The plan is to move JDMLove off of wordpress and onto Tumblr. I want to try and set it up as a community site where fellow tumblr (and maybe non-tumblr members) can simply post a picture with a brief caption. Tumblr has a wonderfully simple and intuitive authoring interface which members can post straight from their iPhone! So if it all works out like I plan, contributors can simply snap a photo with their iPhone at a meet and post it immediately.

Tumblr also supports various forms of posting from text posts to audio posts. With such a wide variety of post mediums I hope the page will stay fresh and provide the content I was hoping the blog would.

I’ll post up designs on here as I go and those who do read or visit are free to comment on them. I’d also like to give a very special and sincere thanks to the authors who did contribute here, it wouldn’t have been even worth it without you! And thank you to the readers, I hope you follow the progress as we move over to Tumblr!

- Chris

As my first post here, I thought I might as well introduce myself and my JDM Subaru.

I first got into japanese cars when I sold my truck and got an old 1987 Toyota Celica from my Dad to commute to work. It was amazing how fun that car was on the turns, and even on the gravel roads and hills. Right at the same time, the 2002 WRX’s started showing up in dealers and I knew I had to get a hold of one of these. I bought a ‘02 WRX Wagon and have been a certified subaru fanatic since then. I am now on my 5th Subaru, and the first one that is pretty unique due to being a JDM car.

This car was brought over from Japan in 2 halves, the front and back from the same car. A donor USDM 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS was sourced, that had a great body, and was stripped completely and the parts were sold off. Every single nut and bolt, and glass and trim was transferred to the USDM shell. Even the rare JDM rear wiper, power folding mirrors, flat fuel door with the cable release and power retractable antenna were brought over. A few new OEM parts were added to improve on some body panels that had seen better days such as the hood and rear doors. Jeremy in NH did all the work as his personal car and did a great job. I purchased the car after he had it sitting in his garage for a couple years. When I bought the car, it had around 45,000 original kms on the whole car (besides the miles on the donor chassis).

Since purchasing the car, I have added a few bits and pieces here and there, but my goal is to keep it as close to JDM-stock as possible. The stock JDM Version 5 came with the 2.0 Liter EJ207 motor with a VF-28 twin-scroll turbo. This one is a 5-speed Manual, since the 6-speeds only came in the Type R/RA models that year. Later in 2001 or so when the version 7s came out, 6-speed became standard on all STI’s worldwide.

The car has the following mods as of today:

• APEX’i Power FC with Commander
• 3″ Custom SS Turbo–back Exhaust
• 3″ Vibrant Cat
• Stromung Axle–back
• IXIZ AOSEP
• JIC FLT–>A2 Coilovers
• Rear swaybar – Whiteline Adjustable 22–24mm
• Rear swaybar endlinks – Whiteline
• Subaru Heavy–duty rear swaybar mounts
• Subaru JDM V7 wheels
• SS Brake lines
• Brembo Rotors
• H6 Rear vented rotors
• UK–sourced Lamco (Subaru OEM) White–faced Triple Gauges
• Kartboy short shifter and bushings
• MOMO alum/leather Shift knob
• WRX pedals
• V6 front spoiler and spats
• JDM aero ‘mudguards’
• Cusco center rearend brace

Driving Impressions:

The first time I drove the car it took a little getting used to. The second time I drove the car it was when I bought it in New Hampshire and drove 10 hours in the snow to Virginia. The car was extremely fast, around 310 HP on the JDM ECU. Shifting with the other had took a little while to get used to (like 2 hours or so), as well as lane positioning. The car handles great and loves to rev. The EJ207 has a 8000-rpm redline, which is a little higher than the US model WRXs or 2.5 liter USDM STIs. The twin-scroll turbo spools quickly and runs about 19.5 psi or so. Acceleration is very good in the car. Of course, the all-wheel drive helps grab the road, but the car’s 400-odd lbs weight savings over the USDM GD-chassis STIs helps quite a bit as well.

I have tuned the car with the APEX’i Power FC to be able to run 93 octane gas safely. My main goal in tuning the car was to get a safe tune to keep the engine healthy for a long time.

I have also dialed in the handling a bit with the rear sway bar, endlinks, and most recently, the JIC coilovers. The car handles corners amazingly. I am still debating putting the STI V5 struts back on with some V6 STI Type R Springs I picked up from Ryan in Japan. I will continue to dial in the handling over the next few months to get ready for a few track days and some spirited driving in the scenic mountains we have out east in the Appalachians.

I will be doing some product reviews and updates as time goes on. The most fun is seeing people’s reactions when they notice this is no ordinary Subaru Impreza. I never knew Subaru fanatics were so nuts about JDM parts!! After spending the last year driving this car up and down the east coast, I can definatly see why. I hope to spread the JDM love by taking it to as many track days, meets, and events as possible in 2010. Enjoy the pictures and see you on the road!

