As requested, here’s some infor­ma­tion on the pop­u­lar JDM model Toy­ota Aristo Twin Turbo Sedan. Requests for more infor­ma­tion can be directed to IJ directly (you will need to com­ment) , and we’ll do our best to find out accu­rately all spec­i­fi­ca­tions on any import/​tuner car.

Note: The Aristo is avail­able for import into Aus­tralia. There are also other mod­els of the Aristo, A V8 4WD and newer mod­els after 1998.

(1991 — 1998) Toy­ota Aristo 3.0V JDM Spec (Later Known as the Lexus GS300)

Toy­ota Aristo Twin Turbo 2JZ-​​GTE Pow­ered Sedan — Exam­ple Photo

Model Des­ig­na­tion: JZS147
Engine: Front mounted, Inline 6 cylin­der EFI DOHC (24 valves per cylin­der). Twin Tur­bocharged.
Engine Model: 2JZ-​​GTE (Shared with Supra Coupe)
Power: 205.94 kw (276.04 hp) @ 5600 RPM
Torque: 431.49 Nm (585.07 ft lbs) @ 3600 RPM
Fuel Econ­omy: Around 14L/​100km (Aver­age), 6-​​8L/​100KM (High­way)
Low Emis­sions Vehi­cle (LEV): No
Fuel Type: Pre­mium Unleaded
Brakes (front/​rear): Ven­ti­lated Disk/​Disk
Trans­mis­sion: ECT 4 speed auto­matic with 2 way Over­Drive ECT-​​iWeight: 1680 kg (3703.73 lb)
Dimen­sions (LxWxH in mm): (Exte­rior) 4865 x 1795 x 1420, (Inte­rior ) 2005 x 1535 x 1150

More dis­ap­point­ment as the UK’s Auto­car mag­a­zine announces the “Advanced Sports Car Con­cept”, revealed back in Detroit in Jan­u­ary and largely con­sid­ered to be the new NSX, won’t be at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

NSX Con­tender, the Advanced Sports Car Concept

The con­cept shows a front-​​engine machine, though Honda aren’t say­ing any­thing at all about the engine’s dis­place­ment, whether it would be a V6, V8, V10, nat­u­rally aspi­rated or forced induc­tion. It is expected we’ll be kept hang­ing way into 2010, mean­ing Honda will be late to the game as Nis­san and Toy­ota gear up to release their Japan­ese super­cars; the GTR and L-​​FA respectively.

[Source: Carsales]

We’re back after an unex­pected fort­night long tech­ni­cal hia­tus with some inter­est­ing news. Apolo­gies to all whos emails may be a bit late in coming.

Wheels.ca gives us the heads up over a new and inter­est­ing Nis­san van expected at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

Dubbed the NV200, that van is designed around prac­ti­cal­ity, and is to con­vert (I really want to call it ‘trans­form’) from a van into an office space in the blink of an eye.

Nis­san NV200 Artist Impres­sion. Weird Wheels.

The van fea­tures a spe­cial stor­age pod which unfolds from the load­ing area when sta­tion­ary. The area behind the pod then becomes a neato mobile office. A com­puter table drops down from the vans side, and the front pas­sen­ger seat swivels back­wards on a curved rail to face the table. There’s no news on appoint­ments, engine or drive train, though I expect Nissan’s Diesel 3.0L ZD Engine from the Nis­san Urvan would make a suit­able powerplant.

Pretty neat really. Now if Nis­san can pack­age that with all the good­ies, such as Wi-​​Fi, decent power for a mobile PC, a 12 speaker sur­round sound audio sys­tem, effi­cient LED light­ing and an aggres­sive R36 look, I’m a buyer.

[Source: Wheels.ca]

For any avid import/​tuner fan, col­lect­ing die cast rep­re­sen­ta­tions of a favorite car or series of cars is often an obses­sive guilty habit. That’s set to get worse for us here at IJ with the release of Tomica’s JDM model 50th anniver­sary Sky­line die-​​casts!

It’s the 50th year anniver­sary of the Nis­san Sky­line, and Tomica’s cel­e­brat­ing by releas­ing six toy cars to mark the occa­sion. Each col­lectible comes with a Sky­line 50th logo and col­lectible decal. The col­lec­tion starts in the sec­ond gen­er­a­tion (S54B) through to the sixth (R30) of the Sky­line, and to our suprise, includes a blue “Ken and Mary” coupe!

The ask­ing price is � 525 (About $5 Aussie as of 15July @ AU$1 = 105.9�) apiece in Japan, start­ing at the end of this month.

Sources:

• Auto­blog
• Tom­ica

As requested, here’s some infor­ma­tion on the pop­u­lar (mostly) JDM model Toy­ota turbo wagon known as the Cal­d­ina GT-​​T. Requests for more infor­ma­tion can be directed to IJ directly, and we’ll do our best to find out accu­rately all spec­i­fi­ca­tions on any import/​tuner car.

Note: The Cal­d­ina has just become avail­able for import into Australia.

(1997–2002) Toy­ota Cal­d­ina 4WD GT-​​T Wagon

Model Des­ig­na­tion: ST215W
Engine: Front mounted, 2.0L DOHC inline four cylin­der tur­bocharged (sin­gle turbo). 16 valves (4 valves per cylin­der). Model: 3S-​​GTE.
Power: 189.2 KW (257 HP) @ 6000.00 RPM
Torque: 324.1 NM (239 ft-​​lbs) @ 4500.00 RPM
Fuel Econ­omy: Around 9L/​100km
Low Emis­sions Vehi­cle (LEV): No
Fuel Type: Pre­mium Unleaded
Brakes (front/​rear): Ven­ti­lated Disk/​Disk
Trans­mis­sion: 5 speed man­ual (Final Drive: 4.29)Weight: 1440 kg
Dimen­sions (LxWxH in mm): (Exte­rior) 4520 x 1720 x 1495, (Inte­rior ) 1860 x 1475 x 1185

(2002-​​) Toy­ota Cal­d­ina 4WD GT-​​T Wagon

Model Des­ig­na­tion: ST246W
Engine: Front mounted, 2.0L DOHC inline four cylin­der tur­bocharged (sin­gle turbo). 16 valves (4 valves per cylin­der). Model: 3S-​​GTE.
Power: 191.1 KW (257 HP) @ 6200.00 RPM
Torque: 323.1 NM (239 ft-​​lbs) @ 4400.00 RPM
Fuel Econ­omy: Around 9.4L/100km
Low Emis­sions Vehi­cle (LEV): Yes
Fuel Type: Pre­mium Unleaded
Brakes (front/​rear): Ven­ti­lated Disk/​Disk
Trans­mis­sion: 4 speed auto­matic (Super ECT)Weight: 1480 kg
Dimen­sions (LxWxH in mm): (Exte­rior) 4510 x 1740 x 1445, (Inte­rior ) 1905 x 1455 x 1165