Does a guide to purchasing Civic Type R ep3 exist?

[mryangtastic]

Hi Ozhonda!

Recently looked at a 2005 ep3 from a dealer. Went in with limited knowledge of these cars.
Next time I inspect an ep3, what should I be looking out for?
What are the major problems with these cars?
What Japanese paperwork should be present?
A lot of the logbooks are missing service stamps, is this normal?
Dealer/importer specific.

Thanks!

[curtis265]

Go and ask in the EP3 thread

[Baby Face]

i have heard a horror story or two for EP3R's as they reach the 160,000km mark.

it may not be unusual for the service history to be missing but there should be documented services whilst it is in AU atleast. otherwise its not worth as much since the mechanical condition can not be proven.

[blk_shadow]

Probably its a bit late to reply, but being a facelift, you will not get that squeak from the steering rack anymore (as it has been updated with a quick steering rack), engine mounts seems to last longer (esp the rh hydraulic ones). There are really no major problems known for EP3R.

How many kms has the car done? Best is to check for rust (being an imported car and all) and make sure you got all the import paper works as well as the australian transfer paper.

If the logbook is missing a lot of stamps, you can surely ask the dealer directly and ask them to print you a list of what has been done to it. Because most of them don't even have a logbook supplied.

And as baby face stated, if the car has been in Australia for a while, you should ask for the service history of it as well.

The ignition key is the other thing, whether the car still has the 2 keys or just the one.

[Jasemas]

Ask for the Japanese De-rego papers as they will usually come with the car and will state how many kms the car had before it was de-regoed