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Lovert Mafukure
Apart from a few sour lemons, a lot of people have had a great run from Japanese imports. A lot of us have become proud car owners for the first time, though, at the expense of our own car industry as the cars have been allowed en masse. There are a few things that one has to keep in mind when considering to import from Japan.
Typical of the first world, Japan has set its motoring standards so high for motor vehicle performance and safety from production to maintenance. There are strict rules and regulations that guide keeping and maintaining a motor vehicle in Japan which if not followed will lead to confiscation of a car that’s deemed not roadworthy and the end result of such strict laws is that they keep their cars well maintained so that they can pass inspection every year.
The inspection is so thorough, just for laughs, your car can be condemned for a microscopic stone chip on your windscreen and unlike other countries the government inspectors will not even hear of your back-pocket underhand advances. Most of the time therefore you are guaranteed that you buying a car that’s been well maintained but how do these cars always seem to fail prematurely?
There are a lot of factors to consider, after-sales service and spares backup…These are some of the things that are non-existent when it comes to ex Japanese vehicles. Most of the time they are more complicated to fix than our dear locally assembled vehicles. We do not have trained technicians to attend to these cars and I promise you they will need attention so be prepared to spend a lot of money maintaining the car than what you would have bought it for.
All car owners in Japan would rather not risk taking a car to the government inspector or it will not come back. The inspections are so tough that most people sell their cars when they still relatively new and usually after just 5 to 10 years just to avoid any complications with these rigorous inspections. When you get to see these decade old cars, it’s the decade old dream, a squeaky clean car that looks and feels new even if it has had so many years of Japanese heat and snow. It drives like a breeze, it has a lot of fancy gadgets that sometimes are so fancy we can’t even use them because oftentimes even the language is too fancy for us to understand…Japanese.
The best part is, it will come for a couple 100 dollar bills for a used stock model, cheap you might say but is it really? If you get it right they are cheap to buy and maintain but if you get it wrong it can be your worst nightmare. It matters what model you are going to buy from Japan. You are better off buying a car closer to local models though they are never the same as local, a Toyota corolla for example is a better buy than a Suzuki kei. You are more likely to get parts for a toyota corolla than a Suzuki kei and your chances of fixing a Suzuki kei are very slim.
Japanese imports represent good value for money for most of us in Zimbabwe who cannot afford to buy new cars because of the condition they usually come in however for all the good and luxury they present to us, they also present more problems than their worth, they all are cars that are originally manufactured for the Japanese Domestic market (JDM) made for the Asian climate and meant to follow the stringent laws and regulations in Japan, which is good for you when it comes to safety and reliability but in any basket you always find a bad lemon or two.
Firstly, not all that you see online is real, be careful not to buy scrape from Japan. There are a lot of reputable used car dealers locally and in Japan but at the same time there a lot more unscrupulous dealers who are often happy to take money out of your pocket with just nice pictures of a car to show but not really that luxury car you intend to buy. There are quite a number of people that have bought cars from Japan from these unscrupulous dealers only to find out at the port that they were sold junk cars that were meant for the junkyard so open your eyes and always deal with trusted and recommended used car dealers.
Secondly the cars are made for a cooler climate than our own; the few people that have mastered the science behind the engineering of a motor vehicle change some components to make them more compatible with our climate.
Oftentimes people drive these cars from as far as Tanzania more than 2000km away. A lot of them have made it home, some haven’t been so lucky. Why? You may ask. Japanese cars come with snow tires most of the time and some of these cars would have been parked for a long time just waiting for someone to buy. That poses a lot of challenges for people that want to drive 2000kms in the African heat. Winter tires are not recommended for use in very hot areas and most of them come with cracks from thermal expansion and contraction.
It is therefore not advisable to drive all the way before changing tires. As I said earlier some of the cars never make it home, they break down along the way. As much as these cars are always well maintained, oils that stay for long periods eventually start to disintegrate and lose the required viscosity for optimum performance and eventually lead to premature engine and transmission failure.
Sometimes buying a car from Japan is like buying a Chinese product, most Chinese products you buy, you use and you throw away. A lot of products on the market come with User manuals and backup spares but because these are Japanese cars meant for the Japanese Market, they do not come with English manuals except for the few that are scarce to get hold of. At the end of the day when it breaks down, it’s expensive to fix, more expensive than the cost of acquiring it at times and that is why you will find many ex Jap cars parked in backyards and more Nissan Sunnys’ still running on our roads. At times, auto technicians eventually use your car as an experiment, sometimes they get it right sometimes wrong because they do not have User manuals that detail the anatomy of these cars. It’s like buying a stove with no manual to show you how it operates, you might burn yourself one day. Many garages have some skills in getting them back on the road by now, but we have heard lots of stories of owners taking their cars from garage to garage trying to get these Asian babies running properly.
When it comes to owning a car, especially one from Japan being unique is nice but oftentimes unwise. You are better off buying a car that 10 other people have than a car that’s never been seen or heard of in this part of the world. As a parts supplier, I’m likely to stock parts for a Honda fit than a Mitsubishi Dingo for the obvious reason that there is a Honda Fit in every corner of this town but one Mitsubishi Dingo in the whole town. The challenge of back up support is not new so choose wisely and buy a popular car than a unique one unless your pocket is deep enough to import everything you may need.
One important point of note is that sometimes these cars are so worn out when you buy them, looking pretty good but worn out. It’s been estimated that 70% of the mileage readings on import secondhand cars have been falsified so they can sell easier. Some Japanese sites do tell if mileage has been reduced but some do not bother themselves. Many will still give their owners a good run, but others still live to tell horror stories of how for example their timing belt broke on their ‘new’ car with 40 000km yet the belts should run for at least 100 000km, mileage fraud…#foodforthought.
Lovert Mafukure is an Automotive consultant and can be reached via email on [email protected] or +263772339928
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