well you know the ae86 here and japan came in coupe and 3 door lift back (or some call hatch back). People say the coupe is stiffer but to be honest I have drivin both and personally didn't feel a huge difference other than the coupe was an sr5 and was pretty slow.
When you get into the coupe and hatch you then have 2 choices of front ends in japan that we didn't have one here. You have the trueno which has flip lights like the North american ones. And the levin which has regular headlights. Then you have the GTV and GT apex. GTV = base model, no power steering and different seats than the GT-Apex. The GT-APEX has power steering, a/c, power windows and so on.
Now for more on looks you have the Zenki and Kouki. The tail lights differ slightly as do the rear bumpers but for the most part the largest difference would be your front bumper. Zenki is the one in initial d which has more of an A2 jetta look with the light flush with the bumper and they are smaller. With a different grill. The kouki has lights on the corners of your bumper.
As for 130 hp I think thats what the 4age had in japan, where as we lost around 10 - 12 hp due to emissions laws here. You can also try to find them in japan with mods that you want which should end up saving you in the end. I also feel it would be cheaper to buy a clean japanese ae86 than to buy a clean one here. They are usually around 6000 landed cost depending where you go for them. Some companies charge more than others so it can vary. But it's cheaper than buying an ae86 here in alright condition for 6 - 8000 then trying to put the jdm bumpers, engine, and so fourth into it. Because like I said alot of the ae86's you see on the net for sale from japan are already modded (which goes for alot of the skylines, rx7's, silva, 180's and so on). Alot of the ones I had been finding already had adjustable suspension on them which is a plus if your looking for that.
I think the biggest issue with buying a car this way is you don't get to see it. You typically have no idea what it's been through, accidents and such. So sometimes you can end up throwing the money out the window. Or on the other hand get an amazing deal that is typically out of reach in the North American ae86's...
maybe you can get lucky like ricardo and find one for cheap
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