Last month, an R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R sold for US$235,200 during RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction. It was built in 1995, had covered 46,000km, and was finished in LM2 Midnight Purple.
If you needed further proof the world of Japanese sports cars has gone completely insane, here it is quite literally presented to you on a plinth. I’m not sure if the buyer thought this was a charity auction, because there’s no parallel universe in which a 46,000km R33 GT-R is worth that kind of money. Not unless it has ‘400R’ scribbled on the back.
There are a few takeaways from it, though. That ‘bubble’ all slightly interesting cars fall within is showing no signs of bursting. If anything, it’s getting worse. And with a platform like RM Sotheby’s getting in on the action, the Skyline GT-R is now firmly within the mainstream collector’s market. And I don’t think that’s a good thing for us.
Obviously, if you’re lucky enough to own one of these cars you should be rubbing your hands with glee right now. But the reality tends to be a bit different, and chances are you bought a Skyline to use, to tune, and to check a childhood box rather than tuck away for a future auction.
That’s how car ownership should work in an ideal world. But these high-profile sales bring a lot of added attention to the GT-R market, from those who suddenly view them as the next big investment opportunity rather than something to drive.
Higher values bring higher insurance premiums, parts are hoarded which leads to higher running costs, and every owner with a not-so-good example suddenly floats their car on the OSE (optimistic stock exchange) otherwise known as eBay. The result? Less cars actually being used.
This all sounds very doom and gloom, but let’s be honest – anyone prepared to spend $235,200 on an R33 GT-R is probably covered if it were to go wrong. But part of the GT-R’s attraction has always been its underdog status and relative affordability – until recent years.
I paid £8,000 for an R32 Skyline GT-R back in 2009. I blew it up, broke it for bits, and got my money back despite the (lack of) working engine. Two years later I bought an R33 GT-R for £6,500. It had bronze TE37s, HKS GT-SS turbos and 470bhp. That too detonated while chasing more power and – having no cash to fix it again – went to Skyline heaven in many boxes destined for mainland Europe.
In hindsight, I really should’ve stuck with at least one of ‘em rather than simply throw in the towel. But the point being made here is that you buy a Skyline based on its potential rather than what they left the factory with. That doesn’t mean you need 1,000bhp, but with a bit of budget you could always justify one against any of its more expensive rivals.
‘996 Turbo? Yeah, it’s got 450bhp, but I can get 500+ with a set of GT2530 turbos and still be under half the cost of the Porsche…’
Oh how times change.
I’m not dismissing any standard GT-R, but it’s the world of tuning which is responsible for the model’s notability and that’s carried on even further with the R35. People don’t ask you what it’s worth or how many miles you’ve done; all they want to know is what power it’s pushing.
For anyone growing up in the 1990s and early-2000s, most of this obsession came via tuning magazines, VHS tapes, and in later years online videos showcasing these ‘wacky’ Japanese cars doing absurd things both on and off track.
They’d sail past 200mph in a tunnel, lap Tsukuba faster than any production supercar, and always make the right noises. GT-Rs especially were two fingers up to the established sports car market, wrapped in a gawky-yet-aggressive aero package which hinted at its potential.
Maybe I’m being precious because it’s a model I’ve obsessed over for many years, but after the R32’s dominance in motorsport it was Japan’s tuners who firmly took over for both R33 and R34 generations.
There’s a part of me that thinks you need to earn your Skyline wings to get into this circle; trading examples of halo tuner cars like the JUN Super Lemon, Top Secret Drag R and Veilside Combat R32 to prove your worth. All while recounting the old 0-300km/h videos hosted on exvitermini.com
To have these cars made unobtanium because of their sudden collectability feels like an entire generation will be deprived of that experience. The moment value is asked before power with a Skyline, it’s too late.
That’s not to say there aren’t people out there keeping the traditional GT-R name alive. There is – handily for this feature – and they’re also one of the best in the world right now. Harlow Jap Autos, a name you might already be familiar with on account of their inventory looking straight out of a video game.
That’s no accident either. Brothers Ozz and Arooj – who started HJA in the early 2000s – came from that same background of Japanese car nerdery listed above. It was a business formed by passion, and over 15 years later it’s now grown into what I would consider to be one of the world’s best dealerships for iconic Japanese cars.
