JDM HDJ81 Owners in USA...any regrets about your purchase? (2 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

They mostly don’t seem to exist right now anywhere that isn’t BaT, but the non auction prices this past spring was around 45k for what I wanted.
Any chance you were looking at the grey HDJ81 manual that had 98000km and sold at a dealer for 6mil yen? If so, I'd recommend looking for cruisers at auction. That specific cruiser sold at USS Tokyo for 4.4mil and immediately went up for sale at a dealership a few days following for the much heftier pricetag.

what prices are you seeing for the 95-97 and what are the import costs these days?
For cruiser prices, depends on transmission and engine. You'll pay a premium for a 1hd-ft manual, but can get gas auto's in great condition for comparatively cheap.

For import costs, I'd say reasonable expectation would be anywhere from $4-6k (USD) depending on importer/broker fees, where you buy the vehicle (inland transport costs), how far you live from a port (if you need delivery), and auction house or dealership fees (prices vary)
 
Last edited:
Any chance you were looking at the grey HDJ81 manual that had 98000km and sold at a dealer for 6mil yen? If so, I'd recommend looking for cruisers at auction. That specific cruiser sold at USS Tokyo for 4.4mil and immediately went up for sale at auction a few days following for the much heftier pricetag. I was watching the same one, had a high bid of 4.5mil and my importer dropped the ball.


For cruiser prices, depends on transmission and engine. You'll pay a premium for a 1hd-ft manual, but can get gas auto's in great condition for comparatively cheap.

For import costs, I'd say reasonable expectation would be anywhere from $4-6k (USD) depending on importer/broker fees, where you buy the vehicle (inland transport costs), how far you live from a port (if you need delivery), and auction house or dealership fees (prices vary)
I was mostly casing the general market (such as I could find) in Jan-Mar of this year, so I couldn’t say which I had my eye on at the time. That’s good info for the future though, thanks!
 
20 mpg is impressive. What do you set the cruise control at on the hwy?

It doesn't have cruise control but I stick to around 2850RPMS, which is right around 70mph. Personally the gears seem a little deep to me, it has plenty of power to go faster but I don't like winding the motor up that high for long periods of time.
 
As far as rhd driving, I bought mine and drove over 900 miles back home within 1 minutes of buying it. When you first start with rhd, you have a tendency to drive I'm the center of the road, with your body in the same location of the road as if you were driving lhd. The first near head on collision will correct that though ;)

You turn your wipers on when you try to signal turns.
After a week it's all irrelevant and drive through don't work but it's easy to just park and go inside.

I'd definitely do it again.

I had a 93 FZJ for 10 or 11 years and the HDJ is much more enjoyable to drive.
 
I've been daily-driving my HDJ81 for the past six months since I got it, and driving RHD is similar to what many folks have said in this thread.

The wipers/signal turn stalks being flipped gets me every time I switch into a LHD car, but that's just more embarrassing for you when your passengers noticed you've flipped the wrong stalk.

I'm not afraid to drive reverse through drive-thrus, but I then end up facing the car behind me, and the driver almost always looks angry about the situation for some reason. The last time I did it last week at a McDonalds, I placed my order, moved along, and then the manager came out to talk to me and kicked me out of the line. She said that going in reverse could lead to an accident (?), and made the two cars behind me go in reverse and back out all the way through the drive-thru line to let me out. I'd be curious to know if that's happened to anyone else!
 
I've been daily-driving my HDJ81 for the past six months since I got it, and driving RHD is similar to what many folks have said in this thread.

The wipers/signal turn stalks being flipped gets me every time I switch into a LHD car, but that's just more embarrassing for you when your passengers noticed you've flipped the wrong stalk.

I'm not afraid to drive reverse through drive-thrus, but I then end up facing the car behind me, and the driver almost always looks angry about the situation for some reason. The last time I did it last week at a McDonalds, I placed my order, moved along, and then the manager came out to talk to me and kicked me out of the line. She said that going in reverse could lead to an accident (?), and made the two cars behind me go in reverse and back out all the way through the drive-thru line to let me out. I'd be curious to know if that's happened to anyone else!


No because I just lean across the car. It's not that hard.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom