Yahoo Autos 6 cars that are eligible for import to the U.S. in 2023
For car enthusiasts, the most exciting part of ringing in a new year is watching the list of import-eligible cars grow. Federal regulations make bringing a late-model car from Europe or Asia mind-bogglingly difficult, but these barriers fall as soon as a vehicle turns 25. There's no need to slash through a jungle of red tape; simply ship your dream forbidden fruit over, pay import duties, and in most states you're good to park a fresh import car in your garage.
Of course, you need to locate any car you're considering importing, whether it's on this list of cars you can import in 2023 or not. A quick search of the internet will show that there are a lot of places that specialize in sourcing cars to import into the United States, and while we don't have any firsthand experience with any of them, we can point out a few well-known import car dealers, including some at auction. Duncan Imports and Classics bills itself as "America's Largest JDM Dealer" and keeps a large inventory of vehicles that have already been brought into the States. The Import Guys boast options to ship and finance worldwide, Davey Japan claims to have exported over 50,000 vehicles from Japan, and Goonet Exchange says it's operated by "Japan's largest used car information site." Japanese site Be Forward lists a staggering 10,949 online reviews at the time of writing with an average score of around 4.5 out of 5 stars.
If your new year's resolution is to buy a car from overseas, here are some of the highlights from 2023's crop of importable cars. Keep in mind that some of these import cars were introduced in 1997 but didn't enter production until 1998, while others made their debut late in the year. And without further ado, here is a list of six cars that are eligible for import to the U.S. in 2023 that are worth noting.
Cars that are eligible to import into the U.S. in 2023
Alfa Romeo 166
Developed to replace the 164, the 166 stands out as Alfa Romeo's last true flagship sedan; it wasn't directly replaced. It shares its front-wheel-drive platform with the Lancia Kappa but the two cars look nothing alike. Alfa Romeo gave the big sedan a smooth, relatively elegant design that borrows several styling cues from the smaller 156. At launch, buyers could choose from a wide array of engine options including a 2.0-liter Twin Spark four-cylinder with two spark plugs per cylinder, a 2.4-liter five-cylinder turbodiesel, and a 24-valve, 3.0-liter V6.
The 166 landed in a segment dominated by the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the BMW 5 Series, and the Audi A6 so it had to put a bigger focus on luxury than on performance to lure buyers into Alfa Romeo showrooms. Production ended in 2007 after about 100,000 units were built, and the 166 has yet to gain traction on the collector-car market. Early examples in acceptable condition are available for well under €5,000 (about $5,500 at the current conversion rate) in the Italian classifieds, though V6-powered examples and low-mileage cars carry a premium.
Fiat Multipla
We're not going to argue with the folks who say that the Fiat Multipla is one of the ugliest cars ever to come out of Italy; to each his or her own. Its design is certainly unusual, to say the least, but keep in mind that it borrows its name from an evolution of the original 600 that was an acquired taste as well. Get closer (shut your eyes if needed), open the driver's door, and you'll immediately get the Multipla's appeal: the freakish proportions hide a spectacularly spacious interior capable of comfortably carrying six full-grown adults and a trunk load of gear.
It's a stroke of packaging genius. For context, most of the Multipla's rivals offered five seats. Fiat tried hard to sell the people-mover, it even made a promotional video game called Multispy, but it quickly found out six seats weren't always considered a fair trade-off for having to look at a Multipla in your driveway. Fast-forward to 2023 and the Multipla is seemingly just the right kind of weird: it's increasingly sought-after by a small subset of the enthusiast community and there's even an owner's club operating in Italy. You can join without breaking the bank: well-preserved examples trade hands for under €5,000 and rougher, higher-mileage cars are available for less than €1,000 (about $1,100).
