Thread: Japanese cars

I have an affection for Japanese cars. We can argue quartermiles and how you can in the end make a rwd V8 faster for drag racing, and a corvette for track as fast or faster than any ricer car, but dammit I love Japanese cars, Ive owned 6 japanese cars of two different brands, all of them were RWD manual, 2 seater, flip lights and 4cylinders, and 2 of them came from the factory with a turbocharger. You just can't find a US car with that exact combination outside of a crappy fiero.

I went to a local diner in St. Louis tonight and was talking about how I might be getting a new job and Ill have the opportunity to make more money than I ever did at my previous jobs, if the small business owner takes me in. I said if money comes as easy as it could potentially in the new line of work, Id like to get an R33 Skyline GTR.

The man about 2 seats over, this seemed to offend him. He told me if I liked japanese cars so much I should simply move to japan, and how they are vastly inferior to American cars. It turned into a difference of opinion and I really can't argue opinions. I steered him into politics where I had better footing for arguing. We each left on good terms at that point even if we were at opposite sides of the political spectrum.

I pointed out that you can buy an American made Toyota Camry, and you can buy a Mexican made GM car. Roger Smith moved all those Flint Michigan UAW jobs to Mexico, if you watch "Roger and Me" thats essentially what the whole documentary was about.

I understand people being set in their ways, but I think a lot of American car buffs fail to acknowledge that buying a truly American car, isn't as cut and dry as it was 30-40 years ago. Why so much hate on the japanese cars, when there are so many American made, japanese badged cars now?

Now the cars that I like that are Japanese are made in japan, and some of them, like the R33 Skyline GTR are also originally sold in Japan (You can tell this since they are Right hand drive), but if you are buying a brands sports car for the purposes of racing, you wouldn't buy a Mexican made Corvette or a British made Porsche. You are pretty much stuck with buying the badgings country of origin to get that car.

What are your guys feelings on foreign brand cars, even if they are built in America through hiring US workers? The man claimed that they all made minimum wage, but I find that to be rather doubtful, they may not be UAW, but I doubt you get paid minimum wage making Hyundais *yes I know Hyundai is korean* and Toyotas stateside.

Even my grandpa who fought in WWII, ALMOST never forgave the Japanese for bombing pearl harbor, considering he lived through it, makes sense. But about 4 years ago he bought himself a new Toyota Prius.

If you like Japanese cars so much, you should simply move to Japan.

Sorry but I won't do the democrats this election or any other election, any favors by moving out of the country unless as a service member. I need to continue to vote my all democratic ballot every election so Id rather just buy a Japanese car in America than move and let the righties ruin the country.

You should look up the FD RX-7 its considered to be one of the best driving cars ever made. Nothing wrong with having an affection for cars that drive really good and aren't made here. If you are going to criticize me for buying a japanese car, then why in the hell are you buying Middle Eastern oil to fill up your truck? You are literally getting US GI's killed for the last 30 years everytime you fill up your gas guzzler. 9/11 happened because of the US dependence on foreign oil and setting up military bases in Saudi Arabia (hence why most of the hijackers were Saudi) We also get a whole lot of oil from Hugo Chavez's Socialist government of Venezuela. If you drive a gas guzzler, you support socialism/terrorism.

Actually I prolly do America a favor by buying high gas mileage japanese cars since it reduces the country as a whole, dependence on foreign oil, than if I bought a gas guzzling 03-04 Ford Cobra. (btw the 03-04 cobra is my favorite US car)

I've got rifles from Russia, Finland, Nepal, the US and others. I didn't limit my choice to US made rifles only, I don't expect folks to do the same with their cars. I own a Ford F150 Supercrew, a motorhome with a Ford F52 V10 chassis, was issued a Ford F150 extended cab for work, and also bought a Toyota Sienna van for the wife and a Toyota Corolla for my daughter to drive.

Much of the anti-Toyota sentiment due to WWII has mostly gone away. In the early 90s you dared not show up at a union job in a Japanese car and expect not to get it keyed, or worse. The WWII vets have mostly died off and their children are starting to retire from the workforce, so for the most part that sentiment is gone. No one hardly bats an eye anymore at Japanese cars in the parking lot. (For some strange reason, driving a BMW or Mercedes was OK, even back then.)

