CityTurbo.com

Hi, I am from Canada (Québec) I read a bit about city turbo's and I am really interested by this car. 6 months ago any cars over 15 years were able to get in the country with an easy inspection so this is not an issue (well, maybe it will be, but for 25+ years old cars maybe not, I will wait and see, government should say if we still can import on october 26th) so I would like to know if importing this car (from Japan probably) would be worth it, and if it will be a financial suicide if I need to get parts after something breaks.

So what do you think about the idea, and do you know any places to look for these cars? I don't really see any places to look at, even though if I am sure of me I know a guy who has contacts in Japan to find out good cars and export them with all the needed papers.

After, I live in a northern country so there is snow in winter. Are honda city fine to drive in winter, or even with some anti rust (underneath) they will rust just after a 1 year or 2? I couldn't afford storing it for winter as it would probably be a daily driver, and I already store for winter my rhd Toyota mr2 turbo. However, the city would go on track and auto x as much as the mr2, a 730kg car must be great to drive, I have a "cultus" (geo metro) 1.0, 830 but already light enough and fun, but is a piece of crap now and 55hp...

As far as I know, they are no city turbo running in Québec, but i have seen 2 cabriolet for sale there and on the road once, so I would not be the forst to import a city, but they are very rare, compared to skyline and rhd mr2 or nissan s13 which we see every 2 days now.

Thank you for reading, and guiding me in my decision and searches.
I apologize for my bad English, I am french Canadian.

It is cheaper to import a car from Japan than New Zealand or Australia i think, there are some tidy ones in Japan i would say that you would probably want to buy a parts car to go with it so if anything breaks you have some parts to play with.

I dont know if your roads are salted or not there but, if you keep a keen eye out for rust and take care of it before it progresses, I would definitely apply some extra rust protection as well as frequently clean it.

Hi, thank you for the answer. Yes a part car would be a good idea but unfortunately I don't have any room for this and it would cost way more in shipping than the car itself. After yes the roads are salted.

Also, is the passenger seat reclining a lot? I am tall (6 feet 2, 1m90) and it may be an issue in some cars (like tercels from 90's). My geo metro is fine though.

The city's are quite tall and roomy inside. I've had 6'2 people fit comfy in the front seat.

Leg room on the other hand you may struggle a little... Height you should be ok.

I think leg room may be a struggle to the point that it might be worth modifying the seats to sit a bit further back, though this will render the back seats even more useless for passengers.
See how you go though.

Rust is a big killer of these cars even here in non salted countries, you'll need to be very careful about when you drive it and wash it off thoroughly.
I'd thoroughly inspect the car for rust, clean it all up, then go overboard with rust proofing if I were in your position.

Best of luck!

Well, with the imports you cannot really try th room or see for the rust, you must fin someone you can trust in to do it, as this car would be an import on command, not from a lot and then you try like at the dealership. However, I might try a convertible for the leg room, is it the same as in normal turbo II?
But that's right it would not be great to winter drive it, maybe I'll wait a bit more, but the more I wait the less there will be I guess. And if I make a good oil rust proofing underneat with wax or oher protective stuff on the body, will it be so bad? Because there is the salt yes, but for the rest of the time, I don't think humidity is so bad here.

thanks for answer.

I'm 6-0 and have no trouble with my T1, plenty of space.

I don't think you should drive a car of this age on snowy, salted roads though. The way Citys rust, oiling/waxing won't do much good, but then they were mostly sold to more temperate climates. There's no inherent problem with underside rust, but snow and salt might change that.

Still, a Turbo on the snow? Yikes!

I will forget it then, but I don't see any big problem except for the rust, the power is still "modest" it is fws, light, you wont make good starts at the lights but that's it, my cultus 1.0 with 155 wide tires don't do better and i'm fine with it, even though I wold like to find an old justy awd for winter drive and rallyes.
It's gay we "must" drive shitbox for half the year because of rust, a city turbo II or a tercel 1978, starlet 1980, would be nice for a DD, but they all rust like 80's renaults.

Perhaps you could look for a Cabriolet body in your country and import a Turbo motor for it?

Ive had my old City Turbo powered EN1 Civic in the snow and it was great fun

I'll go check for the cabriolet for sale (ther eis only one) for room and see if there is rust (if he drived in winter) but I would definately buy a whole T2 not convertible.
Only interesting thing about the cabriolet is that it is plated already, and maybe we won't be ale anymore to plate rhd cars.

That could be a good option to just import a motor and install it in a city or civic, i have a few here complete wiring loom the lot, turbo needs a rebuild. i have delt with international shipping on RHD convos and JDM motors in the past.

I called the guy who's selling the abriolet and I will try it saturday, are cabriolet handling very bad? and what is the weight?
But a swap seems like to be a lot of work, after reading a bit here.

Swaps are not too bad if you are mechanically minded. If you have to pay someone else to do the work for you it could be quite expensive.

The only major hurdle is converting a carburetted car to fuel injection, so you have to run a new fuel line from the back of the car.

Wiring may look tricky but there are plenty of guys here who can guide you through it.

God, I understand why the car was sold only in Japan, I woul have need like 4 more inche to be comfy. the turbo has the same leg room? I could "easily" (from what I saw) put it maybe 1.5 inch further than oem but not really, over this, would need new bracket or longer rails I think.
The guy is asking 4000$ canadian dollars (like 3900 us$), 130 000km, body, engine bay, shocks, interior and underneath looks clean, the top isn't though, and the guy was a bit freak, and also poor but he just had it for 6 months at least, the previous owner had like 3 acuras so I guess he took good care of the car, considering the availability of parts. With shipping and valids papers thats fine I think, but not a great deal considering the leaking roof, and that it is too small for me, not turbo. I keep hoping to be able to import a T2.

Leg room will be the same in a T2.