Avoidable Contact #27: The end, and the beginning, of great Japanese cars.
I remember the event as if it were yesterday, although in fact it was twenty-six years ago. My relentless, Rommel-esque campaign to get my mother into a 1983 Honda Civic 1500S had very nearly reached a successful conclusion. For months I had worked tirelessly to steer Mom towards a Honda dealership for our new “family car”, always with the ostensible and sensible goal of purchasing the $6,995 1500GL wagon. Once we were inside the doors of the dealership — doors I had personally darkened many a time before then, since it was only a four-mile walk each way from my house — it would be a simple matter of bait-and-switching her away from the wagon and into a bright red 1500S hatchback. I’d walked to the showroom the day before and verified the presence of one, priced at a compelling $6,495.
As fate would have it, however, the red 1500S had sold, leaving just a black one available. (The 1983 Civic 1500S, the only Civic of that generation to carry the “S” tag, was available in just two colors: black and red.) No matter: we’d take it. In just a few nearly tearful moments, I convinced her that the 141-inch long, two-door hatchback was an ideal car for a single mother and two growing boys. The sales manager, displaying the utterly despicable greed that is still a hallmark of Honda dealers today, allowed us to buy the car at sticker. Providing, that is, we would pay an additional $349 for a two-speaker cassette player and $99 for a useless tape stripe.
That Civic was a truly great car. Economical, quick enough, sporty-looking, bulletproof, fun. It certainly would have lasted my mother a decade or more, had she not been struck just two years after the purchase by a drunk driver in Cadillac deVille. The impact put parts of the back seat into the front seats. Hondas were not terribly crash-safe into those days.
Still, the ‘83 Civic was the best Civic in history up to that point. The ‘84 “breadvan” Civic was better. Much better. The Civic that followed was even better, and so on, until we reached the point of the 1999 Civic Si coupe, widely acclaimed as nearly everyone’s favorite Civic. And then a funny thing happened.
I don’t think my Mom ever drove like this, although she was known to be a little aggressive from the stoplights. But this is that rarest of rare Civics: the one-year-only second-gen 1500S.
The last two generations of Civic haven’t been that well-received among Honda enthusiasts, although the current Si sedan seems to be making some friends. Nor do the newer models appear to be much like the Civics of old. The weight has shot up, from around 1800 pounds to nearly 3000. The current Si has four times the power of the 1983 Civic 1300FE. I’d say that the modern Civic is like the old Accord, but that would be fibbing, since you could park a 1977 Accord behind a 2009 Civic and it would be utterly, completely, invisible. Many of the virtues once prized by Honda owners — simplicity, light weight, low component count — seem to have fallen by the wayside.
If the Civic has lost its way, the entire Acura lineup has lost its mind. The recent introduction of a V6-powered TSX is an unintentionally eloquent statement about the elephantine size and weight increases of Acuras in the past decade. A brand which launched with the nimble Integra and iconoclastic Legend is now stuffed full of monstrous Accord-platform derivatives, each bigger than the last. If the original Legend were to return to Acura showrooms, it would be the smallest and lightest car available from the brand today.
Something’s rotten in Tokyo, and it isn’t limited to Honda. Toyota’s current lineup is a bloated mess of two-ton Camry variants, without a single sporting vehicle in the lineup. Virtually everything Nissan sells is either an “FM” or an Altima derivative, and they are all powered by the unlovable VQ engine. The Maxima, which was a world-class sporting sedan two decades ago, has been reduced to Altima-in-drag status. Subaru has accomplished the unique feat of making every single Impreza it has introduced in the market somewhat less popular than the one before it. Mitsubishi has precisely one decent product — the Evolution — and the new model isn’t as good as its predecessor.
