If the import era cameback?

[Stormtrooper5.0]

I used to be a fan of imports in the 90’s/late 00’s when that scene was hot and imports ruled the streets. I like to call it the Golden Era of JDM. Sometime in the early 2000s JDM died out though, the term ricer was invented, and no longer were the Japanese really focusing on their sporty cars and started putting their efforts into econoboxes. With the exception of the Z’s, STi’s, Evos, the culture was never the same and many lost interest. The late 80s/90s/early 00’s were for imports what the 60s/70s were for muscle cars.

Now it seems like modern muscle has taken over and it has been that way for a while, seems like once the challenger/camaro/charger came back to compete with each other and the long standing Mustang, it was game on and the muscle scene took off…again. I think we are now living in the age of modern muscle.

My question is would you love to see imports make a comeback with cars that can compete with the muscle cars of today?

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[Zodiac]

Sure why not. Competition is good for the consumer.

 

[bluebeastsrt]

Id love to see a 375hp 4 banger evo 11, STi, Si but the reality is there are only so many performance car buyers and the imports are a tuff sell when you can get a high quality American sports car like the Mustang, Camaro, Scat pack for the same money.

 

[Static_LV]

I would love to see this. Competition pushes everyone to new levels of excellence.
Personally, I would love to see a new RX-# platform and a Supra make an entry.
I thought Toyota was going to get it right with the RC-F but the thing weighs as much as an FJ Cruiser.

 

[Stormtrooper5.0]

I would love to see this. Competition pushes everyone to new levels of excellence.
Personally, I would love to see a new RX-# platform and a Supra make an entry.
I thought Toyota was going to get it right with the RC-F but the thing weighs as much as an FJ Cruiser.

I think Mazda is planning to bring back the RX, I'd really love to see an RX9.
It's sad that the 2017 Toyota 86 will only get a 5hp bump making it now 205hp lol, as far as the Supra that probably will never come out.

I also heard Honda was making an all-electric sports car but that's nothing to get excited about.

 

[Rough Hollow Man]

Wishing Mazda would resurrect the Rotary Engine. Those wonderful little rotary engines used to make me "cheat" on my beloved Mustangs. The RX-7 Turbos were exhilarating to the MAX...the RX-8s were milder but more dependable. Such wonderful whirling sounds...

 

[Trackaholic]

I have a 2003 350Z which is awesome, and the 370Z certainly performs very well in terms of handling although I am not in love with the looks. The V6 is near its limit though. However, now that Infiniti has some turbo V6 engines, maybe Nissan will update the Z with the 400 HP version. That would certainly be a bad-ass car!

Honda has basically nothing since the S2000 died. I guess a new hot Civic is coming, but in general they aren't adding much. Still no Integra replacement either.

Toyota has the BRZ, which is almost as good as a Miata. But nothing for those looking for power. Maybe the "Supra" co-designed with BMW will some day exist. Lexus has a couple interesting cars though, but at Lexus price and luxury levels, so they are pretty heavy and expensive.

Subaru STi has stagnated, and could really use an engine update.

Mazda has interesting concepts, and maybe that rotary will return. Would definitely be sweet if it could make it with current emission regs.

I agree that some of the main players are lacking. Would really like Nissan to update the Z, and would like Honda to get back into the game with an S2000 replacement. Toyota and Mazda delivering something would be icing on the cake!

-T

 

[TruBlu16GT]

I've typically been a "Sport Compact" kinda guy. I like power, but I also like going around a corner. Maybe in the 60's, I would've been a mid-sized, "Pony Car" kinda guy. (Camaro, Firebird, Javelin, Mustang, Cougar, AMX).

If the Dodge Dart came in 2-door, RWD, V6/6 speed Combo, I'd have gone that direction. I've never owned a 4-door car in my lifetime and never intend on owning one. That has severely limited my choice of new cars. Not two many tudors out there anymore.

The Sport Compact segment is in it's death-throes, too. This side of the planet doesn't really have much in the way of Hot Hatchbacks either. In my mind, I can't understand how Subaru is still around. Their research and development team has been on holiday for years. They haven't done any major chassis, body or engine/driveline updates in nearly 10 years. That wanker of a flat 4 nearly destroyed that company until they came out with a timing chain in what.... 2010?

Back when I was spinning wrenches for a living, if a Subaru came in the shop with a broken timing belt; we wouldn't even disassemble for diagnosis. It was simply either find a junkyard engine, or a crate engine. The last one I saw kissed every valve to the tune of $6,000 to redo the top end. I would cringe everytime one of those cars came in on a rollback and I'd pray to the flying Spaghetti Monster that it would not get assigned to me. I absolutely hate those cars!

I miss the days when you'd see tons of Neon's, Sunfires, Civics, Cavaliers. I used to hate it at the time, but looking back, yeah the late '90s was kind of a Golden age for cars like that. Cheap, Plentiful, Easy to Modify....

 

[CommyO]

If toyota goes back to making sports cars like the supra, it'd be an incredible era to be a car guy. I mean they could put the I6 2jz into the FRS or a different chassis

 

[Volstang]

Still many hot 4 bangers or 6 cyl now. Focus ST, Focus RS, STi, Evo, Ecoboost Stang, Turbo Camaro, etc. I had a Focus ST for a while and loved it. Had it tuned, the little thing would move and handled great! I love my Mustangs and have had five of them and will get an S550 later this year. I don't care about imports or whatever. People can enjoy whatever. I do hate big ass coffee can mufflers and loud swarming bee sounding cars, but I don't have to buy them so have at it. I do want to see younger folks enjoy and carry on the tradition of hot rodding cars and keep it going strong. We are certainly living in a whole new muscle car era with crazy HP cars that are insanely fast, reliable, comfortable, and tons of fun to mod!

 

[cosmo]

I would buy a new S2000 in a heartbeat. Just take the F20 (I like the higher redline) and put it in a Miata level weighted car. God damn, that'd be perfection.

 

[Zerobar78]

I would like to see the 3000GT VR-4 come back, I always liked those and never had one. Would be great to see a TT-V6 again making about 450hp, some aluminum to keep the weight down, and an engine bay that doesn't require the entire engine being removed to change a belt.

 

[bluebeastsrt]

What I'd really love to see is cars like the neon SRT-4 or the Cobalt SS turbo make the rounds again. Price them so a younger first time buyer can afford them.

 

[Volstang]

Bluebeastsrt, not sure how old you are but I remember when little GLHS Omni and Chargers came out and then a lesser known CSX and they were quick cars for the day. My poor ass had an 86 EXP, which was nothing to brag about. Pontiac had a Sunbird Turbo that some mag called "an IROC killer". I'm dating myself....back then a Corvette had less HP than what a V6 Mustang or Camaro have today! LOL! Much faster cars today. Still fun to see "giant killers" come on the scene from time to time. Syclone truck, Buick GN, etc. really rattled cages and pissed off the Corvette crowd.

 

[Kahboom]

Mazda is supposedly bringing the Mazdaspeed3 back with AWD. Really wanted one but they stopped selling them in 2013. Test drove the 2015 WRX and STi. Test drove the focus ST and mustang ecoboost. Was torn between the WRX, STi and Ecoboost, then I made the mistake of test driving the GT. Had to have one after that. Still in the future a nice DD import would be nice while keeping the miles low on the GT in the Garage.

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