Japanese Car News

[iRage]

5 hours ago, kush said:

I think GR Corolla will be a good overall GT car (not for the track) likely a Golf GTi, Ford RS alternate.

I have been using the 1.2T and always miss that extra power and a good gear box as this time around they got ride and handling spot on.

All it needs is a bit more sharper steering and may be adaptive dampers (not specified in my car although was available as an option)

Hope they will retain the 4WD with 50:50 distribution and the track mode.

There is no doubt that it will be a good car...but again it is probably going to be more or less focused for grand touring/city rather than track use (if it is for touring then it touches base on what the GR Corolla Tourer would be as well..but that is for the Japanese market..so). 

Since it is going to be using the GR-Four drive train..it technically should have the adaptive split...the fun mode is Sport mode with a 30:70 split...the track mode is well confidence inspiring but not really fun in day to day traffic  

The thing is...I doubt it will have the little things that make the GR Yaris feel a bit more special than everything else and gives it that nimbleness/handling/controllability. In the Yaris everything feels that it is there for a purpose (the offset rear and front track...the extra long control arms...the CF roof lowering the center of gravity...etc...). In many ways the GR Yaris is also a pretty good tourer...however, is not practical (yeah...that thing is as practical as a cucumber is as an assualyt weapon). So in that sense...my feeling is that the GR Corolla is going to be more practical..but it is not going to deliver on the handling and controlability of the GR Yaris. Yes..it will have more power but we have to wait and see if it will actually be faster (if there is not much weight reduction it might not be much faster).

As for the suspension....well the GR Yaris is quite hard...so hope they have figured out a way to tune up the AVS for the Corolla if this is going to be a tourer...or maybe it will just use the parts from the RZ (Comfort Pack) as opposed to from the RZ High Perf. (Circuit Pack/Rallye). But then it goes

 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by iRage

[iRage]

And finally we get to see how the Hydrogen powered ICE fairs....the Rookie Racing's endurance race Corolla Sport (Hydrogen-ICE) has hit the Fuji speedway for endurance esting and final tuneup today in preperation for the Fuji-24 race later in May. 

I would say there is a lot of expectations lying on this. The focus with this excercise is to utilize the standard ICE as much as possible to run on Hydrogen (not to just develop a ICE from ground up to run on Hydrogen). If this works, then there hope for a restro-fitted solution for existing ICEs in the future.

Mazda was first to play around with Hydrogen Rotary engine...however have not heard anything of it in a long long time. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by iRage

[Dee Jay]

The new Civic sedan was officially unveiled in the US. Seems most specs would be similar in other markets as well..

 

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Dee Jay

[iRage]

25 minutes ago, Dee Jay said:

The new Civic sedan was officially unveiled in the US. Seems most specs would be similar in other markets as well..

 

 

I am having mixed feelings...on one hand I am glad that the new Civic does not have the outlandish Alien mated with Predator looks...but on the other hand I am sad that it now looks like any other car that could be as invisible as a fly on the wall.

[Dee Jay]

1 minute ago, iRage said:

I am having mixed feelings...on one hand I am glad that the new Civic does not have the outlandish Alien mated with Predator looks...but on the other hand I am sad that it now looks like any other car that could be as invisible as a fly on the wall.

Yes, this seems to be a more mature design than the previous generation.. but like you said the design resembles some other German, US and Japanese designs on how you look at it  

Either way Honda seems to be pushing a more retro design language and a similar face across its line up I feel.

[iRage]

On 4/29/2021 at 11:38 AM, Dee Jay said:

Either way Honda seems to be pushing a more retro design language and a similar face across its line up I feel.

Yes..there were some press releaes from Honda about how their interior designs are a throw back to the old school Hondas. However, I feel they missed the point. Their old designs, compared to the competition at the time, were quite stricking and youthful. They have lost that as the retro touch is there..but the stricking youthfulness above the competition is not. Nissan on the other hand was able to hrow itself back to some old school designs whilst being more modern looking than its competition. 

[iRage]

Hydrogen ICE seems to be doing okay ❤️ 

[iRage]

Renderings of the GR Corolla from Bestcarweb (Bestcarweb is the go to mag in Japan about upcoming models...they get their renderings and info right more often than everyone else).

