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harperdc posted:Holy poo poo, I somehow didn’t know Toyota played the “make a stealth AWD turbowagon” game as well. That owns, that’s awesome as hell. It's a righteous combo. Not exactly a Celica GT-Four since it's the 4th gen 3S-GTE rather than the 3rd gen liquid-to-air intercooler, but extremely similar AWD gear. Our Volvo wagon is cool and all but this Caldina is a bit more athletic (smaller) while having extremely simliar HP numbers but also being AWD.
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Mar 3, 2022 05:16
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I had a Caldina some dash Z the hot turbo motor…5 speed…and yes it was fine. I just don’t think you will be satisfied. You can get snag them much less much much less but not this extreme body style on the fixed price. I just think you will be disappointed. They are ok and I certainly could live with it day to day. It’s just not the excitement you would think it is.  Seeing my pics it was fun at the time but I think compared to a tourer or chaser it’s just kind of hey it’s a 5 speed wagon with turbo 
everdave fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Mar 3, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 05:31
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everdave posted:I had a Caldina some dash Z the hot turbo motor…5 speed…and yes it was fine. I just don’t think you will be satisfied. You can get snag them much less much much less but not this extreme body style on the fixed price. Your TZ-G Calidna was a T190 Calidna. Specifically yours came with a 3S-GE, the non-turbo version of the 3S engine. That generation of Caldina was not available with a turbo, the lack of hood scoop gives it away, no way for the intercooler to get fed. The one I'm looking at is a T210, which came out in 1997. It's also the first generation (and year!) that had the GT-T variant with the 3S-GTE. While the 3S-GE engine is great, it is no GTE. It's the main difference between the All-trac Celicas we got here in the states vs. the GT-Four everyone else got. The difference between 178~ horsepower and 256~ is huge, to say nothing for how that power is delivered. We have a Celica GT-Four right now and it's great, but would be even better in a wagon body. KakerMix fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Apr 16, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 05:46
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Yes indeed you are right I see
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Mar 3, 2022 05:59
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Is it ever worth it to buy a car that is a year or so out of the 25 year rule and have it stored in Japan to avoid price inflation and competition for clean examples once they become acceptable for import?
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Mar 3, 2022 22:22
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Gangringo posted:Is it ever worth it to buy a car that is a year or so out of the 25 year rule and have it stored in Japan to avoid price inflation and competition for clean examples once they become acceptable for import? What car? Is it worth it to save $2k? I’d say no. And my personal thought is if it’s not a really big moneymaker or for personal reasons no. BUT…I am thinking of looking for a personal 100 series with a Jan/feb 98 build date in the next few months but it would have to be spectacular and be under 1.5 million. I think once they hit they will be 2-2.5 all day
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Mar 3, 2022 22:26
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Not right now, but as they get closer to legal the Crown Athlete V estate. I may end up going through a local California importer because I am not sure I have the intestinal fortitude to handle the process here.
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Mar 3, 2022 22:34
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Gangringo posted:Not right now, but as they get closer to legal the Crown Athlete V estate. I don’t think that will be a huge in demand model and I wouldn’t store one for 6-12 months. I daily drive a Crown Majesta so I love them and want an Athlwte I just don’t think that model would be one to store. I would definitely suggest buying it yourself and following the thread I’d think you’d more than make up the savings of storing it.
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Mar 3, 2022 22:57
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Gangringo posted:Is it ever worth it to buy a car that is a year or so out of the 25 year rule and have it stored in Japan to avoid price inflation and competition for clean examples once they become acceptable for import? Gangringo posted:Not right now, but as they get closer to legal the Crown Athlete V estate. I'm going to disagree with everdave here and say yes, absolutely a Crown Athlete is going to rocket directly up once they even approach legality because I'm watching it happen in real time right now with turbo Staegas. Doesn't matter that they aren't even the RS-Fours, any of them with the DET are north of 18k at auction. The Athlete, being a 1JZ-GTE turbo monster wagon will easily follow in those footsteps simply because the Tourer V Cresta/Chaser/Mark IIs are already there, and a wagon version is better than. That being said, 1999 is far far away though. The Crown Athlete is a very special car and will NOT be ignored because as we've all found out, anything remotely interesting is on an upward trajectory. Toyota is never going to make anything like the Athlete again. I suspect there are ones already sitting tucked away in storage, waiting for 1999. You know there are thousands of R34 GTRs lying in wait. If you're talking like a year max of storage, then yeah I'd say it's worth it. That Caldina GT-T isn't legal yet, earliest is probably August but since I can't easily get the chassis id/VIN I can't look it up myself. I will be paying for storage in Japan through some friends awaiting legality. If you are willing to spend the money I'd suggest finding an exporter out of Japan rather than an importer here. Your Crown Athlete is not going to be legal in California at all, straight up, so keep that in mind. There is no importer than can make it legal, there is no special trick outside of you knowing someone that knows someone, or doing like everyone else does and have a Nebraska-plated car. Or Washington. Maybe Oregon. EDIT Just looked up the timeline, December of 1999 is really the year 2000 so yeah you've got a wait. Everything still holds true though imho. KakerMix fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Mar 3, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 23:15
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I see that as valid points but the Athlete isn’t legal til 99 from what I know. August September 2023 but who knows. It’s all a game and there are days I feel like there is no hope anymore then in the last week I’ve scored insanely low mile Toyota trucks for a steal. Whatever you do I’d urge you to read Kakers thread from the beginning and do it yourself and buy it auction
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Mar 3, 2022 23:21
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Love the upholstery
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Mar 4, 2022 02:14
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If you get the Caldina, try and find yourself some spare hatch handles, the plastic bit above the license plate. You know the Camry bumper dent? Yeah it's like that, every Caldina left here has a broken one, including my sisters (non-turbo). Eg 
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Mar 4, 2022 02:31
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There are a couple 2006-2008 Crow Athletes for 13k Eurobucks in Germany, so they must be legal to get in somehow. drat those things look badass 
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Mar 4, 2022 13:31
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Japanese imports to the EU are plentiful, there's never been any legal hijinks in place like those 20 or 25 year rules in NA.
