Saikou

The Saikou is the twenty-second vehicle the player can unlock in Midnight Club II ' s career. It is the car the player unlocks after beating Haley in a series of two races in Tokyo.

Resemblance
The Saikou takes a lot of its inspiration from one infamous sports car in particular, the late nineties Toyota Supra (A80). The lines of the car, windows, headlights, spoiler, wing mirrors, even the door vents present on the car all bear a striking resemblance to the Toyota Supra. The rear of the car is a different story, however. The taillights seem to be an original design, but seem to resemble the tailights of a Honda Prelude (BB5/BB6), with the Saikou also having custom dual exhausts, something that is not seen on the Supra. The rear bumper is also based heavily on the Supra, even going so far as to copy the protruding bottom-half of the bumper and the license plate mount from the Supra.

Description
"A balanced containment of power. Smooth drifter with care. Unlocked by beating Haley in Tokyo. - In-game description" Its wheels are provided by Enkei.

0-60
According to all three of Haley's cutscenes, the Saikou has an exact time of 1.566 for its 0-60. This makes it the 2nd fastest car for 0-60 time in the entire game. For comparison, the only car that can beat the Saikou in 0-60 is the Knight, with a time of 1.533 with the Veloci just barely losing out to both with a time of 1.599.

0-120
The Saikou's 0-120 time, is on par with its 0-60 with an exact time of 4.199. This makes it the third fastest car in the entire game. For comparison, the only cars capable of beating it in 0-120 are the Veloci with a time of 3.466, with the Torque JX just barely beating it out with a time of 4.133.

Handling
Handling for the Saikou can be described as being generally good all-around. Turning ability at all speeds is great, but with this comes a huge problem with the Saikou. Without a smooth driver behind the wheel, the Saikou will constantly try to step out, leading to a potentially unwanted loss of speed when turning around sharp corners to even uncontrollable crashes in the hands of an unskilled driver.

At high speeds, the stability problem is even worse, often times requiring a steady hand and minimal steering input to get around a corner without losing speed from sliding. Using the handbrake to powerslide around corners can solve these stability problems, along with giving you more speed, though it also takes a certain finesse to know exactly how much of the handbrake to use to avoid losing more speed than the player gains while also trying avoid any obstacles that might be in the way while cornering.

Available colors

 * Red
 * Yellow
 * Blue
 * White

Acquisition
The Saikou is unlocked after defeating Haley in Enigma and Intuition. Once that is done, she will give the player her car to use freely afterwards.

Trivia

 * If the player revs the Saikou to 6,000~ RPM then let go off the throttle, a distinct "popping/crackling" sound can be heard. This is a common trait of a misfiring/anti-lag system, a system used in turbocharged cars to help reduce turbo lag. This "popping/crackling" sound can also be heard on the 1971 Bestia, the Alarde, the Bryanston V, the Cocotte, and the Knight.
 * The Saikou is one of four cars in-game that has some form of vinyl/decal on the car, the other three being the Citi, Citi Turbo, and the Torque JX.
 * "Saikou" means "best" in Japanese.
 * Ken'Ichi drives an upgraded, souped up version of the Saikou called the Saikou XS.
 * It shares the same colors with the Vortex 5.