Because while others are focused purely on the stock and low-mileage examples, HJA are famed for their big-power examples and tuner demo cars from the likes of Top Secret, Hosaka Tuning Factory and ATTKD. The term ‘investment’ doesn’t get thrown around here, because everyone who’s ever owned a GT-R knows they’re financially crippling if you actually use ‘em.
Why the spotlight now? Surely HJA should be loving this JDM boom? You’d think so, but when your reputation relies solely on obtaining the absolute best examples – be it stock or modified – this new wave of attention makes getting hold of any GT-R difficult. Let alone anything special.
Then there’s the name, Harlow Jap Autos. No longer are the boys based in Harlow, and if you check their inventory, there’s a decent amount of non-Japanese cars listed too. But we’ll cover that in a bit more detail later on.
Ozz and Arooj first started selling cars in the early 2000s, initially as a bit of a hobby which rapidly got out of hand. That may have coincided with their attendance of a Japanese car auction in Southampton circa 2005, and shortly after the pair knew exactly what they wanted to do in life.
“We were working out the back of our family home, so you can imagine how happy our mother was when we moved to our first unit in Harlow Pinnacles Industrial Park shortly after,” explains Ozz. “It felt like a massive move for us at the time, but we had to take this step to be taken seriously. We always knew this would be a steppingstone to something bigger. Our current showroom is something we envisioned years ago; it doesn’t even feel real!”
This passion was formed at an early age while watching Formula 1 and BTCC every weekend. But when the two became teenagers – and magazines like Max Power and Fast Car were being stocked at their dad’s newsagents, suddenly that interest became a full-blown obsession.
“We had hundreds of magazines stockpiled,” laughs Arooj. “Back then they featured mostly European cars. There was very little information about the JDM sports cars, but when they did we’d just be in awe of the specs. Max Power’s ‘Beasts From The East’ DVD and Gran Turismo were major turning points; suddenly we had actual resources for these Japanese cars.”
Textbook credentials, but where I struggle is the idea of having to sell them all after. Tracking them down and bringing them over sounds like a dream, but how do you muster the discipline to actually make it a business?
“We do keep some, but in total I reckon we’ve imported and sold several thousand cars,” Ozz explains. “We were regulars at the Southampton auctions, but quickly found that the quality and variety of cars available just weren’t up to scratch. The only viable option for us was to buy direct from Japan.”
“This wasn’t an easy process,” continues Ozz. “We spent days and nights sifting through endless web searches looking for exporters but there was very little. These days there’s plenty of good businesses specialising in exactly that, but in the early 2000s it was non-existent. With no contacts and little information, we couldn’t even verify if the cars we were looking at were real.”
“After some searching, we decided to buy two cars from two different contacts; the first a 180SX and the second a Mazda RX-7. Money wired, we never heard back from the 180SX seller… ever. That was devastating. Not only did we lose a load of money but our confidence too – the worst combination for any small start-up. Thankfully, the other supplier came through and that contact is still one we use even today. Had that not happened I don’t think HJA would be where it is today.”
Those early rookie days taught Ozz and Arooj some important lessons. Aside from finding the right cars, establishing a good relationship with trustworthy contacts is paramount to making each sale go through without any hassle.
“The Japanese work culture – much like us at HJA – is based on trust and respect,” Arooj adds. “We built this up over many years, but most importantly by sticking to your word on every deal. Today we’re fortunate to have many connections with all the major players out there, most of whom have become good friends. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves when talking to some of the top-end dealers, especially when they compliment our work as they were the people we looked up to in the early days.”
Looking over Harlow Jap Autos’ UK inventory, there’s one trait you’ll notice with every car in stock or previously sold: quality. That’s the name of the game with HJA; Japanese imports have a (deserved) reputation for being a bit rough around the edges here in the UK, and that’s usually a result of those who haven’t done their homework or simply want a quick flip before moving onto the next one.
After being stung themselves with the 180SX, HJA wanted to make sure this treatment was never passed on to potential customers. But how exactly do you guarantee that when all your deals are happening halfway around the world?
“It’s all in the prep work,” explains Ozz. “That starts in Japan; you check vehicle history and inspect it long before it goes under the hammer. You have to take auction grades and car images at face value only; they don’t paint a true picture of what you’re buying.”
