New trends in the States are often based on those found at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Knowing this, we flew out to Tokyo on the annual Turbo Magazine Auto Salon Tour to see what the latest craze would be for 2002. The 2001 Auto Salon saw the unveiling of the new WRX, and since Subaru kept the vehicle close to the J-spec model we knew the car would be a big hit over here.
This year I predicted Mitsubishi's EVO VII would be the hot car since there were rumors of it coming to the States. An argument began over which car would be more popular, the EVO VII or Honda's RSX. Unlike over here in the States, Honda doesn't dominate the Japanese tuning world, so my money was on the Mitsubishi. So, you can imagine the look on my face when we saw the RSX dominating the EVO VII. It's unusual due to the fact that the EVO VII is equipped with all-wheel drive and a turbocharger versus the RSX's normally aspirated, 200-hp front-drive layout. Regardless of the end results in Japan, it will be interesting to see what happens if or when the EVO hits the States. Mitsubishis run hard in the U.S. on and off the track, and considering the difference in stock horsepower levels between EVO and RSX, I predict many avid Honda fans jumping ship to join the Diamond Star crowd.
Even with the RSX and EVO taking most of the hype, we noticed the WRX still had a strong presence, alongside the Nissan Skyline and RX-7. The S-15 Silvia was also a strong contender, but it's a shame that Nissan put an end to its U.S. market counterpart, the 240SX. Nevertheless, there were plenty of parts available that many Nissan lovers will import to the States. One of the favorites among the Silvia crowd was the S-15 engine conversion.
Now for the parts. Some of the new things we discovered this year were turbo kits for the RSX. Most prominent was a GReddy turbo kit for the RSX, as well as a few different RSX headers. One of the better-designed units came from Mugen--figures. A'PEXi will also release two new turbo kits that are not currently in its U.S. market catalog--the RX-7 and Supra turbo kits are headed this way, guys.
Nissan showed its newly revised R34 V Spec 2. This model in stock trim produces the same numbers as other R34s, but its N1-spec engine and inconel turbos make it able to take on more horsepower. Head cheese Hiroshi Tamura said this engine in stock trim is able to take on 600-plus ponies. We feel that he was underestimating the figures by far, since we have seen normal GTR models take that kind of abuse.
There's a funny story behind the V Spec 2 Millennium Green color. Mr. Tamura came to visit our magazine a year ago to discuss plans for the Skyline in the States, and during his stay he saw this color on an Infinity-badged vehicle and said, "This is the new color for the V Spec 2." We tried squeezing information about what the U.S. Skyline will come with, but Hiroshi stated, "I know exactly what it will come with... but I can't tell you." Thanks a lot.