This isn’t the way things are supposed to be. We take it for granted that each new Porsche will be a significant improvement over the previous model, the abysmal 1999 “996″ aside. The same is true for Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, and even Volkswagen (in the post-MkIII era). Styling quibbles aside, each new BMW is an improvement. Audi has been on a tremendous roll in the past decade. Heck, even Lotus is making a succession of decent cars lately. Nor can you forget about the domestics. Among US-based automakers, there’s been an amazing spiral of desirability lately. Who wouldn’t rather have a new CTS than an old one? Do you like the Charger SRT-8 more than the old Intrepid Sport? Is there anybody out there willing to take a 2002 Taurus over the new 2010?
Talk to any Ford, Chevrolet or Dodge fan about trucks and you’ll hear how great the new ones are. Listen to a Toyota loyalist and he’ll tell you the average 1984 Toyota truck, known simply as “Truck” in this market, will still be on the road when every Tacoma ever made has fallen apart. Nobody’s excited about the current Nissan Titan or Toyota Sequoia. The Land Cruiser “wonks” absolutely hate the new one and are panic-buying the previous-generation V8s at ridiculous prices.
Strange, isn’t it? Ask nearly any Japanese-car enthusiast about his favorite cars or trucks, and chances are that you’ll hear the old list of Japan’s Greatest Hits. The 1989 Civic Si. The hachi-roku Corolla. Toyota’s original LS400 and the follow-up 1992 Camry that made that same build quality affordable for the masses. Mark IV Supras. Twin-turbo Zs. Mitsubishi Evolution 8 and 9. The pignose STi. Celicas of all shapes. Integra Type-R. Fifth-gen Accords. All these truly great, game-changing, world-beating Japanese cars, and almost all of them built between 1985 and 1999. Even the Skyline guys will admit that, yeah, given the choice they’d really rather have an R34 than the new car. In fact, one could argue that there’s only been one truly great, completely iconic new Japanese car built in the past decade, and it’s the friggin’ second-gen Prius.
This was very possibly the finest Japanese sedan in history: a cost-no-object moon shot of a high-quality midsizer. It killed the Taurus stone dead and made Camry a household name. Why isn’t the current one nearly as nice inside, or nearly as well put together?
Something’s changed, but what is it? What’s happened to make Japanese cars less desirable than their predecessors? We could blame it on government regulation, but that hasn’t stopped the 2009 Boxster S being approximately a zillion times better than the 1997 Boxster 2.5. We could talk about a changing market, forgetting that those “changes” took away the Bonneville and gave us the G8.
I would suggest, instead, that the problem is a lack of authenticity and character. Virtually all the great Japanese cars mentioned above were the product of Japanese design teams designing cars for either their home market or a broadly defined “world market”. The 1983 Civic was, in many respects, a simple ripoff of the Mini Cooper, but it was clearly and thoroughly a Honda in execution, from the grinning grille to the dumpy taillights. The Celica and Supra may have been Japanese Mustangs, but they were still recognizably Japanese. Just as importantly, in the Seventies and Eighties there were clear and distinct differences between Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Subaru. (Note that I’m leaving Mazda out of this, since they are really neither “domestic” nor “foreign”.)
With the arrival of “transplant” factories and the development of US-specific models, often with the assistance or interference of American design teams like CALTY, that Japanese magic started to fade away. The current Camry, Accord, and Altima are all very similar cars. They look the same, they drive the same, they’re equipped and priced along similar lines. This is reasonable, because they are all aimed at the same buyer. The 1995 Camry was very different from the 1995 Accord, and they were both way different from a 1995 Altima… but today’s models are almost NASCAR-style “common template” competitors.
In fact, the current “CamAltiCords” resemble nothing so much as the old General Motors A-bodies: big, bland, soft crapwagons designed to drag middle-aged people from home to work and back. Those of you who read Orson Scott Card’s “Speaker For The Dead” or “Wyrms” may remember his concept of a lifeform which mates with arriving aliens, shares their DNA, and takes their shapes. A very similar process has taken place with the Japanese transplant manufacturers. When the Accord arrived in this country, the most popular car sold in America was the Cutlass Supreme. Guess what? The 2009 Accord is closer in size, weight, power, and general appearance to a 1978 Cutlass Supreme than it is to a 1978 Honda Accord.
