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.

[IGNITED]

He he.. yup.. It seems that every import mags feature lots n' lots of nissan cars, most advertisement on performance parts all used nissan cars as their car model. I can think of some facts why it's d no. 1 brand for tuners--
-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn who had considered his young tuner market well
-Japan GT dominated by nissan since it began
-The new sport of drifting also dominated by nissan cars

But for me, it's all because of d car that's been tagged "Every Rice Boy's Dreamcar, d GTR. This technological tour de force japanese supercar set feats and records no other japanese sports/super car had ever come close to. Like let's say lap records at nurburgring, 29 consecutive major race wins, onced banned in a race for being too dominating, etc.... and later on tagged "Godzilla" by foreigners. I[SIZE=2]t was rated by many motoring magazines, as providing performance and handling equal or superior to that of European icons like the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Porsche 911[/SIZE][SIZE=2] and the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Ferrari Testarossa[/SIZE][SIZE=2], at a[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]considerably lower price[/SIZE]. [SIZE=2]With all that... tuners, professional, and street racers became really fascinated by it, and want to grab their hands on it.. But u know d feeling of u can't have what u want? That's exactly what they felt[/SIZE]coz, the car was only launched in it's mother land! It's basically the true street and track legend.

Now as for d locally tuner scene. I will agree w/ u as well as to our bros that it is all about the money. And to nissan Phil. since our tuner culture is focused on compacts maybe it's nice if they'll have a real GTS / SE-R sentra w/ real GTS /SE-R engine, not just looks like what honda Phil did w/ there SiR! That would make pinoy nissan tuners life much easier. Look around there's quite a number of nissan tuner's growing here.. but of course not as dynamic and like u said "cool" as d ones compared to the in the west or japan. Who knows maybe in a few years...

By the way love that nasty GTR on ur bonus video!

[RED XIII]

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.

I know pinoy nissan tuners are here but it sure ain't easy.. I share the same sentiments with our dude Ignited, since we local tuners focus more on compacts, why not nissan Phillipines give us sentras w/ a more sporty engines like the one's in U.S. I don't care if it would be a GTS or an Se-R, just give pinoys something na sporty both outside and d inside. And I must disagree w/ u.. for me it is more easy to tune a 90s sentra, for both our local b13 and b14 are the same models used in the states.. as I've said b13 and b14 aftermarket parts are very abundant in the states. In our current sentra.. ummm... i don't know if we can get aftermarket products from nissan perfromance shops like JimWolf, Mossy or even Stillen from the states.

[niky]

JimWolf stuff here is by order only... and good luck with that. The best we can do locally is engine swap to turbo lumps, but for the enthusiast wishing to pump up their naturally aspirated GA16s, SR20s and CAs, it's tough...

That's one of the reasons I jumped ship with Nissan after our last Sentra... needed more power... ...too bad I jumped to Ford/Mazda, which has worse engines... whoops! :hihihi:

I'm not saying it's not easy. I'm just saying don't expect the local Nissan to be very sympathetic to the tuner crowd.

Manufacturers go to a fair bit of expense to fix customers' cars for warranty problems. And a lot of them go hand-in-hand with modification and street racing. To protect their image of reliability (what little there is of it here) and to keep from alienating their core audience (mostly the geriatrics and the thrifty...), Nissan Yulon hasn't been very keen on going past the cosmetic type of "sportiness". Thankfully, that's starting to change, as they're rolling with the market and the new Nissan image, but change is very slow. We're only getting the "new" global Nissans at the end of their model cycles, and there isn't even any rumors as to when we get the new Sentra.

But "sporty" cars at the cheaper end of the market are a tough sell. We officially got the 200SX, with the SR20DET, to boot, but Nissan didn't bring it in in big numbers. Miatas came and went, and the market hardly batted an eye (thankfully, a lot of those that did sell are still around). Ford did the limited edition Lynx RS (loosely based on the Mazda Protege MP3 / Mazdaspeed Familia, widely regarded as one of the best handling FWD sedans ever) and despite the small numbers, had trouble moving them off the showroom floors. Honda only hit it big with the SiR because of the market's perception of Honda's "indestructibility" and resale value.

Toyota was going to bring in the TOM's Corolla (turbocharged 1.6)... they didn't even bother to go beyond the bodykits... the market wasn't there.

[empy]

if you buy a fully built car from an aftermarket company, you are not a tuner. you are simply a person who buys a car from a tuner :hihihi:

[IGNITED]

if you buy a fully built car from an aftermarket company, you are not a tuner. you are simply a person who buys a car from a tuner :hihihi:

he he he... gotcha huh!! but I its also a known fact that sporty compacts like SeR Sentras, n' Si Civics are the favorite young tuner "starter" cars. ;)

[RED XIII]

He he.. yup.. It seems that every import mags feature lots n' lots of nissan cars, most advertisement on performance parts all used nissan cars as their car model. I can think of some facts why it's d no. 1 brand for tuners--
-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn who had considered his young tuner market well
-Japan GT dominated by nissan since it began
-The new sport of drifting also dominated by nissan cars

But for me, it's all because of d car that's been tagged "Every Rice Boy's Dreamcar, d GTR. This technological tour de force japanese supercar set feats and records no other japanese sports/super car had ever come close to. Like let's say lap records at nurburgring, 29 consecutive major race wins, onced banned in a race for being too dominating, etc.... and later on tagged "Godzilla" by foreigners. I[SIZE=2]t was rated by many motoring magazines, as providing performance and handling equal or superior to that of European icons like the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Porsche 911[/SIZE][SIZE=2] and the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Ferrari Testarossa[/SIZE][SIZE=2], at a[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]considerably lower price[/SIZE]. [SIZE=2]With all that... tuners, professional, and street racers became really fascinated by it, and want to grab their hands on it.. But u know d feeling of u can't have what u want? That's exactly what they felt[/SIZE]coz, the car was only launched in it's mother land! It's basically the true street and track legend.

