Used FD2R:
2. old number plate
3. high interest rates
On the number plate, well, if you are lucky, the seller may be retaining the number plate, hence you can get your new plate. AND Even if the old plate is on the car, you can do interchange to have a new plate fixed. The old plate can be interchanged to a motorbike where you will need to purchase the motorbike Paperwork, which costs a few hundred RM. Once interchanged, the old plate goes to the motorbike and you get a new plate for the car. The bike is registered to your name, BUT you dont physically possess the bike because you only bought the paperwork for the interchange unless you pay about 3k for the entire new bike. This bike is then sold at a few hundreds cheaper, as its considered "used" but with zero mileage.
On the higher interest, well, difference has always been 1% between new and used cars.
As for resale value - on 1st vs. 2nd owner, well, this is a Type R we are talking about, not any ordinary common cars where the number of prior owner(s) matter. As an illustration, when I bought my MINI, i'm the third owner, and I paid 170k for it. 2 years later, the fourth owner got it from me at 150k. He could have paid the same 150k for an unreg low spec low mileage unit, but he has more faith in a used unit which has clocked 40k KM.
If I were to be in your shoes, this is what I would consider:
1) Possibility of future recalls
If you do not already know, the FD2R was subjected to a recall back in Feb 2008, and according to the recall note (which you can search on google), it affected a total of 5795 units of FD2R manufactured between 30 March 2007 and 28 Dec 2007. They have the following chassis numbers:
FD2-1200011 to FD2-1203565
FD2-1400003 to FD2-1402320
Now, if this recall happens few months from today, would your unreg. unit be able to get the recall fixed? Subjective as it depends on the dealer, but high chances no. Units from Honda Msia,
regardless of remaining warranty would definitely qualify for the recall. Recently, Honda Msia/Japan issued a recall notice for their
2003 Honda Jazz! Thats 7 years after rolling out from the manufacturing plant.
2) Mileage & Accident
I usually take the speedo reading with a grain of salt, because you don't know what was the original mileage when it left Japan, and whether it underwent "massages" upon arriving locally. You also do not know if the car was met with an accident. But its easy to check for a used/local unit by calling the service center or asking the owner how much NCB he/she has.
3) A/P verification
Nowadays, some banks are very cautious with the A/P attached to "Kereta Import Terpakai" (recond cars) because there have been cases where the same A/P was used twice. Do you know that the banks continue to check on the A/P for every subsequent sale of this unreg unit? i.e. 2nd , 3rd , 4th owner's financiers will do a check on the A/P but the Same does not apply if the car was imported thru authorised distributor, eg. Honda Msia.
Anyway, just my 2 cents lah, dont get offended yah.....money is yours, and you know its a huge investment, so choose wisely. by the way, since we are on this buy/sale topic, do allow me some marketing space for my unit on sale here
:
http://www.zerotohundred.com/newfor...-sale-fd2r-honda-civic-type-r-nov-2008-a.html 
I realised some of you have contacted me and view the car....all the best! Cheers!