For your own amusement, go check out the dimensions of the 1978 Ford Fairmont. Now go dig up the dimensions of the 2009 Nissan Altima. Spooky, huh? In replacing the domestic manufacturers as the default bread-and-butter sedans, the Japanese nameplates accidentally became the cars they were replacing. Thirty years after the full-scale “Japanese invasion”, it turns out that the American market has completely co-opted its conquerors. And the same kinds of fat, annoying, self-satisfied, middle-class faces that stared out the windshields of Malibus and Zephyrs back in 1983 now gaze lifelessly from Camrys and Accords.
Meanwhile, the contrarians, free-thinkers, and avant-garde types who bought those 1978 Accords have moved on… and many of them have moved on to the domestics. The same kind of person who loved the original Accord’s low dash and rakish styling might find the new Fusion to have twice the character of any Camcord. The clarity of purpose and execution that marked the original Camry can now be found behind the wheel of a Malibu. Freed from the job of providing a million bland sedans a year to people who hate cars, Ford, GM, and Chrysler are producing truly great vehicles again. That’s what happens when you don’t need to serve the mainstream, and it’s why GM has managed to produce a new Camaro even as Toyota cancels their Supra project. Each new domestic automobile feels more vibrant, more completely realized, more American than the one before it.
The Japanese are now stuck in the same trap that swallowed the domestics thirty years ago. They’ve acquired the mass market and they need to build cars for that market. Until they are freed of that immensely profitable burden, they won’t be able to make great Japanese cars again. Don’t look for them to give up that market willingly, because their massive transplant facilities depend on seven-figure sales. It’s like crack. You can’t quit once you’re hooked on massive volume. Luckily for those of us who love great Japanese cars, however, salvation is just around the corner.
It took Toyota thirty years in the market to build a better, more popular mid-size sedan than GM could, but in just a decade, the Hyundai Sonata has moved up to parity with the Camry. In five more years, Kia and Hyundai could be the new mass-market champions, cranking out a million bland sedans from their own shiny transplant factories. And, if history is any guide, the Chinese, once they hit America in force, will catch the Koreans even more quickly than the Koreans caught the Japanese.
Faced with dwindling sales, loss of profitability, and a declining foothold in the American mass market, what will Toyota, Honda, and Nissan do? I’d like to think that they will forget about trying to make the perfect 3900-pound vanilla sedan. I’d like to think that they will open up their old catalogs and rediscover what made them great. In my dreams, the Celicas and 200SXes will come rushing back out of the factories, the Civics will once again be wide, low sportsters, the Z-car will be a bespoke platform and not a chopped-down Infiniti FX. We’ll see more cars like the Cube and fewer ones like the new Maxima. It will once again become possible to tell a Camry from an Accord. In short, the best Japanese cars will return, just as we are seeing the best American cars make a reappearance now. If that happens, I might just drag my Mom back down to that crummy old Honda dealer for a Civic. Come to think of it, maybe I’d buy one for me, too.
This is a truly great article, good read!
Jack: thank you for neatly packaging the automotive sentiment of an entire generation. Japanese car enthusiasts have been abandoned. However, as an owner of two EKs and the driving force behind six Honda purchases in my family, I have to say that I harbor exactly zero faith for a Japanese renaissance. That would take a giant loss of market share and profit, twin tablespoons of hubris, and sudden, total Product Religion. You might say, "that sounds exactly like Ford and GM's resurgence!" There's one difference: Kuruma Banare. There are fundamental, society-driven reasons why Honda and Toyota will never again produce vehicles devoid of what I call "severity" — innocent, non-pretentious vehicles built to please the driver.
As you said, most people my age aren't interested in anything in a new Honda or Toyota showroom — they'll buy used instead until they absolutely have to buy new to cart around their family. I was of that breed, too: abandoned by the companies I'd placed faith in, and always grasping for the past. I had no optimism for the automotive future. But then, I realized that there are indeed cars out there that offer good value, are "socially important", and not pretentious. I realized that there *is* a future for enthusiasts to look forward to. It's just not inside a Honda or Toyota showroom.
