Klaxon

Well I must admit I can't find much information on the calipers so perhaps thats not true, I may have misheard the guy on that one. Yeah the speedo thing was an estimation, you know what I mean

I pulled into a garage once and one of the mechanics goes, 'ah, thats a UK one. I've had 4 of these and you can tell whether is UK or not by the brakes' and told me about the calipers. I never understood what he meant to be honest as I've never even checked it out. I mentioned it anyway. All the other things I have noticed or had confirmed though.

That is the single best piece of advice though. Mines been undersealed thoroughly a few times as well but holy crap.....its a brave man that chooses a UK car over a JDM. Some of them are horrendous and really just ready for the skip. Some of the ones that are fresh off the boat from Japan look amazing. My mechanic had one in his place and it just looked like it had rolled out of the showroom. I must admit I don't understand how that can be? I know they don't salt the roads in Japan but they still get rain, snow etc......all fresh imports seem to be totally rust free though

To compare ST185s and ST205s I think the drivers are very different and each car attracts a very different crowd....I think thats a point worth considering. I will say the gen 5 lot seem very friendly and helpful types in general and there is a real passion for those cars and fellow club members and thats really cool in my book. You mentioned UK 205s cars OP and the main issue with these is the question of rust.....UK cars usually have this pretty bad. That should definitely be at the top of your check list if you are looking for one of these. Fresh JDM imports will hardly have any, although I don't think this applies to JDM cars that have been over here for a long time, I don't know if the JDM ones were even undersealed from the factory either

... The reason for the difference in power is because the JDM version has a different ECU with a more aggressive map. Fuel is one reason for that but there are other differences too.

Some of the things are kind of hard to tell in 2015 ref the metal blade turbos vs the ceramic ones because the UK and JDM cars are probably not on their original turbos. You will have to hunt around to find that information as its not common knowledge but it is out there. As for the track width this site lists a 5mm difference between EU cars and non EU cars http://www.gtfours.co.uk/stuff/facts/205/facts.htm You can notice that one when you try and fit coilovers......

I think most of the GT4s on the road these days are JDM btw. UK cars seem to be very rare. I've not seen another actually.

I've already mentioned UK cars have EGR and JDM ones don't, thats probably where a fair amount of bhp is lost on the UK ones ECU we know about, Sumps are different, UK has an oil level sensor, JDM ones don't, UK ones have airbags JDM ones don't appear to JDM ones are restricted to 100mph Brake wise Jap has 4 pot calipers UK has 2 pot (I believe) The track width is wider on the UK car than the JDM as well Cosmetic differences too ie rear number plate surround If you want to know a complete list of all the differences go and ask someone who breaks them or sells parts for them. Theres loads of minor differences. They are not identical at all Oh yeah JDM have ceramics turbos, UK ones have metal, just thought of another one

Sorry lol. If it works for you then great. I don't get it myself though. Thats not even enough for the summer for most people. Whatever turns you on though eh

Its probably the same one we all get. 4000 miles per year?

yeah classic policies don't count because they are all usually <£300 but you can't actually drive the car. I mean fully comp prices. I pay £390 fully comp for my UK ST205 with RAC and its been about the same for the past 2 years, I'm 35. They did try and put it up last year but you just phone them up and go oi, I think every company does that.The UK cars are real cheap to insure as they are only group 17 and you can go to any company. I was insured for as low as £330 with bewiser but they sounded like a load of monkeys so I cancelled the policy lol. And I got a free meercat too, which lets face it is a pretty big deal. And its got little spectacles.

That seems to be one of the only companies that will go near them in the first place, but thats the actual one that quoted me £1500 for an import GT4 compared to £500 for a UK model. That was a good few years back mind (pre credit crunch), but the difference in cost was huge back then. Maybe you guys are trying to compare other models of gen 6 to a GT4, its not the same

What insurer? Most of the main ones won't touch imports. Not the ones you can get online anyway. Facts to back up this statement? Don't agree with any of that post tbh. JDM cars have different brakes, different ECU, different sump, EGR, and are restricted to 100 mph, probably loads of other stuff as well, thats just the things I've noticed, there is a difference in power between the two, the JDM doesn't automatically slow down to 225 bhp when you drive it off the boat lol

Ugh not one of those shit valve things surely UK 205 is 225, JDM is 255 I believe. JDM ECU is designed for different fuel and has EGR too UK insurance is only group 17 though(!) and the difference between that and a JDM for a years insurance can be up to a grand

No it won't make a difference to your speed, and you wouldn't notice any difference in acceleration when driving sedately. Thats only if you rev it hard which you say you don't do. It will require less foot travel to get you moving though, that you should notice For real? I thought they stopped selling that a few years ago. is it still available??