“That’s why I love all the big-power builds from those RH9 tuning shops. If you know of their work – and have witnessed the cars in action – you know what you’re getting into, and they’re typically much better maintained too. Those will always be my passion regardless of what happens with the market. I couldn’t imagine HJA without them.”
Go back five or six years ago and these types of cars were readily available with countless tuner cars going through the auctions or being privately sold. We’ve seen what happens as soon as the 25-year-old rule passes in the USA, but is this really the main reason for price jumps or is it part of a bigger issue?
“Everyone is quick to blame the US guys, but the simple fact is there’s a worldwide demand for these cars now,” Arooj explains. “Over the years we’ve built a wide spectrum of customers across all age groups. There’s a lot of collectors now that wouldn’t have considered a Japanese sports car if it wasn’t for all the press surrounding them, and a lot of the time we find these customers are intrigued to experience the hype for themselves rather than just tucking them away. On the flipside, you then have the die-hards who are now at an age where they can afford them, but in both cases it’s a good thing as it means these cars are getting the recognition we’ve always known they deserve.”
Arooj makes a solid point there, one I completely overlooked early on. It’s easy to dismiss these collectors for not wanting to keep the GT-R spirit alive, but then if I think back to my own ownership, I’ve wiped out more than I’ve saved. That’s a bit like saying I’m going green, before cutting down 10 trees and replanting five.
But I’m also a different owner now compared to 12 years ago. Back then, I was operating beyond what I could afford and I bought the cheapest examples possible before acting surprised when they inevitably shat themselves. I still own a GT-R; a 1999 R34 at that, but there’s one big difference with this purchase compared to those before: It came from Harlow Jap Autos.
“We mentioned it earlier, but the trap a lot of people fall into is auction grades,” explains Ozz. “These are a guide; they’re only checking what’s immediately visible and we’ve seen some auctions bump up grades on GT-Rs because they know a Grade 4 will fetch way more than a Grade 3. That’s why we have our own team based in Japan who will check chassis condition and repair history before it goes to auction. The same team help us maintain our relationship with high-end dealers across Japan, so in many cases we’re offered first refusal on cars before they’re listed.”
I’ve known Ozz and Arooj for years now; I’ve bought several cars from HJA and they’ve even helped me import my own car from Japan too. If it’s big-power or remotely interesting they absolutely cannot help themselves, but I also know there’s been a few cars sold which they really should’ve kept hold of…
“Oh man, so, so many,” laughs Ozz. “The ones I wish I’d kept? Top Secret R33 Drag R II, the one Nagata-san drove at 205mph through the tunnel. Then there’s the JUN Super Lemon that Jeremy Clarkson drove years back, and ATTKD’s R34 GT-R which lapped Tsukuba in 57 seconds. Not to mention the countless pristine Supras, Evos and RX-7s which came through years ago. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
“We’ve always got cars on the radar though,” adds Arooj. “Money no object, it has to be the R34 Z-Tune and R33 400R. A proper Group A R32 race car too, we missed out on one by just a few hours. As for non-Japanese stuff, I’d go Ferrari F40, XJ220 and a Cerbera Speed 12 for good measure.”
Not that their current collection is lacking. They’re the proud owners of the original Veilside top speed R34 GT-R (being completely rebuilt from the shell up) along with Sunline Racing’s full carbon R34, and another R34 from Friends Racing which casually holds the Skyline 0-300km/h record. If it’s big power, iconic or simply wild, you have Harlow’s attention.
Which leads us neatly into their next chapter. We touched on it earlier, but as they’re no longer in Harlow and they’re stocking European stuff too, does that mean HJA’s future is going to look more like a typical supercar showroom?
“Absolutely not!” states Ozz. “We’ve always imported the odd exotic sports car, but now we’re looking further into those really obscure and downright crazy cars tucked away in Japan. Cars that were (or still are) raced or have been tuned by the likes of Koenig Specials, Promodet, RUF and beyond.”
“For us, it feels like a natural progression. We’re not interested in simply stocking those expensive modern supercars; our passion has always been towards those unique tuner builds or the cars that truly stop you in your tracks if you see them on the road.”
“And Japan does that better than anyone else by actually road-registering these monsters – both the yellow 360 and white GT3R have the paperwork (and modifications) to be put back on the road. It’s not for everyone, but driving one of these on the road gives you a buzz like no other.”