Your writing is always a pleasure to read, but I have to disagree with you on some points…
-Each new BMW is not an improvement… Would you rather have the new M5 or an E39? Why does the X6 exist? The new 3-series is larger than the old 5-series…
-The VQ is unlovable? It is an amazingly diverse unit that finds a home throughout the Nissan-Infiniti Lineup – ranging from economical to monstrous. It is a perennial 10 Best winner.
-You left the 370Z off this list for some reason… one of the few new cars that has become smaller and lighter than its predecessor.
-The latest Accord is a nice styling upgrade over previous models, especially in coupe form.
I agree with Jeff's point — BMWs seem to sweeten with age as well. I have no opinion on the VQ. The 370 is lighter — and what goes unreported is that even the Z33 was 300 pounds lighter than the Z32 — but both vehicles are tinged with the "severity" I mentioned. And ask any guy my age whether they'd rather have an early '90s Accord coupe or the latest. Its styling was simpler. We lived for wishbones, man.
Also, the Toyota MR-2 got smaller and lighter, until finally it vanished into thin air!
I'm on the fence about newer/older BMW's, but, but Jeff's right about the VQ and the Accord. Also worth noting, Jack mentions that Toyota lacks a sports car… something they're aware of, and (perhaps this news came out after the article was written) are "fast-tracking" the 2-door sports car they worked on with Subaru. All-in-all though, entertaining read as always, Jack.
The 370Z has much more power, the same level of responsiveness in the brakes, and can just about hit 1.0G on the skidpad…
so….
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezflow_site/stora...
wrong comment, sorry
I suspect markie_b, if he's the fellow I think he is, refers more to the Z's National Solo and SCCA Touring potential.
The 370Z corrects none of the problems with the 350Z-it's still too fat, still has zero adjustable camber, and still gets its lunch eaten by RX-8s in every form of motorsport not involving a 1/4 drag. The E30 was a great car, as was the E36, as was the E46…but who would really prefer the E30 to the new 335i?
Psst – the 1983 Civic was a second-generation car, not a third-gen.
Sheesh! I need to think about this stuff before I write it. Corrected, thank you!
Kuruma banare – roughly translated as "demotorization" – may be the savior of Japanese sports cars after all, Adam. It's a bit of wishful thinking, but when the appliance-car set have all traded in their cars for train passes, it leaves only the enthusiasts in the market for a car.
Of course it hasn't played out that way so far. Enthusiasm for new cars has dropped as quickly as sales. The only real "growth sector" for car enthusiasts in Japan has been the classic car scene, which has exploded as many of the cars mentioned in this article hit their silver anniversaries.
Nice article. I agree with your description of the majority of Honda dealers as there is only one in my books that knows how to treat a customer (maybe because they are in Marysville, OH near the factory??). I agree with Jeff's take on the Accord. I think it's styling is much better than previous generations. Plus with 18" wheels, 6-speed transmission, 271 hp I find it to be a step up. I question why you say the last couple Civic and Accord models have not been well received? You seem to bash a modern Civic as being more like older Accords… but then praise the new Taurus as being better than previous generation. The new Taurus is nothing like the older Taurus (much bigger, way more $$, more luxury). The Fusion should be named "Taurus" and the new Taurus needs to be a new car for Ford as it is serving a completely new demographic of people than the previous generations.
Don't forget the Contour, which debuted in '95 just before the third-gen Taurus.
Ford has positioned the Taurus/500 above the mid-size segment for more than a decade.
Interesting point. Do you think the new Taurus will be majority "fleet sales" like previous generations were? It seems too nice for that. In the end, Jack had something right in this article as when I find myself longing for a car, it is usually a MR2, 300Z, Integra type R, CRX or an old NSX.
