The South Africa's in recent years has become a hot bed for tuners and imports making it the epicenter of this world in Africa. This was a mysterious and underground world that only those in, know how to get in, that was before cult hit films like "Fast and Furious" shot it into the light. Since then we have seen young guys and girls every were driving around with there chrome rim Polo's and Fiesta's trying to be Vin Diesel, which is great and all. Though, amongst the small timers like us, are a group of true tuner carheads, people who polish, paint, tint, vinyl, turbo charge, compress, lower, chrome, dyno and amp the sound to make their cars the best they can be. The guys who drive around with loud sounding exhaust's and louder music, doing midnight runs looking like real movie drivers. Though on the outside this seems to be the perception and looks like, an easy world to get in for the young enthusiast. Anyone who's any one in the tuner world will tell you that it is far more complex and takes a lot of dedication to get to were you want to be. There are many ways to get into this industry, but first things first is you need a car and that is were the dilemma lies, we as carheads ask the question, is it better to buy local and tune yourself or to import (presumably from Japan)?
To start off, buy in South Africa and tuning here might seem like the best and only option for some. It is easier, cheaper and in S.A we are fortunate in that we are quite spoilt for choice in terms of cars brought into the country. This also means you are able to see what you purchase and choose which car best suits you. It also works quite great if you have good car knowledge and can work on the car yourself, turning it into your very owen tuner pet project. The problems though that arise is that our second hand market in filled with very nice cars that are very expensive. The second hand cars in ratio to overseas country's like england, are quite costly and then to buy new is even more pocket wounding. Then there is also the problem that most cars do not have specific modification parts brought in to suit there needs. Then depending on what you want the parts have to be imported or sometimes local make due. Which means you need to have specialized equipment and knowledge otherwise it just becomes a botch job, that will cost even more to fix.
Importing a tuner car from overseas (Japan) can be very rewarding, considering the vast array of exotic tuners not sold here. There is also the perk of having people and experts there that specialize in the car you desire and can modify it the way you want to the top standard. As great as this may sound importing has its owen problems, firstly South African import laws are extremely strict especially to Japanese cars. So in order to get the cars here you have to import it to another country like Botswana, register it there (provided you have a family or a company and account there) then bring it in to S.A. All this is very time consuming and costs a lot of money. Then the other problem is when you do eventually do get it in parts and specs and tech expertise are very difficult to acquire and are costly. The fact however is if you do get it in and going it can be very rewarding, showing off to all your friends and onlookers.
Either way they are both viable and good options, and depending on budget and need can both be explored. If you are interested in entering this world of mean machines, it is best to look at what you want and how big is your budget. You should go to events check in local papers or magazines (Speed and Sound is a good one) speak to the people and see what is best for you. This is a fantastic industry that is always growing and expanding and it will be exciting to see were it goes. We at carheads can say that we are big fans and will follow as much as we can and bring it to you.
Ronaldo. V.
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