Trouble Maker

Actually, this made me remember that we got 'detuned' e36 M3s here. Looking into them here now since they got the full powah engine! Yes, please! https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/BMW/M3/700012305130181227001/index.html This is interesting, it seems like they didn't make (or at least export to Japan) a RHD e36, just from the few I've looked at. A few of them I've clicked on, are LHD. This is actually a Positive in my book. A RHD only has some novelty if it's a JDM car, imho. I've driven enough RHD cars on the right side of the road and vice-versa to know that, at least for me, it's not a thing that is highly desired. If I find some cool Japanese car, it will be fine, but that's not why I would do this thing of buying a car over here.

Well, it seems like it's finally starting to have some real effect here (Japan), whether justified or not. One of my coworkers was supposed to go down to Tokyo for training next week and it was canceled, for example. Toyota announced stooping all non-urgent business travel. I imagine whether officially announced or not, this is the case for most companies across the world in/out or around countries with higher rate of cases. Our friends that were supposed to come in March postponed their trip. Their daughter is just a few months out of treatment for cancer, I believe non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She is doing really well, but being probably immunocompromised now, the immune-system specialist said completely not OK to travel over here now. This one is the gut punch. It's the right call but we've all been looking forward to this for a long time.

Assuming one isn't focusing on maximum dry performance, is there any benefit of going with a high performance all season VS summer tire if it will be used in the summer only? For example, quieter, last longer, cheaper. I would assume the all/season would just be a little more compromised on dry/wet than a summer only tire, all other things being equal. I'm just a little surprised about all of the all season suggestions, if they will never drive it in the cold/snow. Derek, how does that list look for a lighter car? e.g. sub 3,000 lbs. For summer only?

That sounds like a good way to live a long, boring life. And also, I'm not sure how that has anything to do with it unless I'm really confused and CONVID-19 is an STD. Edit: Is it CONVID or COVID?

Is Joe or Howard visiting Carl and accidentally posted under his account?

I think I would go with something like the Jimny. Or, and this is something I haven't exactly found yet, a Kei mini-van that is also off-road capable and covert it to a camper van probably with some rooftop tent. I was just telling Otis in CB that a Kei truck would be perfect for him.

We can even overnight some neon lights from Japan if we need to. I've had an on-again, off-again obsession for a while to put a (sports bike) motorcycle engine into a small car. This could be a perfect candidate. Wow, those are actually more expensive than my expectation, being a 25 year old kei car. https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/MAZDA/AUTOZAM_AZ-1/summary.html I've seen a couple of these running around. They are fairly to extremely expensive though, ihmo for what you are getting. https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/php/search/summary.php?maker_cd=3035&car_cd=30351503 I think I might go with a Nissan Sunny (Pulsar?) GTIr if some rally/AWD hot hatch is the direction. Don't get me wrong, cost not being an object it's the Lancial every day, but the cost of the Sunny is less. https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/php/search/summary.php?maker_cd=1015&car_cd=10151023

Any frame rust? :gabe:

First of all, I just want to say, fuck you for doing that to me eyes re: Toyota Origin. All cool ideas, I'll dig into them to see if anything sparks a fire. I'm esepcially digging the RS2 and GTV6 turbo ideas. Edit: Any more info on the GTV6 turbo? It seems like an exceedingly rare and I'm sure expensive and quite impossible to find car. It seems like Callaway made about 36 V6 with added turbos, and maybe Alfa made some version in relatively limited numbers for the Australian and South African markets. I'm really liking this idea. I've always loved that body style. I can't seem to find any on Goo Net right now. Seems like it might be a hard find. Eh, not really interested in some werid niche car that's probably slow just to sell for a profit to some fanboi later that will probably want to pay me half of what it's worth because it doesn't have numbers matching headlight housings. Are the Hilux that much different than some truck we got in the US? Eh, I like small cars but a small single cab truck doesn't really do it for me. If I have something with some off-road capability I want to be able to live out of it to do some back-country driving/camping. I can't remember the company name quickly, but I did read about them and look over their site. If GTRs are a direction I decide to seriously consider I will probably go down there to check it out. IIRC they are just a few hours from here, I think down in Chiba prefecture (east of Tokyo). I think I wouldn't go beyond 1996 (legal in 2021), since I could ship it over shortly after I come back. Too new, started in 1999 so not legal until 2024. No idea, I'll look into these too. It seems like there are definitely some cool options there. Order of operations is finding something I want, then figuring out logistics. No point in sweating the details if the big picture isn't there. If I find something I really want, I might just do it regardless of parts issues and just understand that if something happens it will cost more money and time than usual to fix. Between continually better shipping logistics and friends I have here, I'm not that worried about parts. If parts exist, I can always ship to a friend and they can ship to me or even hand carry over if a smaller part when the come to US.

Sounds like you have a decision! I personally can't wait for the first 4g63 swapped R8.

