Well, we are pretty settled on the
island so far and this was helped with having wheels to get us around town. We
ended up getting two cars and I will go into the practicalities of making that
happen, since well, I am car guy by nature. However, I have traded HP and Torque,
for MPGs and Cargo Space…What has my life turned into now!? Haha it is ok, I
wouldn’t have it any other way now, but seeing these GTR’s and Fairlady Z’s
cruising around sometimes gives me that “itch” again…Anyways, let’s get into what I
got now and what we have done so far with them…
1. 2003 Honda Odyssey Absolute – This
was the first car we got when we got here, since we figured we will need the
cargo room and the 7 seats when the families visit in the future. It had about 55K
miles on the odometer and looked in good shape (more on that later). But the
car guy in me noticed that the trim seemed unique on the outside/inside, it had
xenon headlights, factory navigation, and nice factory 17 inch rims with
Potenza tires on them. Hmmm, I Googled this “Absolute” model and low and
behold, it is a special version that is Mugen tuned! But really all that means
that it has Mugen tuned suspension and the fancy trim. That was enough for me
and the wife happen to like it too, so we got that car. Now I am sure we all
know once the dealership wax wears off, all the little things start popping out
to you, and this car is no exception. Here is what I had to deal with so far…
a. The exterior and interior have plenty
of scuffs and what not, but nothing some turtle wax couldn't handle. I do
realize that this car is over 10 years old, and there is definitely way worst
looking Odyssey’s driving around on this base, I promise you that!
b. A broken front motor mount that I didn't notice when I got it. Luckily that particular motor mount was cheap, as the
other ones run hundreds of dollars! I was also able to change it out myself in
my parkway, since I brought all my tools with me here.
c. Missing a wheel bolt! Man, I really couldn't believe I missed that when I was looking over the car, but who expects
that to be missing on a car at a dealership! Luckily this car has a 5 bolt pattern,
so running on 4 bolts wasn't an issue, and I got that fixed once I noticed it.
The parts were under $10.
d. A nasty air filter that looked like
it had NEVER been changed. Of course I got that taken care too.
e. Busted air vents for the rear seats/3rd
row. Really, you just couldn’t adjust the direction of air flow. I knew this
going in of course and I fixed that at later date. In hindsight, I should have
told them to fix it, but we were in a hurry to get the car and we didn’t want
to have to wait longer to get that simple thing fixed.
f. Now here is the big one, the auto
transmission had issues and was fixed. During my googling of this car, I came
across a lot of posts about the transmission in this year and model of car.
Basically, it craps out right around the mileage this car had. Luckily, the
dealership I was getting it through fixed it, or so they say. I actually have
no real reason to suspect they didn’t, since it has been running just fine, but
it wasn’t like I got proof of that. On top of that, the JCI folks were the ones
that told them that, so I guess they HAD to fix it anyways to get the JCI done
on the car. Either way, they gave me a 6 month warranty on the transmission,
just in case things get funky on it. So far so good (knocking on wood now).
2. 2004 Honda Fit – This car is for the
wife, since she wanted something small and easy to drive. Well, this car has
worked out so well, it is almost become my daily driver to work and it is the
car we use to venture off-base on the regular. It is great on gas and way easy
to get around with off-base, even with all the narrow roads and tight parking
spots. We got it with 35K miles odometer (yup, you’re reading that right) and
it good condition. It has xenon headlights, auto climate control, and power
everything. But it came with a basic radio, which I immediately changed out
with a Sony unit that has iPod capability, Bluetooth media streaming, and phone
hands free functionally. It works great with our Iphone5’s and I am really
happy with it. I do want to note that I used a common Honda stereo wiring
harness (they sell them at the auto hobby shop) and that made it super easy to
install. Now on to the issues…
a. The plastic trim looked tired when I
got it, but a good scrubbing with armor-all made it look good again. I guess
the prior owner never bothered. The windshield wipers arms were rusting, but I
ordered new ones and replaced them. Of course, the car got a good wash and wax
and is looking sharp now. I can’t stand dirty cars on the outside or inside,
but there are plenty of people on this base that apparently can haha. Oh well,
I don’t really blame the ones that are only here for a couple a years, they are
in and out, so who cares if they run their car into the ground. But we are
going to be here for 4 years at least, so I want to take care of what we got
now.
b. A nasty air filter that looked like it had NEVER been changed. Again. It was changed.
c. The CVT…this may be of super interest
to many people with Honda cars (Fit, Jazz, City) that have CVT’s in them like
my Fit. After driving the car around a bit, it would shudder pretty hard when
accelerating from a stop. So hard in fact, I thought the car would be close to
stalling out sometimes, and it would lack power going to merge with traffic.
That is no bueno for the wife’s car, so I looked into this right away. Apparently
this is a COMMON issue with Honda’s early CVT’s. There is NO fix from Honda
(besides getting a new CVT), but I found some solutions on the internet. And
here they are…
cc. First, change out the CVT oil with
the new and improved oil from Honda. You can order it from the auto hobby shop
and it comes in 4L cans. That is ok, since that is all you need when you drain
out the fluid (1 Can). It isn’t cheap ($76ish), but nothing on Okinawa is. I had
the mechanics do it for me (I am lazy) and they warned me that just draining
the transmission fluid is not the proper way to do that, but I know that and we
pressed. Well, after they did that, it was WAY better! It still shudders a bit,
but it feels no way near like it did, and it doesn’t do it all the time now either.