I've been to shell stations and before I've had the chance to hand over my club card the cashier has swiped his/her own! And then gives me a number to phone to get my points added on lol. Thats happened at a few places too. They have the best fuel but tbh I don't trust the franchised ones either

Thats a very good point not mentioned yet. Promotions. Tesco do fuelsave and also clubcard points on fuel. Shell do a rewards system and you can get money off or airmiles, and BP does nectarpoints, which you can spend in argos. Things like that make a difference to the overall economy too. You really need a calculator to work this stuff out as it gets kind of 'moneysavingexpert' the more you look at it lol.

The throttle pedal controls the flow of fuel. The throttle doesn't discriminate between 95 or 99, it sprays the same amount in regardless, it depends on how much you press the pedal. The idea is you use much less foot travel to accelerate to a given speed the higher the RON and therefore this is spraying much less fuel in and therefore you get better economy as a result. Driving sedately is the ideal way to notice the difference. Try it out on whatever you have in there at the moment. Find what the absolute minimum amount of gas is that you can give your car to make it accelerate. Then try it again on 99 and you should see it pulling stronger with less.....

You don't need to reset the ECU going from high grade to low grade, only the other way round, the cheap stuff would cause damage at high revs in some cars if the ECU didn't restrict the power, once its got the good stuff in you can reset it and restore full power. If you didn't change your driving style for the new fuel then you would not notice an increase, think about it. The economy is dictated by your right foot. If you still sprayed the same amount in with your right foot then the economy would stay static but the cost would rise by 8p a litre, thats why people claim 'but it didn't make a difference and cost me 8p a litre more! what a con!' lol

Well shit me sideways. Never knew that. Just looked it up in the manual and there is indeed a fuel connector control in the 5, looks to be drivers side footwell on the centre console at that flap in the bottom. It says this is only the 4afe engine with cat that has it (a yank only engine?) and this is apparently for running American 91 Octane 'Fuelweiser' Connect it together to run on all american super super low grade, pull the connectors apart for 95 grade or higher. Of course this is where you say 'but mine was a 3SGE' and then I will be confused haha. Or wonder if this is a prefacelift manual, hmmm

Try a noticeable decrease in right foot, thats the beauty of the higher octane stuff, you don't have to press the pedal as much to get the same amount of beans as you would on the old 95 grade.... Skiny are you talking gen 5??

Perhaps it should be done again with the correct information then as the 205 and (I believe the 185 too) will absolutely produce more power on shell nitro compared to 95. The knock sensor detects the low grade fuel and the ECU is run in a restricted power mode, you have to fill it up with high grade and reset the ECU to get full power Try filling it up with 95 and putting your foot down in one of the turbo celicas, it runs like ass on 95.....i only use it if I get caught short and never give it the beans on that stuff

Yeah any car with a knock sensor will be able to adjust to the higher spec fuel, you will get more power and often better economy as it accelerates better for using less fuel- Best you can get in the UK is Shell Nitro and Tescos Momentum which is both 99 spec though the Shell is likely a much higher quality fuel as tescos don't operate refineries like Shell, Tescos got it majorly wrong in the mid 2000s where they had a bad batch of fuel and it started wrecking peoples cars (anyone remember that? lol) Japanese imports will run on even higher grade fuel, over there they can get fuel which is over 100 RON so you have no choice but to use super unleaded in JDM imports, they won't run well at all on the low grade 95 Older cars with no knock sensors (early 90s) will not be able to adjust so theres no point in using it, on those, think most celicas have it, was surprised to find out the gen 5 has one and that seems to run a lot better on the high grade

+2 yeah thermostat that sounds like, you probably get about 19mpg tops with that down so best to sort asap, its a cheap part and cheap fix