The Fusion is a pretty popular rental, but overall fleet deliveries are fairly low. For the time being, the Taurus doesn't really make sense for rental fleets. Most should be pretty stocked up on Crown Vics and Grand Marqs that they probably got at fire sale prices. I imagine the most common fleet role for the new Taurus will be as a company car.
" And the same kinds of fat, annoying, self-satisfied, middle-class faces that stared out the windshields of Malibus and Zephyrs back in 1983 now gaze lifelessly from Camrys and Accords."
Dear god, I love you jack. Awesome.
Jack is pretty much the only reason why I even bother reading anymore:)
I kiss ass so much, but it's just literary crack!
Great read, but I'm puzzled by leaving out Mazda. Am I an idiot or something, why is Mazda neither foreign nor domestic? I know it was owned by Ford for a while, but literally every car company has it's hands in another's in some way, shape or form AND while Mazda sold the FD in the US 92-95ish they weren't owned by Ford. Obviously that means all prior RX-7s were made when they were independent as well. Their VIN starts with 'J' and my car was built in Hiroshima so I'm just a bit confused.
Within the time frame Jack's describing (1999-present), Mazda was owned by an American parent company, built about 45% of their cars in the United States, and had a design department headed by a European (who I believe worked out of their California design studio more often than not).
Mazda is headed back in an Eastern direction now though. Ford no longer holds a controlling stake; their current round of designs are far more flowing and organic (More Japanese vs. the almost Italian lines of the outgoing Mazda3); and they've made a big deal in the press about shedding weight and getting back to basics.
One counterpoint I'd make to Jack is that Ford owes a portion of the Fusion's success to the Japanese in a way; the underlying platform is an evolution of Mazda's brilliant (yes, I owned one) first-gen 6.
I suppose the fact that I cannot even imagine a Japanese mainstream modern day equivalent to a Mazda RX2, RX3 or RX4 only bolsters your premise, Jack.
". . . unlovable VQ" You take that back, Jack! My VQ30DE is smoother than a baby's butt all the way up to and past redline and I love it more than food. And that's sayin' something!
I've often thought that the Japanese market collapse scared the crap out of the Asian automakers. The collapse precipitated profound changes in the culture of the country, especially its business culture. No longer were company men guaranteed a lifetime job; layoffs, an unthinkable act, were made; and the mega manufacturing conglomerates were hit hard by the currency crisis.
The result, in my opinion, was a move to "safe, conservative" vehicles by T, H, and N. The bread-and-butter sedans, CUVs, and SUVs were allocated the most resources and they returned big profits. Low-volume sports coupes and wagons were killed off, for the most part.
The demand for relatively inexpensive, economical vehicles in their home country has them well-positioned to supply modern, "sensible" cars for the rest of the world's collapsing markets. The teens decade of this century may turn out to be the battle of the compacts.
I don't count Japan out just yet.
There was one iconic Japanese car besides the Prius built in the past decade. It's called the Honda S2000.
Hmm… it's a decade old. When is the replacement coming out? From what I've heard… never.
are you dyeing your hair? looks good.
This sums up almost exactly how I feel about current Japanese offerings.
When I was growing up, my mother was the owner of a 1978 Honda Civic CVCC, which parted us in August of '86 to make way for a new Camry. It was this Camry in which I learned to drive, and subsequently earned my driver's license at the age of 19. She did not leave us until the summer of 2001, at nearly 250,000 miles, following my purchase of a 1990 Corolla GT-S and my mother's purchase of a 2000 Camry LE.
Having done quite a bit of driving in my mom's 2000 Camry, I know firsthand how soft the Camry as become. It does most things well, but nothing exceptionally; completely devoid of… really, any traits that would endear it to anyone. Even its flaws are annoying rather than charming. They're a dime a dozen, and there is nothing special about them.
In my mind, the hero of the line is the first-generation (though the third-gen ranks a close second), and it warms my heart every time I see one out on the road. It takes me back to a time when Japanese automakers made cars that were obviously Japanese, and weren't the slightest bit ashamed or afraid to do so.
