IMPORTING MY FIRST FTO

[Marcopolo]

Hey Guys, I'm new to the forum.
I have been in contact with Japancars.ie regarding importing my first FTO

Anyone had any dealings with them before??

[CJ]

Welcome Marco Polo, good choice of car

japancar.ie appear to be operating under a company called Sanlor Ltd, apparently, they "..are mainly importer and exporter of metal and non-metal materials" .Taken from here. Also of note is

Sanlor Ltd.:“We deliver the quality to your your door" Sanlor.ltd acts as a broker for Eastern Europe ,especially strong connections with Romania to help you meet your export/import needs . We are in close contact with suppliers and work towards providing very competitive prices for many products .We implemented successfully our system ,using already products from Romania for different projects in Ireland .(crash barriers,metal products,nuts and bolts,metal gates,billets,colled rolled plates and strips,rails,bars etc ISO 9000:2001 certified products). We will work closely with you from the start to ensure that the whole business moves forward very smoothly. Provide us with any queries and we will be very happy to work with you in finalizing the deal . ,
Contact: Sanlor.Ltd, Swords, County: Dublin, tel: +353-868817777, fax: +353-18131043

Taken from here.

Make up your own mind, personally, if I was going to pay for the services of a third party importer, I'd be inclined to deal with a dedicated auto import agency. Why not consider importing yourself? See the Import Guide

CJ

[Marcopolo]

Make up your own mind, personally, if I was going to pay for the services of a third party importer, I'd be inclined to deal with a dedicated auto import agency. Why not consider importing yourself? See the Import Guide

Hey thanks, I,ve spent some time today looking at the online auctions in Japan, All things added up it is still very reasonable to import them. I am going to look into it.

Can I ask you your opinion on GPX v GR models are the cars and added extras the same? Except the engines, also I read that a manual transmission gives 15% more output, Is this accurate? I wanted to get an Auto / Tiptronic

M

[Myfeckin FTO]

Can I ask you your opinion on GPX v GR models are the cars and added extras the same? Except the engines, also I read that a manual transmission gives 15% more output, Is this accurate? I wanted to get an Auto / Tiptronic

M

Uh-Oh! This old chestnut again. The main thing to note on the differences between GPX and GR models is that the GPX has the 197bhp Mivec 2l V6 while the GR has a 170bhp (180bhp in facelift) 2l V6. For the sake of simplicity I will say they are similarly specced apart from the twin pot caliper front brakes and larger disks on the GPX.

Manual transmission will have a better power figure at the wheels as the Tip box (like the vast majority of autos) will have bigger transmission losses.

If you want a Tip then go for it - I've driven both GR and GPX tips and they're great cars esp for around town and even on longer journeys - The manual comes into its own when you're looking to make time on some quite, deserted B road or for outright acceleration.

I'd go for a GPX Tip over the GR if just for the Mivec sound and the better front brakes. Have to say though that as the FTO is getting older - condition is vital - theres no point going for a tardy GPX if theres a pristine GR available at similar money.

[Marcopolo]

Thanks for the advice!

I am going to look at one on Thursday GR Model, I'll go for if its a good one!!!

Thanks for your advice!!!!!

[kevinod]

Just to note on those brakes, you can upgrade the GR brakes to the GPX 2 pot calipers, I've done that.... back brakes are the same, its just the front, so you'd need the front calipers, discs (GPX discs are slightly larger) and of course pads to go with those.


For the tiptronic (mines a manual so I'm no expert) I think you just need to watch for smooth gear changes, and that the gearbox oil has been changed often & regularly. The mileage you get out of a tip gearbox varies, depending on how its treated, but if you find one with high mileage you'd need to be taking a close look at it to make sure its not coming to the end of its days.

Again, I'm no expert but I spend too much time on the FTO forums and that's pretty much what I've picked up on with those. Hope it helps!

The tip is def down a bit on power compared to the manual, it uses some of the power to work the auto gearbox so that power never gets to the wheels. Its not FTO specific though, all autos are like that... I'm in the US at the moment, and have a 2.4L PT Cruiser rental car, auto gearbox. Not a bad machine, but its in no hurry anywhere unless you floor it.

[kevinod]

Also, in case you haven't seen it, a discussion on GRs vs GPX here