FTO AUSTRALIA

Actually.. If you have spare cash.. Use a mob called Sydney Vehicle Check.. A few hundred bucks, but they are very thorough in their vehicle assessment.. Have saved me buying some lemons from cars advertised as "first to see will buy" and "Immaculate condition"..

I dint have their number anymore, but White Pages is your friend..

Thanks for the replys-and warnings .

I will get to the yard between 9.30 and 9.45 on Saturday 30 April if anyone could meet meet there to have a look at the car for me it will be much appreciated , I know what to look for in Skylines , REX's and Rx7's but FTO's not at atall.

It's a big ask and it's Sat morning--and I'm a cheeky prick--I know

The yard is at 71 Parramatta Rd , Concord and is titled "Edward Lees Japanese Auto Centre/Fat Frog Imports.

As there is a chance of dodgy and as the car will be going far away from the point of purchase inevitably meaning trouble if there are any warranty issues--(with 99% of dealers I suspect) and as there seems to have been aftersales issues with Ed Lees Jap Imps in particular I will get the car gone over next week.

I have found a mob called imaginativly "Roadside Mobile Inspection Service" thier No is 0427 457 456 , they sound as though they know what they're doing and charge accordingly -$200.00 an ordinary 150 point/$250.00 for a super 200 get of the ground you bitch I'm going to look at your ass inspection, immediate verbal phone report and emailed/posted hard copy in both report instances.

Has anybody come across them --or could perhaps recomend anyone ?

I have been dealing with Phillip Lees and he seems to be an up front sort of person , he certainly spent time before selling me this car going over all the ins and outs of importing one, which I was seriously considering, being unable to find one localy--no-one seems to be selling the good ones--I wonder why ?--not.

rock_it wrote:Actually.. If you have spare cash.. Use a mob called Sydney Vehicle Check.. A few hundred bucks, but they are very thorough in their vehicle assessment.. Have saved me buying some lemons from cars advertised as "first to see will buy" and "Immaculate condition"..

I dint have their number anymore, but White Pages is your friend..

AAaargh, missed your post, thanks for that, I'll give them a call.

Yep. Ring the guys rock it suggested
Will cost you, but none of us on the forum would be able to gve you a print out of faults like they could.

Good luck.

Thirded. I used them years ago when I was looking to buy a car in Sydney. They saved me a lot of money

Had a bad experience with them.
Several actually.
Bought my car from there, Black Manual GPX with around 62,XXXkms, over a year ago.
Coincidence? that a majority of their imported vehicles have a close kms range.
I didn't know much about cars, and this being my first i jumped a little early.
Priced at $14,000, i negotiated and got $12,000 which i thought was alright but was actually not that great.
The cars condition did not reflect the cars interiors condition - drivers seat was worn, acceleration pedal needed replacing, foggy foglights, etc.
Had minor issues, small bubbling which they've buffed out once, then repainted, but its still gotten worst.
My parents bought my car for me, and they seem to take advantage of the fact that my parents arent from an english speaking background.
Had some 'no warranty' forms signed which in the end left me screwed.
Long story but i thought they would put 1 year rego and 2 year warranty but only had 6 months, and the warranty doesnt seem to cover anything because my gears are screwed, which i probably did myself because i was learning how to drive a manual, and my clutch gave way. I had to pay to get the clutch fixed, the gear problem is still there.
I just hate dealing with them, i desperately need to get my car serviced, and if i don't go to them, my warranty is voided.
I might pop out and help inspect the car with you, just so they make a sale, they'll probably recognize me though.

anywhos @Supplanter are you refering to edward lees or the inspection guys?

To be honnest, the Warrantee's aren't worth the paper they are printed on.. It is the same as all 2nd hand car warrantee set-up's.. But Edward Lee don't own the warrantee, it is actually a third party provider..

But with that being said, I would take your car to a real mechanic to check out.. I also thought those Warrantee's would let any mechanic work on them, as long as they used factory parts and were licenced..

aznfto wrote:Had a bad experience with them.
Several actually.
Bought my car from there, Black Manual GPX with around 62,XXXkms, over a year ago.
Coincidence? that a majority of their imported vehicles have a close kms range.
I didn't know much about cars, and this being my first i jumped a little early.
Priced at $14,000, i negotiated and got $12,000 which i thought was alright but was actually not that great.
The cars condition did not reflect the cars interiors condition - drivers seat was worn, acceleration pedal needed replacing, foggy foglights, etc.
Had minor issues, small bubbling which they've buffed out once, then repainted, but its still gotten worst.
My parents bought my car for me, and they seem to take advantage of the fact that my parents arent from an english speaking background.
Had some 'no warranty' forms signed which in the end left me screwed.
Long story but i thought they would put 1 year rego and 2 year warranty but only had 6 months, and the warranty doesnt seem to cover anything because my gears are screwed, which i probably did myself because i was learning how to drive a manual, and my clutch gave way. I had to pay to get the clutch fixed, the gear problem is still there.
I just hate dealing with them, i desperately need to get my car serviced, and if i don't go to them, my warranty is voided.
I might pop out and help inspect the car with you, just so they make a sale, they'll probably recognize me though.

anywhos @Supplanter are you refering to edward lees or the inspection guys?

Thank you for your reply and sorry to hear about your predicament, I have to check on the NSW warranty laws before I buy as the vehicle will be going to Qld , if it's anything like the Qld ones the cars age will mean that it will only attract a 30 day statutary warranty and your's would probably be the same,
The 'Free' /purchased ones aren't worth a pinch IMO.

This is often the price of buying an over 10yo import in my observation, we pay our money and take our chance to some degree or other

It's a shame when dealers take advantage of people who don't know thier rights , it's probably too late , but if it's like Qld you need to document everything ,and note any conversations you have with the dealer regarding anything to do with faults and warranty and with any fault you issue the dealer with a 'defect notice' when you do that the dealer has to answer and repair within a finite time frame I 'm not going into it all here but if your read the warranty section of the motor dealers act , whatever it's called in NSW , you will find you have a considerable number of rights, you may also find that the dealer does not have the authority to issue a document causing you to abrogate those rights---they're frakin laws for Christs sake.

In other words you may not have been able to negate the warranty even if you wanted to and did sign some 'bought as is where is' piece of nonsense dealer paper.

The battle about warranty was fought by Repco (I think)and lostby the major car companys years ago , check but I think you will find you can take your car any damn where you want to have it serviced without it affecting your warranty rights , two things though 1/ you leave the door open for the warranty holder to claim damage by the service providor and 2/ The warranty holder could claim faulty servicing as a cause of part failure/problems in both instance they would have to substantiate thier claim remember they can also point to no servicing as a cause of problems if you don't service the car as well.

Hope this has helped a bit

i have left it abit too late.
i started to inquire about the statutory warranty only after it was up -_-
and the hassles i've had with them i've just left it as it is.
I was heading down the way of writing a 'letter of demand' and all, but when i went to the office of fair trading the lady saw that i had that 'no warranty' paper signed and said i might not have a case :S
less about my case, more about yours.
undeniable but expect most likely tampered odometers
and i'll predict the centre console might give way if you are going to replace the headunit.
oh and i've been eyeing the dealership right across edward lees, ginzo importers or something
might be worth just browsing there and comparing, because they've got nicer cars, FTO included i think.
whereas edward lees seem to be stocking up on the El grande.

aznfto wrote:anywhos @Supplanter are you refering to edward lees or the inspection guys?

I was talking about the inspection guys, the seller was lying about the condition of the car.