Is it true?

[Dinan55]

I heard that Japanese cars are limited to an unofficial and somewhat neglected rule that any production car cannot exceed 280 horsepower... is this true??

 

[gbf1lm]

yesi have heard it too but i think thats for the american market and i think thats gone away.

look
300z -280hp
nsx 280hp
350z - 280hp
skyline v-spec r - 280hp
lexus xx400 motors - 280hp

and others also in the 27x range just shy of 280

but recently

lexus xx430 motors + wrx sti exceed 280

 

[M_Six]

The 350Z has 287 out of the box, so I'd question that.

 

[gbf1lm]

another thing is that the japanese have an idea that performance cars should have small motors like 4cyl, 6cyl -- an idea that america needs to learn desperatly (cadilac sixteen whooo) and may not be capable of too much power and 280 is like a guidline think bc i see a lot of the cars with power outputs somewhere around 280.

 

[brahtw8]

yesi have heard it too but i think thats for the american market and i think thats gone away.

It was a Japanese government imposed limitation (in Japan) that had little or no enforcement behind it, so the Japanese manufacturers simply built cars with more than 280 hp. and understated the hp.

And the NSX was 270 hp. in 3.0 liter form (91-96) and 290 hp. in 3.2 (97+), even more hp. in some of the JDM versions. The old 300ZX TT was 300 hp. Supras and 3000 GT VR-4s were 320 hp.

 

[gbf1lm]

It was a Japanese government imposed limitation (in Japan) that had little or no enforcement behind it, so the Japanese manufacturers simply built cars with more than 280 hp. and understated the hp.

guidline/uninforced limitation, same thing

 

[Dinan55]

It was a Japanese government imposed limitation (in Japan) that had little or no enforcement behind it, so the Japanese manufacturers simply built cars with more than 280 hp. and understated the hp.

And the NSX was 270 hp. in 3.0 liter form (91-96) and 290 hp. in 3.2 (97+), even more hp. in some of the JDM versions. The old 300ZX TT was 300 hp. Supras and 3000 GT VR-4s were 320 hp.

Yea because I was looking at the M45, 340 horsepower.

 

[codex57]

The car mags always mentioned some kinda gentleman's agreement btw the Japanese car companies and the Jap gov't. Dunno where the other companies fit in. Might not be any limitation on them cuz they sell so few cars in Japan compared to the Jap comanies. But yeah, like Brahtw8 said, the companies just built powerful cars and underreported the horsepower to 280 or so.