You don’t need me to tell you I’m fully on board with this ethos; I’m already a fully paid member with Project 360 that HJA sourced at the start of last year.
Will I miss seeing some of the more attainable cars coming through the HJA showroom? Without a doubt, but it’s not like they’re short of good cars currently – like this Endless S15 casually packing 1,000bhp, a sequential gearbox and drag slicks for good measure.
What I’m actually looking forward to is seeing what this new chapter of madness brings. Because while everyone else is frantically trying to claw their way into the GT-R market, HJA have already opened the next door. And if a road-legal Lamborghini Diablo GT happens to lurk behind one of those in the future, expect a rather rapid sale of every possession I own.
Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com
Those engine bay shots are to die for.
Rub, rub, rub. Let the prices fly of all 90’s JDM. It is a financial commitment to own and maintain and knowing this is covered makes it that much nicer. Nice to see restos which are coming as a result of this.
Maybe all the modern world's bullshit is getting to me, but the nihilist in me would love to buy one of these cars from some non-enthusiast "collector" - and beat it to death on an accelerated driving and wear schedule. Put a hundred thousand miles a year on it, never wash it, run it into the ground, rock chips in the front end, dents, scuffed original paint, the whole bit.
Not just because it'd be fun, but to stick it to the people who think such cars are supposed to be "preserved."
This is exactly why the clean examples are so valuable. Cause of people with your mentality.
Ideal world has got to be somewhere in the middle hasn't it? You do want some of these cars preserving - beyond just in museums and Google searches - but a static R34 GT-R in the Petersen doesn't exactly give future generations an insight into what made 'em so notorious.
Take Mk4 Supras, everyone's quick to jump on the Mk5 and say it's not a proper Supra. Nobody (well, certain motoring media outlets) really gave the Mk4 much focus until the tuners came along and made them all ridiculous horsepower.
A lot of places are quick to bash tuning culture as unnecessary, tacky, pointless you name it. But it's responsible for putting many vehicles in the spotlight which otherwise would've gone under the radar.
6 years ago, i had the possibility to buy a bayside blue R34 GTR V-Spec with a full Nismo Z-Tune body kit and a 600hp HKS engine for.... 50 000 euros.
My budget was limited back in the day, and i didn't expect a stupid price increase like that 4 or 5 years before the end of the 25 years import rule in the USA...
Today i have the budget... but now they are asking 130 000 - 140 000 euros for an old R34 gtr, full stock ( = boring IMO ) with a lot of miles... WTF ?
Who's gonna pay this kind of money for a 20 years old and only 300hp sports car ? The supercar collectors ?
This bullshit needs to stop asap, a JDM sports car is like a used 911 or a Corvette, it should be cheap, with a good performance vs price ratio, and easy to modify to have more hp... They are not rare or old enough to be expensive classic cars.
" an entire generation will be deprived of that experience " I agree... thank you to the speculators. But you get the idea, the rich get richer and the others.... will drive a rusty Civic.
I gave up the idea to own a R34, now i will probably buy a C6 Z06 or a Viper instead and if i manage to push my budget to 140 000 euros i will buy a proper V12 supercar for the price, not an overrated JDM car.
For 130,000 - 140,000 Euros ($165,000?) a rational person with good common sense would choose a 911 over this GTR. If one can afford to cough out that sort of money then maintenance and parts should not be any issue at all. In general, Porsche is better than Nissan when money is no object. People buy Nissan because it has 90% of Porsche's performance at say 1/2 the price but now that it is more or less at Porsche money then may as well get a Porsche.
I'd agree with you, and i think anyone looking for a sportscar with that kind of cash to hand would be foolish to go down a route that wasn't Porsche or something Italian. However, i'd imagine (and i could be completely wrong here) but the bulk of people buying these Skylines at those kinds of prices likely have a garage full of those 'traditional' sports/supercars already, and see the Nissan as an opportunity to tick another box.
1. Porsche -unlike AUDI,BMW, Mercedes Benz-, ranks right there with Lexus in JD reliability survey, year on year out and in fact few years ago it was rated the top. Nissan, never even reaches the top 10. It is mediocre at best. 2. When R35 GTR came out over a decade ago it was a performance bargain but since then Porsche has steadily raises the bar while the GTR progresses at a glacial pace/ turtle pace. A 3.8 lt Porsche Turbo S humiliates the GTR anytime, anyplace. I don't own neither but the GTR is no longer worth the money. At $165 grand, get a boxster S plus a C6 corvette.