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Mar 4, 2022 15:27
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Nidhg00670000 posted:Japanese imports to the EU are plentiful, there's never been any legal hijinks in place like those 20 or 25 year rules in NA. Yeah, ours (US) is pretty much pure protectionism under the guise of safety.
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Mar 4, 2022 18:28
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But the full-circle aspect about this is Mercedes is the one that lobbied for the 25 year rule. They were trying to cultivate a pure upmarket image here in the USA, where as in Europe they are more like Ford or Chevy in that they make all sorts of things. People were importing relatively inexpensive ones from Germany, selling them over here, and ol' Merc was real unhappy about that. They lobbied for the 25 year rule to protect their targeted image in the mid 80s, got it passed, then were annihilated by Japan itself in the early 90s by Lexus in the USA anyway. The 25 year rule is absolutely a full-protectionist sorta thing absolutely, but you'd think it was General Motors or Ford or a US domestic that wanted it. Nope, Mercedes.
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Mar 4, 2022 18:35
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Now that you mention it, I do recall reading about that some time in the past. I always thought it was funny that Mercedes were just taxis in EU.
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Mar 4, 2022 18:56
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I might be completely off here, but it feels like the "luxury brand experience" wasn't as prevalent in Europe, Mercedes for example could make both work trucks and the S-class under the same brand while in the US the stratification of brands into clearly discernable upmarket/midmarket/down market seems to have been of greater importance? To me, the most notable example of this is how every single upmarket brand (Lexus, Infiniti, Acura etc) have been created for or at least had their greatest market presence in the US. Many of them don't even exist in the EU except as private imports.
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Mar 4, 2022 19:10
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Nidhg00670000 posted:I might be completely off here, but it feels like the "luxury brand experience" wasn't as prevalent in Europe, Mercedes for example could make both work trucks and the S-class under the same brand while in the US the stratification of brands into clearly discernable upmarket/midmarket/down market seems to have been of greater importance? Americans are loving stupid and this can probably be traced back to something Reagan did. Or whatever US policies led to Americans trying to appear wealthy by buying badge engineered luxury bands.
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Mar 4, 2022 19:35
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Well America is car culture ingrained, and that means vehicles are status symbols and the people want other people to see what they are siding, whether they are so far upside down on their loan or not.
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Mar 4, 2022 20:45
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Nidhg00670000 posted:Japanese imports to the EU are plentiful, there's never been any legal hijinks in place like those 20 or 25 year rules in NA. I'm guessing shipping would be more expensive. I'll need to check if a gaijin can just buy a car and do a reverse Mongol rally basically, instead. I'd gladly go to Japan to pick a car myself.
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Mar 4, 2022 22:25
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Sweden is overflowing with JDM imports, for some car models unless you specifically search for LHD imported ones is all you'll find, from untouched stock examples to (more commonly) "tuned" semi-trash.
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Mar 4, 2022 22:40
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Nidhg00670000 posted:I might be completely off here, but it feels like the "luxury brand experience" wasn't as prevalent in Europe, Mercedes for example could make both work trucks and the S-class under the same brand while in the US the stratification of brands into clearly discernable upmarket/midmarket/down market seems to have been of greater importance? Not sure why, culturally, the USA is like this. Probably because we're painfully shallow and a badge is all we need. As a people we consistently demonstrate that we have no idea what the hell we are doing. It's also only partially true, because the Corvette or Mustang are Chevy and Ford, not Cadillac or Buick and never Mercury or Lincoln. Even Mercedes themselves seemingly gave up the idea since there are vans rolling around with the merc badge right on them, delivering Amazon packages. High class indeed. I'm always insanely interested in how Toyota pulled Lexus off, not only to make everyone take them seriously with luxury but to so quickly surpassed european brands in a massive chunk of the segment.
