Rezz

I was pretty suprised Toyota chose the current UZZ40 Soarer as their SuperGT platform. I would suddenly be interested in Aussie touring car racing if that car was competing next year...

Yeah me neither... lol In order to make that comparison fair, you'd have to use a Nismo modified Silvia or Skyline... Enough with comparing late model HSVs with old stock Skylines. At the end of the day, the HSVs and Fords whatever are bigass GT sedans, the likes of which Japanese car companies don't sell in this country. So any comparison with something Japanese is going to be irrelivent. The Holdens and Fords appeal to a certain type of person, most of which frequent other boards.

Definately agree there. In fact for the VEs sake I hope Holden have got something like this on the cards already.

600,000yen for a 147 Arist 3.0V is right down the middle I guess, not a showroom condition one, nor a used and abused ex-fathers-car-given-to-oldest-son-as-a-first-car bunky. I'd say 800,000 - 1,000,000yen is the absolute limit I'd pay for one of these in mint condition with some nice bits attached.

Hi Ben, I see you've done some research already, but this subject (with almost exactly the same questions) has been covered many, many times in this Japan forum. If you've already tried the search feature with varied 'search words' and still have specific questions to ask, then please go right ahead. So just briefly: You have a degree, so go with a corporate English school like Nova, Berlitz, ECC etc. If they aren't what you're looking for, check out http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/jet/index.html with the JET program. JET gives you (possibly countryside) placements though, as do most of the corporates. If you go with a private school though, you pretty much try and get a job wherever you can. Most foreigners stick to the cities... because as you can imagine the country doesn't offer much in the way of action/nightlife/things to do. With staying for only a year, just teach English. It's easiest, and not being able to speak fluent Japanese doesn't matter. Share an apartment if you can, you can save so much more if you do.

Nah the price is alright mate, J-Spec are very reasonable and if I wasn't able to import cars myself easily, I would def use their services. /plug Ok adding on to what you already know: Power windows air bag sun roof aftermarket alloys (for real ) factory rear spolier boot lid struts are weak/not working properly 1 dash light is not working(?) seats are dirty/worn Other than that she looks fairly clean.

It's not what I reckon Richard, it's the way Trust say it... 'Greh-dee'. It's seems like every other country in the world undertsands this, except the majority of Aussies. Anyway, CRD selling Trust gear at 'Nengun prices' (lol banner ad) sounds very good indeed... keep it up.

Hi Peter I couldn't find the Stillway site either... but I have some pics of the Stillway Evo 7 in the 'Photo Diary' thread in this forum. I might have some other pics on my PC, I'll upload them tonight (AU time) if I find any more.

The FR transaxel configuration for the Next GT-R has been old news... at least a year or more old. I see engine capacities still being thrown around going from 3.2 right up to 3.8 now. The 3.2L capacity was to shorten the stroke, and completely change the characteristics of the VQ. As far as I know the engine is still VQ based, but I wouldn't rule out an almost completely different engine for the Next GT-R, but it'll probably be all but the basic block being the same as the VQ engines. So until Nissan bring out more info, it's still: FR transaxel, V6 twin turbo, front wheels driven by electric motors with Li-Ion batteries, 7-speed sequential box (with or without a clutch pedal) and an incredibly quick reacting ATESSA system with each wheel controlled independently for torque, aswell as for braking assist.

Any idea why weight reduction wasn't carried out before? I'm sure it was done to some extent...

Does this mean people will stop saying 'Greedy' or Gee Ready'?

Didn't recieve it Terry... I'll mail your Kansai Automotive email account.

Yeah, that and the 'No imported RWD cars to compete in Falcodores price bracket' rule of 1978 lol

I don't see why people assume things without reading posts properly. If you'd understood my point (by reading my entire post in context), you'd see that IMO a 6.0L V8 is the wrong engine at the wrong time for Holden. I don't care how much torque it makes at 0.0005rpm. So too if the V6 is even remotely unreliable or not as economical as other cars in it's class, and fuel prices continue to rise, then Holden has big problems with the VE. Why isn't the Nissan Fuga or Toyota Mark X offered for sale in Australia?

The 30" diameter makes the 315 tires look like they belong on a Model T Ford. ... got... .... to... ... stop... ...myself... ...from... aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! They're gay.

Seriously the VE should've been introduced 4 years ago already. It should be in it's Series II phase now. I look at it and I'm thinking 5 years old Audi wannabe with a massive American pushrod donk. I just can't believe Holden have designed this car as a 3rd quarter 2006 release... Having said all that, I'm sure in another time, in another world economic situation, it would be a decent family car that makes sense. I hope the VE can keep to it's sales targets after the new car novelty has worn off.

