Where is the T-Sport ???

[xoom]

Hi All,

As you may or may not be aware i am currently OS and boy do they love their cars over here (im in the middle east). I have had the camera handy and managed to get a few shots off but not much as usually they are just flying the other way.

(by the way did i mention that the speed limit is only loosly enforced here and if the cop isnt in the mood which is pretty much all the time you wont be fined. We actualy flew past a cop on a bike yesterday doing 30 over the limit and he didnt do anything to us or the other guys who must have been atleast 50+ over the limit :D :P :D )

Though every corolla i have seen here is a sedan i have yet to see any hatch's I think im going to go out of my way down to a toyota dealer and see if i can get a test drive in a t-sport. I just hope they brought them here. :( :( :(

I have managed to see some of our foreign competition. I took some happy snaps of a Type-R Civic....YES even the middle east gets this....Damn we always get screwed with cars down under.

They drive Beemers and Merc around here like they were excels. Every young puppy is crusing in a 325i BMW or merc (brand new mind you). Have spotted some Clio sports and an accent here n there but i did see one mean GTI corolla the 92/93 model Had the works done to it. Sorry all you fans of this shape i didnt have the camera handy.

I had a chat with some of the boys here and to them Turbo is a standard mod that should be on any car and real mods is when you bolt on the NOS kit, Bore out the engine capacity, shave the head etc etc etc. Have yet to see anyone hit the NOS button as the streets here are so crowded but man i cant wait. You gotta do this on one of the freeways cutting through the city at night otherwise there is no way. to run anyway.

Saw one of those VW's Jetta's like in fast n furious n it appeared to be worked also i was looking for the NOS bottle but it was kinda 2 dark to even see inside.

To describe the driving over here.....Well lets just say the marked lanes on the road are purely seen only as white line, the horn is the must utilised accessory in the car, and the indicators are just their for common curtosy and waving you hand out the window is enough notice to let someone know your turning or something. :P :P ;) ;)

Oh i think i forgot to mention i got myself an international driving permit and am waiting to give it a try. I think i might do it sometime in the wee hours of the morning when there is little traffic....N then once im used to it i am really really keen on renting a car here......German, Jap, Other Euro im not sure but 1 thing is for sure it has to be quick and something i would never get the chance to drive in Aus.

Ok Boys you enjoy the winter over there as its 30+ over here

Cheers

Bill

[Rock'n'Rolla]

its seems to be quite fun overthere xoom the way ppl over there driving is very interesting! :D i hope that u gonna pick up some tips from them one day :P

[Blackzze]

2 useless Middle East Facts for the Day:

1. The last shape Camry made in OZ and shipped to the Middle East had to have a different value temperature sensor fitted, because the Saudi's like their cars to run 'cool' on the gauge, so Toyota fitted a different sensor to make the Temp gauge run at around 25%, not around 40 to 50% us Aussies prefer.

2. Middle Easterners will (mostly) drive out of the showroom (with virtually 0k's on clock) and bang straight up to 200km/h as soon as they get onto a free stretch of road, as the car 'has to' do 200km/h........

Wouldn't that be nice to have the available roads here to do that......... :D

And without having to drive 1800 or so kays first......ie N.T.

Have Fun Bill !!

Get the best renta you can afford..... ........ and wring its neck..... :D

[xoom]

thx Blackzze.........but im really really really really sad :( :( ALL rentals that i would consider renting are GONE.....thats right GONE....some of the rental places are at the extremes where they have closed shop for the next month because they are not going to have cars till then. The biggest & baddest thing i could get within the next month was a 2004 Nissan sunny (equivalent to a pulsar) or a 1.6L Clio. :( :( :(

Man i went everywhere n nothing ..............bye bye the thought of a Z4, 330CI or SL55 AMG or even a porsche :( :( :( :(

And i would have used the roads over hear to really test these babies out.

I'll tell you what though i went for a spin up to the mountains and boy what a run that is. 500% better than anything i have seen in Australia. The roads are full smooth tarmac as if its for a race track non of that rough rock crap we use on our roads, so they are really easy going on soft compound tyres and are really really grippy. I got a glimps at a V12 SL600 convertible merc driven by a guy ...hmmm no older than 25 ..... what a rich boy showing the rest how to drive round the mountain.

Oh also discovered that i dont think they get the t-sport here at all as they only appear to have sedan corolla's no Hatches.

Cheers

Bill

[MR22ZZ]

Hey Xoom,

They have the same problem in Singapore.... No hatches, of any car, not just corrolas, there is a feeling in these countries that a sedan is more 'classy' and as only the 'haves' are able to buy cars in these countries due to high import duties on motor vehicles due to no manufacturers of their own to keep prices down as we have in Australia :) they like to buy whay they consider to be the best....

Ignorance is bliss, wouldn't they love to know what they are missing out on....

And before I get comment on people seeing hatches in Singapore, many of these are private imports from Japan that the owners pay exorbinant import duty on (150% of new purchase price no matter of age). You cannot buy hatches from a dealer....

[yekim]

Oh i think i forgot to mention i got myself an international driving permit and am waiting to give it a try.

Hope your having a great time overseas :) , my backpacking adventures for this year just ended for me...

Do you really need an international driving licence permit? initially I thought it was a requirement but i recently hired a car with my normal NSW license and drove it around western Europe with no poblems.

Heck, i used my licence to hire a motorbike in Thailand..but then again thats Thailand ;)

Cheers,

Mike