Thread: Bonjour tout le monde! Nico from France

Hi everyone! I'm a french guy from Nantes,Brittany (Brittany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and i'll move to Christchurch next July, for at least 1 year (if I get my working holiday visa). A friend of mine has already moved to Christchurch, that's why i decided to join him in this adventure, to improve my english for sure (don't hesitate to tell me if i make english mistakes!!) and to discover the country and of course the people.

So I'm a real Honda enthusiast and i can't imagine remaining on foot during my journey in your beautiful country i made some research and i found that New Zealanders were big fans of imported cars, tell me if i'm wrong ^^ later i tried to find some forums about Japanese cars in general and i found NZH. Great discovery! Then i found "Trademe", to make me an idea of what i could buy once in NZ Here in France we don't have exactly the same car models, i can't wait to discorver NZ models!

Here are the cars i've owned:
My very first car bought in august 2008, a Honda Civic MA9 (made in uk, same base as Rover 4 series) dirty:

Once cleaned up:

1.5 vtec-e very good fuel consumption, my record: 5L/100km (grandfather style)

Then 1 year later in august 2009 i wanted to get a real car, so i've bought an EE9 (B16A1, 10hp less than EF9 B16A):



I've added few mods on it in order to race it :



-Stock engine, 10w40 castrol and Tenraï Catback (so lovely loud ^^)
-Chassis: BC Racing street coilovers
195/55R15 Toyo Proxes R1R on Enkei 15" rims
EBC redstuff front brake pads
4 Goodridge braided lines
-Interior: x2 DC2 recaro seats
Momo MX5 steering wheel

A bonus video of the EE9 on our local track:
honda civic vtec nico44 a Fay de Bretagne - Vidéo Dailymotion
(Don't judge the driving, this is just for fun ^^)

Then i've sold the MA9 in February 2011 and one week end i was bored, i was looking internet classifieds and i saw a cheap Celica T231 (later i understood why it was cheap...). 3 days later i've bought it (May 2011), then i've sold my EE9. But i don't really know why, i was not very fond of this car... May be a lack of VTEC and the "H" spirit! So next august (2011) i've been to UK to bought an Honda EP3 ^^ Actually in France a lot of japanese cars lovers buy their sport cars directly in the UK, it's way cheapper. The only difference is the right hand drive... but i'm used to it now! Once i've got my Type R i tried to sell quickly the Celica but it was very tough and finally i've exchanged it against (another) civic haha! I always have these 2 civics and soon i'll sell the EP3 to make cash for my trip to Kiwis' place! ^^

Celica:


-Stock engine
-Chassis: 17" OZ Superleggera rims with Maxxis MA-Z1
Tein Superstreet Coilovers
EBC turbogrooved discs and greenstuff pads
Hell braided lines
Hotchkis sway bars (Front+Rear)
Megan Racing upper front strut bar
-Interior: x2 OMP seats

EP3 full stock, K20 powered <3 <3 <3:





Now a video about my club, you can see my old red EE9 at 1:57 between 2 mitsus ^^

And the forum: Japan Spirit Importation
Enjoy!

Hope to see you guys (and girls...) once i'll be in NZ!!!

Thanks man! I miss my EF... But EP3 is not really bad though ^^

No one from Christchurch here?

Welcome to NZH! I think you'll fit in well

Bonjour!! Bienvenue a NZHondas Nico!
j'adore tu EE a EP civic!!

Welcome !!
My french is terrible haha i wont write any more!
I have been to france, and I loved it, I wanted to meet some people like yourself, and have a look around some of the cars like you have in the video. But I had no luck to find any meetings like that.
You do have some choice cars over there, mostly you will see older cars here, alot more 80's and 90's than I saw when I was in France.
I Visited Paris, Bourges, Tours and Calais.

post more pics!!!

A bientot
Scott

Welcome dude!

When you move we'll have to have another Akaroa cruise. Akaroa is a French community close to Christchurch so you'll feel at home

Thanks guys! It took me nearly 1h to write this

Originally Posted by MMJA

Welcome to NZH mate, I enjoyed reading your OP. What's the modifying scene like in France? Are there a lot of rules and regulations regarding car modification?

In theory you can't do anything on your car because of insurances companies... But it's the theory Nevertheless if you are involved in an accident and an expert judges your car not full stock (lowered suspensions, engine mods etc) it can cause you some problems.

Otherwise we have the "contrôle technique" which is quite like your "WOF", since your car respects the norms that's all good. For example i took my EE9 to the "contrôle technique" with the Tenraï catback without catalyst and it passed without a problem. Also my inspector is a cool turkish guy ^^ Also it really depends on the inspector mood...

Originally Posted by MRSCOT

Bonjour!! Bienvenue a NZHondas Nico!
j'adore tu EE a EP civic!!

Welcome !!
My french is terrible haha i wont write any more!
I have been to france, and I loved it, I wanted to meet some people like yourself, and have a look around some of the cars like you have in the video. But I had no luck to find any meetings like that.
You do have some choice cars over there, mostly you will see older cars here, alot more 80's and 90's than I saw when I was in France.
I Visited Paris, Bourges, Tours and Calais.

post more pics!!!

