Toyota Isis ram into shop

 

This is something we don't normally see in our TV during news time, as most of the Isis are for JDM hence it is rare for Isis to caught the news locally other than Japan.

Apparently, this Isis had smashed into a local shop and do some serious accident in Japan.

 The car are pretty intact and not much damages to the car.

 I not sure who's the driver and are there anyone injured ?

This accident happened back in 2012, so it a rather old stories and I just happened bump into it during my routine google search.

The front bumper does suffer some damages hitting the stainless steel rail.

For those interested to know more :-
http://shashuhantei.blog.jp/archives/7602018.html

Toyota Isis DIY DVD

 

There is always something for everyone and in Japan the people there never stop to surprise me with new innovation and products for the masses. I know that many car owner like to DIY around their car and I am one of them but many times we face problems of what is the proper steps to DIY. We worried that we might break something if we didn't do it the right way. Hence someone in Japan will show it for you via DVD.
Since it was done in Japanese for Japanese don't expect you could understand much before you learn how to listen Japanese. Anyway, it is much better than looking or reading via books and catalogue which most probably in Japanese too.

Cost ? Around JPY3,000, not that expensive since the Yen had drop so much in the recent months.

The video above is for a short sneak peek on what and how they present the DIY.

Links to original page in rakuten Japan :-
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/auc-mkjp/dvd-toyota-isis-zgm15w-01/

Places that you never know what it for !

Many of you that visit my blog surely is a owner outside of Japan that happened to own one of Japan well design car named Isis. I bought this car sometime ago and never feel regret owning it except when the time I run this car up Genting Highland. The 1.8l is really underpower going uphill. I wish that I bought the 2.0l back then.
Anway, back to today topics, have you ever think / question the design of some parts of this car ? I had examine this car from top to bottom and 3 of  the following item is a really puzzle to me during the initial stage of ownership of this car.

1st :-

 The cup holder design between the front row is a big question mark to me, I know it is a cup holder but I seem can't understand the design of a big circle and a small rectangle space at the bottom right hand side of the plastic are meant for what. Based on the picture above, you can see that design is to put cap of the water bottle. What a funny thinking this Japanese have in their mind during the design stage of this car. How many owner will appreciate this little extra ? I don't keep any of my bottle open while I am driving as I guarantee that the water will spill out at corner.

Next is an opening at the front passenger side at the floor between the door and seat. There is a rectangle opening which the designer think that the driver or passenger can put an collapsible umbrella at that location. I had tried to put one at it and found it useful until certain way as the umbrella that can fit that space aren't that useable for my family. Hence a full size umbrella are always located at the foot of passenger in my Isis.

The last bits are the red flare location below the glove compartment. My car is an gray import hence the seller had taken out the flare. Based on the manual and internet search, that location marked red in the picture above are the holding place for a flare which in time of emergency can be used.
How many times does we see people using flare for emergency involving car ? Boat or plane maybe but in car ? Seriously ?
I think a simple red umbrella will serve the same purpose too!

So this is a wrap for this pre Chinese New Year post. A Happy New Year to fellow Isis owner and share with me your stories and comments via email or comments column below.
Cheers

Toyota Isis on track day

For those heavy footer, have you ever think of getting your Isis to the track? I do wanted to try, and here are some video of what it might look like :-


The video was taken from 2 different track in Japan, the Ebisu East and West Course. Both this track also used by the Best Motoring team for the track video.


P/S : Remember to install a good exhaust for that grunt sound. Enjoy! Cheers.

Another nice video in Japanese

This time I found a retro commercial video in Japanese for Isis. Enjoy it. The girl and the family look happy in the video as what I want to be as in my family.

Funny advert for Isis (Japanese)

Above is 2 video that I found in Youtube the other day that show the advantages of Isis. Both the person dress funny and they action are typical Japanese style of presentation. I hope you have a good laugh too.
The red colour Isis shown in the advert are the latest model with some facelift to the front and end. 
Cheers

NOS on Isis ?

I had heard supercharger for Isis before, but NOS ? This is extreme. The picture above show an Isis installed with NOS.
What is NOS ? Full name of is Nitrous Oxide Systems. It is a system that hook up additional fuel to your injector by adding nitrous oxide to the combustion chamber for better power. Normally this kind of setup are one to sports car and it is quite rare for it to be installed on a mini-MPV such as Isis.
nyway, Japanese do love their car and this owner really does love this car so much to invest and installed this kit to Isis.
This car is a platana model 2.0 D4 engine with aftermarket piggyback ECU (Emanage Ultimate) installed.
There are a video in youtube that show the tuning/dyno process.

The video are posted this year and this is quite a new mod done. I can't get the tuner details as mostly it is in Japanese and the translator aren't very good. I will update more once I get more information.

