Hiro

For me at least, it's a case of driving involvement and feedback, as well as skill. Any numpty can press a paddle or push a sequential lever without lifting their foot off the accelerator, but the art of correctly matching clutch to throttle to shifting in my mind is one of the purest components of driving a car. If it is was purely about performance, then obviously yes I'd go with the DSG (which is why I said it'd be a different story for a race car), but for a daily/weekend thrash the feeling you get of heel-toeing into a corner and you slot the lever down through the gears, knowing that if you make a mistake you can only blame yourself, and extracting every last bit of performance out of both the car _and_ yourself is just brilliant. Same goes for electric vs hydraulic power steering (or even no power steering at all) - sure electric is lighter, less strain on the engine, more reliable and more accurate, but the mechanical feedback from the wheels that you really only get in a good hydraulic or non-power steering car is miles better. In short, it's a connection between the driver and the car that all the computers, servos, 20-million clutches and flappy paddles in the world can't replicate.

I've owned - 1997 AE102 Cara has owned - everything else in my sig :P still got the ST162 and JZZ30

For a road car - manual, all the way. If I wanted to change gears with a button or a paddle, I'd play the XBox. Race/track car, may be a different story.

Woops, forgot to post up in here Well, a good night was had by all and sundry (ie me), first time in years that I've actually attended a TOCAU event that wasn't the annual meet actually (:P) so it was good to put names/usernames to faces cars. I've made a commitment to attend more of the monthly meets from now on, but seeing as how it's a 2-hour trip each way I'll probably only do it every couple of months or so (assuming they are Friday night/weekend meets, can't do weeknights). I must say though that Outback Steakhouse was a bit of a let-down - I already knew that the place had nothing to do with Australia apart from the decor, but I was led to believe that the Bloomin' Onion was something only slightly less amazing than the birth of your first child or winning the lottery - turns out it is just a giant onion ring + dipping sauce, although at least it is made from real bits of onion. Steak was decent (although still slightly too alive for a medium-rare) without being amazing, service was reasonable (although they forgot to bring me my second beer, but at least they didn't charge me for it), but in the end it was all about the people and the cars with the food simply a binding agent. Then again, I may have been spoiled by going to sSs twice in the previous 2 weeks, where the service is instant and the steak + ribs mouthwatering (and the Monster Shank Challenge achievable).......dang, I want to go there again now :( Oh, and waiting on photos :P

AE102 - Charlene, from Full Metal Jacket. JZZ30 - Lexi, because it's a Lexus (sort of)

Need to see the back of these soon, taking up space in the hallway Price drop to $500, reasonable offers considered (no lowballings though)

Back up to the top...

FYi, all spacers (hubcentric or not, bolt-on or slip-on) are illegal unless they came fitted from the factory.

Rear wing is speed-sensitive so it's hidden when the car is stationary :P

I believe AE101 Levin/Trueno shifter housings are different from the ADM AE101/102 ones....fairly sure the AE9x ones are metal too instead of plastic.

My patented method to filling up the wiper fluid 1) Connect garden hose to tap 2) Insert nozzle of hose into reservoir 3) Turn tap on 4) Turn tap off when reservoir is full

1) Remove stock shift lever from bracket 2) Place lever in vice 3) Heat pivot ball with oxy torch etc 4) Bash pivot ball further up shaft 5) ... 6) Profit

Maybe TRD make their SCs out of old 4AFE/7AFE intake plenums :P

The pool-car Astras (60th Anniversary) at workhave only done 70-80,000km and they're already starting to fall apart, glovebox on one won't stay closed, sunvisors falling off, the tranny on the other one is starting to whine and shift slowly (made even worse by the fact that they are gutless already) - I'd hate to see what they'd be like after 150,000km...

Bought the smaller detailing kit the other week (car wash, liquid polish, interior cleaner, wheel cleaner, sponge and two cheesecloths, and it's worked a treat. Best bang-for-buck car care product I've ever bought.

Put mah wheelz on

That's on Lows, Super Lows are an option for the future but it already scrapes in places. Half the problem is that the AE10Xs have massive wheel arches, so it is hard to fill them neatly and still keep the car off the ground. I've been meaning to get rid of the twincam.org sticker for ages too (got a .org.au to go in place) but I'm going to wait until I change the windscreen, no point wasting a sticker. And I do have a TOCAU sticker, it's one of the oval ones in the rear driver quarter window (you can just see the outline of it in the 1st and 3rd pics) :P

They see me rollin', they ain't hatin'... Down at the local oval, ground was a little uneven so the arch clearances aren't all even nor indicative Out the front of home, better idea of stance Strut-to-sidewall clearance is a little tight on the rears, can still fit a few sheets of paper between so probably 3-5mm clearance, might look at rear spacers further down the track (plenty of room to fill out in the guards) but happy with it for now. Overall damn pleased with the wheels and the way it sits, yet to test the tyres out though...

Built into the tach, see the three LED's there? ;) Where 11,12 and 13000rpm are on a Honda tacho :P

Exactly - my point was that this thread is ~4 years old. A 3-year old 2004 model sold second-hand in 2007 is going to be worth a lot more than 2004 one sold second-hand in 2011....

You must have missed the bit where it said that this was in 2007...

Tyres are now fitted to rims, just wish this bloody weather would fine up so I can test fit them...

Why would they bother? They already sell the Rav4, Kluger, FJ, Prado, 75-series and Landcruiser, why add another vehicle (which isn't that much different and has no unique selling point) to an already cluttered market? Remember when they last sold it here (as the 4Runner) the Rav4, Kluger, FJ and Prado didn't even exist. Plenty of later model Hilux Surfs got imported though, but in the end Toyota would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to re-launch it.