I just saw a 1999 Z3 advertised for sale by a used car exporter in Japan. This Z3 has only 28,800 km, and the price is $9,069, not counting shipping of course. Needless to say, cars, with the exception of antiques, cannot be brought into the United States without their undergoing major modifications to meet the federal safety and emissions requirements. I had heard, however, that all Z3s were manufactured in South Carolina, even the ones for the European market and presumably elsewhere. If that is true, then it seems logical that the Z3 in question would already meet the federal import requirements. Does anyone have any thoughts regarding this?
Are you actually planning on purchasing it? Cars that may have been built here have to be adapted to be approved for use in the country that they were exported to. So, if you were to import it again, despite being built here, it is still in the import country's specification, so it will have to be converted back. I don't think you can escape the cost of conversion if you were to import any kind of car at all. You can find a nice Z3 in country as well (assuming you live in the US), so if you are actually in the market, I personally would keep looking.
I already have a nice '97 Z3, but it has quite a few more miles on it, although still low miles for a 97. I just wanted to share this with the other members and hopefully get an answer to my question. It is pretty hard to find older cars with such low miles in the United States. In Japan, however, that is quite common.