There really isn't much new news. Seems like it will be built at Motomachi (this is the first time anyone in Japan has mentioned it); which makes sense since Motomachi has the GR performance workshop; but unline in the Yaris it is believed that the frame will be pulled off the standard production line and transferred to Motomachi (the GR Yaris has its frame built in Motomachi as well). There is no confirmation on what kind of weight savings will be there, especially the carbon fiber roof (that costs a bundle). According ot he magazine the GR Corolla will have about 10% more power to accomodate the added weight of the Corolla (which would be heavier than the Yaris even if it did have a CF roof)and the same amount of torque. THe 0-100 time is estimated to be around 5.6sec (GR Yaris : 5.4).

The magazing also talks about a GRMN Corolla with more aggressing styling and weight reduction which is anticipated to be a bit faster than the GR Yaris. As for pricing....there apparently is no insider info out of Toyota on that. Bestcar speculates that the price will be around 5mil yen + (45,000USD ++) whilst the US Media suggests that it will be more towards the 32-37K USD mark especially if it does not have a CF roof and stuff and the 45K variant might be the GRMN. To be honest this makes more sense.

A pretty decent source for Japanese auto news is from David Koichi Chau's channel on youtube.

[iRage]

Mazda 6 leaves the US Market (well sort of like the only proper market it had)
Apparently due to declining sales the 6 will be retired from the US market (along with the CX-3).  The car is not doing that well in any other markets so it is hard to imagine it will last anywhere else in the world for that long. 
But that is a GOOD THING ! This paves the way for the hinted RWD sedan along with some interesting Mazda/Mazda+Toyota power trains...

https://news.mazdausa.com/2021-05-21-Statement-on-Mazda6-and-CX-3

[iRage]

Talk about big cahonas....

Latest entry in to the Japanese market..

FAW's HongQi H9.

Following its popularity in China, FAW has decided to find a Japanese distributor to introduce this luxury sedan in the Japanese market. Depending on the spec the car can range between 6mil to 10 mil yen. So the vehicle will pretty much compete with everything from a Crown to the Lexus IS, GS and even the LS at the very high-end of the spectrum; not to mention all the European and American (especially the EUropean) offerings. 

What is their value proposition ? Exclusivity ! They only hope to sell about 100 units a year ! So they are trying to appeal to a crowd that wants to set themselves apart. Whilst the car is luxurious (apparently), going by the images, the for seater sedan does seem to be packed with decent tech. However, I doubt that alone will be enough to compte with the traditional brands in a market that is entrentched in either nationalistic loyalty or brand image or both.

Needless to say, in typical Chinese auto industry form, the car looks like a mish-mash of a BMW, Porsche, Nissan, Hyundai and a few other cars.

 

 

[iRage]

The Nissn Ariya went on sale in Japan a few days (well..almost a week ?) or so again with all Nissan dealers accepting pre-orders for an estimated late-Autumn delivery (deleiveries of many models by all manufacturers have been delayed due to the semi-conductor shortage. standard Yaris has a wait period of nearly 7.5 months !).

The launch Ariya is offered in a Limited Edition package and comes with a 66 (B6) or 91 (B9) kWh options in either 2WD or 4WD. Nissan is sticking by the the ranges with the 66kWh 2WD doing about 450km and the 91kWh doing about 610km in 2WD form. The 4WD, which is an updated version of Nissan's e-4orce sytem, variants are rated to do 2-km or so less than that.

The Limited Edition starts at about  6.6mil yen for the B6 2WD and goes up to 7.6mil for the B9 4WD (so the B6 4WD and B9 2WD neatly fall inbetween that price range). So far there is no news on pricing for non-limited lower grades. Based on typical pricing strategies of Japanese manufacturers, I reckon the equally spec'd non limited grade would be the same price as the Limited Edition.

The Limited Edition comes with Pro Pilot 2.0 as standard and some special carpets and interior trinkets.

I could not drive the car but it looks very interesting...the front facia looks shiny platicy like one of those toy storm trooper helmets...it honestly looks like something out of The Mandalorian toy collection.

The interior...a bit of a disassorciative identity disorder for me.

