Hi - Differences Between Uk And Import Cars?

[Yakko]

Hi everyone.

After much saving it's nearing time to start looking for a ST205 GT4... can't wait!

I guess this must've been asked a million times - I tried using the search but couldn't find much.

Can anyone list me the differences between UK and Import cars, so when I go looking at a car I know what i'm buying?

Although i'd love an import - insurance issues are saying otherwise.

I've got about £8k - is this enough to find a nice car?

Thanks very much in advance

Rich

[Leeky]

Funnily enough im trying to sell my GT4 at the moment, see the for sale section ;) :D

The main diffrences between the uk and jap car are as follows:

UK - 239bhp & 0-60 - 6Secs

Jap - 255bhp & 0-60 - 5.6secs

UK has slightly cheaper insurance (for me approx £100 diffrence which im happy to pay for the extra power) and extra gismos like headlight sprayers (useless), Electric Headlight adjusters etc.

BUT.....jap cars get the cool electric retracting mirrors like the supra

I would say the UK cars are more comfortable but the Jap cars are the ones to go for if your into the ultimate in tuning and driving etc

[emicen]

Funnily enough im trying to sell my GT4 at the moment, see the for sale section ;) :D

The main diffrences between the uk and jap car are as follows:

UK - 239bhp & 0-60 - 6Secs

Jap - 255bhp & 0-60 - 5.6secs

UK has slightly cheaper insurance (for me approx £100 diffrence which im happy to pay for the extra power) and extra gismos like headlight sprayers (useless), Electric Headlight adjusters etc.

BUT.....jap cars get the cool electric retracting mirrors like the supra

I would say the UK cars are more comfortable but the Jap cars are the ones to go for if your into the ultimate in tuning and driving etc

Jap car on UK fuel, 239bhp - 0-60 in 6s!

Try here for specs and differences: ST205

[Leeky]

Jap car on UK fuel, 239bhp - 0-60 in 6s!

No its not, if you run a jap car on uk fuel it makes hardly any diffrence to the power of the car really.

Its all a myth.

Fuel octane levels of between 95-100 are so close really your talking about no more than 5ron dffrence which is nothing.

If you put optimax in a uk gt4 it doesnt really put out any more than 239bhp.

the jap gt4s are more powerful regardless of fuel.

Fensport say so and it makes sence because you cant get 16bhp from a couple of ron extra.

Jap cars have slightly diffrent more agressive ecu's.

Quote from fensport.co.uk

"Celica GT4-Turbo [1994-2000] - (2000cc 3SGTE UK Models 236BHP - Jap models 255 Bhp)"

[emicen]

Mate go have a look on the GT4oc board. At the dyno day standard vs standard jap and uk cars were putting down the same power @ around 230-240.

Sorry, but the only engine difference between the two is the ecu mapping, and the more agressive mapping retards as soon as the lesser octaned uk fuel is put in it or it would risk detonation.

[Leeky]

I can see this arguement has now come over from the gt40c!

At the end of the day the fensport boys are THE experts when it comes to the 3sgte.

I've spoken to them and viewed the website where they state the jap gt4's are more powerful.

All im gonna say is when my gt4 came into the country it was dyno'd at over 260bhp running super unleaded 97ron.

It came with a HKS Superflow induction kit only. No other modifications.

[JohnnyC]

Straight from an old Toyota brochure:

Celica GT4 (gen6), 239bhp, 0-60mph = 6.3 seconds

[Leeky]

Straight from an old Toyota brochure:

Celica GT4 (gen6), 239bhp, 0-60mph = 6.3 seconds

Yeah again straight from a UK toyota brochure..........

[Yakko]

Thanks loads for your answers guys. I read somewhere that UK cars had a sunroof, but import cars didn't, or is that bull****?

I'm pretty worried about buying an import by accident - would an HPi test show this up? Are there any REALLY obivous ways of finding out from looking at the car (other than those already listed of course)

Sorry for all the stupid questions...

thanks again.

Rich

[Uncle Bob]

UK chassis numbers start with JT1********* :) .

[Leeky]

Thanks loads for your answers guys. I read somewhere that UK cars had a sunroof, but import cars didn't, or is that bull****?

I'm pretty worried about buying an import by accident - would an HPi test show this up? Are there any REALLY obivous ways of finding out from looking at the car (other than those already listed of course)

Sorry for all the stupid questions...

thanks again.

Rich

My car is an import and has the full electric sunroof package,

so yes it is bull****

You cant really ACCIDENTLY buy an import. For a start its illegal for someone to sell you an import and tell you its a uk car.

When you see the log book the date of first uk ownership should be the same as the registration date (or almost the same).

My car is a 1995 but im the first uk owner so the log book begins from the date i bought it 2003.

