Hey folks, two things:

1) US specs have those weirdo hickeys on the rear bumper. Supposedly they are something to do with odd US crash-safety legislation. Consequently, the license plate "box" as it were is short.

I'm importing a US spec to England, do I (can I?) need to remove the hickeys to fit in a legal plate? Or is it possible to get a short squat plate in without mods to the bumper?

2) are front plates a legal requirement in the UK? If so, is it possible to have them in non-plate form, ie. sticker? If not, what options do I have? I noted the tow-bar holder jobie and a few other choices you lot allude to but they're all focused on the US-spec square plates, rather than the long thin ones used over here.

Plates are standard size over here to fit the 7 letters/digits. If you buy a "vanity" plate with say 5 letter/digits you can fit a smaller plate as long as there is sufficient space between the letters and around the edge of the plate.

Front plates are a must: £30 fine otherwise

Stick-ons might get police attention but anyway, uk/europe cars come with a mounting that fits to the front bumper- you screw the plate to that.

Don't forget you'll have to change your side markers to act as "trafficators" , and maybe change all the lights front and back so that they have an E (euro standard) marking on them.

Even though you've done all of this it will be very difficult to sell when the time comes so you might have to reverse the process. Nice.

Oh yes... and the steering wheel will be on the wrong side which means it'll be difficult to overtake and you'll have to jump out for any toll both, car park barrier and McBurger.

My advice- sell it in the USA and buy one over here.

The LHD issue isn't a big one: if you look at the back of 911&PW magazine you'll see plenty of Euro-imports for sale, typically for GBP5-10k less than RHD. There aren't that many toll booths in the UK, but there are plenty across the Channel, so you'll have a great booze-cruise car!

The major lights issue is converting the front headlights to RHD spec, where they point slightly left instead of slightly right. If you come up with a cheap solution, let me know so I can save some money when I come home in 2011!

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Simon
Another Brit in Delaware

P of B,
If you remove the "weirdo hickeys" you will have holes in the bumper the size of said hickeys. They are covers for aluminum extensions off the main aluminum bumper beam.
The ony way around it would be to refit a european bumper fascia after you remove the bumper extensions. I believe it's been done by one of our members.

Antonis,
The number Plate issue,
Front, Law states 1) you must have one, 2) it must be visible and be vertical, so a stick on one although possible is on the "cusp" of being within the law.
Rear you can get a Square plate, which, with English size numbers will be "oversize" or use Motorcycle letters, which again may draw attention from plod, alternatively I don’t think a new bumper is that much, maybe £350.......
The Headlight issue, isn't an issue there is a small yellow lever on the rear of the light unit which switches from left to right dip (see page 220 of your manual,............. when you get it of course)

yep, nice to chat today, sure we'll soon meet.

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allan@motordrive.com

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen

Could you elaborate on "trafficators"? I've never heard anything like that.

EDIT: Tess makes my following analysis on LHD/RHD headlight orientation redundant. Ignore at your leisure.

Changing head-lights shouldn't be a particular problem, or something you should bother with. The difference between LHD and RHD lights is the side which is the "pedestrian" side has beams which shine upwards so as to better illustrate said civilians. A pair of stickers covers that part of the light and thus doesn't shine in the face of oncoming traffic which happens to be coming from the side that pedestrians should be.

If you notice, however, on the Bi-Xenon FAQ here: The Cayman Club - FAQ: Cayman Options you'll notice the dipped beams have a distinctly higher incidence on the right side. This can be cut short with said sticker.

end Edit

I've never been to the US, I'm importing from the US specifically because of the great saving in price and specifically because I despise RHD. Driving LHD on the left side is much, much superior to driving either RHD on the right side, or RHD on the left side as far as I'm concerned. The ergonomics of RHD are totally wrong and thoroughly retarded. My opinion, however, is tainted because I've driven all my years in LHD.

You correctly identified tolls/barriers as the biggest problem, alas there's a solution for that too: Have your woman insert the damned ticket. At worst, it's a 15-second trip to get out of the car, pop in ticket, and get back in. McBurgers are something I wouldn't be seen dead with, that's twice as true in a CS.

As for buying a UK one, beat £34k for a 4-month CS with 1000 miles, PASM, SE, BOSE, Sport Design wheels and Bi-Xenon. Not to mention all the goodies they get standard and we have to pay for, like cruise control, homelink and wheel spacers. And all this from a Porsche dealer.

Credit crunch brought second-hand sports car market to it's knees over there (I guess? no offence meant) and fantastic $-E exchange ratio made my buy much better value than it is comparing £-$. Go credit crunch in countries I don't have savings in! I practically traded my 2005 STi for the CS and 6000E. Go figure.

