oh, and in response to the last question in your original post. Yes, it would be less expensive for you to bring it back from japan if you went and personally picked it up yourself. You would still run into some pretty serious taxes, but I think I read somewhere that it is less severe or something. In fact, if you go to
www.bestjapancar.com, they have a link that will take you to a customs regulations page that will give you all the information you need to know about importing a vehicle. It is extremely lengthy and, in true US government form, difficult to comprehend documentation. A possibility, that i'm not totally certain of the legality, is importing it to Mexico (where I believe they have less strict laws regarding this type of thing), legalizing it there, then personally driving it into the states. This is very costly as well as possibly illegal, but could cost less and be easier than trying to get it directly into the US from Japan or europe or wherever you buy the car. The reason I bring up Europe is I believe there are LHD EVOs in Spain and Germany and not having to do a complete drive conversion cuts tens of thousands of dollars out of making an EVO street legal in the US. PHEW....that just about exhausts everything I know about importing an EVO into the states. Check out that Bestjapancar.com site I pointed you toward, they know their stuff much better than I do.