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Mar 4, 2022 23:05
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Toyota did it by throwing a ton of money at it and seriously over-engineering everything in the first generation of Lexus cars. Whenever Toyota moves into a new market segment they go the extra mile and take lower profits or a loss to make a product that is unquestionably the best in the segment and costs less than the competition.
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Mar 5, 2022 00:41
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         This Royal Lounge rules. Exterior is already done, though it will need another wash before I take pictures to list it, and the interior needs a light going-through as well but it's flawless blue velvet throughout. It's as flawless as a vehicle from 1986 can be. Since it is a one owner car we get a full 30 year stretch of JAF stickers in the back window. First though it's heading to our mechanic to take a look at the air conditioning. System is still under vacuum but the compressor isn't kicking on. Hoping for a low refrigerant, conversion and refill is all that's needed. Sadly no white letter tires available in 14s, tried a set of General Grabbers but unless I want to lift the van (I do not) they rub very easily. Had to go with standard (but quality) blackwalls.  Have our 1996 white gasoline Hilux doublecab all done up and listed as well, already have someone coming by to check it out this week.   The steering wheel in the GT-Four has been re-wrapped in leather and is absolutely perfect.  Took delivery of four additional vehicles as well, two more Hilux pickups, the Master Ace Surf, and perhaps the most fun vehicle ever. The Master Ace is in worse shape than I thought with a dead alternator so that sucks. The single-cab long bed Hilux is ugly as hell right now, have to decide if I make it as good as it can be without paintwork and sell it as is (most likely). The other Hilux though:    Needs tires (of course) but the batteries are good. The bed is as clean as I've ever seen, especially since this truck is a 1990 (hence the block letter 'TOYOTA' front grill vs the sombrero logo). Had a fiberglass topper on it that's garbage so removed that. Might already have a buyer for this one out west, if that's the case then I don't have to do anything at all besides pocket the profit. The real star of this whole show though:    The March Super Turbo is hilarious. It feels like what it is, a cheap 80s Nissan hatchback. Thin doors and lovely plastic trim on the interior. However the seats themselves are amazing, deep supportive buckets with neoprene. Driving it is a whole different ball game though. No power steering which means you're wrenching it at low speeds, ESPECIALLY since it has a set of Yokoama Advan Neovas. Yeah they are from 2006 (!!!) and are cracked and ARE being replaced (with a modern set of the exact same tires from Japan) but still hella grippy. Lay into the throttle though and you get a shove from the super charger, then about 4500~ RPM the turbo grabs the car and hulks in forward in the greatest slap of turbo torque I've ever experienced. Then you're at redline and have to shift to do it all again. The MR2 and the GT-Four are fast, composed, fun and cool as hell. This Super Turbo though is like what I would do with my Silvias in Gran Turismo but in real life. A fat slab of turbo at the top of the rev range that just desperately wants to push you to lightspeed. Plus it's tiny, not kei sized but small enough that weaving in traffic and whipping it around the streets is good fun. You can go fast enough to be dangerous but because you're pushing a lightweight car with a sub-1000cc engine, even if it is super and turbo charged, most of the fun is in the legal zone. As mentioned it needs tires but the battery arrived in good health. Since I had a bunch of major work mechanically before it left Japan it doesn't need anything there, though I do have to figure out why the smell of fuel is so strong when it's under load. Runs great, and no drips or puddles or smoke or anything, just a load of fuel smell. Also the center caps for the OEM wheels are in rough shape, I'm thinking I'm going to have to have them rendered out and 3D print some replacements as I can't even find the part number, let alone OEM replacements of any kind. The wheels themselves are in good physical shape but the paint is hit. They need to be bead-blasted and repainted. KakerMix fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Mar 29, 2022 |
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Mar 29, 2022 02:59
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I thought that Lexus brand got created for Toyota to get around some importing tariff thing?
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Mar 29, 2022 05:07
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KakerMix posted:Even Mercedes themselves seemingly gave up the idea since there are vans rolling around with the merc badge right on them, delivering Amazon packages. High class indeed. While at the same time the USPS spends money to rebadge all of their Mercedes Metris vans because they feel like the Mercedes brand would make people think their mail carriers were driving around in luxury vehicles.
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Mar 29, 2022 15:27
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That March Super Turbo is the bomb
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Mar 29, 2022 16:20
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It was my desire for a 3sgte caldina that got me interested in jdm importing to begin with, but after realizing how rarely they showed up in good condition I sort of lost a little of the drive to find one. I am very very jealous.
