Do JDM Engines really have low miles?

[Mathetai]

I always wondered how true this really is. Lets say you buy a S14 SR20 and the guy tells you it only has 40K miles on it (as this one fella said to me...no shop name mentioned). "So why did it sit for 7 yrs in a "junk yard" some where?" There was no reply...and about 10 seconds pass and he says "well we can start it for you if you like." Still did not answer my question. What are your takes on this "low mileage JDM engine hype?" Thanks guys.

[azndummie]

i heard somewhere that the smog rules there are strict and they have to swap out their engines every 50kilometers

[Full-Lock]

iirc, there is something in japan that makes older year cars more expensive to own. so most people just sell them after not having for long, which resluts in low miles.

someone else could probably tell you the 100% correct thing or elaborate on this more.

['90RPS13]

IIRC they arent strict it just cost a little more then I guess normal for them. There was a thread a few months back about this. Its not like the JP government holds a gun to there head, so I dont think EVERY engine has 40-50,000km on the clock. I think some have more. *a

[redsuns3838]

jeez...talk about misinformation....swapping engines every 50Km. lol

its called shaken (vehicle inspection), its like registration and smog over here.

Owning a car in japan isnt a total necessity, and its definately not necessary that everyone over 16 has one, like in america. So shaken is pretty expensive. I cant remember how it works exactly because its been so long, But a new car, you dont pay inspection fees for first 3 yrs. then you pay it every 2, yrs, then eventually increases to every yr I think once hte car is old enough. and its not cheap, its like 1000 USD + a tax + mandatory insurance so you end up paying aroudn 2000 bux for shaken. Once you have to start doing that every 2 yrs, or every yr, its pretty damn expensive. Better to just buy a nice new car every 3 or 5 yrs.


As for the mileage thing...
How do you know it was sitting in a yard for 7 yrs? I mean it could have been crashed 3 months ago and been fresh outa the yard.
If youve been to japan, youd realize there isnt anywhere to GO in a car. Parking is expensive, gas is rediculous, and freeways are really expensive to hop on becuase they are all toll-roads. So most people that are going on long distance trips just take a train. Apartments dont have "parking spaces", you have to pay at a local parking lot, which is also rediculously expensive. Unless ur in the boonies, you can just take a train to almost anywhere you want to go. So when you drive your car if you live in the city, you usually are just going somewhere close by. like within 10 miles...and thats if you even drive it. So its very reasonable for a car to have only 40K miles or less on it, But there are still some cars with higher mileage. I got my SR with 24K miles on it...Best thing to do is buy a clip so you can look at the odometer.

[bigOdom1]

think abut the size of japan in relation to the states its tiny

[WILDACEX187]

when i bought my sr it had 80k miles on it. its a 94 redtop. i bought a clip and still run the clip cluster in my car now and its up to 148k kilometers since may

[Jaketenpointo]

you went from miles to kilometers^

[thepest]

I Go Tmy Swap An Dit Only Had Around 56k!!

[mRclARK1]

Unless you purchase a whole front clip... you're gonna be in the dark as to it's mileage most of the time. Even if your motorset comes with a gauge cluster; who says it's the one from the same car....

[s13gold]

in japan theres strict emmission rules...so if ur car is older its more expensive to keep...and some just dont want to pay so they surrender it...and i guess its probably more sufficient to buy a new car becuase of how much it is to keep it registered and in working order to regulations.

[DriftSpecS14]

you are all SO WRONG! see the truth is there are no laws in japan at all about smog.. they just know that US Americans are willing to pay out the ass for a engine thats "JDM TYTE" so they make millions of dollars each year off of our dumb asses and laugh! but shhs dont tell japan i told you!:keke:

[WILDACEX187]

its actually cuz of the Japanese economy. the taxes or "shaken" are to stimulate the buying of new cars to help with the jap economy. i've heard that auto makers in japan have alot of pull in the government

[WILDACEX187]

you went from miles to kilometers^

yea its to keep u on your toes

[LB.Motoring]

^ This is true.

[markyboi]

where are all the members living in japan when you need em?

[projectRDM]

where are all the members living in japan when you need em?

Laughing at the dumbass threads like this one.

[liv2drift045]

Laughing at the dumbass threads like this one.

:keke:

most japan memebers are in the military and we dont pay nearly as much as japanese citizens have to pay... but MOST sr's are out of wrecked cars.... a small % are out of cars which someone decided it wasn't worth dealing w/ shaken anymore so they junked it.. simple.... does that motor have low mileage... i doubt it... but its possible

[WILDACEX187]

:keke:

most japan memebers are in the military and we dont pay nearly as much as japanese citizens have to pay... but MOST sr's are out of wrecked cars.... a small % are out of cars which someone decided it wasn't worth dealing w/ shaken anymore so they junked it.. simple.... does that motor have low mileage... i doubt it... but its possible

that would be mine. the panels on the clip were perfect except for the hood. didnt find no mods on the car wat so ever except for a filter element but it did come with 80k miles but pulls hard

[mrmephistopheles]

Laughing at the dumbass threads like this one.

Pretty much.

Yeah you have to change your engine at a certain mileage, as well as do a rain dance and pay a fee to the sugarplum fairy.

redsunz has it mostly right, but there's a few things he's mistaken on too.
I won't go into the stuff irrelevant to the topic though.

To the OP: Chances are, the mystery motorset you have has far more than '30k miles' or whatever.
While it's true that most Japanese people don't drive their cars nearly as far as Americans do, it doesn't mean they're not driven as much.
Sure the cost of owning and operating a car here is high, but that tends to make owners drive their cars more than they use public transportation.
What I'm saying is that engine that's 13 years old is still 13 years old, whether it has 20k or 200k on it. One should also take into account the majority of stop & go traffic these engines see compared to the US. In my experience, if you're going 30 miles in the US, you spend about 5-10 miles on surface streets and the rest on a freeway, and it takes you maybe 35-40 minutes.
Here, 5 miles is almost all surface streets, with the widest road you encounter being 4 lanes wide, and stoplights all the way. Good day, 25 minutes. Bad day, 2.5 hours. Obviously, this is subjective to the area in which you're traveling, but it's not an inaccurate example.
It fallacious to think that just because it's coming from a far off land with different rules than the US, that magically it'll be in better shape.
Try to buy clips with odometers when you can, but always get compression and leakdown tests along with checking the oil pans.