Yeah, a test drive will finalize my decision. I miss tuning hondas. (came from 97' tegra gsr) Toyota is a great company, but imo its nothing like honda. Both great companies, but geared to completely different people.

Cya

 

The aftermarket dictated that, not the company. The 20v VVT-i 4A-GE is an excellent engine to tune as the B16.

 

If you're talking about going in a straight-line maybe. The SRT-4 can't handle worth a damn.

Not to mention the WRX is just much nicer inside. You get all four power windows (the rear windows in the SRT are manual), climate control, six-cd changer, all-wheel drive, foglights, windshield de-icer, power moonroof, heated seats, power mirrors, etc. Plus there is other considerations like resale value, reliability, etc.

 

There is no STi wagon in the US. Only a WRX wagon.

 

I never said where it cme from, i just said thats what i'd love to have. And if i bought an STI, i would spend the money to have it imported if i couldn't find a seller here. I know someone with a STi wagon. Well don't know him, but i've talked to him at a show before. That thing is so sexy.

Cya

 

WRX's understeer....a lot.... but yeah, they should handle better than SRT-4's The WRX's Acillie's heel is its transmission

 

Actually...the SRT-4 does handle very well. One of the better handlers for the FWD, so that isn't a weak point. It brakes, accelerates, and turns quite well.

Sure, resale suffers because it's a neon...but reliability, there's no serious problems with the average srt-4, from what I've heard. It's cheaper than the WRX so what do you expect

 

hm No one mentioned the dodge charger under 25k 250 hp 250 tourque, I was considering getting an si when i was buying the tc but eventually i thought why would i pay 22k for something a little faster but a lot more expensive. And if i was going to go in that price range there are much faster cars in that class. Why do people keep arguing which is a better car an si or a tc and then peopel argue about mods and stuff. I mean i could say a wrx is a 10X better car then the si but its a diff price i could say sti is better then the wrx but its a diff price isnt it. Its like saying what is better wrx or infinityg35. and then the wrx peopel would say well with mods a wrx would beat the infinity. Both are good cars top quality and each has its cons and pros tc=slower, less aggressive, dual moonroof, cheaper, larger dispalcement engine (i dont know about you guys but i love having a 2.4 liter and look down on anythign smaller even though they are faster) btw while you are all arguing about which is better there are cars cheaper and faster then si and handle better impreza 2.5 rs anyone? and iam not sure about the spec v but seems to me that it would win 175hp 180 tourqe plus better handling and all the little problems of 2003 and 04 are worked out on the new models.

 

Well actually, I don't think Scooby has made an STi wagon since the GC.

And importing one would be simply retarded, since you could engine swap a US-spec WRX Wagon with a STi, JDM STi, or even STi RA Spec C motor with STi suspension mods. You'd save tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

If you could actually afford importing a Japanese car, you'd be better off getting a R32/R33 Skyline, Silvia Ks, or even a RX-7 Spirit R for the money.

 

Used skylines are fairly cheap. A car show two years back, there was a R32 there. I was able to talk to the owner, he said he went to japan for business and came back with a skyline without motor, and imported a motor when he came back. He said he only paid around $5,000 for the car iteslf excluding motor and shipping and other fees tied to bringing a car to the states. I think he said motor and tranny ended up being around $10,000. So basically, he paid roughly $25,000 for a GTR. Then another $10k or so for mods. I'm not a fan of Silvia k, its a great car but i'd rather work on something else. Rx-7 spirit r is fairly rare from what i've heard, but haven't actually looked into buying one. If i could, i'd rather have a true Sti wagon. I'm in love with it, can't help it. lol

Cya

 

That's exactly why I say that a Skyline is a better buy if you want to import a car. Importing a R32 is probably right around the same price as importing a STi wagon. That being said, to truly import a Skyline and get it registered on the street in the US you are looking at probably closer to $35-45K. The guy you talked to more than likely imported it as a "race" car ineligible to drive on the street, or swapped VINs or something to get it done for that cheap. The fact that he brought the car and engine over seperate pretty much confirms that suspicion.

 

Well from what he was saying, he drives it occasionally on sundays on the street. He does a lot of autox and drift competition with it. He did say it had insurance, full coverage listed under exotic. He said he found it extremely hard to insure the car because there are only a hand full of insurance companies that list exotic cars. Since the car is insured, that makes me think its street legal. At least, at the time of him getting his coverage. He did buy the motor/tranny seperately, he said when he found the car it didn't have a motor to begin with. The body was in pretty good condition, no accident record. But he said that the guy he bought it from parted out the entire motor and was selling the body seperately. Which is why he bought the motor later on. Its definitely nice, he bought the same motor the GT-R comes with but he also bought two bigger turbos as well as other things.

It probably would be the same cost as far as STi vs. gtr import, fees so on. Shrug. I'll look it up.

Cya

 

hey killer, got a pic of your box? I wanna see the blackouts with trim rings...i've got blackouts on mine, just need to get some chrome lugs and trim rings to look all nice 'n pretty... (just email it to me, please, jeff.lenney@gmail.com, so we can keep this on subject)

yeah, GO 2006 SI!!!

 

Yeah, https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...993&highlight= .

They are night time, but you can still see them although its with my camera phone. Once i get a scanner working again i'll be posting lots of pictures from my film camera.

Good luck!

Cya

 

Good enough for me, looks good. are your wheels powder coated? Thanks

 

As far as I know, the car has to be emissions tested, crash tested, picked up by a registered importer, etc., to be registered as a street legal car *before it leaves customs*. That also has to be done within a set period of time, you can't leave a car sitting in customs impound. I think the deadline is like 2-3 weeks or something like that.

So if the engine and car were shipped seperately, more than likely he declared the car as a kit or race car (since it had no engine and couldn't be registered) for track use only. I don't know if you can do this and then bring the car back later and have it street registered. I believe I read somewhere that once it gets the race car registration it can't be reversed. It's like a salvage title in essense.

He also could have swapped the VINs with a US 240sx illegally. That method is fairly common because it's much easier and cheaper than going through the hassle of legally registering an imported car. But again, if he had a 240sx VIN there wouldn't be any reason to insure it as an exotic except to insure his mods maybe.

So I don't know. True, factual information about importing cars is so hard to come by because so few people do it.