Priceless Head-to-Head against an MR2
 

This one takes the cake for the funniest encounter I had in my life. Before going further I must state that I am in japan and driving a tuned-up Sport20 AWD. Here also, we have access to a new technology that allows to detect the location of police cars by intercepting the GPS signal they use to transmit their location to their central for easier dispatching.

So I am at this red light in a deserted area before sunset,windows opened, Beastie Boys Rock Hard playing when this fellow comes beside me with his yellow Toyoto MR2. He starts to rev high in neutral so I take a look. A guy in his twenties, wearing black glasses. I smiled turning my head back and I hear in a broken english.."poussy!".

I never street race, but I was not going to let him go easily with this. At the same time, I hear a message coming from my Radar detector informing me "be careful, there is a patrol car ahead". I had a pretty good idea where it would be .. after 2 series of straight tunnels where most drivers go pedal to the metal.

So this gives me a little idea..:-) I show the guy that I will take his challenge by revving back at him. The light comes green and here we go. We were head-to-head when entering the first tunnel but I downshifted in 3rd going at 120 to take the lead....then we entered the second tunnel..I start to slow down a bit, he passes beside me going at probably 130 or more then I hit the brakes 150 m or so before the end of the tunnel..going down to 50..

The scene coming out of the tunnel was priceless to watch...A Lexus patrol car was rapidly taking off going after the MR2..hahahah! He did not go far and pulled over. As I passed beside the MR2, I just waved at him laughing...

This made my day ;-)

SWEET, OW3ED.

So, have you always lived in Japan or what? Your english is more like english than engrish, if you know what I mean.

yeah I moved here in 1995 to work for their government. Two years after, I decided to stay a lot longer. It is a nice place to live if you like high tech and new technologies.

This is me on the pic btw.

nihongo ok? :P
btw i swear that picture looks like tom cruise... is it just me?

took the words right outta my mouth. anywho, aren't mr2's slow to begin with?

MR-2 turbos are fast ...

Do they turn off the headlights at stop lights over there? My dad was saying something about that.

Thanks for the compliment! If you hear someone in Hollywood is looking for a Tom Cruise stunt man, I'll think about it ;-)

I'm canadian from Quebec City originally. Although I think my English is not bad, please forgive me if I make spelling mistakes since it is my second language.

The 90's MR2 are similar in specs to the Sport20 at stock level. They are a bit lighter though so they must accelerate faster.

It was a fair encounter. I just shifted a little better than he did. My friend said I should thank my cold K&N Filter air chamber ;-)

yes we actually turn off the headlights at stoplights not to disturb the driver on the other side of the intersection. This is just one example showing how important courtesy is here but there are many other examples like that. Different people, different mind. I like their mentality.

Is that you or your girlfriend sitting in the seat of this car (integra type-R?) In any case, nice woman.

its a model in his vr4...last i heard she was single :p

when I saw her, I thought she looked like my ex-gf so much. (that was 14 years ago)

wow that goes to show you the curtisy and the fact that you have to pay attention to the car cuz you have to turn the lights back on,

wow drivers that pay attention and are curtious, damm whens the next flight?

Another example:

If you see a car trying to come in your lane , let's say after he leaves the gas station, you just brake to let him in. Before, in Canada, I think I would have just accelerated and let him wait like everyone else until there is no car coming.

So what we do, is turn on and off the highbeams to signal the driver that he can enter the road safely. Then after he gets in the lane, he will flash his hazzard lights as a thank you! It's so natural that when someone forgets the hazzard light thing, you feel bad ;-)

You gonna help us get jdm parts? ;) ..Welcome aboard ..Jon

dude I'm sooo moving..

That's really cool that people are actually curtious. I'm used to getting the finger every time I even try to change lanes!

Kyle

what kind of lexus do the patrol cars use down there?


same in Egypt too,where I used to live
even though it is VERY crowded, some people still have manners
in sided streets or lighted streets, everybody drive with parking lights on. only use headlights where there is no city lights, which is kinda hard to find
but we also have signals in cars and horn honks

6honks in a certain manner mean, "l love you,,,I love you"
tapping your brakes twice means.....fuck off
so on and so forth

pretty cool stuff, shame nobody here understands it

In the US, I would think it is same as the LS430: 4.3 liter, V8 engine with VVTI tech.

Of course not all patrol cars are Lexus, we also have smaller cars. Once on the way to Kyoto, I spotted a Supra patrol car. That was pretty cool!

Let's start a Caretaker thread, we all want to ask him so much.


I'll start, do the Japanese know how awesome MSPs are, cause they are totally rad. Also: Please send me your 4wd drive train so I can put in on my MSP. That is all.

