pcar928fan

NOPE! US DOT would still run the numbers and you would either have to DOT/EPA the car or it would be shipped out or destroyed.

Nicole

Why would it be harder to get the car in to California versus other States?

jon928se

Am I missing something ?

What's the difference between a US delivered 95 and a LHD 95 delivered anywhere else in the world ?

I know Japanese delivered S4+ have additional temp sensors after the cats but they are a safety measure - not emissions related, and the funky wheel arches but they could be removed - what else is different ?

the flyin' scotsman

thats 30 million tops in a country thats a larger land mass than any other. Its not 9 months of winter just 3 months of poor snowmobile weather more likely to buy a good 4x4.....a real one not a SUV or crossover/



there more folks in California than here but we dont have Arnie

the flyin' scotsman

I haven't seen any ROW GTSs here but have had my hands on quite a few S4s and exstensively worked a GT.

The LHD cars are very similar with very few differences. Its the laws on the south side that make matters quite difficult although there is a grey market. Im not up on the state by state regs but there is a diff between Cali and others...theres more restriction.

We can also import ther RHD cars here. The biggest issue in the digi readouts in Japanese and the pedals being opposite.

pcar928fan

Nicole,

Maybe it wouldn't be any more difficult, but I always here people talking about how crazy the CARB rules and importing cars to CA are... But I have never tried it. Only TX... I was thinking that the EPA requirements are hard enough for a used car with new cats to meet, if CARB is even harder than regular EPA then you would be VERY hard pressed to get a used car to meet the standards.

Remember when importing a car (no matter how old) they take the year of the car and then look up what the emissions requirements for a BRAND NEW CAR were that year and YOUR OLD CAR has to be made to meet those!!

Jon,

Not a huge amount of differences but enough to cost you $15k when it is all said and done. Every light on the car has to be changed, side markers and rear bumperetts added, the support structures behind the bumpers changed, various EPA bit will need to be NEW (like $3000 cats and no aftermarket ones are not efficient enough to pass the EPA test standards!)

Lets see...hmmm, the EPA test alone is pushing $3000 and if you fail, it will cost you that same amount for the retake! Oh, probably need a full set of new DOT tires and you might need DOT glass (though my EURO car was fine on the glass front)... Add up all those prices and realize that the RI is going to call the local Porsche dealer with a nice long list and they are going to be full retail price new parts!!

Nicole

Federalizing is federalizing. The 928 was available as one model for 50 States. I once registered a 91 GT that had been delivered in Germany and then lived on the East Coast. They just wanted to see the sticker under the hood and checked that all the equipment is present. No further questions or complications. I'm sure it would not be much different, if I'd try to register your 92 GTS, unless you removed emissions equipment.

future

I have justed logged back into the auction to check the sales status ... the blue GTS sold for it's start price at 550,000 Yen ($6,735.87 USD) and the grean one did not sell - somebody got one hell of a deal

pcar928fan

Well, not if the car had Thrust Bearing Failure...then it was not much of a deal at all. But again, that is why you must have a competent mechanic check these cars out carefully before purchase. But pretty much anything shy of TBF would put this car in the VERY GOOD DEAL category...great deal if you don't have to ship it somewhere!

carreraclubsport

Mark, that cannot be correct....


Christian

Vilhuer

There were at least one difference between early S4. California cars had slightly different position for one vacuum line under intake. If California are really up to their job they should ask this to be changed in out of state '87-88 S4. Later MY US models were all same 50 state version. Basically California model become 50 state version.

daveo90s4

$6,700 US is about $6,000 Australian dollars these days. Couldn't import them into Oz as road-going cars, but could cut-em each in half, stick em in a container and import them for parts. Each engine would sell for $5,000....

gijsbert

I bought my '91 S4 in Japan. In the Netherlands we don't have any problems importing cars from Japan. As the ROW cars are identical to the cars sold here originally legislation inspections are not necessary.

My car is from one of the official national auctions (Kobe). Bidding prices are not even close to what cars actually sell for. Something like 2 times, at least. I've been watching auctions for quite some time before puchase and had somebody help me translate auction sheets. Compared to prices in the Netherlands you could buy al low mile example (mine had 25k) for the price of high mileage 150+k locally.
Reed the auction sheets carefully. In my case it was very reliable and detailed. Have seen many auction sheets with major problems. Not all cars are sold through reliable auctions, so be carefull.

When things seem to good to be true, they usually are (even in Japan).

future

I guess you know Bruce Buchanan owner of Buchanan Automotive ... a great guy from Sydney well into his 928

Gijsbert ... That is very true - I normally find that it is the interiors that seam to in a lot of cases be tatty ... hell knows what the Jap's get up to inside there cars

I just found this recently Jap imported 91 GTS example on UK ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INCREDIBLE-199...item3a6579b23f

Top end prices in the UK for a late 96 with below 50k miles tend to go for around £20-25k Sterling ... why so much more in the US?

Chuck Schreiber

Here's some info on importing.

http://foreignborn.com/visas_imm/ent...ingyourcar.htm

And the list mentioned in the above article for Nonconforming vehicles eligible for importation

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/elig092210.pdf

All 928's are listed. Not sure if by the time GTS production occured, if there were "Major" differences in ROW vs US?? J

James could probably answer that one based on what they did to his 92.