About the only products I 'boycott' anymore are Chinese made goods...if I can. I do not believe in supporting slave labor and if I can find a US, Indian, Canadian, Pakistani or any other source first, I will.

Keith

My grandpa had more of an issue with Mitsubishi's than any other Japanese brand of car. When my brother pulled up to his house in a Mitsubishi Eclipse (Ironically built in Normal Illinois as a joint venture between Chrysler and Mitsubishi as part of Diamond Star motors that also made american badged cars with the EXACT same chassis and motor in it as the Mitsubishi Eclipse) He said "Is that a Mitsubishi!? They built the planes that bombed pearl harbor!" He was offended, but I guess thats a generational difference.

I dont know, and I dont think he does either, what weaponry, if any, Toyota built for the IJN/IJA in WWII though. He originally wanted a Ford Escape Hybrid since that was American built, but he couldn't find one without spending thousands on top of the sticker price so he bought a Prius. His desire to help out the environment by buying a higher mpg car was greater than his 70 year feud with the Japanese, and the Prius gets some damn good gas mileage. Up to that point in time, he had only bought American cars.

I like the 80's chevy nova because it uses a Toyota 4age and I know a whole lot about tuning that motor to make the car a lot faster than it came from the factory. Ive had two cars that used the 4age for a motor, and both got between 30-35 mpg around town.

I find it weird that there are some American's who still hold hatred for Japanese cars. I told a LS1 Camaro owner that I too would like an LS1 powered car, a FD RX-7 with a Chevy 350 dropped into it, first comment he had was that setup was garbage, not because it used the same motor as his camaro, but because the chassis was made in Japan. I told him if speed was of any concern to him when buying a car for racing, then he would go with the much lighter and 1000x rarer FD RX-7 chassis than he would his 1 in 3 million LS1 Camaro, that weighs about 500lbs more. I dunno, go figure.

Oh and I do my best to avoid Chinamart, I mean Walmart. I usually go up there for either motor oil, a deck of cards or ammunition but nothing else really.

Toyotas and hondas are all my parents owned when i was growing up so of course i know what great cars they are. I have 2 f150s one is a 94 wich gets over 20 mpg wich is about 8mpg less then my parents highlander hybrid and the other is an 84 . If i could afford a $30,000 truck and it made sense to pay that for a vehicle i might own a toyota. Oh and why was the NSX not mentioned in this post lol

Originally Posted by shayne

Toyotas and hondas are all my parents owned when i was growing up so of course i know what great cars they are. I have 2 f150s one is a 94 wich gets over 20 mpg wich is about 8mpg less then my parents highlander hybrid and the other is an 84 . If i could afford a $30,000 truck and it made sense to pay that for a vehicle i might own a toyota. Oh and why was the NSX not mentioned in this post lol

Hey I love the NSX, Ive owned 4 Japanese Midengined cars out of the 6 I have owned. Simply put I wasn't at the baller status to acquire an NSX, so I chose Toyota's midengined cars which are 1/10th the price, and 2 of them put down similar or more hp than a stock NSX. But as much as I like the NSX, if this new line of work pays anywhere near what Ive been told it could, if Im a good worker, Im going to say Screw the MKIV SUpra, Screw the NSX, Screw my beloved MR2 Turbo, Screw the FD RX-7 and screw the STi/Evo, Im just gonna get an incredibly rare R33 Skyline GTR. Ill put my company's ad on the doors and rear window of it so I can attract more customers and make even more money since the car would be such a head-turner and eye-catcher. Ill be doing paintless dent removal so people who like cars and know about Skylines should come my way to remove their dents when they see the ad.

Missouri is ideal for true japanese imports because we have such weak emissions laws, practically the bare minimum that is allowed in the states. I think its 96+ cars have to go through some kind of ecu scan and all cars have to have a cat on it to pass safety, and then after you pass, promptly rip off the cat and put on a dpipe/test pipe to make 50+ more whp.