Storage is a possibility if I find something I love here. I really don't think I would want to do it for years, and it would probably start to become cost prohibitive. R34s started in 1999, so not legal until 2024. R33s just became legal this year. That's a good one to look into, I've also always loved that body style. I've no idea about the availability of them here. I actually think I would pull up to a meet, cars and coffee, some kind of car event, and kill someone. Some old boomer in his C4 corvette, or someone you would see on People of Walmart in their f-body, would have such a shock from seeing it, that fat chunk of vengeance from 10,000 McDonald's meals would finally dislodge and stick in his aorta. I kind of lean that way, something cheap and fun. The Jimny or Delica could fill that role. However, at least in my head, there is some perverse economics happening where I think it actually makes sense to spend More. The shipping, etc is likely a relatively fixed cost, baring the size/weight of the vehicle effecting it. So, it would cost me, let's say $5k for a hopefully high estimate, to ship a car. If I buy a $5k car, now I have a $5k car I spent $10k for. Or, I buy a $25k car and now I have a $25k car I spent $30k on. The later feels more palatable, other than spending $30k on a toy. :fa:

I can't imagine them being more expensive. But from talking to my coworkers, S2ks are definitely more expensive here, so those other cars could be. I also see almost zero point in buying something I can get stateside to maybe make or lose a few bucks when I sell it later relatively to just buying it in the US. Just to drive around a JDMRHDYO car in the states? Supra and NSX, OUT. Well.... maybe an NSX, but I think they are also more expensive here than US but I'm not 100% sure.

I had forgoten about that, I did look into them a bit. I'm about 60% on the styling. The massive B pillar kinda kills it for me, other than that I like it well enough. I like MTs. I'm not one of those MMTGA homers. Some newer multi speed ATs are quite good, though still not something I really want to own. The idea of an old 4AT from the 90s sounds honestly terrible. The Eunos Cosmo was AT only. https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/EUNOS/EUNOS_COSMO/summary.html

Are they that much less here? The cheapest 1995 or older 911 here is $43k, and it quickly goes up from there.

Some of you know this, but probably some don't. I'm over in Japan for about a year on an overseas assignment. So, if you lived in Japan, what (25+ year old) car would you buy, drive for a bit and bring back? I'm looking for ideas, but nothing has really sparked my interest enough to dive in yet. Ideas! Of course GTR is on the list, but imho they are getting to be too expensive for the reality of what they are. R33s are of legal age now. But I already have an S2000 back home and honestly for the money it doesn't seem like a better car. Rather than spend another $20k+ over the S2k, I could just dump $10~15k into the S2k and put some really nice coilovers, wheels on it and supercharge it and still have a much better car than a stock GTR. If I bought the GTR, I would be selling the S2k when I got back to the US. Maybe the R32 is actually the better car for the money and is also lighter than the R33. Along these lines a Stagea R260 would be sweet, but these aren't legal until next year and are exceedingly rare. Last I looked there were only a handful available and nothing older than 1998~99. It would be a hard car to find. As cool as a GTR wagon would be, the proportions of the car have not aged well. Something a little more off of the beaten path. Also, I've wanted something off-road capable and/or a camper for a while. Suzuki Jimny (kei) or Mitsubishi Delica. I think an off-road Delica converted into a camper van would be a ton of fun. Wrinkles in the plan; licensing. I'm on my international drivers license now, but am planning to try to get my license soon. The test is exceedingly difficult, virtually everyone fails the first time, so I plan to just do the automatic license to have a better chance of getting it. Then I would have to go back and get a manual transmission license to be able to drive whatever I buy here. The reality of all of this lining up is starting to get slimmer; I've got about 6~8 months left over here.

Option 2.5, Audi TT RS... seems like a mini R8 to me. Yes, it is clearly Not exotic. But, you'll spend about half of the price of an R8 V8 for a car that's just as fast stock, and probably as fast as an R8 V10 with a few minor upgrades. Option 3 R8 is a V8 or V10? Seems like base price, per a super quick Autotader search, is about 60k for the V8 and 70k for the V10. I would be worried that the V8 would look exotic but not actually feel like it with essentially the same engine you can get in some RS models. Granted, I personally think those are special, but not special like something like an R8 should be. They would also probably all cost less than a similar age/mileage R8.

So, it's not an FF based powertrain? If it is and we are talking when the fronts are in the air, that's some nice marketing spin. I do think it's pretty cool that you guys are putting it in a minivan. More info please! Either my google-fu is failing me or there hasn't been a ton of technical info released yet.

Found a picture of the coyote Benner is going after.

:gabe: Step 1) Pay off debt Step 2) Save money Step 3) Profit? *I didn't even have to talk about god at all. I'm honestly confused because you say spend (no more than) Yearly Income x 0.5 on a car, then talk about $2k vehicles and paying for cars in cash which is is not realistic at 50% of yearly income. P.S. Before we went on this overseas assignment I'm on, we had 3 cars which combined where a chunk less than that metric, but in the same order of magnitude; I'm no Otis. I'm done with car loans. I also did almost exactly what you're guidance was when I got my first 'real' job and it was a financial chain for 5+ years. As soon as I got rid of it our financial futures could really start. I can't even fathom why that hack is famous for financial advice if he is promoting that metric.

Fake news.

This sounds like financial advice written for and by millennials who are also trying to keep up with the Joneses. You should go start a blog, you could probably make a ton of money at it.

This is about as cool as an 80s Fbody put on a half ton chassis.

A brand new Urus for $200k would likely have about 10x the capability of that; especially given the tires on that thing. I guess with both finally it doesn't matter. The amount of time either will be driven in a place that even has a waft of off-road outside of the UAE is a statistical anomaly.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=adulting+classes This is the only real advice I can give you.