Faults:

As this is a new Car bought on 14/12/04, nothing have gone wrong so far.

General Comments:

This is a parallel import car from Japan which makes it a JDM in Singapore.

This car comes with a 2.0 liter I6 DOHC 24V VVT-I Toyota engine which is the same as the Lexus IS200 engine i. e 1G FE BEAMS 2000 engine. Engine rates at 160ps @6200rpm with torque of 20.4kg/m @ 4400 rpm.

The auto transmission is very smooth with good power delivery across the rpm range.

Given the strong reputation on reliability from Toyota, am looking forward to some some trouble free years of driving pleasure.

Would appreciate it if anyone who has bought this model could please provide me with more information eg. 0-60 timing etc.. noting that the given description is in Japanese.

Faults:

Front right ball socket failure (wheel came right off) -fortunately I was creeping thru the suburbs at that point.

The light brown seat upholstery beginning to show a bit of its 11 years!

The hydraulic struts that hold the bonnet and boot have almost run out (minor niggle really)

General Comments:

It's refined enough for a diesel, frugal and has loads of power in the mid-range.

Very relaxed power delivery (100kph @ 2200 rpm)

The cavalry really comes charging in @ 3000 rpm

Hardly looks the 11 years/210K kms it actually is.

Its my first car and has been very kind to me (& my bank account) thus far.

Faults:

Nothing goes wrong as long as it is full of gas (PETROL). It is a big consumer.

General Comments:

This car is very good, prestigious, comfortable and speedy. It is good for individual use not commercial. It is very expensive to maintain.

Faults:

It is an 'oil' boozer!

Even when that problem is rectified, it still has to empty the oil in 1 month!

Can be very useless in slippery conditions.

A bit of a fuel guzzler! (1lt/8kms!)

Steering wheel very big.

General Comments:

Rather reliable.

Handles terrain well.

Quiet engine.

Faults:

Normal replacements only - brake pads etc.

General Comments:

In my humble opinion, this is the best value hi-performance mid-sized sedan in the world. It's only drawback is it's extremely rare outside of Japan.

The engine is a 280hp stock 1JZ-GTE 2500cc twin turbo unit, identical to the unit in the current Toyota Supra (my other car), except with a shorter stroke giving 500cc less total displacement. It's an easily upgradeable motor too - a few simple tweaks have taken my car up to the 350hp range.

Stepping on the gas pedal at any speed causes the car to leap forward with frightening turbo thrust. This can be a problem in the wet however; even the traction control can't stop 300+hp to the rear wheels from kicking the tail out wildly.

In stop-light battles, it's virtually unbeatable. German sports sedans (even BMW M-series cars) rarely present any problems, and Honda Accord Type-R's, Nissan Maxima's etc just aren't in the same league with this turbo monster.

The interior is comfortable, although not hugely interesting or impressive design-wise. The cars worst feature is evident here, that being the plastic-wood finish on the center console. It looks very close to the real thing, but it's still just a plastic copy...

The exterior is attractive and smooth, but perhaps a little understated. It looks a bit like a more up-market version of a Camry, giving little hint of it's serious performance. However, this is an advantage for "sleeper" fans - you'll get challenged a lot in this car, and virtually never lose (I will admit a Lancer EVO got the best of me once, but it was close).

My advice - if you can find one near you, buy it. If you can't, do what I did: go to Japan and bring one back with you!