I own a built in Mississippi (or maybe Tennessee) Nissan Frontier Pickup. My wife and I traded in her built in Canada Chevy Lumina (a giant piece of crap by the way) for a Hyundai Santa Fe(partially built in Louisiana) which is much nicer than the other SUVs we test drove and gets better mileage than most of their competitors.

The only US auto maker I would consider buying from is Ford since they are not owned/bailed out by the US Government. The problem with that is that I have had 4 different Fords in the past, and each and every one of them were junk, though I have read that they are much better nowadays. Ford recently discontinued the Ranger, so no small/mid size p/u.

My Frontier has just about 200k miles on it and it should get at least another 200k before I get another Frontier.

I support US workers first, automakers second.

Simply put, when the US automakers make a car/small p/u truck that rivals Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, Acura, etc...in reliablity, style and fuel mileage, I will consider one.

But in the future, I will be buying another Nissan Frontier.

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Capitalism is BO$$!!!

Originally Posted by JimmyS1985

I like the 80's chevy nova because it uses a Toyota 4age and I know a whole lot about tuning that motor to make the car a lot faster than it came from the factory. Ive had two cars that used the 4age for a motor, and both got between 30-35 mpg around town.

That car was ugly as hell, and getting more power out of it than from the factory isnt hard, they made what 115 hp?
I like American cars and when i say american cars i mean older cars like 20's through early 70's. Thats when america made good vehicles.
Most of the stuff sold buy american companies isnt american made and is garbage.
I dont like japanese cars because they are unreliable when you start putting alot of power to them, they are unibody (most of them) and you twist the frame all up as well. I was racing when the whole fast and teh furious thing came around and was involved in HIN alot so i saw alot of rice rockets and i never liked the sound or the way they looked and honestly there where fast ones but not near as many as you think there where. There were waaaaay more fast v-8's and the fast v-8's where waaaay faster than the fast 4 bangers.
But then again im a 'rightie" and a hot rodder so im biased in my beliefs and my cars.

Matt

Damn walked out to my car from last night when we were at the diner arguing about car makes and some bubblegum hit and ran my car. Looks like Im out 200-300 finding a new fender.

I like japanese cars because for racing, you got more options of platforms to choose from. First of all Ill make it clear, Ive never owned a FWD car, and never will. Hence the Dodge SRT4 is out of the running, about the only domestic I really like, short of a few of the notoriously fast FRWD ones.

V8 FRWD is such a boring platform to build a drag car out of. If you go to the quartermile, literally 3/4's 4/5's, maybe even more, the cars are all FRWD V8. You run a fast time in a V8 rwd car, you will never raise an eyebrow since your car will blend in with the 50 other fast v8 frwd cars. As far as drag racing, shy of the SRT4, thats pretty much all America knows how to build. Mustang, Camaro, Firebird, to a lesser extent the Corvette, etc. Then you got your classic cars that also came in FRWD, gran torino's, chevelles, dodge duster, charger, plymouth cuda etc. etc. Beautiful cars, good for drag, not much else.


Don't get me wrong, America built some damn good looking cars in those days and age. I personally love the Buick GNX since its got a turbo 3.8l v6, and was the first stock chassis'd car to run a 7 second quartermile, and is easy as pie to get into the 10's, is just fast enough that you can beat a lot of other cars and have fun.

Also for non-racing purposes, Im a member of the christinecarclub, as I wouldn't mind owning a classic 1958 Plymouth.

But with your japanese cars you got so many more options on how to make a car fast not just at drag but also at track, and auto-x, rally, etc. First of all V8 swaps are not unheard of in a lot of japanese cars, even US v8's, so right off the bat you can have FRWD V8 if you want in a few of the japanese cars. Not to mention the chassis also tend to be lighter, as much as I like hardbody American cars, I think they are a lot heavier than the polyurethane and aluminum bodies on some of the japanese cars. As a side note that can also translate into much better fuel mileage out of the japanese car than the American car.

