11 replies to this topic

[Mirllin]

Hi Guys. Hope someone here can help.
I have been in love with the VX220, soon after learning about it from fellow car enthusiast at my work. I have been a fan of the Lotus Elise for a long time, but got turned over once I realized how beautiful the VX was.
Its taken 4 weeks of constant nagging and whinging to convince my better half that I should have one. All our kids have their licenses and cars now, negating the need for me to drive them all over the place.
As my wife and I will be holidaying in the UK in September, this year, to visit her family, I thought I might hit some car yards and find me a car, while she gas bags with her cousins and aunts. Not really my scene.

I have contacted an Australian RAWS compliance engineer/mechanic who is willing to work with me to get one into the country but he has asked me the following questions:

"Hi Joe, Can you provide me with any information regarding the vehicle? 1. Does it come standard with dual frontal air bags? 2. Do you have access to a vehicle to obtain photos of the EEC whole of vehicle plate, and the ECE regulations plate?"

I understand the drivers side has an airbag, does the passengers side have one too? I believe not.
The other question relates to the emission regs etc....EEC & ECE. Can someone put me on the right direction to find this out. Is their a government body I can contact and request this info?
Thanks for your help guys,
Joe D.

[NickB787]

No Pax airbag, I looked into importing one myself some time ago I have the info somewhere, am not at home at the moment but will try to find it for you. One chap imported one into NZ some time ago so he should have some extra information a guy called "toffer" said he imported one, he has not been active for a while check his profile could be worth dropping him a line

Edited by NickB777, 26 May 2011 - 09:07 AM.

[Goosenka]

Might help in some small way although granted it was about NZ

Linky Thing

[NickB787]

import to Aussie

here are some more links
happy reading


Would drop an email to anyone on the list who has said they want to import and see if they can help

Edited by NickB777, 26 May 2011 - 09:13 AM.

[techieboy]

You might need to decide wether it's going to be the 2.2 NA or the 2.0 turbo that you import as they're entirely different engines.

For what it's worth, here's a photo of the ID "plate" on my 2.2



And the more in depth detail on the V5C registration document



I guess the type approval number will probably be key to get any other relevant data. When these cars get exported to Europe, European buyers are always asking for a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) to enable them to sort out the legals at their end. No idea what that looks like and what information it contains but they are available direct from Vauxhall for a fee.

[Mirllin]

Thanks guys. Great links, info and pics. Great start and heaps to work with. Tomorrow morning I will have a chat with the Engineer and see if he will be willing to take it on. As I get closer to the date of our holiday, I might contact the group and see if any1 is up hanging out with me for a day, coffee, tea, lunch and beers provided, and check out some VX's. Wife and I will be initially in London then traveling north to Leeds. Thanks again for the advise and info guys, much appreciated. Joe D.

[NickB787]

don't forget to email the guys in Aussie could save you loads if they have done the work already.

[Bargi]

I remember reading someone who had taken a car from UK to NZ to OZ and NZ is pretty easy to get a car imported, Oz is a lot stringent and more expensive.

The best article I found was a guy with a 111R here

HTH

[Mirllin]

Hello All. After many phone calls and emails, I have come to the conclusion that under the Australian Governments - Specialist Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme (SEVS) I cannot bring this car to Australia without undergoing many test by a Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme (RAWS) Engineer to get compliance. One test is of course the crash test to determine if the vehicle model meets the safety requirement of our ADR's (design rules). It would be viable if I was a commercial importer with the idea of importing 10 plus cars, but not 1 lone enthusiast. If I lived for a minimum of twelve months in a country outside Australia and owned and drove a VX for that period, yes I could import under a different scheme (Personal Import Approval). Its crazy really. Well thank you for your advice guys, I did contact others who tried without success. Australia Government rules make it very difficult to import cars that are not already popular in this country such as the Japanese Boy Racer cars, Skyline, Evo Silvia etc. They are popular here. Regards to all, Joe D.

[Mangham54]

You always have the option of your wife having to live back in the UK for 12months and buy it for you when she got here. Or do you have any car owners club out there where you could drum up enough interest to justify a group purchase to get enough for the test regs. Just a thought.

[p4cks]

Buy one now, register it in the UK at your MIL's address and in 12 months you can take it over with you

[Bargi]

Hello All.
After many phone calls and emails, I have come to the conclusion that under the Australian Governments - Specialist Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme (SEVS) I cannot bring this car to Australia without undergoing many test by a Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme (RAWS) Engineer to get compliance. One test is of course the crash test to determine if the vehicle model meets the safety requirement of our ADR's (design rules). It would be viable if I was a commercial importer with the idea of importing 10 plus cars, but not 1 lone enthusiast.
If I lived for a minimum of twelve months in a country outside Australia and owned and drove a VX for that period, yes I could import under a different scheme (Personal Import Approval). Its crazy really.
Well thank you for your advice guys, I did contact others who tried without success. Australia Government rules make it very difficult to import cars that are not already popular in this country such as the Japanese Boy Racer cars, Skyline, Evo Silvia etc. They are popular here.
Regards to all,
Joe D.

Joe, can you try contacting this Oz company Simply Sports Cars
They brought an Exige S2 from a guy at my work and sold it in Oz, there's no harm in calling them to see what info you could get out of them, worst case you could arrange the import through them.

Edited by Bargi, 31 May 2011 - 09:59 AM.