Does anyone know the differrence between the Japan spec and the UK spec STi's?

 

I've seen this one discussed a number of times, do a search you should find it.

 

The KL version doesnt have the suretrac diffs, the GL version does, apart from the obvious (ie they run on 100 ron fuel compared to the 98 ron fuel in the UK car) there is no real difference (except they loose serious value over the UK spec'd car).

Tony

 

See http://www.iwoc.co.uk/my2002stiuk2.html for a comparison as well as http://www.iwoc.co.uk/my2002stiuk2.html.

Gear ratios, fuel mapping, power output, torque, rear wash wipe, HID headlights, strut brace, options available are all different. As already mentioned you can get a lesser spec. STi without the front Suretrack diff. and even without a rear wing so be careful. If you want a 5 door then JDM is the only way to go but it isn't the same high spec. as the 4 door.

Steve

 

Tony Burns I think your comment about the JDM losing much more money is very inaccurate.I can tell you from personal experience that is not true.I lost less on my STi4 in 2 years than if I'd bought an over priced P1 at the time.I would have also tied up £10k more capital which actually gave me good return in that time.

 

Sorry Deep but the JDM market for new STi's in the uk has fallen though.
You can buy a new STi7 GL from Warrender for what? 28-29k? you can also pick one up second hand from warrender with less than 4k on the clock for 21-22k... i think that says something, 6-8k in 1 year is alot more than you will ever loose on a uk car.
The fact is, now that the STi type UK is available, you can get a better car for less money (and backed up by a superb warranty!) with all the bits that Prodrive will be offering for these cars the JDM's will be less likely to be sold.

Tony

 

28-29k - you must be joking - sure there are some mugs who will pay that but a jdm car selling at roughly 3 million yen will cost you roughly £20 - £21k to get on the road with everything taken care of - if you are paying more then you are just lining someone's pocket - you will lose less on the car in depreciation than an equivalent uk car from dealer as the dealer will offer you 2 - 3k less for it than they will sell it on for - a private sale will yield only a slightly better return - the bottom has dropped right of the market for ALL second hand cars right now but you can still offset this a bit by buying a cheaper japanese or european import.

Best buys have to be heavily discounted and higher specced special editions from JDM market immediately prior to introduction of new models - like the last crop of sti 6s that came into the uk at about 17k sterling - bargain

Paul W

 

Tony,only a few people paid £28k for their STi's when they first came out.Some would call them stupid some would say they could afford it and wanted to be the first to own one.However,buying one secind hand from Japan as I have done means you pay much less,you can pick up a 6 month old car with 1k miles for £21k.I actually paid £17k for an 18 month old one with 10k on the clock.UK buyers have tied up circa £9k more capital,have a little less power,no HIDs and in 2 years time we'll both have lost about £10k on the value.The difference is I've not spent the extra £9k(or worse still paid extra interest aswell if its a loan)in the first place.We'll both take a battering if the MY03 is a revelation.I know its horses for courses but after 5 years and 4 Scoobs(two UK two Jap)my personal experience is that they devalue about the same.Except of course my first one which was in the days of 18 month waiting lists that lost a few grand!!

 

Stupid my ***!!!! 12 months ago there was no hint of a STiUK version coming out let alone for £5K less (allbeit for a much lesser model) than the Jap Spec. Everything pointed towards the STi being brought into the UK and selling for around the £30K mark. As has already been mentioned Warrender are still selling new Jap models for £28-£30K! The 'extras' over the UK version you get with the Jap model are worth well over £5K but the secondhand price has plummeted because buyers feel 'safer' buying the UK car.

 

KWS,if you read my post you would have seen I wrote that SOME would say stupid.I however d'ont,if you can afford it and want to be the first with a new toy then why not? By the way I d'ont think the extras are worth an extra £5k.HIDs and 15BHP does not add up to £5k!