The orange light at the front of the wheel arch, in the states it is orange, in europe it is clear......!

__________________
allan@motordrive.com

And it's a legal requirement to change to clear side-repeaters? If not, no offence to anyone, but I couldn't give two tugs of a dead dog's **** about changing the side repeaters. Jesus wept, if anyone comes to me and says "nice car, shame about the orange sides" I'll kick him in the head.

Unlike you PoB I prefer RHD cars as when shifting I get to keep my stronger right hand/arm on the wheel for control (Maybe just in my mind). And do not forget RHD was the original dating back to riding horses with swords

I can drive either without any issue and do so regularly, but my preference in the UK is to have a RHD simply because driving down the fantastic backroads that are a driver’s paradise in the UK it makes more sense and provides safe overtaking.

Another thing to take into account, is what if repairs are required and what if you need to sell the vehicle? You will not sell it easily in the UK, especially as it will be a US spec import rather than a European LHD import.

Regarding adding light deflecting stickers to the xenon lights this is a no go as it will refract the xenon light incorrectly and dazzle other drivers. This doesn't apply to the Porsche or most other vehicles these days with xenons as the flick switch on the back allows easy changeover.

Yes amber side repeaters would be seen as a clear sign of weakness and could get YOU a kick in the head ........but it is not a legal requirement!

The other area of difficulty with driving a vehicle with the steering wheel on the opposite side is car park ticket gates, but it is possible and just means others have to wait a little longer for you to get outta the way!

When I sell on, it'll be at the usual Porsche LHD 10% price drop. All porsche magazines have at least half a dozen Lefties for sale each month, there are plenty about. It's no biggie, they're cheaper a little. Which is not an issue, because I feel I got mine dead-cheap to begin with.

I worry not about driving wrong-side. I've been driving an STi for 3 years in Blighty with no problem at all.

You say you prefer to have your right hand on the wheel, well if you need to strong-arm your wheel one handed, you're in the middle of a turn, and if you're planning a gear-change then your technique needs work.

I find it more logical to have the right hand do the most multi-tasking (gear/wipers/center-stack/wheel) than have the left do all those AND the indicator stalk.

And that's nothing to say of having a lovely center tunnel to relax your gas-pedal leg's shin on, rather than the RHD equivalent which is "here's a lovely tunnel to rest that leg that doesn't do anything most of the time and has a big flat kick-plate. You can rest your right leg on thin air, despite it's being permanently in tension".

It's about ergonomics, in my humble oppinion, and overtaking in B-roads is only ever a problem with high vehicles, because you can see the oncoming trafic just fine through the forward car's windscreen. For overtaking, you don't need to read the fine print on the opposing driver's license plate, you only need to know "is the road clear?".

Ok, one of my comments were lighthearted: day to day use.
I had 2 LHD cars and they weren't that much of a problem but the insurance cost WAS higher.

As regards the side markers (trafficators/indicators): I thought in the USA they were just that- constant yellow lights on the front side wings. I was guessing that they didn't flash ,which might be illegal in the UK. (I suppose you could remove the bulbs but then that might cause an error message on the dash.) If they flash, then no problem.

The point about the headlights was nothing to do with switching them from LHD to RHD (there's a lever to do this but you will have less light- beam pattern will be _ _ as opposed to \_ \_ ) it was to do with them being E marked (the Euro standard) I know when you import US built cars all of the lights, front and rear, have to be changed and just mentioned it as something to check before you buy. If they're E marked then fine if they aren't you have to change them ALL.

If I was wrong about the former two points then you only have the following problems to deal with:

1. front plate mounting- small problem
2. rear plate mounting- big problem
3. the US 4 year warranty will be void- you'll have to buy another
4. resale value for a non EU car
5. SVA inspection as the car won't have a EU certificate
6. Higher insurance- any excuse, you know what they're like!
7. Import tax 10% and 17.5% vat on top of everything


I'm not trying to pi55 on you chips but just pointing out that it's not the same as importing an EU car.

I'd want the car for 20k for all that messing about.

Much obliged with the run-down. I've got a company doing the import for me. They only do imports and handle SVA, license plates, and all the other malarkey required. Hence I get key-in-hand and am only insurance short of being legal.

Funnily, I can get fully comp for £900 pa. Which is decent, given I'm 27 and a PhD researcher with £0 visible income in this country.

I'm more concerned with why you think the warranty will be void; I was assured this was not the case by the importer but haven't checked with Porsche UK. It's a legal requirement for any car sold anywhere to be warranteed for at least three years and I'm not aware there's any location-specific waivers of said consumer right, with the exception of unintended use, as in "we can't replace damage caused in Iceland due to frosting if you bought it from Porsche Marakesh".

Could you elaborate please? You seem much more knowledgeable than I am.