It's bonkers, isn't it? I believe the guys at HJA have several 34s which have been bought by US customers years earlier now being stored until they can be registered for the exact same reason.
My issue with it all is the same you've described. If you bought a car at a fair price (50k euros can never be considered cheap), and it's doubled or tripled in value, suddenly the appeal to use that car becomes much less. And the affordability to keep it on the road increases even though your wages don't too.
It's a shame, as the phrase 'they don't make 'em like they used to' gets thrown around a lot in these instances, but unless you are incredibly reach you'll never get the chance to either. So you've no choice but to go for something else.
I guess no one taught you how money laundering works...
The once enthusiast's anti-poser-boy beast has now become a garage-kept poser boy weenie mobile.
Same has happened to the BMW 2002's .... and before that air-cooled Porsches ... and before that .... etc.
Do you think this bubble will burst, or is it just getting bigger with the focus on ICE cars becoming a thing of the past and a switch to EV future?
I think in some instances, there are cars which went super cheap which likely should've never got that low, i.e. Porsche 964s down in the 7-8k mark. But on the flipside, it seems any remotely interesting car now gets slapped with the 'future classic' label and i'm just not buying it.
Mark, great question.... one I've thought about too much. My thoughts are inline with yours.
In regards to a bubble .....
The OLD cars (sixties and earlier) will potentially depreciate quickly in the coming decades as the well-healed nolstagia-chaser drive through the pearly gates. The big question here is HOW MANY millennials (who don't harbor the same nolstagia), but DO appreciate mechanical things will step in? If it's a lot, the values stay high. If there aren't as many guys, then there's a saturation of older classics. In which case we will see a crash. My fantasy is to be able to buy an old Pierce Arrow or Duesenberg at a reasonable price. Maybe even get lucky on a 250GT Lusso.
As for the Japanese nineties cars .... they'll level off and maybe experience a small correction, but generally remain stupidly out of reach. Too much of a nolstagia factor for our generation. Even the clueless non-enthusiast kids in the early 2000's was playing Underground or GT. The problem with these cars is that there is a higher mechanic competence needed to work on them versus the sixties cars. Therefor there will be more demand for shop work versus weekend wrenchers.
Food for thought. People say that mechanical watches are a bubble that's bound to burst ever since cheap quartz alternatives showed up. Well, this 'bubble' is going strong for decades. I hope to God this isn't the case with cars.
Time will tell.
"Money wired, we never heard back from the 180SX seller… ever."
I thought this had happened to me recently. Paid for a car sight unseen as I could not fly out of the state due to Covid restrictions. After 6 weeks still no car. Fortunately it was just an issue with one particular transport company cancelling due to Covid. It was re-sent with another company, only took 2.5 months to travel across Australia. I can imagine how they felt especially when just starting out.
It's not only Japanese cars that are reaching ridiculous prices, older BMW's are getting expensive now too.
I want that (brown?) Supra.
Lasagne plates, hehe
Same thing happened with American muscle cars. Soon the 4 doors and lower trim levels will become acceptable to own and modify.
Brilliant shop and cars! The GT-Rs are fantastic!
Hey Mark,
I have your old R32 GT-R front LSD/sump and gearbox in my R32. Did you know the diff had a 4.375 CWP in it ? Might explain why you used to get such good times in it.
・Around 2010 (when I was still a teenager):
BNR32 and BCNR33 are around 3 million yen, and BNR34 is 4-5 million yen, so maybe I can buy it in the near future.
・Now:
WTF... too expensive!!!
And it's harder to drive JDM cars feel free in Japan because the theft rate became higher recently.
Furthermore my salary is too low due to deflation.
I was born at the wrong time, I desire go back 1990-2000's.
Please give me a delorean.
Thanks for this. I saw a really mint condition Series 7 RX-7 which HJA had brought in, being checked over at RotorTorque, it was amazingly clean and original, a real collector-grade car. But I wasn't aware of the rest of their story, good to hear.
I think the bubble era cars appeal most to roughly 35-45 year olds, so will be a few decades before their market ages out of enthusiast car ownership. Due to the numbers of most cars, they'll be more like Healeys and E-Types than 250GTOs or Muiras - the JDM legends were all ultimately mass-produced, even if in relatively small volumes compared to Corollas, they're into the tens of thousands. So valuable, but not completely unattainable. Which feels about right to me - worth enough to be worth looking after, but not so much they're barely used.
