A lot of people assume that Japanese Imports are high maintenance. While that may be true for the more popular imports like Skylines and Silvias, it can be the opposite for most other JDM imports. It all depends on a few factors. Read on to discover the answer to the question, “Are JDM cars high maintenance?”
Are JDM Cars High Maintenance?
In this article, I will explore the factors that might contribute to whether a JDM car is considered high maintenance.
Type of Car:
What type of car is it exactly? Is it a supercar, economy car or classic? All vehicles have different needs when it comes to servicing. Furthermore, service intervals will vary between types of vehicles. Super and sports cars usually have shorter maintenance intervals, leading to higher servicing costs. Four or all-wheel-drive cars will cost more to service and maintain as there are more parts to deal with and more serviceable items.
Example:
You might have a 30-year-old Nissan Skyline GTR. This vehicle needs a lot of regular service work to keep it in good working order. You’ll also need to ensure that high-quality filters and fluids are used. Or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, you could have a little Japanese Kei car. This would require very little service work, and you can happily get away with OE-style filters and regular fluids.
Age of Car:
This is probably the one that will determine how much work and money it’ll take to upkeep your Japanese import. Is it a relatively new car (under ten years old) or an iconic car from the 90s?
Like most modern cars, the newer cars aren’t all that expensive to maintain (depending on the type).
Example:
Something like a year-old Nissan Fairlady Z will require just regular servicing. However, an older car like a Nissan C34 Stagea could be around 25 years old. Therefore, it will most likely need considerable service work, such as cambelt, clutch and suspension components.
Remember, these older cars have sat around for a long time and have some miles on them. As a result, all the rubbers and plastics aren’t as flexible as they used to be. Many rubber and plastic components will need replacing due to wear or degradation from UV damage.
Condition & Service History:
Something that ties in with the age of the vehicle is the service history. One needs to review how well the previous owner looked after the car. You’ll be in a better place if they did everything by the book and stuck to the manufacturer’s recommended service intervals. However, if the servicing was more infrequent than it should have been, you might start racking up more costs now.
Most of the hero cars from the 90s were super cheap not too long ago. That meant people never spent the money to care for them as they would now that they have much higher values.
Finding the servicing history for a Japanese import can be difficult, and most imports don’t have any service history. So, you’ll generally need to go off the condition of the rest of the car to gauge whether the previous owner took care of it or not. A thorough pre-purchase inspection is vital in helping you determine the car’s condition.
Parts Availability:
Lastly, we come to what can often be the decider when it comes to maintaining your vehicle and whether you’ll be able to take care of the jobs you want to do on the car.
Getting a hold of parts for a JDM vehicle isn’t that much trouble nowadays. Plenty of companies are stocking parts for popular imports here in the UK. And, if the part you’re looking for isn’t stocked in the UK, it’s easy enough to order it. Due to shipping and customs fees, there are higher costs if you need to order in. But, generally, it’s not horrendously expensive.
The big issue for older cars is when the manufacturer has discontinued parts and there are no aftermarket alternatives. This ends up leaving you with two options. You can try to source through the second-hand market. Or you can make do and try to repair what you have. This is probably the biggest drawback of having an older import car. As some jobs you want to do aren’t possible. I have found this out myself with my Stagea.
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