About a year ago, I found myself looking for my first self-purchased car. As a college student, my budget consisted of a pile of lint and some quarters I'd found in the couch, and I had two requirements: it had to be reliable enough for highway commutes and it had be sporty. After about a month of cruising Craigslist, mooning over MGBs that I knew would never be reliable enough, and coming close to making a grave mistake with an Opel GT, I discovered that my list of candidate models was surprisingly narrow: Japanese 2-doors manufactored between 1986 and 1993. There was the Celica, the Celica Supra, the MR2, the Civic… I eventually ended up with 1991 Honda CRX.
It's hard to look at modern Toyotas and Hondas in light of the greatness that went before. The only Toyota with even vaguely sporting pretensions is the (gag) Corolla S. The engineering care that made even the most pedestrian Honda a hoot in the corners is gone from just about everything but the Fit; the fat, MacStrut-saddled Civic of today can't hold a candle to the venerable EF- and EG cars.
The Japanese manufacturers know they have a problem, though. Toyota's new CEO has re-instituted the Subieyota sportscar project, and Honda is trying to rediscover its roots with the CR-Z project. Whether those efforts bear good fruit remains to be seen, though. I think Honda can turn it around, and Akio Toyoda is pushing Toyota in the right direction, but in the meantime Ford is making the cars (Taurus, Fusion, Fiesta) that Toyota and Honda should have been making, and with their push for quality and image in the Genesis and Genesis Coupe, Hyundai is in a position to eat alive any import automaker who falls out of the good graces of the car-buying public.
There are still plenty of great Japanese cars, though. Mazda has never stopped making amazing cars, and while Subaru's design department apparently lives in the center of a forest full of ugly trees their technical prowess has only improved over the last twenty years. Nissan has yet to make a genuinely bad Z-car. There are and will be great Japanese cars; they just don't always come from the Honda and Toyota.
The insightful observations by Jack cannot be discounted, nor can anyone who has been carefully observing the automotive marketplace of the past 20-30 years fail to come to basically the same conclusions. There is a "law of gravity" that pertains to automotive success stories, too. It goes up, therefore, sooner or later, it MUST come back down. We're seeing the down-part for the Japanese. Certainly it is more difficult to detect than the fall from grace of our domestic makers…they slammed into the ground with the force of a falling Airbus, while the current Japanese malaise is more like Sully Sullenberger's relatively gentle splashdown into the Hudson River this summer. But, in the end, both are scored as crashes.
This article perfectly sums up my feelings about Japanese cars. As an owner of 2 early 80's imports, I still wax nostalgic about that golden age. As my priorities turn to starting a family, I can't think of many cars within the last 10 years that I'd even consider buying. I, like many others I'm sure, would look harder at late 80's and early 90's cars rather than new ones. I'm still thinking of buying an old 4runner, or possibly the most reliable car ever made, the 1992-1997 Corolla. That car is boring, but might be even more bombproof than the legendary Hilux.
Thanks…now I miss my '86 Corolla GTS all over again.
As much as I hate to admit it your observations about great japanese cars are spot on. Even the Yaris, a convincing analogue of the light minimalist Civics of yore, is absolutely devoid of character.
What I miss are the sub-30k RWD coupes that are a step above the economy car hatchbacks. Even the Koreans are doing something in this department with the Genesis coupe. Toyota's best effort here was a was apparently a lowered Tacoma with a manual transmission. Now that I think of it, did you cleverly leave mazda out because they're still selling cars with character?
Since Z came out before the FX, doesn't that make the FX a stretched Z? Nissan's reintroduction of the Z-Car, accompanied by a coordinated marketing and branding campaign, is how you bring company back to life with a vaguely retro sports car. Not by putting it in a movie 2 years before the first one comes off the production line, or bringing over something awesome and aiming at the wrong audience (ie. the GTO going after 325i drivers).