Thats the easiest way to tell.

But the things that give an import away are as follows.

Imports dont have headlight sprayers. Imports have small square numberplates in the rear. The UK cars have larger rectangle number plate gaps in the rear.

Uk cars have the indicator on the left, jap cars have it on the right. The celica is one of the few jap cars that they actually put the indicators round the right way when it comes to the uk, the lancer evo for example still has the indicator on the right in the uk model.

Inside of the drivers door is a sticker stating the tyre pressure, and there is a sticker under the fuel cap stating the correct fuel type.

These are english on uk cars and in japanese on imports.

To be honest i wouldnt worry about it, you cant get an import by accident. Of course you always ask if its an import but they got to tell the truth because they would get into SERIOUS trouble if they lied.

[Yakko]

Thanks Leeky - that's exactly the info I was after.

Cheers mate.

Rich

[pedro7680]

my celicas an active sports import, and id recommed imports to everyone, you get more extras.

only problem i ve found is it costs me a fortune every year at motd.

[emicen]

my celicas an active sports import, and id recommed imports to everyone, you get more extras.

only problem i ve found is it costs me a fortune every year at motd.

Dont understand why that is, most jap cars are in well better nick than UK ones as their MOT equivalent is far stricter.

[Leeky]

Yeah i've never seen an import bad enough not to pass the mot

[cel_94]

Without wishing to open the power debate again (but I will anyway), I understand that the UK and Jap spec cars have the same engine and the only difference is ecu which as already stated in this thread is more aggresive due to the difference in octane ratings. I accept that the difference in ecu would make more power in the Uk on a lower octane fuel, but then this would be closer to detonation at the lower fuel rating (as already stated above). Not necessarily a problem as I am not aware of any issue caused by this (for the record, I have heard of many import imprezas having problems due to not remapping fuel, confirmed by my subaru dealer).

Am I right in thinking the only difference is the ecu, I can't find anything else that contradicts this but am interested to learn?

BTW, my UK spec ST205 (1994) has the indicator on the right (it is one of the 5000 homoglomation models)

[Leeky]

Without wishing to open the power debate again (but I will anyway), I understand that the UK and Jap spec cars have the same engine and the only difference is ecu which as already stated in this thread is more aggresive due to the difference in octane ratings. I accept that the difference in ecu would make more power in the Uk on a lower octane fuel, but then this would be closer to detonation at the lower fuel rating (as already stated above). Not necessarily a problem as I am not aware of any issue caused by this (for the record, I have heard of many import imprezas having problems due to not remapping fuel, confirmed by my subaru dealer).

Am I right in thinking the only difference is the ecu, I can't find anything else that contradicts this but am interested to learn?

BTW, my UK spec ST205 (1994) has the indicator on the right (it is one of the 5000 homoglomation models)

Oh ok, my 98 GT (UK) had the indicator on the left. It must have been because the small vloume of WRC GT4's they didnt bother messing about with the indicators.

I do agree that the lower quality fuel should in theory make a diffrence but the gt4's always run rich so i guess this compensated a bit for the lower octane fuel.

I've seen many import gt4's running @ 255bhp stock on uk fuel, i think that toyota's 239bhp figure for the uk cars is wrong rather than the 255bhp of the import. Many have said they have seen stock uk cars running 250bhp.

Possibly toyota being skimpy on the figures?

Even though the engines appear to be identical almost every part on an import st205 has a diffrent number to the uk st205.

This suggests to me that the jap engines are very slightly diffrent or else why wouldnt the codes be the same?

Perhaps its a diffrence in materials rather than design? We all know they produced a stronger thicker block version towards the end of the cars life. Perhaps the jap spec car has stronger components in a few places? Shots in the dark really.

[KiwiMR2]

Possibly toyota being skimpy on the figures? 

Yep....same with the MR2, Toyota didn't want to make the big brother supra look like a pansy!! ;)

Cheers

KiwiMR2

[Leeky]

Possibly toyota being skimpy on the figures? 

Yep....same with the MR2, Toyota didn't want to make the big brother supra look like a pansy!! ;)

Cheers

KiwiMR2

Supra? Pansy?

Supra manual stock has been officially recoreded 0-60 of 4.6secs by many people including TRD. So i dont think that was the reason at all.

I think toyota skimped on the figures for ALL the cars.

[djdna2000]

Hi everyone.

After much saving it's nearing time to start looking for a ST205 GT4... can't wait!

Hi Rich

Have a look on my site http://www.st205.net before you buy. I have written a buyer's guide, ways to tell WRC from non-WRC models, beginners modification guides and other stuff like checking for ECU error codes etc, this should help you tell a good car from a bad one...