MR2sday - All the little Japanese things on my JDM MR2

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
08/24/2015 at 18:48 • Filed to: MR2SDAY

Just last weekend I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But it’s not just any MR2, it’s actually a grey import from Japan (a JDMR2 if you will), which means super-kawaii JDM doriftu stuff all over the car. Once I started snappin’ all the JDM goodness I couldn’t stop, so here’s your photodump, Oppo.

I tried to post this from draft. Waited half an hour, it just won’t show up. How is Kinja so bad? Hopefully it won’t post twice but I’m not making any promises.

But first, some background: I live in Australia, a glorious land where every car is RHD except for a handful of old Mustangs and a mysterious Chevrolet Spark I saw once. So the fact that it’s JDM doesn’t actually change the car that much. We have quite a lot of JDM cars over here, from badly modified Soarers to badly modified Evos and yes, even badly modified Skylines. We do have rules to stop you importing cars that we sell locally, but just about anything has a faster turbo version (because Japan) that you can import no worries.

Being JDM just for the sake of it doesn’t interest me so much, I didn’t buy it because it’s a JDM car. But I do find the tangible differences to be fascinating. So lets get started!

Bonus: there are 5 cars in this post that aren’t MR2s. How many can you name? There’s actually a Commodore nearby too I should’ve included but didn’t.

Legit JDM yellow fogs. Not sure why they’ve gotta be yellow, but I do know there are certain JDM enthusiasts out there who pay for this sort of thing. I was driving with just the fogs the other night, wondering when Hyundai made the i30 in bright yellow. Turns out it was white lol.

Super live sound system! Probably not a JDM thing but sounds a bit Japanesey. Very 90s. Other than this amplifiery thingy whatever, there are 6 speakers! My 300ZX (same vintage, much bigger, more seats, more luxurious, more expensive) had only 4!

This is the logo on each of the floormats. It reads “A MAN IN DANDISM NEW RICH & SPORTS”. That’s Engrish if ever I’ver heard it, genuine wtf.

Not sure if all MR2s came with these little door lights, or if any other cars ever came with them. I don’t really see the point, the MR2’s doors aren’t particularly long.

Lots of controls on the driver’s side door. Some conventional, like windows and mirrors (though pretty nifty for 1990!). Some unusual, like auto-lock for both doors and window lock (it’s not like there are kids in the back). And then there’s the mirror retract, which automatically folds the mirrors in - very JDM. Jap-spec 300ZXs also had this feature but Aus-specs did not. Though my friend’s Aus-spec Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart does too so they’re obviously not exclusively for Japan. I think it’s funny how they type-cast so hard - Japan is small and needs retractable mirrors, but Australia is vast so don’t bother! In reality, mirrors get hit in parking lots across Australia every day, we could really use the retractables.

Not sure if this is a JDM thing. There seems to be an impression that flashing your high-beam lights is for indicating that you’re going to pass. Australia has no such etiquette that I know of.

Fog light switch. Not sure why ON is in English, OFF isn’t. Although maybe I’m missing something here - I’ve never seen that top light come on, maybe it means something else. #JDMysteries

There’s 1 button on the radio in Japanese (under eject). No idea what it does.

The radio itself is a bit of a mess. Here we use the frequencies 88 - 107 for radio, Japan apparently uses 76 - 90. So I can barely get any stations. There is a step-down doodad installed but reception is awful. I’d like to keep the old head units but it’s just not practical.

Las but not least: stickers. Ah, the stickers. There are a lot of stickers I can’t read. Dumping pics of them all, most of them aren’t that interesting though.

This one has kg/cm2 - the Japs sure know how to metric!

Looks like it was in Japan at 98,241km. Currently on 147,000.

Japanese registration sticker! Mad tyte.

Don’t know what this thing is. Looks important.

The fuse box thingy is a mixture of English and Japanese, thankfully. Probably not location specific I guess.

There’s a Japanese sticker under my VIN plate that no one will ever see.

DISCUSSION (30)

ShelbyRacer78-Fusion Modifier > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 18:52

Kinja'd!!!

That’s not a VIN (In Doug’s service writer voice)

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 19:04

Kinja'd!!!

Focus ZX3?

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 19:05

Kinja'd!!!

Reminds me of a Fiero, but I know it isn’t

Nauraushaun > ShelbyRacer78-Fusion Modifier
08/24/2015 at 19:26

Oh? My bad. Looks like something added during compliance I guess.