The seats and the entire upholstery in general feels nice and premium. As alsways, Nissan's seat feels very well shaped for the body and even chubby ol me felt nice and comfy in them just as equal as the slender sales dude. The dash...well...I did not like the nothingness of the dash..apart from a volume and stereo on/of dial, there are no actual buttons at all. So when the thing is turned off it is this long blank slate of nothingness with a long black screen on top. The texture of the panel of the touch-button area has a aluminium like finish that kept finger print marks off. Same cannot be said about the screen though. You will be touching all over the screen for vaiorus controls that in no time it is going ot look yucky. The sales person said that Nissan beleives that people will use the screen and mouse , etc to adjust the AC controls and other features  except for the volume control where people reach out for a knob...but radio stations etc on the steering wheel (I never knew we humans were all over the place). The only buttons are some driver-aid control buttons on the panel on right hand side of the steering wheel (which I assume is for safety sake). So it is not a dashboard you would sit and enjoy just gazing at (like all motorheads do).  I is very techie....I suppose I am not modern enough to appreciate it. Then there is the steering wheel which has a very old fashioned look to it and a center console that at first glance looks like another blank slate with a mouse attached to it.

The car feels more like a premium sedan than a crossover or a SUV. The height is just right that you don't feel like you are perching yourself to get in to the car or rolling off when getting off...you feel like you are sitting higher but not too high that you feel llike you are in a truck....which is rather unique as even the like of the Harrier/RX even with premium features still feels like a crossover.

[iRage]

May saw Toyota stopping all orders of the Aqua. They were offering deals on ex-stock and no new orders were being taken. So you it was a case of you take what we have on the lot or what can be offered using the existing parts at the factory or forget about it (usually you see Toyota just offering only one grade with wierd options when the model is getting phased out). Toyota follows an extreme JIT regiment (so they don't build almost most the actual car until the order is placed); so there weren't many Aquas sitting around in lots or at the factory anyway.

Went to the dealership last Friday for my 6 month safety check (Yaris) and was told that they will take orders from next week onwards for the next gen Aqua which will be released next month (the local dealer still think I will sell the Corolla wagon). The question of whether the Aqua is needed with the new Yaris being Hybrid as well with the same drive train and HSD remains, but the marketing of the Aqua seems to be more of a cozy hatch with a focus on comfort and convenience whilst the Yaris is sold more as a youthful and engaging car. So I suppose they are trying to appeal to two different customer bases. The Aqua is supposed to have an updated battery and improve fuel efficiency over the Yaris.

No one know what the actual car looks like (dealers get orientated this week), but this is the rendering bestcar released a few days ago (first rendered in 2020); and these guys have been spot on with almost everything. Looks okay I suppose. 

 

 

[Gummybr]

3 hours ago, iRage said:

The Nissn Ariya went on sale in Japan a few days (well..almost a week ?) or so again with all Nissan dealers accepting pre-orders for an estimated late-Autumn delivery (deleiveries of many models by all manufacturers have been delayed due to the semi-conductor shortage. standard Yaris has a wait period of nearly 7.5 months !).

The launch Ariya is offered in a Limited Edition package and comes with a 66 (B6) or 91 (B9) kWh options in either 2WD or 4WD. Nissan is sticking by the the ranges with the 66kWh 2WD doing about 450km and the 91kWh doing about 610km in 2WD form. The 4WD, which is an updated version of Nissan's e-4orce sytem, variants are rated to do 2-km or so less than that.

The Limited Edition starts at about  6.6mil yen for the B6 2WD and goes up to 7.6mil for the B9 4WD (so the B6 4WD and B9 2WD neatly fall inbetween that price range). So far there is no news on pricing for non-limited lower grades. Based on typical pricing strategies of Japanese manufacturers, I reckon the equally spec'd non limited grade would be the same price as the Limited Edition.

The Limited Edition comes with Pro Pilot 2.0 as standard and some special carpets and interior trinkets.

I could not drive the car but it looks very interesting...the front facia looks shiny platicy like one of those toy storm trooper helmets...it honestly looks like something out of The Mandalorian toy collection.

The interior...a bit of a disassorciative identity disorder for me.