Not really, theres just a date the sticker was issued, a serial number, and the name of the place where the sticker was issued, but it's too blurry to make out. Theres no provision for the year (ie: no　年 space), so I could only guess that the garage that did the oil change assumed the owner of the vehicle would be back sometime the same year(?)... or maybe 6 months later... It's all inconsequential stuff really... are you in doubt about your cars history?

Yeah you're right. The one usually in the middle of the windscreen is the rego, the round one with all the numbers on it is the 'Seibitenkensumi' or Maintenence/roadworthy sticker.

I think this 'Center guy' (thats what they call the male Yamanba) owns an AE86... A spy shot of a group of Yamanba. I swear the one with the pink and yellow hair down the bottom looks like a psychadelic version of native American soldier 'Billy' from Predator...

Shhhhhhh! keep it down... I'm hoping he won't troll the Japan section anymore.

Had this sent to me by my sister in law: This is 'Yamanba' style. The meaning of Yamanba has it's roots back in early times in Japan when cannibalism was rife in certain places due to food shortages, and an 'old hag woman' or 'Yama uba' would draw people out of the village so she could eat them. Actually it was just a story cooked up so that the villagers would fool themselves (and their children) into denying their own cannibalistic ways. The term used nowadays points more to the 'old hag' meaning rather than cannibalism of course lol... Yamanba are generally looked down upon (it would take a very particular person not to) in Japan and the style also extends to the guys aswell, although not as prevalent as with the girls. There are magazines dedicated to this style, and of course clothing shopsetc dealing solely with Yamanba/Ganguro fashions and accessories. I've seen foreigners stop dead in the tracks and get a video camera out and film some Yamanba in Shinsaibashi in Osaka one time, with the Yamanba thinking they were a foreign film crew, so they did all these hand signs and poses right there in the middle of the mall... the foreigners were chuckling and just saying 'WTF! haha'. The Yamanba style is an extention of 'Ganguro' (light hair colour, dark tanned skin) which itself is an extention of the 'bronzed/bleached hair look'. In most major cities in Japan you can see these sorts of girls getting around, but in Tokyo it's the worst. In fact that picture above is the worst I've seen yet, and my sister in law reckons those yellow stones under her eyes are actually PIERCED ON. I did see a show one time on Japanese TV where it was a kind of mini-documentary following the 'sobering up' of an ex-Yamanba (who incidently had 2 kids). The biggest thing she had to overcome was taking all the Yamanba clothing and accessories and throwing them in the trash. They dealt with it like it was a disease or something, like a blight on society rather like unemployment or anti-social behaviour. I think in the late '90s this style hit it's peak, but you can be sure to see these interesting creatures come out in summer in Japan these days aswell.

Terry!!! Shoot me a PM or email [email protected] mate I wanna catch up.

Without going on about how blurry and almost unreadable the 1st two pics are (considering you want us the read them), - the first one is indeed an oil change ('oil' is circled in red) sticker, but they didn't change the air filter yet ('not yet' also circled in red) - the second one is your average registration sticker which expired on the 8th May 2004.

I have a Cusco 1 way. I've found that when under hard acceleration then suddenly step off the throttle, the nose of the car darts to the left somewhat (not swapping lanes, just neccessitating a slight steering correction). Is this common for 1 way LSDs going from accel to deccel? I bought the car with the Cusco in it already so not sure if it's still healthy or not...

Heres a place called 'Yodobashi Camera'. It's a huge multi story department store mostly based on electronic/digital goods but also selling clothing/accessories, shoes, toys and much more... also a whole floor full of restaurants. Definately worth a look if you are in Umeda for a day or 2. One of the entrances. Outside another entrance. You can tell by the movie how old this pic is. You can also tell by the look on that guys face that he wished he'd brushed his hair for the shot first. Just one half of the semi circular LCD TV section. It was so noisy with alot of TVs with their volume up and with the guy announcing specials and whatnot (stupidly catchy Yodobashi tune) over the PA system. This Sony NAS A1 was pretty cool when it was introduced. It's a 'Net Juke' 40GB hard drive based system, which connects to Sony's 'Anymusic' server and can download any song that takes your fancy. It can also show all song information from songs played on radio stations and if you want you can record the song even after it's played on the radio. Basically it does away with disks... Random shot of my Silvia at Superautobacs 171 getting some Tein adjustable strut tops installed.