User Link Feed

Now our users can add content to the site without being authors! That’s right, no need to become and author to contribute to the site. With the user link feed you as the user can post your link or a link to a site you feel is relevant to JDM and a short description about that page which will appear in the sidebar. Now anyone can contribute to JDMLove and help the site get bigger!

New Navigation

The navigation has been overhauled and cleaned up. Instead of seeing all of the categories we are making use of subcategories and an elegant drop down menu. This cleans up our navigation and make it easier to use.

Drag To Share

When you’re viewing any single post you can click on the main image (the image at the top of the page) and drag it to your favorite share site! This is an entirely new approach to social networking and we’re excited to deploy it on JDMLove!

Take A Look Around

Take some time out of your day and check out the new features on JDMLove, feel free to leave feedback!

• Links to useful resources or inspiration
• Links to your site or other sites that share the same passion for the JDM scene
• Please keep your descriptions to 500 characters or less

You can submit your links using the form below. Approval can take up to 48 hours

Anyways, you’ll need a good wax job to really take advantage of this trick, however even poorly waxed cars can benefit. Happy washing!

In order to make use of my fix-a-ticket I need to get my license renewed which means I need to make a trip to the dreaded DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). I step into the DMV at about 10:15 a.m figuring that most people were at work and the line would be short, WRONG! Line was of course a mile long and as I watched my lunch break fly by I was getting nervous. Finally I hear “next” and to my disbelief I was actually next! Up to the counter I go and “what can I do for you?” well, I said, I need to have my license renewed.

Apparently as of 2008 in the State Of Oregon you can no longer receive a new or renewed drivers license without, a valid social security card, proof of live birth (your birth certificate), state identificatin (old license, temporary state issued I.D), and a utility bill sent to your current address. Me being foolish figured that my expired Oregon drivers license, some credit cards, and my social security card would be enough proof of my identity, but apparently not.

Oregon claims these new harsher rules are to combat “terrorism” and “illegal immigration” however, if you are a terrorist would be willfully in the DMV to get a drivers license? Probably not, if you’re an illegal immigrant and the DMV denies you a drivers license are you really going to just leave your vehicle in the parking lot? Probably not. This just seems like another way to make hard working, tax paying American’s jump through one more hoop in their daily lives and a way for the State to extract another $59.00 from our pockets.

So the moral of the story is that the DMV is an insidious vice that we all must deal with, regardless in what state your currently living in. If you’re in the State Of Oregon be sure to bring in you social security card, birth certificate, utility bill, your old or current I.D, $59.00 in cash or check (no debit or credit), and a blood sample…ok maybe not a blood sample, but everything else is true!

Click here to read Monopoly Man’s post on swapping a H22 engine into a 90 – 93 Accord.

Our Most Viewed Post

I spent some time in my life before this web development gig as a car salesman, in fact, a Honda/Acura car salesman. The dealership that I worked for will remain anonymous. During my time there I sold a lot of new cars, used cars, and took in a number of trades so I got to know the inner workings of the dealership pretty well. With this knowledge it gives me an upper hand as a consumer when I go out to purchase a new or used vehicle and I want to share these secrets with you in hopes you too, can get a good deal.

First off I’d like to give a little direction of what you as a consumer need to know before you consider going into the dealership. Know what car you want, what make, model, and mileage, then stick to it. Dealerships will take advantage of rogue customers who don’t know what they want and shoe horn them into something that is over their budget. This brings me to my second point, know your budget, know how much money you can spend and negotiate UP to that amount, this means never start your negotiations at the highest price you’re willing to go. If you simply cannot afford the car you want, then wait a while until you can afford it or re-evaluate what you want.

Research your vehicle, know all of the packages that come in the model you want, look up the invoice value on Kelly Blue Book (http://www.kbb.com). 9 – 10 times you will not get down to invoice but it’s always good to know what invoice is since it can help you determine a good deal from a bad deal. If you’re looking at a used car and you’re at a dealership look up the trade-in value on Kelly Blue Book (http://www.kbb.com), this is what you can expect to pay. For more consumer information just search Google.

Lets get into the good stuff, how does a dealership work. Most dealerships purchase their cars from the manufacturer at what we know as “invoice.” Generally a dealership has a large line of credit that they use to purchase these cars and they do make monthly payments on their inventory. This is true of used cars as well. The dealer is in-fact purchasing your car from you when you trade it in. Knowing this you can understand why invoice can be a pretty hard number to obtain, but with some work you can get damn close to it.