The seats and the entire upholstery in general feels nice and premium. As alsways, Nissan's seat feels very well shaped for the body and even chubby ol me felt nice and comfy in them just as equal as the slender sales dude. The dash...well...I did not like the nothingness of the dash..apart from a volume and stereo on/of dial, there are no actual buttons at all. So when the thing is turned off it is this long blank slate of nothingness with a long black screen on top. The texture of the panel of the touch-button area has a aluminium like finish that kept finger print marks off. Same cannot be said about the screen though. You will be touching all over the screen for vaiorus controls that in no time it is going ot look yucky. The sales person said that Nissan beleives that people will use the screen and mouse , etc to adjust the AC controls and other features  except for the volume control where people reach out for a knob...but radio stations etc on the steering wheel (I never knew we humans were all over the place). The only buttons are some driver-aid control buttons on the panel on right hand side of the steering wheel (which I assume is for safety sake). So it is not a dashboard you would sit and enjoy just gazing at (like all motorheads do).  I is very techie....I suppose I am not modern enough to appreciate it. Then there is the steering wheel which has a very old fashioned look to it and a center console that at first glance looks like another blank slate with a mouse attached to it.

The car feels more like a premium sedan than a crossover or a SUV. The height is just right that you don't feel like you are perching yourself to get in to the car or rolling off when getting off...you feel like you are sitting higher but not too high that you feel llike you are in a truck....which is rather unique as even the like of the Harrier/RX even with premium features still feels like a crossover.

Its a worthy try by Nissan I must say, very different approach to the other competitors and am sure that this will sell well. I like the quality shown in here. Technology is not for all isnt it? The dashboard design with less visible buttons is a welcome, remember all the journos dissing the Japanese with all the buttons etc? This is how the screen and systems are going to work in the future, its good that they took that route. On the messy touch screen controls yes it happens, I remember very well when the touch screens were introduced MB used to sit back and say no its too messy it have to clean it and we wont go that route. Now they are leading that with the 50+inch display on the EQS (why would they need such a big screen?)

I heard that the Ariya will get delayed due to the sensor supply issue in the world.

[Gummybr]

iRage you forgot to mention the announced revival of the Ralliart brand under Mitsubishi.

[iRage]

2 hours ago, Gummybr said:

iRage you forgot to mention the announced revival of the Ralliart brand under Mitsubishi.

Yes...not that I forgot but mostly was not very inspired by it. Since Masuhiko, who is known to have hated motorsports and was the reason Mitsubishi lost the racing pedigree, passed away in August there were whispers of Mitsubishi trying to get back in to modest sporting. The reveal during the grand meeting last month, the actual speech and reveal, to be honest is not very inspiring. They outwardly claimed that they have no money to do sports/high-performance models. Then they said the idea is to provide sporty parts to existing models, especially those beng used by various sports teams, namely cars lke the Colt/Mirage and Montero Sport, L200/Triton etc...and sports inspired dress-up kits for certain models like the Delica in the Japanese market. The hope, and based on them itself, is that they hope this will create some buzz which will increase sales and hopefully give them the capacity to build performance models. So...yeah..it was very bland. On the other hand, Mitsubishi regional offices in other areas were far more positive and enthused about it than Mitsubishi Japan was. Then on the other hand...Mitsubishi Vietnam always had "dressup" pieces with the RalliArt stickers on them for popular models like the Mirage and Triton.

So without any proper performance models at least in blueprint form...it really is hard to get excited about this potenrial RalliArt revival.

They used to have this as RalliArt version...had 3rd party suspension upgrades (at least)...then they later started selling the same dealer upgrades as Triton Athlete grade...

[iRage]

2 hours ago, Gummybr said:

Its a worthy try by Nissan I must say, very different approach to the other competitors and am sure that this will sell well. I like the quality shown in here. Technology is not for all isnt it? The dashboard design with less visible buttons is a welcome, remember all the journos dissing the Japanese with all the buttons etc? This is how the screen and systems are going to work in the future, its good that they took that route. On the messy touch screen controls yes it happens, I remember very well when the touch screens were introduced MB used to sit back and say no its too messy it have to clean it and we wont go that route. Now they are leading that with the 50+inch display on the EQS (why would they need such a big screen?)

I heard that the Ariya will get delayed due to the sensor supply issue in the world.

