- Joined
- 9 February 2008
- Messages
- 8
A big ELLo to the great NSX forumers on board.. its an honour to be amongst a great community of enthusiasts with REal good taste... an NSX owner is beyong compare... :wink: (i know i may be biased in saying that.. but its true ain't it..)
well, ive been a keen follower of the postings on the forum and i've come to a quandary which needs valuable advice from all you maestros out here.. well here goes..
Firstly, a little somthin about how bleak the NSX scene is over here, & why i have very little options available
i'm from the east, Singapore to be exact... and over here.. its a horrific reality that the NSX is an almost extinct species... because of very pro-active (but very retardedly-regressive car-population control policies from a car enthusiasts' point of view), the NSX finds itself in a sort of no-man's-land situation.
The car is expensive generally, and the first batch of 91's that were imported then cost almost S$300,000+. For that price, it is obvious that many people would rather buy a porsche or a used ferrari. (the USD to SGD exchange rate then was roughly 1.6)
Cars over here are generally given a life span of 10 years, after which a percentage of the car's initial import cost would be able to be redeemed as 'scrap'. If u intend to keep the car, you would then have to pay the on going premium or taxes. But the opprtunity cost here would be forgoing the 'scrap' rebate, and in addition to that, cars here have an annual road tax to pay, and cars past 10 yrs have a yearly increment of 10% to add on to; up to a maximun of 50%.
In short, a 2000 c.c. car pays about S$1700 a year. A 3000 c.c. car pays around S$2000 a year. So add in the 10% for an 'old' car and... you get the idea.
And its no different when it comes to bringing in a new NSX. When the Type-R was released here in 2003, it would have cost close to half a mill S$ to bring in!..(a cayman here costs S$260,000; a 360 modena S$700,000, a lambo S$1.1 mill. Thus obviously, those with the cash in the end bought their german and italian machines. In any case, how many people REALLY love the NSX for its REAL iconic characteristics?..
WELL, sori for ramblin, but to cut this mother-goose story short.. my quandary lies here..
I am getting my NSX soon. But there are only two miserable choices open to me.. a 91 auto.. or a 98 F-matic. No others around. Period. Miserable but true. And for cars of their age; they are still lookin at SGD 180,000 at least.
(here's a pic of the F-matic)
WELL my plan is to eventually bring in an '05 3.2 manual powerplant and do a conversion. and so the question is.. which car would make better sense to do this on?..
- I gather the 91 auto would be an easier platform but i'm thinkin about headaches from age-related issues..(specially wiring, electronics..)
- I'm not sure (been trying to read up) but the F-matic seems too complicated in the first place... i'd really hate to start on it and have it rot at the workshop from too many 'hi-tech' issues..
I've tried searching but obviously can't get many results cos cars here are RHD..
I would be very grateful if any of u technical wizards could enlighten me a little on the more intricate aspects of such a job as this would obviously be the first of its kind manual-tranny conversion to be done here.. and i wanna make sure the workshop people don't end up transforming the car into a relic fit for the scrapyard musuem..
any links would also be helpful..
And i hope to be an official(car-owner) member of this great forum soon too...
once again many thanks!
well, ive been a keen follower of the postings on the forum and i've come to a quandary which needs valuable advice from all you maestros out here.. well here goes..
Firstly, a little somthin about how bleak the NSX scene is over here, & why i have very little options available
i'm from the east, Singapore to be exact... and over here.. its a horrific reality that the NSX is an almost extinct species... because of very pro-active (but very retardedly-regressive car-population control policies from a car enthusiasts' point of view), the NSX finds itself in a sort of no-man's-land situation.
The car is expensive generally, and the first batch of 91's that were imported then cost almost S$300,000+. For that price, it is obvious that many people would rather buy a porsche or a used ferrari. (the USD to SGD exchange rate then was roughly 1.6)
Cars over here are generally given a life span of 10 years, after which a percentage of the car's initial import cost would be able to be redeemed as 'scrap'. If u intend to keep the car, you would then have to pay the on going premium or taxes. But the opprtunity cost here would be forgoing the 'scrap' rebate, and in addition to that, cars here have an annual road tax to pay, and cars past 10 yrs have a yearly increment of 10% to add on to; up to a maximun of 50%.
In short, a 2000 c.c. car pays about S$1700 a year. A 3000 c.c. car pays around S$2000 a year. So add in the 10% for an 'old' car and... you get the idea.
And its no different when it comes to bringing in a new NSX. When the Type-R was released here in 2003, it would have cost close to half a mill S$ to bring in!..(a cayman here costs S$260,000; a 360 modena S$700,000, a lambo S$1.1 mill. Thus obviously, those with the cash in the end bought their german and italian machines. In any case, how many people REALLY love the NSX for its REAL iconic characteristics?..
WELL, sori for ramblin, but to cut this mother-goose story short.. my quandary lies here..
I am getting my NSX soon. But there are only two miserable choices open to me.. a 91 auto.. or a 98 F-matic. No others around. Period. Miserable but true. And for cars of their age; they are still lookin at SGD 180,000 at least.
(here's a pic of the F-matic)
WELL my plan is to eventually bring in an '05 3.2 manual powerplant and do a conversion. and so the question is.. which car would make better sense to do this on?..
- I gather the 91 auto would be an easier platform but i'm thinkin about headaches from age-related issues..(specially wiring, electronics..)
- I'm not sure (been trying to read up) but the F-matic seems too complicated in the first place... i'd really hate to start on it and have it rot at the workshop from too many 'hi-tech' issues..
I've tried searching but obviously can't get many results cos cars here are RHD..
I would be very grateful if any of u technical wizards could enlighten me a little on the more intricate aspects of such a job as this would obviously be the first of its kind manual-tranny conversion to be done here.. and i wanna make sure the workshop people don't end up transforming the car into a relic fit for the scrapyard musuem..
any links would also be helpful..
And i hope to be an official(car-owner) member of this great forum soon too...
once again many thanks!
, but it's this one. It's a '96 and I love that white.