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Mar 29, 2022 20:41
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I've once again succumbed to the sirens call of weird JDM turbo shitboxes, and bought a 2003 Toyota Crown jzs171 wagon last weekend. Was imported by the previous owner so not sure if it fits this thread as such, but it seemed the best place. Already ditched the stock wheels for some Work Emotion D9Rs, got coilovers on order to get it sitting a few inches lower and most importantly knocked up a new air intake so it doses like a startled turkey.   
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Apr 1, 2022 17:37
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small world your daihatsu rugger was posted to a fb group i m on. lol
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Apr 1, 2022 18:32
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Chris Knight posted:That March Super Turbo is the bomb It really is, such a personality. Got the tires on order, will have to refinish the wheels and attempt to repair the plastic center caps with Plastex, this powder/liquid kit for repairing and rebuilding plastic I've had success with before. It's either that or model them out and 3D print them and hope they survive being exposed to the elements. wilfredmerriweathr posted:It was my desire for a 3sgte caldina that got me interested in jdm importing to begin with, but after realizing how rarely they showed up in good condition I sort of lost a little of the drive to find one. Don't have it yet, but I'm working feverishly to get it. I lust after it bad, especially the more I drive this GT-Four, if only it was a wagon. Ups_rail posted:small world your daihatsu rugger was posted to a fb group i m on. lol It ends up getting around because it's a unique truck in and of itself, but even among Ruggers, Fourtraks and Tafts it stands on on its combo of features. Now if someone would just buy it  Speaking of buying, someone has bought our white Hilux pickup. I was hesitant on getting a gasoline one but it sold just as fast as any of the others. Also had the AC converted and charged in the Royal Lounge Town Ace, thankfully as I had hoped that is all it needed. Someone is going to be super happy with this goofy, perfect van. ALSO ALSO the bushing in this part is bad on the GT-Four:  It's a $151.22 part including shipping I will never financially recover from this  Kidding of course, though I do wonder why the PO did replace the left side one, but not this right side. Once this has been replaced (and the AC is topped up as it is a bit weak) the GT-Four will now be ready for sale.
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Apr 2, 2022 05:26
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KakerMix posted:It's a $151.22 part including shipping I will never financially recover from this Last one was bad enough to fail inspection so it was replaced, this side barely passed so it wasn't touched.  PO
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Apr 2, 2022 11:14
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What the hell is that part even? I don't think I've seen any stubby links like this on my carsCaptainTofu posted:I've once again succumbed to the sirens call of weird JDM turbo shitboxes, and bought a 2003 Toyota Crown jzs171 wagon last weekend. Was imported by the previous owner so not sure if it fits this thread as such, but it seemed the best place. That's a neat luxobarge! As I mentioned earlier I do kind of want something like the Crown (Athlete) for highway trips because everything I've got is kind of noisy and cramped... but then I don't really drive long distance enough to justify it plus fuel costs would drive me nuts
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Apr 2, 2022 13:28
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Yeah it's a 1jz-gte so fuel economy is not it's strong point. By far the most spacious and comfortable car I've ever owned though.
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Apr 2, 2022 13:41
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mobby_6kl posted:What the hell is that part even? I don't think I've seen any stubby links like this on my cars "Front Suspension Camber Control", it's on a few Celica-derived cars in Toyota's lineup. 
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Apr 2, 2022 16:49
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I think technically it's a control arm, but Mazda people for example just call them a camber arm.
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Apr 2, 2022 18:13
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BuckyDoneGun posted:2 doors best doors? I love the trooper so much. My dad bought his the month I was born. I rode in it everywhere and even learned to drive in it. I was looking at them like 2 years ago and was shocked when I realized that it had no airbags... Don't know why I always assumed it did. The vehicross is too weird for me but that AWD "power distribution" thing on the dash is really neat (that and the early backup camera). I was so sad when it got Cash for Clunkered  Also asking for a friend, what are Honda Accord Aerodecks going for these days? I noticed on bring a trailer that one sold for around $7k back in 2020 but I imagine they're probably considerably more expensive these days?
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Apr 4, 2022 18:36
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The Toyota "Super Strut Suspension" is a pain in the butt in general, and most parts specific to it are less than cheap.
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Apr 5, 2022 02:01
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I have been looking for facelift amg line GLK 350. Get car japan has 13 "fix price" and 0 at auction. Fix price is 20k+ while auction history showed 13-15k EUR. So why some cars are fix price and some sold by auction? Why the "fix" price is so much higher? If I can get a car for like 13-15 instead of 20k€ I save around 10000€ in taxes. Just wondering.
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Apr 6, 2022 05:07
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