A bientot
Scott

Keep practicing french language! I've (almost) understood everything ^^
In fact i get by in english writing but english oral is more difficult... i realized it when i went to england to buy my EP3 ^^ that's one reason why i've to travel!

I understand that in France it can be complicated to find some cars lovers, most of french people buys diesel-powered annoying french or german cars (Renault Peugeot Audi...) only because gasoil is cheapper than gasoline and also french automotive industry invested a lot of money in diesel engines research... Now they've got to sell there (crappy and not reliable) technology.

Actually the meetings are scheduled on the social networks like forums or facebook and essentially with word of mouth! So if you are visiting France and searching for meetings you have to know an aware french guy ^^
Or then go to some big meetings like in Le Mans: http://www.lemansclassic.com/
I hope i'll be able to go to Le Mans Classic this year, i've missed it 2 years ago. I heard good feedbacks about it, that's even better than 24h du Mans (more classic and legendary models).

Originally Posted by nykon

There's a group of us here in Christchurch look forward to having you as a part of the crew! You'll love the huge selection of Honda's there are in New Zealand. We have all the good models the Japanese do. Take a look on Buy online and sell with NZ's #1 auction & classifieds site | Trade Me to get an idea.

Ok i'll be very pleased to take part of your crew! I'll not be lost in NZ like this ^^
Yea trade me looks really great! I've already spent some times looking for cars haha! It seems like our national free classifieds site:Petites annonces gratuites d'occasion - leboncoin.fr

Originally Posted by Trivium

Welcome dude!

When you move we'll have to have another Akaroa cruise. Akaroa is a French community close to Christchurch so you'll feel at home

Ok we'll see that, i really can't wait to come to NZ!!! I hope i'll find a job too...

what do you do at home for work?
I know my french is terrible, im not going to write anymore hahaha

Originally Posted by MRSCOT

what do you do at home for work?

For the moment i'm a night deliverer such as Takumi in Initial D haha but with a small truck (20m3 Renault Master), less than 3.5t (less funny than an AE86 by the way). I deliver parcels for some Toyota and Komatsu dealers, so i drive about 460km per night.

But that's not my first job. I do that because i haven't found something in my speciality. In fact i'm a mechanic technician, i used to work in mechanical testing/metrology laboratory (doing most of the time body block and resiliency tests on steering wheels).

For Scott and others i post a sample of pics about my favorite friends' cars:

CRX delsol ESI:


Integra Type R DC2:


Civic EJ8:


CRX EE8:


Civic EK4 ferio:


S2000:


Civic EG4 with D16A9 engine swap:


Civic EG6:


CRX delsol spoon style with B18C6 type R (my favorite ):


S14:


300ZX:


240Z:


Impreza STI:


Supra Mk4:


Celica lst162:


MR2:


MX5 NC:


Now some pics i took during a japanese cars meeting in my region:

On the way to the meeting:

My EP3 is leading the team

Me on the road, hell yeah!:


BNR34 Midnight Purple <3


Crazy PS13 (another fav):


Youporn FTW!

BNR32:


USDM style is here too:



DC5:


S2000:


S13:


Another meeting organized in Paris by the only french magazine about JDM Cars, called Autoworks. They invited Orange Team, so I could see Sumika Kubokawa and Kumakubo-san!!!
That was a shame the weather was awful for a summer day (rainy and windy )
Here some pics:
Sumika Kubokawa:

And Nobushige Kumakubo:

Fuckin' cameraman!!!!!!!

Awesome R34 built by Garage D, an english tuner:


Cool RX7 FC:


EF9 Kanjo style (Osaka JDM parts):


Clean EK4 with B16B, built by Fullcartuning, a tuner from Holland:


Type Max, a french Honda tuner, with some crazy swaps and turbo vtec engine <3



Some old timers:


Enjoy!

Wow had no idea the French had a JDM scene. Thought it'd all be Euro

Originally Posted by Trivium

Wow had no idea the French had a JDM scene. Thought it'd all be Euro

Indeed you can't see cars like that everyday in France ^^ most are euro.

Originally Posted by MMJA

Awesome pics there, some of those cars are jaw dropping! I love the PS13 and S13. That red EG with a turbo J swap(?) looks insane!

Effectively that's a J but non-turbo.

Originally Posted by buggs

Wow nice meet there around Paris.

To me your EE9 was the best car you´ve owned;-)

Some of my friends told me the same thing! But I was looking for something more practical for daily driving (the EE9 don't have power steering). May be someday i'll buy one again

I just sold the EP3, i'm a little sad but it's for the good cause: buying air ticket for NZ ^^

Originally Posted by buggs

now that was an expansive ticket^^

lol not all of the money was spent on this ticket, of course ^^ (and fortunately!)

Welcome! I'm sure you are going to enjoy the NZ JDM car culture, the JDM scene in Christchurch is very strong

That's good!