I am sure as I drive around it may even out. Here is the part number of the
Honda Oil…0826099904HE.
ccc. There is still one more step I can
take that other Honda Fit drivers on the internet swear by, and it is a product
called OIL EXTREME. It is an oil additive and apparently it helps with this
Honda CVT issue. I already ordered some (they ship APO) and when I get it, I
will post the results after I add it to the CVT on my Fit. Even without this
stuff, our Honda Fit is completely drivable now and the shudder barely
registers to me now. Here is the link to buy this stuff…
Some final notes on the driving
condition and car services here…
1. The roads are slick when wet! They
tell you this when you get here, but people are still zooming around like the
roads aren’t when it is raining. I have been here about 2 months and I already
had 2 young airmen I work with wreck their cars on-base because they were going
too fast for road conditions. Luckily no one was hurt, but they just needed to
be driving slower in the first place! I think most cars that are sold to the
GI’s here on the island are around 10 years ago, so we are just entering the
years that the Japanese cars started to have traction control, anti-lock
brakes, and other driving safety features being standard. So I think most
people take that for granted because of the newer cars they may have been driving in
the States or in Europe before they got here had all those features already.
2. The Japanese versions of cars here
are super varied! For example, in the States a particular car model might have
3 to 4 variations to it, think EX, DL, SI, etc…But in Japan, you will have the
MARK I, II, III, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, TINY, BIG, ECO, MAX, etc. (literally
etc.) This is more of an observation than anything and the car guy in me thinks
it is pretty funny. BUT, this can cause problems when you are searching the
internet to help figure out car issues you may be having. For example, the 2004
Honda Fit we have was never sold in the States during that model year. Luckily
it was sold everywhere else, but the States (go figure) and there are plenty of
English speaking web forums for that model year, but you may not be that lucky
with your car make and model/year.
3. This next bit is for the young guys
out there that may be reading this, don’t get that Skyline! It isn’t as fast as
you think it is; only the GTR is fast! But you can’t drive fast legally
anywhere on this island anyways, so don’t get your hopes up. But really, it is
really easy to get sucked into “tuning and upgrading” whatever you got, and trust
me I see those guys in the auto hobby shop every weekend installing whatever
new gizmo they got. I guess I am too lazy to have to take out all those
“enhancements” every time you need to JCI your car in the future, so sorry
count me out. But the real killer is the cost. I can’t believe how expensive it
is for those car gizmos, and trust me there are plenty for my Absolute too! You
can easy get in over your head with dumping money into “go fast” parts and
stereos for a car you CAN’T take back to the States with you! You will not be “Fast
and Furious” in the States man, sorry it is just the sad reality of that. BUT I
think you can take them to Europe from here, but don’t quote me on that. I say
that because I had a J-Spec Fairlady Z while I was at Ramstein AB that I got
off the lemon lot. Let’s just say twin turbos are fun to have on Nuremburg
ring! It kind of brings a tear to my eye when I putt around in the minivan
here….Anyways, you would think all this Japanese branded stereos and tuning
stuff would be cheap, but it isn’t, sorry.
4. There are plenty of car services and
what not on Kadena AB and on all the other bases as well. If you need to order
parts for your car, the Kadena AB Auto Hobby shop will hook you up with just
about anything you will need. You will have to order it though, and special
orders come from main land, which means it will take a couple of days to get
here. They have been nothing but helpful for the stuff I needed and their
mechanics are knowledgeable. Just don’t spend $1000 on parts for your car that
you only spent $1500 to buy, that doesn’t make sense!
5. Oh yea, if you have an OBDII scanner,
bring it. These early 2000’s cars and beyond will have those ports. Remember,
the OBDII standard was designed to be universal worldwide, and so far my
scanner has worked on everything I have plugged it into.
6. Finally, a little on gas mileage
around here. If you happen to live on base, I think you would imagine you would
have to fill up your car maybe once month, especially if work/home is all you
drive to and from during the week. Well that is NOT the case for me, at least
with the Odyssey. I literally live less than 3 miles from work, but I have to
fill up the odyssey every 2 weeks, and with a 17 gal tank, that isn’t that
cheap or as cheap as I like. It has a 4 banger, but the MPG’s still suck. I
think it is a combination of the 4-speed auto it has and the constant “turn
engine on, drive 5 mins, turn engine off”, rinse and repeat all day, every day routine.
Plus, the traffic off-base is always stop-and-go, which in turn kills your MPGs
anyways. However, the Fit seems to be made for these kinds of situations, and
it has killer MPGs compared to the Odyssey. So much so, I think I am driving a
hybrid out here, which is why I think they are hard to come by (and have a cost
premium) right now. So that is something to think about when you get out here.
Think hard about the cars you will need out here, and try to stick to the
smaller ones if you can. Your wallet will thank you.