Links to the original page in Japanese :-
http://gold.ap.teacup.com/brucem/763.html

Toyota Safety Recall for Isis

There are many cases where Toyota announce recall for their cars either in the global market or for their JDM market. However they never hide the problem of their for long and they reported it to the mass media globally. This is something that I feel is not bad, even tho that this show their car have problem but in another way this also mean they are a bit transparent with the problem of their car.
Basically, a safety recall means that the car have certain problem identify by the manufacturer and request the owner to send their car back to the shop to have remedial works done. This normally free of charge and they will inspect and repair it.

So for Toyota Isis specifically, safety recall were announced recently and many years back and I had identify 3 recall for this car. Since this is a JDM model, normally the description for the recall are in Japanese and the website that cater to this recall are in Japanese too.
I manage to track this website and kindly follow the links below (you will need to enter your car chasis/model number to check) :-
http://www.toyota.co.jp/recall/RecallServlet

Upon a simple search you will get the list of service recall for your car. I had entered mine and get 3 recall as below :-
http://toyota.jp/recall/2006/0530.html (Year 2006)
http://toyota.jp/recall/2007/0717.html (Year 2007)
http://toyota.jp/recall/2012/1114.html (Year 2012)

The brief description for all 3 recall are to check/replace/tightened the steering shaft, checking the brake switch problem, and connection rod for the gearbox and steering mechanism.
I not sure in details of all this thing due to the translation by google are moderate, hence it is best to check with Toyota Malaysia for this. I think we can write in to Toyota Malaysia for their help in securing the parts and service to do this service recall. Hopefully they can do all 3 of this together.

Anyway, this post is to share the information of the safety recall and take note that Toyota reported that no accident had happened due to this problem and personally I had problem with the brake switch thingy but I had change the switch and no problem for now. On the same matter, I know about 1 or 2 safety recall for Isis before I buy this car but I love this car hence this doesn't matter much. Hopefully, I can get some reply from Toyota Malaysia to help me in this and I will post something back here if got any update.

Cheers

New commercial for Toyota Isis

This is a new commercial in Japan for Toyota Isis. Its a 30 second clips which is sort of a complete advert. This time Toyota pick Misia as their brand ambassador for Isis and she is a Japanese songwriter and singer. Personally, I don't know much about her, but you could always google your way and get more information about her. The advert show the specialty of Isis by magically removing the B pillar during the commercial to show the panorama view that Isis champion for. By showing how the dog sleeping on the floor of 2nd row seat and jumping out does give you the feeling of spaciousness of Isis. Enjoy the nice advert, cheers.

Tom's Racing for Isis

Here is another company that does aftermarket parts for Isis, Tom's Racing is another great company that does internal and external modification parts for Toyota cars.

Links to the company website :-
http://www.tomsracing.co.jp/products/car/typedetails.php?carID=1090&typeID=2108

WALD Parts for Isis

Wald International is one of the leading styling house for many Japanese car. They also produce styling kit for JDM Toyota Isis too and their car in black is very beautiful to my taste. The style that they bring is very smart and executive like.
They only produces external parts and not engine mod like other modification company.

Links to their website :-
http://www.wald.co.jp/parts_acce/carrange/toyota/isis/10isis/isis.html

TRD Parts for Isis

If you like to modify your car, TRD is one of the best modification house for Toyota. You can refer here for all parts for Isis (JDM) market. Always use google translate or any online translator to have a better understanding.

Links to TRD Japan website (Isis) :-
http://www.trdparts.jp/list_isis.html

What's is Toyota Isis

Launch in September 2004, Toyota Isis is a mini-MPV grade passanger car my by Kanto-Auto Works for Japan Domentic Market (JDM). This model is still available now only for Japan market and come in 2 engine sizes 1.8l and 2.0l.



Engine had change from the old and reliable 1ZZ-FE (1.8l) and 1AZ-FSE - Direct Fuel Injection (2.0l) to 2ZR-FAE (1.8l) and 3ZR-FAE (2.0l) both Direct Fuel Injection and Dual VVT-i new engine.

What is so special about Toyota Isis ?
Toyota Isis is design with the concept of being practical and with characteristic. Compare to others Toyota model in the same grade i.e. Toyota Wish or Noah, it feature a built in B pillar to the sliding door on the left of the car, something which is very rare in the MPV market. Toyota name it panoramic door. When open together with the front passenger door, you can have a feeling of space and wideness in the interior of the car. The left hand side sliding door come standard with power activated vacuum seal.



Toyota Isis seat 7 with a 2-3-2 configuration and the front passenger seat and be folded to the front to extend the 2nd row leg room a bit more.

Overall, Toyota Isis is a special mini-MPV car offer to the Japan market.

Links to Toyota Isis - Press release document :-
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MYWF08WP

Links to Toyota Isis Japan website (Japanese) :-
http://toyota.jp/isis/index.html