PS. Most people who don't like the new GTR dislike it because it's not made of unobtainium.
I guess Mazda is different because it got the "Rotary" disease…I mean the cult of rotards.
It chose a different path. To be a smaller tier player, yet with character.
A company willing to go against the world will never be the same as the main stream, and hence avoided the downfall of common Japanese manufacturer.
"There was one iconic Japanese car besides the Prius built in the past decade. It's called the Honda S2000."
The S2000 has everything Jack says is missing from modern Japanese cars: authenticity, character, and a bespoke platform. And of course, Jack is on public record pooping all over it.
While there are some decent points I would have to say the the J-Spec market still gets cars we would want but as always we don't get.
As far as the new evo not being as good as the old evo? Check your local time attack stats and you will see there is a clear preference for the X….its stiffer and handles better…evo 8/9 guys will be the first to admit it
Its a tad heavier but its much much stiffer and not only safer but more composed on the road — easier to sell the wife on a daily driver if it doesn't always ride like a kidney killer
I think alot of Japanese enthusiasts got spoiled with making power and the new rides just have more issues when you try to race them. Their gearboxes arent as strong — they shred synchros like water and have rubbery cable shifters (yuk) or notchy shifters like my 06 Z.
As a diehard Honda guy I was a little disappointed about the VQs NA potential as well as the sub par tranny operation — S2K is like liquid butter on popcorn — BUT the new Z is better in every way — very much an improvement on a design from an almost bankrupt Nissan (350z) …..now with strong financial sense they made the 370 (should have been 420 but whatever) — almost a G from the factory on street tires — runs 12's out of the box and gets decent mileage while being worlds safer than say a 240Z in a crash
As I sit and type this I would love to have a number of Japanese cars….fewer of them are new….but as humans we also lean towards the familiar — the memories — I would rather have my 99 civic hatchback than a 2009 civic dx….but I know the 09 is safer….but the H2B swap is more enticing than an 09 with a K series
Hell a 95 FD RX7 with an LS7, Boosted F20c, 2JZ etc…A 510 with an F20c turbo ….A MKIV 2JZ Supra, R32 with a worked RB
With the price of all these vehicles coming down so much its getting harder to justify spending so much more and getting so much less (in terms of fun per dollar)
I think this fork in the road between shelling out 15K for a stock fit/versa/sentra/rio etc.. or building a number of japanese enthusiast chassis has alot to do with it —
I will buy another japanese car — I owned more than 9 Hondas (one bought new) and the day I bought my then new 99 civic hatch I already had my game plan for mods….looking at the 09 Si…I just think about the rubbery shifter and the drive by wire throttle (yuk)….cramped engine bay….coupe body…No thanks
The new EVO and Z are great cars as is the GTR (save for the initial tranny issues)
I for one blame the economy — the NSX was coming, the CR-Z was coming, the Supra was coming — who knows maybe the FTO was coming stateside? lol But money fears killed the launch of alot of great Japanese cars — but give it some time…look how long it took to get a GTR here and we are already complaining about it lol
I havent lost all hope — but I keep eyeing ads for EK hatchback shells — my 06 Z is a great daily — but as an enthusiast I think there are less expensive alternatives that provide more bang for your buck — its a great chassis and the VK V8 swaps look promising — but it will be a while before I shell out another 30-40K on a stock japanese fun car
Jack: what a great article – and Toyota’s recent showing of the LF-A and the FT-86 concept strongly suggest you pretty much nailed it and they are aware of that – their new CEO (Toyoda) pretty much makes these point in public. Good thing he is a racer.
For now, I am taking my beloved 93 Corolla to the autox and track – started as an econobox for a 2 years US gig, which became 6 years and the car grew so much on me that I outright love it and wish there was a more of a Toyota car selection in the club racing scene to choose from.
Keep your posts coming – they always make my day. You still owe us a report of your Civic pro race – not fair posting the teaser photo and then remaining silent!!!
Thanks! Kai
my dad had a hair transplant and it was very costly~*;