what are the prices of 355's in japan and are they right hand drive. looking at buying and importing to Australia. Any suggestions and facts would be great.
Hi Fabstar, I'm not sure if you are aware but it's near impossible to find a RHD F-car in Japan. I lived there for 6 years and I know there were only 2 RHD F550/575's in Tokyo during that time (I had ordered 1 of them). On top of that I also had one of the few RHD 911/996 Turbo's in Japan, with both ordered through the official dealers (which is a rarity). I'm not sure about the number of RHD F360's but if they existed I never saw one. Back in 2000 I had contemplated buying a blue 355GTB F1 (RHD) that was eventually sold for about JPY11mio. I also believe that car was eventually exported to the UK where taxes are a lot less than in Oz. That was the only RHD 355 that I am aware of, and that included going to a lot of Ferrari Club days etc. Many of the prestige cars in Japan are actually parallel imports, meaning they weren't brought in by the official dealer. In Ferrari's case this accounts for well in excess of 50% of all imports, mainly because the waiting lists are a lot shorter if you don't want to be picky about what you want (i.e. RHD). To make matters worse, LHD vehicles in Japan actually carry a "exclussive" price premium which carries into the secondhand car market, thus even cars bought through the official agents tend to be LHD. FYI, as an Aussie I had intended to send my cars back to Sydney as well, but when I transferred to Singapore I discovered the import duties were simply too exorbitant to make it worth my while. In the end I only sent back my BMW M3 & sold the others in Japan (the Porsche is definitely still there but I'm unsure about the F575). I hope this helps you in your search and I'm sorry if I've rained on your parade somewhat. On a brighter note though, you might have more luck looking for a F355 here in Singapore, although most have been exported already as well (some to Oz and others to Indonesia/UK etc). Check out these websites: www.autobahn.com.sg & www.autoincsports.com or send me a PM and I'll see if I can find anything out for you. I'm actually looking to send my Maserati Coupe back to Sydney and former is helping me with that process. Singapore has a funky way of pricing cars which makes them notoriously expensive; but when exporting you actually receive a large portion of that back from the government so don't be put off by the initial shock of the prices. p.s. I just got back from a long weekend in Sydney - how fantastic was the weather .. I didn't want to leave!!!
As Derek mentioned already, don't expect to find any RHD Ferrari's in Japan. 355s goes in a range of JPY 8 to 11 million. Try this link http://www.carsensor.net/cgi-bin/CS/CSFBU030.cgi?STID=CS210710&TRCD=TR001&KTCS=F0B000000011999999000000000000000000AAAA000000099990000Z0000000000000000000000000000000000**FE_2*&PLCC=0000000 it is in Japanese but quite straight forward to read.. Mileage is expressed in units of 10 000km. e.g 2.5 means 25 000k. Hope this help.
