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.