Yes..there was a period where the Japanese (and the Swedes) were dissed for many buttons (the 80s and then 90s being the peak of it). But then these very journos also very soon realised that not having proper buttons was not very practical as well because whilst you are driving you can easily press the wrong surface point for the button (the non-touch buttons are even a safety hazard as drivers had to look at where they were touching). Many manufacturers who went with the blank surface touch-button approach have gone back to soft touch, low-recess buttons. So everyone from Toyota to Mazda to Merc to Audi do have buttons. So they should bring back the buttons. Also, this goes to the 

As for screens, mainly because of the varied info that is to be displayed in a connected world, yes, the screens are going to stay....they need to figure out some form of way to keep the screens more clean and presentable (the slippery shiny glass like surface on the Ariya does not help). The issue I have with screens is that the Japanese simply have not figured out an aesthetic way of incorporating it in to the dash, but the Ariya has done that relatively better than most other Japanese manufacturers. Then, this also goes back to my statement of the car having a serious case of personality disorder....it does not feel like the modern cutting edge tech world has been blended well with the refine elegance of the old world (which is what they have tried to do). On the plus side, I am looking forward to driving it because if it is anything like the Leaf, it will move. Hopefully the suspension will not be pudgy and be more like Gloria than Teana. 

Yes...the Ariya is a good attempt..but that is the problem...it is an attempt an I do not think Nissan can afford to just make attempts. It HAS to be a hit. They promised a LOT during the Ariya reveal, but I am not sure if it is a car that can keep the momentum going after the launch frenzy has died off. I feel they will have much better luck with the X-Trail. Then there is also the fact of price... 6 mil+...that is a lot of money so they are targetting the high-end market...but with the news of the upcoming Subaru/Lexus electric SUVs, those carry more brand value in terms of a luxury marquee than Nissan does.

[iRage]

Well...the new GR86/BRZ has been revealed for all corners of the world. Since the Supra and GR Yaris Toyota has gotten in to habit of giving the major tuners the upcoming models for pre-release tuning development. Last weekend was the 86 Fest at Fuji Speedway and plenty of tuned up GR86s and BRZs had turned up. This is one of my favorites...simple and striking...

 

[Gummybr]

So the Nissan Patrol (the big daddy of the big SUV's) is celebrating 70 years. Interestingly not many generations for all those 70 years

Bad renderings here, but the one below is awesome

 

[kmeeg]

12 hours ago, Gummybr said:

So the Nissan Patrol (the big daddy of the big SUV's) is celebrating 70 years. Interestingly not many generations for all those 70 years

 

 

 

Reminds me of this clip -

 

[iRage]

Guess what else celebrates its 70th ?

Toyota finally revealed its 300 series Land Cruiser

...well...nothing new there because we've seen it since February...but nice to finally see the GR Sport variant...
Its interesting to see that Toyota has finally gone with an underfloor seat for its 3rd row (for decades Toyota kept it for under carriage clearence as well as to give the owners he convenience of taking it off when not in use...sadly it also did compromise a LOT of luggage space)
Specs:

https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/35323595.html

[iRage]

16 hours ago, Gummybr said:

 Interestingly not many generations for all those 70 years

If you look at all the vehicles in such segments you will see that there are not many generations. One reason is that R&D takes a long time for these types of vehicles because of the reliability and robustness that they demand and are demanded of. This also adds to the development cost of the vehicle, thus have long ROI periods. Even then the generations seem to be strongly linked to the previous ones (hardly any complete redesigns) because manufacturers want the proven components to roll-over as much as possible (because they are field-proven and also because those would be the most that cost to develop as well.

This of the pimp daddy SUV of them all...the G-wagen...how many generations has that had ? 3 actual generations and a 4th that was an evolutionary update on the 3rd.

Even the Land Cruiser..if you think about it..the original old school variant has had only 4 generations (3 if you consider the 20/30 series as an extension of the BJ/FJ 1st gen)...and the wagon variants have had only 6 generations in its 54 years (the Nissan Patrol wagons started coming out in 1980, sadly with the demise of the more BJ like jeep variants, and that has had 4 generations..; Pajero in its 39 ? years of existence it had only 4 generations..)

I think the exception are the American ones...except for the Cherokee ?  ...47 years or something and just 5 models...The Suburban is about 86 years and has had about 12 or 13 generations (albeit the first pre-war generations were normal wagons); the CJ had about 6 or 7 ? over a course of 40 something years...

