Where the #&*@ is Okazaki?

[m4663]

Hi All.

Okazaki? It's right next to Toyota City! No kidding. There really is a Toyota City here in Japan. It's a real city, with maybe half a million people. Okazaki is on the southern border. The Toyota head office is 20 minutes away from my place.

I teach English here. Many of my students are Toyota engineers and designers. We've had great discussions about past, present, and future cars.

I have 2 Toyotas - a 1995 Avalon (made in USA), and a 1992 Sprinter Marino (made in Japan). It's interesting to note the quality differences between the two cars.

Unfortunately, the Marino is headed for the scrap heap next week. Even though it has only 66,000 km, and is in great shape, I need only 1 car. Sell it? Not in Japan! Nobody buys old cars in Japan. The biennial tax payment and inspection (about $1000) is due next week. After that it will be illegal to drive it, so... sayonnara!

End of story!

[Peter]

hey tobad u need to scrap it...wanna GIVE it to me...lol..nice to have u at TN

[Bernd]

I am in Yokohama and had a 1994 Caldina for sale. Dealer would give nil, even charge to deregister, but a foreigner friend decided he wants to drive it another 1-2 years.
Here the picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Caldina

Now we have a NOAH 8-seater. The newest incarnation 2005-08 and later has a noticeable increase in aceleration over the older D-4 engines we test drove. ISIS was also a disappointing slowie. I figure this nice gain is likely due to different engine management software and the wide-band oxygen sensor this engine now has. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Noah

See you around...