Japanese Car Reviews

This section contains Japanese car reviews. They are to help raise your awareness of the cars available to import from Japan.

Some of the reviews are long and based on extensive ownership experience. Others are shorter and are designed to give you the key points about a particular car.

If you think I’ve missed something from any of the reviews, or you’d like me to review a particular car, hit ‘Ask a question’ at the top of the page.

Picture of a white and a black Toyota Chaser JZX100 — Introduction to the Toyota Chaser JZX100 The Toyota Chaser Tourer V is a manual transmission, rear wheel drive saloon (sedan) with a turbo. You could consider it as a saloon version of the Toyota Supra. The Chaser featured in the Japanese Touring Car Championship and for some reason a lot […]

Toyota Chaser JZX100 Tourer V

26 Oct, 2015 in Saloons tagged 1JZ-GTE / Chaser / JZX100 / Toyota by Andrew

Picture of a Nissan Elgrand — Key benefits of Nissan Elgrand E51 ownership Let’s start with a summary of the key benefits of owning a Nissan Elgrand E51 as I see them: Luxury transport for large families, or smaller families with lots of stuff. Definitely one of the better looking MPVs. Plenty of power from the […]

Nissan Elgrand E51 Review

18 Oct, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / MPV tagged E51 / Elgrand / MPV / Nissan by Andrew

Front picture of a Suzuki Lapin SS kei car — What is the Suzuki Lapin? The Suzuki Lapin is a kei car available to import from Japan. It is a 4 seater, 5 door hatchback and was introduced in 2002. About the Suzuki Lapin The full title is the Suzuki Alto Lapin, although I’m just calling it Suzuki Lapin in […]

Suzuki Lapin

6 Oct, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / Kei cars tagged Alto / kei / Lapin / Suzuki by Andrew

Honda Crossroad — What is the Honda Crossroad? Launched in 2007, it is one of Honda’s bids for a piece of the lucrative ‘crossover vehicle’ pie. What is a crossover vehicle? Something attempting to combine the benefits of a car and a 4WD vehicle, whilst avoiding the downsides. The Honda Crossroad was never […]

Honda Crossroad

3 Sep, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / SUV & off road tagged Crossroad / Honda by Andrew

What is the Honda Mobilio Spike? A 5 seater compact minivan with ‘interesting’ external appearance and superb interior functionality and flexibility. The Honda marketing materials talk of ‘metal ingot styling’ and refer to the car as a ‘rugged toolbox.’ Several people questioned my sanity when I expressed an interest in […]

Honda Mobilio Spike

19 Aug, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / Practical box cars tagged Honda / Import / Japanese / Mobilio / Spike by Andrew

What is the Subaru Forester STi? A high performance, full time 4WD rally-bred estate car. For those with a family or lots of stuff to transport, who aren’t yet ready for full acquiescence to a standard family wagon. The version pictured here is based on the 2nd generation Subaru Forester […]

Subaru Forester STi

29 Jul, 2015 in Fast estate cars / Japanese Car Reviews tagged 4WD / fast / Forester / SG9 / STi / Subaru / turbo by Andrew

Picture of the rear of a 2005 Toyota Voxy — What is the Toyota Voxy? The Toyota Voxy is essentially the same car as the Toyota Noah. The bodyshell and interior finishes are designed to appeal to a younger audience than the Noah’s target demographic. In Japan the two vehicles are sold at different Toyota dealerships with different ‘personalities.’ The […]

Toyota Voxy

22 Jul, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / MPV tagged minivan / MPV / Toyota / Voxy by Andrew

Picture of the front of a 2004 Toyota Noah — How I chose the Toyota Noah The impending arrival of my first child was a great excuse to buy another car. I wanted something more suited to family life than my bulletproof Toyota Hiace van. Why do I own a Hiace van? It is such a useful vehicle, be it […]

Toyota Noah – the thinking person’s minivan

15 Jun, 2015 in Japanese Car Reviews / MPV tagged Noah / review / Toyota by admin

Picture of a 1994 Toyota EP82 Starlet GT Turbo — This Toyota Starlet GT Turbo was my first Japanese import car and I regret selling it more than any other car I’ve owned. To the uninitiated, it looked like I’d bought a rubbish car and put a bodykit and big exhaust on it to give an air of performance far […]

Toyota Starlet GT Turbo – the car that started all ...

13 Jun, 2015 in Hot hatchbacks and coupes / Japanese Car Reviews tagged EP82 / Import / Japanese / Starlet GT Turbo / Toyota by admin