already OWN a car in Japan, and there's no guarantee I will get it before next year. Hopefully it will get here before then, but you have to seriously consider a wait of three to four months between paying for the car and having it licensed and on the road. If it takes less than that, then that's a bonus!

 

Well, took the local legnum for a drive. (97, Series One, Manual, Sunroof, Std Interior, Lowered std, Catback Exhaust, 85k km's)

Car drove and handled very well, impressive, engine had no strange noises nor ticking, lifters are quite. Car had really good response and power was smooth, clutch appeared to slip abit while launching at about 3000rpm.. but i think engine may of just been washed down so could be related?

It seemed ok after the first slip....

The car was clean, straight and looked pretty good, thoug the front bar is crackedo n the lower lip on rhs, assuming it has scraped on driveway or on truck, the car sits pretty low compared to std.

Exhaust was quite yet still had nice tone.

Interior was in really good condition in cabin, boot had small marks on plastic, nothing major just ya standard wear and tear. had 17" treads, tyres are ok, dont know about the wheels..

Think the car overall is in pretty good shape and looks like its been well looked after.

The guy wants about 17, he is going to get back to me sometime in the next 24 hours with a change over price from my outlander... so will wait and see, only thing that really concerns me about the car is the front bar and the clutch (im assuming front bars are hard to get a hold of?) Any one done a heavy duty clutch give that can give me an idea in price?

 

A stock one will slip if you launch at that speed. I wouldn't worry so much about replacing it straight away, but you can definitely use it as a bargaining chip!

 

Sounds alright, i bought mine direct off a compliance company so there was no sourcing it, just happen to be lucky i think

 

My exedy heavy duty cushion button clutch for a TR magna was $485. I would assume there's not that much of a price difference between that one and the 3rd gen magna one which is the same as our 8G Galants. I did, however, have a mate working at the place I got it from...so I would dare say that affected the price somewhat lol

Edit: Just read the receipt...retail was $573.50