Now as for d locally tuner scene. I will agree w/ u as well as to our bros that it is all about the money. And to nissan Phil. since our tuner culture is focused on compacts maybe it's nice if they'll have a real GTS / SE-R sentra w/ real GTS /SE-R engine, not just looks like what honda Phil did w/ there SiR! That would make pinoy nissan tuners life much easier. Look around there's quite a number of nissan tuner's growing here.. but of course not as dynamic and like u said "cool" as d ones compared to the in the west or japan. Who knows maybe in a few years...

By the way love that nasty GTR on ur bonus video!

he he... Its all about d beast that is the GTR... actually my folks in the states are also at awe to that magnificent automatic 4 wheel drive RB26DETT engine. They say that theres nothing quite like it, it has been a tuner import legend w/o ever leaving Japan. Can't wait till the next GTR comes, it was rumored to have around 450 horses!

And again I totally absolutely agree w/ u about the SE-R / GTS looks w/ SE-R / GTS performance also. It just freaks me out everytime my cuz updates me on their ongoing silvia s13 and s14 project in the states!!

[cd!]

My cousin's bf is a Filipino U.S soldier based in Japan. He is currently here in the country, we have kinda bonded since the time he got here for we have the same interest-- cars.

He told me that there was an Import Tuner magazine shoot this year in Japan, featuring Am soldiers who has the best tuner rides there... Luckily he has a copy with him (Import Tuner Aug.2007- U.S troop inspired Infiniti G35 cover). I browsed it, I saw these troops best JDM rides... made up of around 90% nissan, from Cefiros A31, Silvia S13s to GT-R. You guys should see their tuned A31s! Especially those locally aspiring A31 projects.

We compared notes on the tuning scene here and in Japan.. and a li'l bit sa U.S. Well, all he has to say is it's very much different.. puro compacts daw tayo. In Japan daw, when you say tuning it's more on Nissan. He also told me that I might have noticed that almost all Big Japan based Tuning Companies has Nissan performance cars as their projects.

Makasama nga sa kanya minsan. kamehame waaave.....

[basti08]

A31 Cefiro S13/14/15 Silvias, Fairlady Turbo, B13 Sentras [B14 im not totally sold to this one although had own one before, suspension too soft], Skylines have really good tuning potential. So i dont see any problem with that. Kudos to Nissan and the fan boys!

[dhel]

My cousin's bf is a Filipino U.S soldier based in Japan. He is currently here in the country, we have kinda bonded since the time he got here for we have the same interest-- cars.

He told me that there was an Import Tuner magazine shoot this year in Japan, featuring Am soldiers who has the best tuner rides there... Luckily he has a copy with him (Import Tuner Aug.2007- U.S troop inspired Infiniti G35 cover). I browsed it, I saw these troops best JDM rides... made up of around 90% nissan, from Cefiros A31, Silvia S13s to GT-R. You guys should see their tuned A31s! Especially those locally aspiring A31 projects.

We compared notes on the tuning scene here and in Japan.. and a li'l bit sa U.S. Well, all he has to say is it's very much different.. puro compacts daw tayo. In Japan daw, when you say tuning it's more on Nissan. He also told me that I might have noticed that almost all Big Japan based Tuning Companies has Nissan performance cars as their projects.

Makasama nga sa kanya minsan. kamehame waaave.....

Hey! I have a copy of that mag! well I guess that's pretty much what's happening in the tuner scene especially sa Japan.

I live in Cali U.S before and it's the Japanese tune wave had started to get there... since GT-Rs are rare there puro Z, Silvias (w/ swapped Jdm powerplant), G35, Sentras / Pulsars ang tune nila. Before when I was there with my pinoy tuner friends, everytime we would see a Skyline GT-R their eyes would pop and their jaws would drop everytime.. Ha ha ha! I can still imagine their faces.
Miss my tropa there na ah..

A31 Cefiro S13/14/15 Silvias, Fairlady Turbo, B13 Sentras [B14 im not totally sold to this one although had own one before, suspension too soft], Skylines have really good tuning potential. So i dont see any problem with that. Kudos to Nissan and the fan boys!

Dude you forgot... the Se-R B15 is a tuner fav just like the B13 in the States too! ;)

[IGNITED]

Hey sabi nga ng relative ko from the States sa latest SEMA autoshow in Vegas last October most cars (atleast from the Import's side) consists mainly of Nissan cars.. from Z, G37, Silvias, etc.

For other Jap brands here's the scoop, Evo fans Im sorry but there are few Evos in the show.. the WRX beat them this year at the show. A few Mazdas are also present in the show.. as for the good ol' Honda they have a few in the show w/c made up of Fits and Civics Si's. For Toyota... ummm it's mostly from but their Scion brand.
For the Domestics naman there are the Stangs that dominate the show for them.