Nissan- the current west's and Japan's leading tuner brand of choice

[RED XIII]

Lately been seeing nissan tuned cars on import performance parts?.. It's because that Nissan, one of the acclaimed "big 3" jap auto makers in the world market besides honda and toyota, is making quite a buzz in the tuner industry. Its the current most sought after brand when it comes to tuning - Sport Compact Car magazine. In fact, some big names in performance products such as Greddy specializes in selling nissan jdm engines only, the SR20det (silvia, sentra/sunny pulsar GTiR) and RB26dett (skyline GTR). Just check your import magazines from U.S, U.K and Japan.. Have some folks in the states who r replacing their integra type r's and S2000 to them silvias/240sx and 350Z.

Is it because of nissan's domination in Japan's F1 like series the GT500 & 300 (formerly known as JGTC-All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship) [SIZE=2]by the GTR and Silvia respectively since the early 90's[/SIZE]? or because of their legendary car that was only sold in Japan d GTR aka Godzilla (dubbed by the motoring world as the Ultimate Japanese Supercar) w/c set records worlwide?... maybe it's bec. of the new craze-- the sport of drifting w/c is also dominated by silvias.. or the former U.S sports car of the yr. and '06 tuner car of the year, the 350z, one of the few jap car that won both GT500 and 300. How about the luxury / tuner D1 champ infiniti G35? it might be it!.. Ahhh, maybe its bec. of the SE-Rs in the states w/c also had its cult following there since it's 92' B13 SE-R launch. Is it because of the turbos nissan sport engines have w/c westerns love? or maybe the fast and the furious movies or the tuner video games w/c usually unlocks its last car of the game to be a nissan... is it? is it?...

These are only some of the reason's "WHY"... Now, the only thing bugging me, WHY can't be the tuner industry locally be just as cool.. Don't get me wrong nissan Phil. are good, they have suffered from pinoy myth critisisms before but they have proven quality and to be d "tech setters" in our local jap auto industry for the last decade ... but maybe our models here are not quite as dynamic compared to the countries I've mentioned. Heck! we launched a sentra GTS before, but the only GTS in the car is its exterior! In Japan it had a stronger engine like the sentra SE-Rs in U.S...Hmmm.. But I guess it all boils down to our pinoy economy, since locally available jap sportcars like the 350Zs, EVOs, STIs and Silvias are quite expensive when launched here for a typically "juan ricer".. like what we've always done, we stick w/ the compacts like the civics, sentras, corollas, lancers, etc. Now that's what pinoy tuners tune! And since now our current sentras are diff. from the one's in the states..(unlike the b12 to b14, same model here and in the states..it's all nissan taiwan's fault!), it will be even more difficult to tune a current local sentra, since we all know tuner parts are flooding in the states. But I think nissan taiwan thru nismo has some tuner parts... I guess?... In fact it would be even better to tune older sentra models like d b13 and b14 coz theres lot's of parts in the states w/c we can order thru d help of our local tuner shops whether its engine is a GA16 or a swapped SR20. Maybe few pinoys like those dudes from autoplus are just plain lucky, imagine their tuned monster GTR w/ 1000hp!! (all tuner parts branded! no freakin taiwan b-brands like type Rs and simota. he he )

So to all my bros out there, want to hear comments w/ this issue, maybe nissan phil. should hear this from their tuner market segment... he he he.

Bonus cool video:
"800hp GTR vs. 1000hp Supra- another sign of the beast"
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...&search=Search

[Karding]

errr hmm ok.

thanks to the drift bandwagon

S13 market price: $1500-$3000

the most inexpensive car in the market while 'trying' to blend-in to the crowd.

WHY can't be the tuner industry locally be just as cool...

have you not seen the pinoy drifters? whats NOT so cool about it? IMHO, local drifters in Pinas are far better than drifters in the US (non-pro).

Or how about the tsikot enthusiasts (Cebu, I think) who normally engage in canyon runs?

Isnt that teh c00lnessess?

like what we've always done, we stick w/ the compacts like the civics, sentras, corollas, lancers, etc. Now

kapatid, has it ever occurred to you that some tuners can only afford the "pinoy tuner cars." it wasnt the question of WHAT CARS are available. its HOW MUCH money is available.

you need to get out of your own click and look around. Since this is only your 9th post, I shall assume that you havent met/seen some of the tsikot.com members with Z4, STi etc.

