The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 40

1 i i vfl-R Friday. March 25. 1083 Philadelphia Inquirer AUTOMOTIVE Buying a car in Japan is one giant headache By BILL SIMMONS know-how, tfww i mini nm lw iMnnmmw iih i i -i; 'T. rrr- 4iq: i 'f i -v t) 'i i I 4 1.1111, A. i i v-i 'i.

The Mazda 626 Sport Sedan accelerates, handles and stops well and is powered by a new and Mazda 626: It's new and powerful two-liter engine better An evaluation: Mazda 620 Sport Base price basic jour-door sport iedan induces 2 liter engine, 5-speed mual transmission, AM FM stereo raifio, power steering and power brakes, power windows and door locks, electronically variable shock observers, front wheel drive. The model tested is priced at SU.4SS and includes these major options: air conditioning, oversize wheels and tires. Other available ma jor options include automatic transmission and a popup, removable sunroof. Miles per gallon during this test: 261. EPA rating: 27.

ing all over tne place. Two years ago, an all-new, drive GLC burst on the scene to almost universal critical acclaim, and. If first impressions are any indication, the Just-Introduced successor to the 626 will be just as well re-. ceived. When plans were laid for this new 626, Toyo-Kogyo's designers and engineers bad one of those rare opportunities in the automobile business that of starting with a blank piece of paper.

About the only resemblances between the old and new versions are the name badges on the front and rear. Like its predecessor, the new 626 is available tn both rwc and four-door sedans. It also is available as a four-door hatchback, called the Sport Sedan, that has the versatility of a midsize station wagon and almost as much capacity. There are two trim levels deluxe (Dl) and luxury (LX). The coupe and sedan arc available in both levels, the Sport Sedan in LX only.

I recently spent two weeks and several hundred miles with a five-speed Sport Sedan. The overriding feeling it gave me was that, had I not known this was a Japanese vehicle, I would have thought it European. It accelerated, slopped and bandied as well as any small European sedan. The Japanese have a reputation for gimmickry, but Mazda's latest gimmick will enable a driver to have his cake and eat it, too, when it comes to handling. The new feature consists of Electronically Variable Shock Absorbers (F.VSA).

which permit a driver to adjust the ride and handling by pushing a button. Tbc EVSA control has three set-lings normal, firm and automatic, By Bill Simmons fnquircr Aulo fcdiiof are diverse philosophies at Work in ibe world auto industry, at when it come to designing and tiuilding the product. For German manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Henz and Audi, function is the buzzword. For the French Peugeot and Renault form is the prerequisite. In this country, the major carmakers want to be all things to all people.

md. In many ways, they have begun to succeed. General Motors and Ford, for instance, offer everything from two-seat sportsters to 12-passenger people-movers. The Japanese, who have been reaping the harvest of a changing world for the better part of a decade, hae their own way of doing things. They take dead aim on the highly competitive bread-and-butter segments of the market, in which they Lave to build the best possible car or suffer ibe consequences.

Toyo-Kogyo. maker of Mazda cars and trucks, learned that lesson dramatically in the early 1970s. Its cars then were of typical Japanese design. That is, they borrowed heavily from American technology, reduced the size of everything by about 40 percent and came in ignominious body shells bedecked with a lot of frilly, silly trim. In those days, when the only Americans who drove small cars were seen as eccentric, it didn't really matter what the Mazdas looked like.

The company simply was trying to establish a foothold in the American market. Mazda did quite well with its rotary-engine coupes and sedans the latter having normal setting up to 50 miles per hour and a firm setting at higher speeds. The EVSAs are actuated by solenoids on the lop of each shock absorber. When called for, the solenoids rotate a rod that extends into the shock piston. This either ontns or closes an orifice to change the damping force.

I he 626 is powered by a new. lighter, and more powerful two-liter, four-cylinder engine that is mounted transversely. With the five-speed manual gearbox, I managed consistent zcro-to-55 p.b.' times of less than 10 seconds. The interior is tastefully done and, for the most part, well-designed. The seats are covered with a ribbed ve-lour that helps keep driver and passengers In place under even the most enthusiastic driving conditions.

The instrument panel is laid out for easy viewing, with the tachometer and speedometer occupying adjacent semicircles, with other gauges in between. Wiper, washer, headlight, flasher and rear defoggcr switches are mounted on each side of instrument pod, and all can be used without removing one's bands from the steering wheel. On tbc other band, the clock, elec-' trie window switches and stereo balance jny stick arc difficult to sec and 'or reach at the forward end of the center console and in front of tbc shift lever. The 626 is not an inexpensive car, with a few opUons pushing the suggested list price to near SI 1,000. It is, however, in the same ballpark as its Japanese competition and a veritable bargain when measured against most comparable European sedans.

Dear Bill: I will be traveling and working in Japan for i year, starting this August. Will you give me some tips on purchasing car in Japan and, when Tm ready to return to the United States, having it shipped here? What would be involved in the areas of taxes and Environmental Protection Agency requirements? How much of a saving would I realize, having kept and driven the car for i year in Japan? B.M., Philadelphia. I would advise you, right off the bat. to forget the idea. For starters, you cannot buy and operate a Japanese car built for export to the United States in Japan.