Note: The Land Cruiser and Pajero, unlike the Patrol, created a whole family of utility vehicles (Prado, Sport) but those are more "other models" than the original marquee itself (Prado = Hilux Surf/FJ Cruiser except for the first generation; Pajero Sport = L200/Triton)..but even then..generations are few.

[Gummybr]

1 hour ago, iRage said:

If you look at all the vehicles in such segments you will see that there are not many generations. One reason is that R&D takes a long time for these types of vehicles because of the reliability and robustness that they demand and are demanded of. This also adds to the development cost of the vehicle, thus have long ROI periods. Even then the generations seem to be strongly linked to the previous ones (hardly any complete redesigns) because manufacturers want the proven components to roll-over as much as possible (because they are field-proven and also because those would be the most that cost to develop as well.

This of the pimp daddy SUV of them all...the G-wagen...how many generations has that had ? 3 actual generations and a 4th that was an evolutionary update on the 3rd.

Even the Land Cruiser..if you think about it..the original old school variant has had only 4 generations (3 if you consider the 20/30 series as an extension of the BJ/FJ 1st gen)...and the wagon variants have had only 6 generations in its 54 years (the Nissan Patrol wagons started coming out in 1980, sadly with the demise of the more BJ like jeep variants, and that has had 4 generations..; Pajero in its 39 ? years of existence it had only 4 generations..)

I think the exception are the American ones...except for the Cherokee ?  ...47 years or something and just 5 models...The Suburban is about 86 years and has had about 12 or 13 generations (albeit the first pre-war generations were normal wagons); the CJ had about 6 or 7 ? over a course of 40 something years...

Note: The Land Cruiser and Pajero, unlike the Patrol, created a whole family of utility vehicles (Prado, Sport) but those are more "other models" than the original marquee itself (Prado = Hilux Surf/FJ Cruiser except for the first generation; Pajero Sport = L200/Triton)..but even then..generations are few.

I think for the Patrol the biggest change came when it went from being the old 1st gen to the MK model and then again from the Y61 to the Y62.

On the G Class / Wagon its just two generations. Simply that the first Gen became a bit posh.

I am going to be very bold here and say that the Patrol (about 12 years old) looks better than the new Land Cruiser.

[iRage]

1 hour ago, Gummybr said:

I am going to be very bold here and say that the Patrol (about 12 years old) looks better than the new Land Cruiser.

I think the old Patrol looks better than the new and old Land Cruisers and the Patrol  Same said about the old Land Cruisers as well....I think it also has to do with our age. I don't find the new Land Cruiser or the Patrol appealing at all in terms of design. Looks like a cartoon car that you would see in some StarWars like story in Phinears and Ferb (you know..the boxt look with wierd angles).

[MaleCortana]

On 6/10/2021 at 5:56 AM, iRage said:

Guess what else celebrates its 70th ?

Toyota finally revealed its 300 series Land Cruiser

...well...nothing new there because we've seen it since February...but nice to finally see the GR Sport variant...
Its interesting to see that Toyota has finally gone with an underfloor seat for its 3rd row (for decades Toyota kept it for under carriage clearence as well as to give the owners he convenience of taking it off when not in use...sadly it also did compromise a LOT of luggage space)
Specs:

https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/35323595.html

Very pretty ❤️ 

Can't wait for the local politicos and their kids to roll around in these acting like they own the bloody road! 

#TaxMoneizAtWerk

[iRage]

Still more Toyotas...Lexus unveiled the 2nd generation NX today. he NX was supposed to be crossover slightly smaller than the RAV4, but lookig at the dimensions of the new one; I think it is safe to say the NX is no longer a small crossover.

The new NX also showcases Lexus' very first PHEV. There are four power train choices: 2.5L PHEV (out of the RAV4 PHV/Prime); 2.5L Hybrid (out of the RAV4 and Harrier); 2.5L NA (A25A-FKS :US spec Camry/ES/RAV4) and a newly developed 2.4L Turbo unit. ALl engine choices seem to be available in both FF and e-Four or AWD layouts. RIght now these are the global variants. Each region/country will have options that are more sutied for the local market.

The screen placement just looks wierd. Not a big fan of all the AC controls being on the huge touch-screen. At least the tempreture control and volume contols are actual knobs (the LS and ES had both touch screen and button controls).