(all tuner parts branded! no freakin taiwan b-brands like type Rs and simota. he he

*flame suit on*

[ssaloon]

too bad we cant say the same for the models offered locally....

[RED XIII]

errr hmm ok.

thanks to the drift bandwagon

S13 market price: $1500-$3000

the most inexpensive car in the market while 'trying' to blend-in to the crowd.



have you not seen the pinoy drifters? whats NOT so cool about it? IMHO, local drifters in Pinas are far better than drifters in the US (non-pro).

Or how about the tsikot enthusiasts (Cebu, I think) who normally engage in canyon runs?

Isnt that teh c00lnessess?



kapatid, has it ever occurred to you that some tuners can only afford the "pinoy tuner cars." it wasnt the question of WHAT CARS are available. its HOW MUCH money is available.

you need to get out of your own click and look around. Since this is only your 9th post, I shall assume that you havent met/seen some of the tsikot.com members with Z4, STi etc.



*flame suit on*

Coolness maximus!!! He he... like what I've said its all about the money huh.. Yep a 1989 S13 / 240sx is a bit old thats the reason for the price tag, but if the reason u bought it is to tune it, that's where it all starts.. my folks at states knows this place at Mckenna Washington where they sell 240sx w/ sr20det jdm, greddy and 5zigen parts for roughly around 14k all in. One of the cheapest in the states.
Nope haven't met them members w/ Z4s, STis... but just like what i've said there are a few of them.. shall I say blessed. ;)

[Jun aka Pekto]

Maybe it's just me. But, I've already seen many Nissan tuner cars long before there was an Integra or S2000.

The ZX-cars, SE-R's and 240SX were favorite tuners even when they were brand new designs. The only Nissan not well represented was the 1G Altima.

I was in the DSM camp then. I think Nissans even preceded Hondas as tuners a bit earlier except maybe for the CRX.

[Karding]

they sell 240sx w/ sr20det jdm, greddy and 5zigen parts for roughly around 14k all in.

aka BOUGHT, not BUILT.

maybe nissan phil. should hear this from their tuner market segment

why?

[empy]

nissan has always been around, and they're still around. not sure if they are more or less popular than they have always been. sorry that i havent been hanging around the HIN crowd these days :hihihi:

[niky]

There has been a Nissan tuning scene for a very long time. It's only because of the current "drift" craze that they've been shoved to the forefront in the US, as people trade in 10-second Civics for "drift-worthy" 240sx/200sx conversions.

C'mon. We've got SR20DET-powered owner-types, pick-ups, 70's cars, etcetera. We've got 4AGE-powered 70's Celicas, Starlets and Corollas.

What about Skyline-powered Cefiros? EVO-powered Lancers (although that doesn't work quite so well... no traction!) and EVO and VR4 swapped Lancers and Galants?

The reason you don't see much about the local tuner scene is that media outlets still overlook them... simply because we don't have a very big tuner scene... because we aren't dripping-with-money Americans... (not insinuating that Americans are all rich, it's just that a $500 part is simply a small sacrifice for a US tuner, while it's a big chunk of money for a poor Filipino enthusiast.)... and because the extremely restrictive taxing and small market make it very hard to get "cheap" sports cars here.

[RED XIII]

aka BOUGHT, not BUILT.

why?

Bro the place at Washington my pips r talking about back in the states is that customers have the option to buy an 89' 240sx as is, or for additional buck/bucks u can have them BUILT and tune it as desired..

And ur asking me y should nissan Phil. hear this?... I think I quite explained it already in my initial post.

[niky]

Nissan Philippines already imports the 350Z. And they provide equipment for maintenance and a warranty. That's more than Mitsubishi will do (no warranty on Evos?) And they already import Nismo kits.

What else do you want them to do? There's no more 200SXs to sell, and the new SE-R is a pipedream... at least until local production lines (meaning, those damn Yulon sites) gear up for the new Sentra.

Besides... as a longtime member of the Nissan community, I can tell you... they're not very interested in selling sports cars in every price bracket. They're happy just having the 350Z as a halo car, and selling Nismo suspension kits for the X-Trail and Sentra. And that's better than what they did for us in the 90's, where all they gave us was body kits...

Nissan already had some other parts... they were selling a race engine (a genuine SR16VE N1, a 200 hp 1.6 liter engine), but interest was low.

Besides, the tuner culture you're talking about is not driven by the manufacturers, it's driven by the tuner crowd. And, like I've said, the tuners are there, you just don't know where to look.