Has any one heard the rumours about all japanese cars having speed limters on them? Did some reading up on, and apprantly the mx-5 has a limiter that stops it from going over 18km/h - do other mazda's have this problem?

I only ask cos I got an 1.8 auto and I need more power out of it and have trouble even getting the darn thing over 105mph

any thoughts people?

The japanese Lantis/Astina/323F that we get (privately imported ones) to Australia have a 180kph limit one them, and a speedo face that reads only to 180kph, unlike the standard Australian ones that go to 240kph and will keep pulling until about 210kph

most japanase domestic market cars have the 180kph limiter, but it's relatively easy to bypass apparently

[quote="Nabeshin"]Has any one heard the rumours about all japanese cars having speed limters on them? Did some reading up on, and apprantly the mx-5 has a limiter that stops it from going over 18km/h - do other mazda's have this problem?

I only ask cos I got an 1.8 auto and I need more power out of it and have trouble even getting the darn thing over 105mph

any thoughts people?[/quote]

No, i have seen MX-5's going over 18km/h

There is a law in japan though that cars are not allowed to have more then a certain amount of bhp's, so they are limited if they're for the japanese market. i don't know if they are limitted for the non-japanese market though...

If I remember correctly Japanese cars are limited to 300BHP max, hence the reason scoobies, skylines, supras, evos etc are all below 300BHP even tho most them are more than capable of running well over 300BHP with no problems.

Cheers
CraigC

found out how to bypass it there's a screw on the dash circuit board marked '180' - just unscrew that and you've dunnit! dunno if our english mad ones have the same thing, probably not...

Craigs more or less right, the limit in Japan is 320bhp thats why the Skyline is rated at 320bhp even though its closer to 350bhp.

As for limiters, Jap cars have em i know that 4 certain but brit/yank Jap cars dont have em.


Murph