The main problem is that cars built for export have left-band drive and. since the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, left-hand-drive cars are Illegal in that country. On the other side of the coin, if you buy a car to operate In Japan, it will not come up to VS. safety regulations tn such areas as bumpers, door braces, fuel-system integrity and more. VHic cost of bringing' it up to standards probably would be higher than if you sold the car in Japan when you were ready to return to the United States and then bought a new one here There is no way to avoid meel-ing these standards, since the gov-ernment impounds the car upon offloading and keeps it until it is certified.

Another thing you might wish to keep In mind is that, by law. no one is allowed to own a cur in Japan unless he can prove be has off-street parking for it. Dear Bill: I have a 1982 Ford EXP with a 50-state engine and would like to know the difference between it and 49-state engine. I'v gotten conflicting stories from people who work for Ford. One fellow sayi tht emission controls are the same on both engines.

Another says they are different and, since the engine was calibrated with the emission controls on it, removing any part of the system could cause harm. I don't want to be driving an illegal car, but if there is anything I can do to convert it to 49-state engine specifications, I would like to do so, if it won't damage the engine. My reason for asking is the hope of gaining tittle more performance and gas mileage. G.B., Barberton, Ohio. The term 50-state engine refers lo the fact that it meets emission regulations for all 50 states.

It is more often referred to as California-certified, because that state has -more stringent pollution laws than the Environmental Protection Agency, whose regulations arc used by the other 49 states. All of which brines me to the con fusing part of this equation. I can heln but wonder how a resident of Ohio wound up with a California- certified car, since all manufacturers sell them only in California. Although the emission-control systems in cars are similar to the 49-state versions, there are some major differences such as the calibration of carburetor and ignition systems, both of which are a. until the 197J74 oil embargo.

The rotary enghc. famed for delivering a lot of owcr' in a small, lightweight package, was not particularly fuel-efficient. To make matters worse, when the F.nvironmental Protection Agency (F.PA) started its mileage tests, it gave the rotary lower numbers than it deserved, when the oil embargo' bit. the bottom dropped out of Mazda's market. Mazda countered with the subcom-pact GLC and the larger and more luxurious 626.

both with piston engines, and the R-7 was introduced, which had a refined and more clfi-cient rotary cnglje. In truth, it wus the GI.C and the 626 that saved Mazda's bacon in the American market. Hut as time went on, both began to lose appeal. Both were front-engine, rear-drive cars, and it became increasingly hard for llitm to thrive in a market where front-drive technology was sprout computer-controlled and. thereby-difficult to change.

I doubt if there is mucb permanent harm you can do to an engine, pj '-changing emission controls, but wouldn't recommend it because yod -could easily make It run worse get even poorer gas mileage. Dear Bill: Would you please "in-' lighten me as to the meaning of the. phrase that is etched on the external rear-view mirrors of General Motors' cars. No one I have spoken to has been able to offer a clear-cut explanation. A.G., Philadelphia.

V. The phrase, which is etched ontfic bottom of the right-side mirror only, is: "Objects in mirror ore closer. they appear." It is to serve as a wart-' ing and means exactly what it say. The reason for the warning is Uiut the mirror is convex in construction This permits a wider view to the rear of the car, but distorts the distance between the mirror and, say. a car that has just been passed.

If one doesn't keep this In mind, be could easily think he has plenty of room to pull into that lane and wind up causing an accident. Dear Bill: My Cadillac Eldorado diesel has been driven 104.000 miles since I purchased it new in June of 1979. Since the diesel is a converted gasoline engine and since I am concerned about its longevity, 1 would very much like to revert to a gasoline-fueled automobile. What sort of problems could expect to encounter if I were to install a low-mileage engine such as the 4J-liter electronic fuel injection engine currently available in new Cadillacs? E.H, Marietta, Ga. 1 spoke to a mechanic who specializes in Cadillac repairs.

He said the job would be fairly costly and quite involved, but less so than trying to install a diesel in a car that originaL-ly had been equipped with a gasoline engine. lie advised against trying the cod-version, but said that, should you wish to proceed, ho would recommend buying the entire enginu-transaxle package from a late-model wreck. That is because the transmissions used with gas engines and those lor diesels are calibrated differently so as to mate with the -gine's torque and horsepower curves. He also warned about potential problems tying the ignition system into car's electrical system, since the diesel lias no ignition. As a general rule, I oppose engine conversions with today's cars.

That belief is even complex stronger when it comes lo as complex a move as you proixi.se. If you feel you must change, I surest stjling the diesel and buying a gasoline-powered version. BA hnmni wffcimt vwr MihM MiJt fin nd mMrtwwnc. Thn if fanr4 wNurt fe hihii mMHtk fvrmA mdivittMf nn tend vaur ui)Mnt I Kntv HM, TM Mwhtw. Mi ifii, pmmmii ww I.

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