I'm 29 years old (not young but not old enough) and i can remember my elder family members buying E30 325 for a couple of hundreds now a beaten up E30 even a 4 doors 318 costs more than a couple of thousands. And for me, when the 1M was lunched i was a teenager and i thought i will find a used clean example later on only to find it classed as "future classic". (if it's not obvious yet we love our BMWs)
I see this bubble affecting all the brands not only Japanease manufacturers, dare i say it's an issue worst than global warming.
Wait so Tommyfyeah's R33 sold for 235k ? Damn
Use your head: Going slower, "disconnecting", taking scenic roads, and using analog is what is becoming the new Luxury. What's old is new as they say...
Eventually, a Monet, Michaelangelo, or Banksy have become highlights exactly like a Mclaren F1, the Alfetta Fangio drove, or one of these Z-Tunes - a new asset class that is seen as a big boy, serious investment market... But what about your 360 or yet another brute-abused GTST with the R bodykit, the M badged mk5 supra? The market size will dictate how far the big values will stretch (see baseball cards versus tulip bulbs versus gold ingots) yes there are over a billion sports cars out there (and like Archery or Books after the nukes and internets came about, ICE will only get better, purer, more about pleasure than function), but how many of those are enough to satisfy demand?
You do realize China is the new big country, where JUST their middle class of 750M strong dwarfs the entire 475M population of Americans? They also work harder, have more jobs to apply for, are surrounded by factories that already made whatever you're wearing/using/looking at/etc to read this is actually from, and simply have the buying power to buy two of your favorite sports cars?
Do you really think in the future where the rich fly (lol supercars in traffic, you plebes), the auto manufacturers make cars you buy for a limited period of time before they ARE DESIGNED TO FALL APART but cover you with these crazy new warranties and ever longer lease deals, and even pristine Hondas reach six digits - that in this (current) world every single working sports car wont be worthy of your failing currency's value alternative? Instead of bashing cars, shut up and work and earn to buy them, treat them well, and use them appropriately instead before you bemoan missing out because you couldn't see past your nose, sitting in your subscription with many wheels except a steering one, hearing some richer person's rally-suspensioned, Frankensteined-engine howling away, burning expensive synthetic fuels on a copless/unpatrolled, unpopular, abandoned B road somewhere in the vicinity. I bet you wont be able to wait until you can pop on the VR glasses to simulate it on Gran Turismo 12... Moral of this long post? Things change, Take care of things, and stop whining - get to work!
You should see a doctor for your toxic comment....
Yeah it's so easy to buy your dream car just working harder... in your dreams probably.
Every time the 1% richest speculators add 10 000$ to the "value" of your dream car, it's YEARS of saving for normal car enthusiasts to reach the new asking price !
For the R34 GTR, from 60K to 180K in 5 or 6 years.... Now it's the price of a small house !
Even if you work 36 hours a day with your average income, you will never be able to have that money for a car.
It was possible to buy one with a lot of work and some sacrifices, now you have to win the lottery ! That's the reality.
People in the comments are complaining because the last interesting and affordable cars are now impossible to buy because of some already filthy rich who see them only as an investment. For them it's just a game to be richer, for a normal car guy it's the end of his childhood dream.
Ive already decided that if I ever going to own a skyline it will probably be an infinity based one. But then I'll most likely buy one of those and some badges haha
Having been lucky enough to own three R32 GTRs back in the day and the best being a stunning silver Vspec2 I am glad I done it then and still look back with fond memories of the sounds and smells, but today the people with more money than common sense are ruining it for everyone else and only seeing these cars as cash cows and not for the actual thrill and enjoyment. I would rather have a nice 911 these days
To hear it all started with an RX-7. Sweet. Nice photos too.
Sometimes, buying a car is worth the value when you drive it, race it, bring a lot of memories and bond with it, as if it's a human being. However, one post in Facebook says something like this:
"To the kids and people of my generation, be straightfoward about it. Our chances are slim if ever we reach the stage of our lives where we have the means to afford one. They are not relatively affordable anymore, they are actually now more expensive than the europeans that were once more expensive than them."
eyeing up that Kansai Evo VII