[nanoshock]

Recently moved back to UK after living in Japan for over a decade, originally bought a lightning red 2014 GT86 while in Hokkaido and took it back with me to Tokyo, and eventually dragged it back to the UK with me.

Here she is after it arrived in the UK, still splattered with export writing and Japanese plate Frames.

Spent the better part of 8 months doing the Modifications, IVA, MOT, and registration myself, finally got it on the road!

Hope to see some of you around!

 

[Subota Boy]

Welcome! You must be really attached to your car. Bet you have some great stories. What part of the UK are you based?

 

[nanoshock]

In quite attached to it yeah, been on plenty of adventures, but my reason for bringing it with me is actually more logical than emotional, I had lived there long enough that deciding to come back to the UK meant I qualified to bringing the car (and my belongings) via the TOR (transfer of residence) program, which basically means no import tax or duty to pay on the car or my possessions.

Used car market in Japan is horrible, (I bought the car for £11,500, 7 months old and only 5400km on the clock) so selling it in Japan would probably have got me around £7-8k back, which wouldn't have been enough to buy another back in the UK, to the same spec as my own.
In terms of cost to bring it over I've ended up spending around £1100 on the actual transport, and another 500 or so making the necessary changes to pass IVA inspection and register the vehicle.

I'm based over in Blackburn

Got plenty of stories and plenty of pictures of my adventures and modifications while in Japan!

 

[Craig82]

That's some love for the car right there! Looks good, what are the specs on the wheels? Enjoy

 

[BRZ]

Lovely to see you spend the time and effort to import it! Enjoy it here on B roads and keep posting on your adventures with the car.

 

[nanoshock]

Thanks guys!
The wheels are Enkei RS05RR 18", 8.5J front 9.5j rear.

The other modifications I've done while owning it in Japan are HKS Hypermax IV coilovers, 4.56 final drive, Cusco strut bar, TRD lower member brace, HKS GT2 supercharger, Tomei UEL header, runduce big brake kit up front with 365mm rotors and braided lines to support them.

Pretty much all of my modifications were aimed at fine tuning how the car behaved on touge routes, my neighbour was a hardcore drifter so we would spend a lot of time wrenching on our cars and sliding around on mountain roads!
By far my favourite was from Nanohana view terrace, up north through to Miyagase Lakeside park, lots of fast sections, technical corners and sweeping banked hairpins!

This is at the parking lot for Nanohana view terrace (also the meeting spot for drifters on Saturday nights)