BUt you got turbo 4's, turbo inline 6's, even rotary engines, AWD, FRWD, 2 jap cars are MRWD across 5 different models, the Pontiac Fiero doesn't count cuz it was such a garbage car. Most japanese cars are known for excellent braking and cornering ability.
What I like most about them is that the chassis are a hell of a lot rarer and less known about at the track, than the V8 muscle cars are. You pull up in an LS1 camaro, everyone already knows you're fast. Ive raced so many LS1 Camaro's/Firebirds with nitrous I began to think that nitrous came from the factory with the damn things.

I dunno, I guess I chose the japanese cars for racing purposes because I wanted to be different but there are some hard headed stupid American muscle guys who can't ever escape from their FRWD V8, only race in the quartermile, little box. They can really suck the life out of the sport when you pull up in a car thats not American badged and doesn't have a V8 and they talk crap on your car even if it is fast or faster than theirs. I was really surprised when the Camaro owner didn't like the idea of a LS1 inside a FD RX-7, i thought wow, that guy has like no life, either that or hates talking to a good portion of the car enthusiasts who enjoy driving their cars. I dunno theres probably a good reason why I havent tuned a car in 3 years and have gotten into guns and other hobbies, people are much easier to talk to in other things than when I went to events involving cars. There are even rivalries between the same brand and two different performance cars made by the same maker. For example the Porsche 911 owners think real lowly of people who own a Boxster as not a real porsche.

The glock guys don't hate on my Beretta M9, even if its their preference. There is no American made guns vs Israeli or Italian made weapons. Much less rivalry here than a car forum that includes all makes and is performance oriented. I guess being around people who pissed on their parade all day when they attempted to talk about their fascination with cars, particularly the American made guys like the one I met at the diner, got old for me. I switched the conversation to politics because I could argue that subject better than mere opinions on different makes and country of origins' cars.

Oh as a side note because of my politics and my choice for country of origin from where I buy my cars, he said I wasn't American. I told him my dad served his country in Vietnam for 15 months and has very similar tastes to me both in politics and owns a japanese car, I don't think he could really claim he wasn't American and its every dad's right to try and bring up his son to see things similar to the way he does.

I just recently (finally) got out from under my japanese performance car affliction.
The cure for toyota's lousy head gaskets was a small block conversion, but I couldn't make it pencil out.

The cars ran and handled well, and from the factory were relatively reliable. I had NO problem leaving genII rx7s in the dust with my supras.
But once you started modding them, a head gasket replacement was as regular as a timing belt.
Toyota has struggled with this issue for years, and refuses to even acknowledge the problem. 7mge/gte s are notorious. 5mges aren't much better, although the 1 and 2jz series are much better, they aren't immune.

I have seen waaayy too many small blocks of every stripe, and big blocks as well, going 100K miles while getting beat on every weekend at the track.
Don't even get me started on 4-wheelin'. The toyotas go decent, but are in for repairs on a regular basis once you start wringing any decent power out of them.
And like all small(er) engines they lack low-end torque.

As for your plans for the skyline, good luck with that. You won't be the first to have tried. Most seem to get busted eventually, and from then on are relegated to track-only cars or display/show pieces.

i had a 74 gran torino with a 351 cleveland and a 70 ltd with a 390 oh and a 76 chevy van with a 400 . I love old cars. i also respect the ricers . i own 2 honda motorcycles as well.

Aw dude those 7m's are notorious for horrible headgaskets. The 3s's I was tuning never had a problem with the head gasket, the third gen 3s came with a metal one infact. The low end torque was never a big deal as long as you had a quick enough spooling turbo and stayed in the mid-higher RPM's. If you are doing 4th gear pulls from 2500rpms, ok you've got an issue, but if you simply downshift to 3rd and floor it, that pretty much fixes it. If you are drag racing from a dig though, a 2-step drag launch took care of it.

I wouldn't buy a skyline unless it was already legal in a US State like any other car. Its all speculation at this point as I haven't been approved for the training or to work for the small business owner and I wont be making decent money til atleast a year in. I simply have the potential to make good money if I take well to the training and its been a life long dream of mine to own a car that no one else had in the car tuning scene.

