Can I hire a Car agent?

[blaze3927]

I recently started working full time, and I have more money than sense and I would like to buy a fun car.
problems:
I do not know much about cars, I can follow manuals for basic tune up's/repairs, but I know it would be best to pay someone who is car-knowledgeable to choose a car that is in good condition/repair.

The car I want starts at $12000 here, in USA it starts at $3500.

The car i want is a mitsubishi 3000gt preferrably a 1997 model but im open to all suggestions, i initially saw this on marshallh's page and really loved the look of it. my other thought was a toyota supra but i was won over by the 3000gt.

so what I would like to do is pay someone to :
Find the best mitsubishi 3000gt for my budget
help organise shipping/freight to australia.

I will pay a reasonable commission. I'm unsure if $500 would be enough?
my budget is $10000 AUD for freight, commission, and the Car

any takers?

looking to buy this around october

[nightwheel]

I'll keep my ear to the ground.

But realistically, you'll want to have at least a $1500 (USD) car budget. And then what ever is needed for the freight and commission.

As I said though, I'll keep my ear to the ground.

[blaze3927]

you mean $15000?
i can go up to 12k, but would like to see what i can get for $10000

[nightwheel]

you mean $15000?
i can go up to 12k, but would like to see what i can get for $10000

oh forgive me, I thought you were wanting to pay One Thousand dollars for everything. I was thinking that a very small budget.

$10,000 makes the search much easier.


With the united states, you don't want car from up north. You risk getting a car with rust problems. Due to the way they treat the roads in the winter.

I'll see what I can find around my area.

Edit, Bingo:
http://clarksville.craigslist.org/cto/2413326302.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://clarksville.craigslist.org/cto/2383927768.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(I know you said around October. But I'm just showing you what I found.)

[marshallh]

The 3000gt was sold in australia as the GTO.

A friend bought a GTO VR4 in very good condition for AUS$25,000.

Base/SL expect to dump a couple thousand in maintenance right off, and continually over time.
VR4 hope you have a bottomless wallet.

Automatics fail predictably over time and expect to blow an additional USD$4000 to rebuild the transmission.
The Getrag tranny in the VR4 is probably going to be beat to crap when you get it, and synchros aren't cheap.

The cheaper you buy it initially the more money you will dump into repairs.

NOT recommended!

[Skyone]

The 3000gt was sold in australia as the GTO.

A friend bought a GTO VR4 in very good condition for AUS$25,000.

Base/SL expect to dump a couple thousand in maintenance right off, and continually over time.
VR4 hope you have a bottomless wallet.

Automatics fail predictably over time and expect to blow an additional USD$4000 to rebuild the transmission.
The Getrag tranny in the VR4 is probably going to be beat to crap when you get it, and synchros aren't cheap.

The cheaper you buy it initially the more money you will dump into repairs.

NOT recommended!

Listen to this guy, because I didn't. $3,000 to buy; $5,500+ in repairs.

Rebuilt transmission "only" cost me $1,800 though.

[vskid]

Listen to Marshall and Sky, the 3000GT/GTO is a maintenance nightmare. If you don't know much about fixing cars, you'll either learn or end up giving all your money to someone who has learned. Its a sweet car, no doubt about that, but its an expensive car.

Supra's, on the other hand, might be better as far as repairs go (I've never heard of them being particularly unreliable), but if Australia is like the US, all the ones from the 90s are pretty expensive. 80s ones aren't too bad, though.

Are you sure you'll be able to import a car from here and register it?

[Triton]

i have to agree with everybody else on this one, the 3000gt/GTO is an awesome looking car, and a great car to own if you dont mind paying more to fix it than you paid for the car even a non turbo mkIII supra will be pretty close to equal footing with a 3000gt SL (190-204hp vs ~220hp and RWD vs FWD) with a turbo supra having a little more horsepower (230ish at stock boost) which is about on par with the TT and VR4 GTOs in terms of HP at least. E36 bmws are cool too i had a 325IS coupe that was a beast, but more broken than i could handle at the time.

Are you sure you'll be able to import a car from here and register it?

most countries importation and emissions regulations/laws are a lot less strict than americas, to the best of my knowledge anyway. you could also get a pretty sweet car from japan/asia or wherever (JDM tyte yo) for less than you probably could from America

[blaze3927]

i knew about the gto's being sold in australia,
but prices in usa seem significantly lower and theres more to choose from obv

I thoughtabout japan and freight is cheaper but i dont speak japanese and it would be one more hassle

so is it going to be quite unlikely to find a 3000gt in good nick in usa in my price range?
just from my searches there is a large selection of them.

and yes registration for an international car is pretty straightforward.

[Haunted360]

Are you sh!tting me?

I was just looking at Marshall's page the other day and was looking at his GT again. hahaha

I like the Celcica (black) and the GTO (red / white).

I searched Carsales.com.au the other day Blaze and they had a few.

http://www.carsales.com.au/used/mitsubishi/3000gt/

They were around the $16,000 mark and in very very good condition.


If you always wanted to, you could buy my car

[Triton]

i knew about the gto's being sold in australia,
but prices in usa seem significantly lower and theres more to choose from obv

I thoughtabout japan and freight is cheaper but i dont speak japanese and it would be one more hassle

so is it going to be quite unlikely to find a 3000gt in good nick in usa in my price range?
just from my searches there is a large selection of them.

and yes registration for an international car is pretty straightforward.

i'd be willing to bet you there are TONS of companies/people in austrailia that specialize in JDM imports, the money you might save on initial cost will be offset by the fact that USDM cars are typically worse in some ways than their international counterparts, and the shipping would be atrocious

[blaze3927]

you are right mr triton, i found a few sites, will have a look and see how i go.

[bicostp]

Just go buy a VE Commodore like a good Aussie hoon.

(And pick up a Sportwagon for me while you're at the dealer. L98/T56 please :( [/jealousy] )

[vskid]

Just go buy a VE Commodore like a good Aussie hoon.

(And pick up a Sportwagon for me while you're at the dealer. L98/T56 please [/jealousy] )

This. You live in Australia, where Ford and GM are cool and have sweet sport sedans and wagons, I'll beat you if you let that go to waste.

[Triton]

they speak the truth, US domestic car makers almost universally have better cars for sale EVERYWHERE THAT ISNT AMERICA two of my favorite aussie cars are the HSV maloo and the vauxhaul VXR8 bathurst

a little out of your pricerange however