Great thread...I too have experienced similar curteous actions when I lived in Japan...being born and raised there. Really, more than the patrol cars over there, it's the "shirobai" you have to watch out for...the cops on crotch rockets...they'll damn fly.

Actually Most of the japanese cars that you guys get are underpowered compare to our cars here. This is true for the Subaru, Toyota, Honda and Mazda.
the same models here are often 50-100 HP more. The reason for that is an obscure taxation method for import cars which is based on horsepower rather than engine size. So in order to be competitive, many makers had to reduce HP.

Our Honda Accord here are over 200 HP, the same for the Subaru Forrester (which has a turbo). Many cars also did not make it to the US because it would have been a shame to skim them, the Nissan Skyline GTR and the EVO comes to mind.

The MazdaSpeed protege is a limited version and was excluded to this tax scheme because it is tuned-up by Corksport which is an American Company.

So sometimes I kinda laugh when I hear in the movies comments like "american muscles" ;-) I`d take an RX8, a Skyline, a Supra, a WRX, an EVO VII or an NSX anytime ;-) Suzuki also developed a rallye car that delivers 1000 HP with a weight of 900KG..insane. You can see it in Gran turismo 3 for PS2. And those cars, beside the NSX are all below 40,000$.

In Japan the taxation is based on engine size, not HP. So we see a lot of small cars with turbos delivering 150 HP. Even a 1.3l Turbo is a good match against a 2.0l non-turbo car ;p

Yeah I knew all that, but:


Do they know how awesome?

When are you sending your drivetrain?

I thought you were ironic ;-) I am not sure anyone should feel excited for the reason that the MSP appearance have been around for sometime here..The car looks great but the spicy orange color is so-so imho. At 170 hp it is ok but still sub-par to the Honda Accord and the likes we have here.

I did not know about the MSP until I looked for the equivalent of the Sport20 in USA.

Regarding my drive train..I'm keeping it..
;-)

By the way, the new 2004 WRX STi has 300hp / 300ftlb of torque, and the Forester Turbo XT is here (don't know the specs--it's faster than the regular WRX though, lol). We now have the most powerful STi in the world ;) (powered by the 2.5L engine).

The Accord in the US is 240HP.
When they refer to American muscle they typically are talking about Vipers, Corvettes, and all the 60's and 70's big dogs like GTO's, Shelby Cobras, and any vehicle running a Hemi(*drool*). Basically american cars with big v8's or V10's in the vipers case.

that's good. This seems the same as the Accord here, V6, 3.0 l, 250 HP.

When I left Canada in 95, I think the max you could get in an Accord was 140Hp.

Things are starting to balance out in terms of Japan versions vs American versions. We just have to pay a bit more. :( Anyway, Japan still still doesn't produce big block V8s the way America churns out every year. Over here it's all about wheel stands and quarter mile time.

What is the police detector thing you have, and how can I get one in the US? That sounds like the ultimate safeguard... no more worrying about false radar alarms or cops turning on the radar at the last minute.

it would not work in the US maybe because cars are not equipped with the same GPS systems or I am not sure if they have this at all.

Anyway, there are 2 major players in the detector market in Japan: Cellstar and Yupiteru

http://www.cellstar.co.jp

http://www.yupiteru.co.jp/index1.htm

I bought the SKY-130DL from Cellstar because it was found to be the best in comparative studies.

Wow, I wish I could read Japanese.

Caretaker, if im not mistaken. Is that a Ford f 150 in the background of your sig pic?.............Duncan

the green truck that you see in the back is a Honda StepWagn. I don`t think it exists in America.

It is cheaper than the Odyssey and a bit more compact. Two sliding doors for easy access.

A fucking step wagn..........Who'd a thunk it. :)

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Sorry, Those of you without Japanese Windows or Japanese fonts (IME) won't be able to read the above.

I was off topic...but I would say that just recently they started selling the Step Wagon here in the U.S. Don't I don't recall what they're calling it here. ...but to me it looks like someone hit it really hard with an ugly stick.

Yeah..be sure I would take it with me if i would live in America everytime I leave my car though! As you know, here, no one will steal it ;-)

"pakurareru" and it's derivatives, "pakurarenai" also means to "get bopped" or "be caught," so what I meant was if I weren't going to be caught, I would sure love to have one! LOL

IC ;-) well these detectors are 100% legal!

dude japan ROCKS....you should join www.clubprotege.com too they have good advice and nice people as well.
we always welcome a friendly face.

yeah, bring ur sweet sport20'ed ass over there :p