But If I do get hired, I want to get something really rare and exotic, is japanese, and has the potential to be very fast. Currently I see several US Legal skylines on modifiedcartrader.com and I wouldn't drop 30 large without seeing proper documentation that the car is infact legal stateside.

I will definitely make sure to do some research on the legality of imported GTR Skylines prior to even considering a purchase, I just have to admit that Ive always wanted to own one and their used car prices rival that of MKIV Supra's, the other big name Japanese performance car.

MotoRex crash tested 15 R33's with DOT modifications to make them legal, just so they could import them. The other generations of skylines, not so much.

Also Missouri is generally considered to be a red state so we have less restrictions when it comes to emissions and BS like that. I may be uneducated on the subject but I would assume that if a skyline is legal in one state it should be legal in any other state.

That's funny, I had an NSX for a couple of years and the reason I ended up buying one was because I couldn't for the life of me find a 1995 MR2 Turbo. After searching the whole country for a couple of months I was only able to find 1 that was worth buying (I wanted a low mile car in STOCK condition), and it was in North Carolina.

Originally Posted by JimmyS1985

Sorry but I won't do the democrats this election or any other election, any favors by moving out of the country unless as a service member. I need to continue to vote my all democratic ballot every election so Id rather just buy a Japanese car in America than move and let the righties ruin the country.

You should look up the FD RX-7 its considered to be one of the best driving cars ever made. Nothing wrong with having an affection for cars that drive really good and aren't made here. If you are going to criticize me for buying a japanese car, then why in the hell are you buying Middle Eastern oil to fill up your truck? You are literally getting US GI's killed for the last 30 years everytime you fill up your gas guzzler. 9/11 happened because of the US dependence on foreign oil and setting up military bases in Saudi Arabia (hence why most of the hijackers were Saudi) We also get a whole lot of oil from Hugo Chavez's Socialist government of Venezuela. If you drive a gas guzzler, you support socialism/terrorism.

Actually I prolly do America a favor by buying high gas mileage japanese cars since it reduces the country as a whole, dependence on foreign oil, than if I bought a gas guzzling 03-04 Ford Cobra. (btw the 03-04 cobra is my favorite US car)

FYI...only 12-15% of US oil is imported from the Middle East. Most comes from Canada.

Originally Posted by trainsktg

I've got rifles from Russia, Finland, Nepal, the US and others. I didn't limit my choice to US made rifles only, I don't expect folks to do the same with their cars. I own a Ford F150 Supercrew, a motorhome with a Ford F52 V10 chassis, was issued a Ford F150 extended cab for work, and also bought a Toyota Sienna van for the wife and a Toyota Corolla for my daughter to drive.

Much of the anti-Toyota sentiment due to WWII has mostly gone away. In the early 90s you dared not show up at a union job in a Japanese car and expect not to get it keyed, or worse. The WWII vets have mostly died off and their children are starting to retire from the workforce, so for the most part that sentiment is gone. No one hardly bats an eye anymore at Japanese cars in the parking lot. (For some strange reason, driving a BMW or Mercedes was OK, even back then.)

About the only products I 'boycott' anymore are Chinese made goods...if I can. I do not believe in supporting slave labor and if I can find a US, Indian, Canadian, Pakistani or any other source first, I will.

Keith

Ditto on not buying Chinese products. Why in the world to we import so much from a country that spies on us, hacks our government systems, does not trade fairly and supports America's enemies with weaponry and technology?? I only buy Chinese when there is no alternative. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case all to often.

Originally Posted by JimmyS1985

I have an affection for Japanese cars. We can argue quartermiles and how you can in the end make a rwd V8 faster for drag racing, and a corvette for track as fast or faster than any ricer car, but dammit I love Japanese cars, Ive owned 6 japanese cars of two different brands, all of them were RWD manual, 2 seater, flip lights and 4cylinders, and 2 of them came from the factory with a turbocharger. You just can't find a US car with that exact combination outside of a crappy fiero.