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/24/2015 at 19:27

It is indeed a Focus! Not sure exactly what a ZX3 is, I think American Focuses are a bit different to ours.

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/24/2015 at 19:27

Which one? I’ve never seen a Fiero

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 19:30

Kinja'd!!!

it’s a 3 way switch. upwards is for the directional fog lights and downwards if for static fog lights. I found that out 30 minutes after buying mine and a cop pulled me over for having my fogs on.

Your yellow lights are factory for ‘90, from 91 onwards they went to a yellow bulb.

source: I have a black ‘90 JDM Turbo and I live in Canberra.

Nice buy, I really wanted a blue one when I got mine but there weren’t any decent ones for sale.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 19:31

The red one

Kinja'd!!!

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 19:31

oh, ZX3 denotes a 3 door hatch

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/24/2015 at 21:00

Oh that’s fair enough.

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/24/2015 at 21:00

We never got a 3 door, except the RS

Nauraushaun > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard
08/24/2015 at 22:58

Oh that’s so awesome. I assumed they were always directional.

Are fog lights really illegal? Plenty of cars seem to drive around with them on.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

How is the turbo one? Mine has plenty of punch being such a light car, I can’t even imagine how a turbo must feel.

I find that Australians generally pick shitty colors.

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/24/2015 at 22:59

Just looked up those ZX3s, they look pretty cool. They look so normal too, it’s weird to think we never got them.

Kinja'd!!!

That looks like a cross between our first-gen focus (rear) and our second gen (front). Very strange

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 23:13

It depends on the state for exact details of course, but most if not all won’t allow it unless its foggy or heavy rain. The cop that pulled me over was NSW and having a bad day.

Oh and I made a typo, in 91 they went to a white bulb. hadnt had my coffee yet.

The turbo one is great, its mostly stock except for a Fujitsubo exhaust that was put on in Japan. I had a ‘94 green Bathurst model previously and I wish I could have the NA exhaust note with the turbo power.

Yeah. Black or red was about all I could get for the turbo (or that ‘hectic’ tribal one on carsales). The audm ones had more variety in colour... but at least when I bought my turbo it was cheaper than what the p-plate legal ones were going for

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Nauraushaun
08/24/2015 at 23:15

You just made me stop lusting after the overpriced US mr2 market. I am going to just save up the next 2/3 years and import a jdm ‘93...

Nauraushaun > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard
08/24/2015 at 23:21

The exhaust note of mine is very nice, more than I’d expect from a 4-cylinder. It’s very exciting.

Cheaper? For an unmodified turbo? Unheard of! I reckon they’re going up in value, hold onto yours if you can.

Nauraushaun > itranthelasttimeiparkedit
08/24/2015 at 23:22

Haha, no problem. I’m not sure how many are left over there given their age.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Nauraushaun
08/25/2015 at 00:03

I paid $6000 for it with 96,000 on the clock 2 years ago :P I used the insurance payout from the NA and still had a good $1000 left over after rego and insurance costs.

I got it for a steal even back then though, the previous owners wife was sick of it taking up space. It had a manual boost controller, turbo timer and chrome tint and the full Fast and Furious spec sound system, and the owner also offered to sell me the 18” chromies but I politely declined. It took me an afternoon to bring it back to stock to pass rego and I never really bothered putting any of it back on.

I’ve got no plans of selling it. I had the NA for 7 years and only upgraded when it got rear ended.

Oh I recommend keeping a budget for a wheel upgrade, there isn’t really any good tyres available in the correct sizes for the factory 14”s. I’ve currently using Nexxen CP something or rather on my stockies and theyre ruuuuubish in the wet. I’ve become a much much better driver in the last few months because of it though. Factory R32 GTR wheels and Bridgestone RE003’s will go on in the summer.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nauraushaun
08/25/2015 at 01:22

We also had the zx4, zx5, and zxw

Nauraushaun > CaptDale - is secretly British
08/25/2015 at 03:32

You mean 5-door hatch and 4-door sedan? We had those, I’ll have to Google the ZXW though

Nauraushaun > Nauraushaun
08/25/2015 at 06:04

Oh a wagon of course. I suppose using the number of doors sort of breaks when you start considering wagons. Good forward planning by Ford.

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Nauraushaun
08/25/2015 at 08:46

beats all the 15k 93 turbos and riced out 91s here...