A. Spec and price data come from each manufacturer's official Japanese website (specification and grade pages). Some equipment data include estimates based on official information. See “Data Sources” at the bottom of each comparison page for details.
A. Roughly once a month, timed with new model launches and updates. Automated scraping via GitHub Actions detects price changes and spec revisions.
A. Where equipment could not be obtained from a manufacturer's official equipment list, values are estimated from typical equipment for models in the same segment and price range. Models that include estimates are flagged in the “Data Sources” section.
A. ★☆☆ (Level 1) is basic (warning only), ★★☆ (Level 2) is intermediate (control intervention such as steering correction), and ★★★ (Level 3) is advanced (automated control such as lane centering or hands-off driving). “Lane keeping assist”, for example, ranges from departure warning only (★) to lane centering (★★★) depending on the manufacturer.
A. The median option price of each item among the compared models is treated as its market price, and that value is subtracted for models that have the item as standard. This allows a fair price comparison that accounts for equipment. Differences in function level between items with the same name are not reflected.
A. We cover passenger cars sold through official channels in Japan — from kei cars to ultra-luxury models available new in the Japanese market. Commercial vehicles are excluded. We currently list 41 brands, 327 models and 1,335 grades (as of October 25, 2026). Passenger-registered models such as the HiAce Wagon are included. Pickups (Hilux, Triton, Tundra) are registered as goods vehicles but are sold officially to private buyers, so they are listed too. Welfare (converted) vehicles are excluded; body variants and performance versions (wagon, cabriolet, AMG, M, RS, etc.) are included under the base model.
A. Yes. Use “+ Add Model” on a comparison page to add a model from any segment — for example, a compact SUV against a mid-size sedan.
A. SEGMENT·SCOPE is an independent project run by an individual and is not the official site of any automaker. See the About page for details.
A. Please report it using the contact details on the About page. We will correct it as quickly as possible.
A. Yes. Choose “US Market” on the Benchmark home page. We currently cover 61 models in 11 categories (compact sedan, midsize sedan, large sedan, subcompact SUV, compact SUV, midsize SUV, large SUV, minivan, pickup truck, sports car and EV crossover), with more to come.
A. Yes. Use JA/EN at the top right to switch the current page between Japanese and English. Japanese pages live under /ja/ and English pages under /en/, and your choice is kept as you move around the site.
A. Yes. The “Export Excel” button at the top of a comparison page downloads all the data on screen — prices, specs, equipment and sources — as an Excel file.
A. Yes. “Share your voice” in the model bar of a compare page opens the response form for that model (on its Voice page). You need to sign in with Google, and each person has one response per model (editable later). Responses from Voice and from Benchmark are tallied as one dataset, so “User voices” on the compare page and the model's Voice page show the same figures. Names are never shown, and figures for models or groups with fewer than 5 respondents are hidden. Free text is published with email addresses, URLs and phone numbers masked. Anonymity & Data →
A. Applying needs no sign-in, and even if you are signed in, the application is not linked to your account. Name, affiliation and contact email are optional; if you leave them blank, no one — the operator included — has a way to know who you are (if you fill them in, only the operator sees them, they are never shown on the site, and the contact email is deleted 30 days after the call ends). You manage the call with a secret link shown when you apply; only a hash of that link is stored. Note that the providers that host the site and database may keep connection records for a period. Anonymity & Data →
A. Organizers receive aggregated results only — never individual responses, names or emails. Nothing is shown until at least 5 people have responded, and in breakdowns by status or demographics, groups with fewer than 5 respondents are hidden (the next smallest group is hidden too when needed, so they can't be worked out by subtraction). Email addresses, URLs and phone numbers in free-text answers are masked before organizers see them. Sign-in is used to prevent duplicate answers, and the email you sign in with is kept only within the sign-in system. Combinations of demographics or what you write could still hint at who you are, so please don't include identifying details in free text. Anonymity & Data →
A. The operator has no way to know who posted a call either (unless the organizer filled in the optional fields). The operator does not give data individually or preferentially to any company or organization, including any company the operator is connected with, and does not sell data. Organizers receive only the aggregated results of their own calls. Organizers choose whether results are public, and public results are the same for everyone. Anonymity & Data →
A. No. Age group, gender, region, current car, budget and the other details are all optional, and each one offers “Prefer not to say”. You can submit with them left blank. Any details you give are used only in aggregate, and groups or filters with fewer than 5 respondents are never shown. We never take details from your Google account or store them on a profile. If you want them filled in next time, you can choose to remember them in your own browser only (not on our server). Anonymity & Data →