I went to a local diner in St. Louis tonight and was talking about how I might be getting a new job and Ill have the opportunity to make more money than I ever did at my previous jobs, if the small business owner takes me in. I said if money comes as easy as it could potentially in the new line of work, Id like to get an R33 Skyline GTR.

The man about 2 seats over, this seemed to offend him. He told me if I liked japanese cars so much I should simply move to japan, and how they are vastly inferior to American cars. It turned into a difference of opinion and I really can't argue opinions. I steered him into politics where I had better footing for arguing. We each left on good terms at that point even if we were at opposite sides of the political spectrum.

I pointed out that you can buy an American made Toyota Camry, and you can buy a Mexican made GM car. Roger Smith moved all those Flint Michigan UAW jobs to Mexico, if you watch "Roger and Me" thats essentially what the whole documentary was about.

I understand people being set in their ways, but I think a lot of American car buffs fail to acknowledge that buying a truly American car, isn't as cut and dry as it was 30-40 years ago. Why so much hate on the japanese cars, when there are so many American made, japanese badged cars now?

Now the cars that I like that are Japanese are made in japan, and some of them, like the R33 Skyline GTR are also originally sold in Japan (You can tell this since they are Right hand drive), but if you are buying a brands sports car for the purposes of racing, you wouldn't buy a Mexican made Corvette or a British made Porsche. You are pretty much stuck with buying the badgings country of origin to get that car.

What are your guys feelings on foreign brand cars, even if they are built in America through hiring US workers? The man claimed that they all made minimum wage, but I find that to be rather doubtful, they may not be UAW, but I doubt you get paid minimum wage making Hyundais *yes I know Hyundai is korean* and Toyotas stateside.

Even my grandpa who fought in WWII, ALMOST never forgave the Japanese for bombing pearl harbor, considering he lived through it, makes sense. But about 4 years ago he bought himself a new Toyota Prius.

Even in the 70s and 80s many "American" cars and/or their components/engines were made in Canada.

Originally Posted by oasis618

That's funny, I had an NSX for a couple of years and the reason I ended up buying one was because I couldn't for the life of me find a 1995 MR2 Turbo. After searching the whole country for a couple of months I was only able to find 1 that was worth buying (I wanted a low mile car in STOCK condition), and it was in North Carolina.

There was less than 100 MR2 Turbo's imported in 95. Why buy an MR2 when you could get a higher performing 95 FD RX7 or similar at the time period?

You should check out the more common, but still very rare, 94 MR2 Turbo, they were practically the same car, but came with all the 94+ upgrades, but for the engine. Ive owned 2 94+ JDM 3sgte's though and the 94+ USDM 3sgte's are bubblegum compared to what was available on the JDM market, so I dont really blame you for choosing the NSX.

there are many fine cars out there, the best of them are not built in america or japan. To call an RX7 one of the best driving machines out there is simply ridiculous. Try a Holden, Lotus, Fiat, porsche, et cetera. The idiot level here is astounding.

My Grandparents, Uncle and Dad all bought a new car in 2009. My Dad bought an American Chevy Equinox and my Uncle and Grandparents both got a Toyota Camry. My Dad's car was assembled in Canada, the engine was built in China and the transmission in Japan. My Grandparents and Uncles Toyota was all built in the USA. So, should we give out money and support blue collar workers like who work for Toyota? Or is it better to give your money to Chevrolet and support foreign blue collar workers and state side white collar workers? The same white collar workers who shipped the jobs over seas in the first place. I am not going to tell you what car to buy, but just want to point out that it's buyer beware. Many car are still built in the USA, but buying something made by a US company doesn't necessarily mean it's going to support the US work force.

Personally I try to buy US and local whenever I can. I do my best to support small business over larger corporations. But when it comes to the auto industry things are so muddled and backwards it's not even worth trying. I know my next car will be a Ford. They are American made, didn't get a Gov't bail out and just build damn nice cars. I'll be buying it for my wife and she is a Ford fan. For myself, I'll end up with some used foreign car. I want an small 4 door AWD 4 cylinder turbo charged car and frankly no US manufacture makes that.