I placed my order and paid my deposit of 1000ukp

A suitable car was found and bid for.

The car was bought, pics taken and sent to me.

I paid a further sum in order to get the car shipped.
The balance will be paid when the car has been landed.

The car will be leaving Japan on April 20th 1999 on the 'Asian Grace', the car is due to arrive in the UK at the end of May.

25th May 1999

The balance was transferred to the agent as the car will be arriving shortly.

2nd June 1999

The boat was a couple of days late, as it landed yesterday.
The agent is expecting to pick up the cars (he's got 30 on this boat!) this Friday (4th June) and I've been invited to view the car on Saturday before the conversions are carried out next week.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make that day :(

I've arranged insurance and am waiting for the documents to arrive since the original cover note needs to be sent to the agent in order for the car to be registered in my name...either the post is slow or the insurance company is lame since there's no sign of the documents in the post this morning. They'd better turn up soon!

I've also arranged with the agent for some extras like a face lift GP version R rear spoiler to be painted and fitted. Other things that the agent will take care of is the installation of a CAT-1 alarm/immobiliser (full closure) and some ICE.
I haggled with the sound installer and managed to get a nice discount on a Sony CDX-4850R cd/tuner head unit and a Sony MDX-65 minidisc changer :)

The agent is also able to offer a variety of warranty options should I wish to take out a warranty on the car. He did quote me £590 for a 3 year unlimited claim policy. I'll check out the terms and conditions in due course and see how much other options are before I make up my mind!

Not long now, can't wait!

23rd June 1999

Since I last updated this page a few things have happened. The ICE has been installed, I had to splash out on some Kenwood speakers as well since the front speakers weren't present. I was hoping that the speakers would have been there even though the GP version R doesn't come with any ICE as standard. However, the rear speakers were there as was the rear windscreen aerial.

In the meantime, the alarm/immobiliser has been fitted as well. I'll be picking up the security certificate with the car as the insurance company have been hassling me for the documentation!

I also got some Bridgestone SO2 tires for the front (215/45/17) as the tires on there were a bit thin in the tread depth department ie MOT failure candidates

The last thing I was waiting to get done was the odometer conversion ie the total now reads and records in miles, this is in addition to the speedo conversion and de-restriction.

Now that the conversions have been done. It was put through it's MOT and then registered. All the extras have all been taken care of so I'm really looking forward to picking it up tomorrow!

I've decided not to put the different spoiler on for now although I can get this done quite easily at a later date. I'm beginning to think that the face lift spoiler won't look quite right without the face lift front as well. I also prefer the look of the pre-face lift front as well. So I'm not sure a hybrid is going to work. Oh well, I guess I'll sleep on it.

24th June 1999

Well I am now a proud owner of an FTO :)
I love all the stares you get! The exhaust note sounds awesome!

Summary

A lot of people would like to know whether I would go the same route again. The answer to that would be yes.

I'm pleased with the car and the service. I would recommend NewEra if you were in the market for an import. Although I know some people would still rather pay more to a garage based in the UK!