Dealers have a lot of wiggle room on used cars, this means that the MSRP you see on the window label has a good amount of mark-up attached to it. Generally speaking, most used cars can have anywhere from $3,000 – $8,000 of mark up attached to their price tags. This is like equity in your home, you can sell your personal home for less than a builder can sell a brand new home because you have equity in that home, meaning – you purchased your home for less than it’s worth at the date of sale.

So how does a Dealer take in a trade-in? Again, this is heavily based off of the blue book value of the vehicle. Trade-in value is always less than private party value and I’m not going to digress into why. In blue book there are 3 levels of vehicle quality, excellent, good, and fair. Fair being the lowest on the list means there is significant body damage and the vehicle is mechanically unsound or simply does not run. Good is average wear and tear for that car and excellent would be little old lady style. A dealerships goal is to take your car in for UNDER fair value. That’s where they’ll start their negotiations for your car.

Their vehicle on the other hand is always priced at Private Party value excellent. They claim this is because they detail every car on the lot, put new tires on it, gave it some sort of inspection and slapped a 90 day warranty on it. However; the truth to be known is that the dealership is generally at most into the car at blue book good condition, trade-in value. This would leave approx. $4000.00 or more on many popular vehicles in money they can negotiate with.

If you like to buy used, start your negotiation for that car at blue book fair trade-in value and bring in that document with you, you can print off a copy at www.kbb.com. Be sure your salesman understands that you are not about to pay private-party value for a vehicle they took in at trade-in value. Also be sure your salesman is aware you are ONLY concerned with the overall price of the vehicle and you are NOT concerned with payments at this time.

Financing is a hazy grey area that gives the dealership more room to move. You pick up a car at a 5-year loan at 6.5% interest on average and the dealership is able to play with some of that interest to change your monthly payment until they hit the bank wall. Example; if you went to the bank and qualified for 2.99% APR and then went to a dealership and tried to qualify for the same loan, they would most likely tell you that your interest rate should be 4.99% or higher assessing an additional 2.0% of interest as profit for themselves. Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors, if your dealer tells you they can’t give you the car at the price you want but can get your payments to where you want to be you best stand up and walk out.

What about new cars? New cars are a bit different, remember the home equity analogy I used above? Same is true here. Say a dealer pays the manufacturer $20,000 for that car fresh off the assembly line, they are now in that car to $20,000 and will probably price it around $22,000 – $26,000 based on supply and demand. Every manufacturer handles this differently and so does every dealership, there are a few exceptions like Scions.

Research what people in your area are paying on average for that new car and then subtract an extra $2500.00 from that as your base for negotiations. You could walk away paying $1000.00 less or more below what others are paying for the car just based on that knowledge.

Dealers have manufacturer quotas to meet each month on different models of cars, if they miss those quotas at the end of the month it will effect their manufacturer allocation of more popular new vehicles the next month. What this equals to is that dealers are more willing to deal at the end of every month. Also, if a car has been on the lot for more than 30 days the dealer starts having to make payments + interest payments to it’s lenders on the car, and they hate to do that. Imagine if you sit on a car for one year, you took out a $20,000 line of credit to buy it, then mark it up $2000.00 to try and make a profit, by the end of the year you could end up owing more than the car is worth, and dealerships hate to be upside down.

On every show floor there is a spot where the managers sit, and in that spot there is generally a board charting the sales quantities of each sales person. Often times manufacturers and dealerships offer salesmen who sold a lot of vehicles rewards. If you’re in the dealership at the end of the month you may want to try and work with the salesman who’s ranked in the top 3 – 4 on that board because they may be chasing that reward.

Finally, one last consideration, dealerships pick up accessories for almost nothing. If every dealer you have worked with is unwilling to get to your price point but you still want the car and it’s not over your budget ask them to give you some accessories for free as part of the deal. Maybe some new wheels, racks, box, lip kit, etc… Let them know that you are dissatisfied with the cost of the vehicle but would still be willing to buy if you get some accessory at no cost. Often times the dealer will agree to these conditions to make the sale.

I could go on for pages about dealerships and the internal workings, but I hope this bit gives you some insight on how a dealership works and little extra ammunition for those intense negotiations. Remember, a dealership will deny up and down any of my allegations here but I can assure you they all operate the same.

If you have questions feel free to post them below and if you found this to be helpful share it with your friends or use the bookmarks below.

Good luck!

The logo got a face lift as well! In fact it’d make a really good decal if we ever get big enough or have the desire to sell JDMLove decals. The sidebars have been overhauled to make signing up and signing in easier, faster, and more convenient. Also alot of consideration was spent with consistency of feel. As with any redesign there may be a few quirks here and there that I’ll continue to work on. If you notice any as you surf the site please contact me!

JDMLove Redesign

JDMLove New Logo