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Performance enthusiasts don't dream as much about GT-R's these days as they do about BMW M cars, Z06s, Ford GTs and Porsche 991 GT-3's, GT-4's and Turbos.
The iconic Integra Type R. Everyone wanted and still wants one of these. I want one! If you have ever driven a DC2 GSR, you will know what I am talking about when you say fun to drive. The DC2 Integra still looks really good today. 
I think this is an ILX or something. The Acura brand has declined so much in the eyes of car guys that none of my friends know the models anymore either. The ILX is the compact Acura that is what the Integra became, sort of. If this is an ILX, who knows, hahahaha. I could maybe rock one of these as a daily beater commuter if I got a really good deal on it. If I owned my own car company, my goal would be to build cars that people lust after- that way you create demand and don't have to waste money on marketing. Cars that the buyer needs a good deal to consider are not it!The quality reduction is painful to the engineer in me. Where there was once zinc plating and e-coating to keep corrosion at bay, there is now only phosphate coating, just enough to keep perforation at bay till the warranty runs out. Ball joints and axles are minimalistic. Control arms are cheap single stage stampings- just strong enough. The 4-cylinder engines are weak with class trailing power and torque and sound like bleating sheep. Interiors are cheap looking. Yuck, like the old domestic rental cars we hated and would like to try to break on purpose.
Things are even bleaker at Honda/Acura. The new Civic is just simply hideous. Honda did just come out with a new Civic Type-R- which should be a class leader in FWD performance, but the Civic is now a mid-size car, the Type-R is 15 years too late and to top it all off, is amazingly ugly. It looks like someone got a now ugly Civic and put something worse than a Veilside body kit on it.
What happened to the company that made the CRX, the EG and EK Civics, the Prelude, good looking Accords, the S2000, the B and H series Vtec engines and the mighty performance K motors (the subject of another huge rant by yours truly)? There is not a single Honda product I would currently care to own.
Acura is not much better; the company that gave us the Integra, the Legend and the NSX now makes boring looking cars no one wants to buy. The last Acura I would have considered was the TSX, and now the cars are so milk toast I don't even know what they are. No one else does either. It's my father's Acura, and I am 55.
The NSX was a landmark car, mid-engine and lightweight. With all aluminum construction, it was a pure driver's car. Today the current NSX, the sole light of Acura product lineup, is a heavy soulless engineering effort that nearly weighs two tons. It has none of the DNA of its elegant predecessor.
So what kind of car do I like? I, like most of my friends, have been looking towards the Europeans. Their brands have the performance DNA bred into them. The styling is how the Japanese USED to be. Sporty but clean and understated, dictated by form following function. The engine performance has caught and surpassed the Japanese. With the exception of Toyota and Lexus, the quality has been exceeded by the Euros as well. I would also consider a, gasp, Domestic car. The American car makers have for the most part caught up and even surpassed all of the Japanese manufacturers except Toyota in quality and are building cars with world-class performance, why not!
I am not saying that Japanese car companies need to start building fleets of hotrods for enthusiasts only. That is a niche market and catering only to that is a sure way to go bankrupt. What I am saying is that they need to look toward their past and develop cars with clean, sleek and simple styling, basic good looking stuff that naturally appeals to people, enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. They need to make cars that are lighter, more nimble and fun to drive with sparkling performance. This is what they used to do better than any other manufacturers in the world.
What happened to the Japanese car fans? They all want Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and even the Domestics now. Japanese companies, take notice and return to your roots! Throw aside the depression caused by the lost decades and regain your enthusiasm. That, or loose your core, loyal customers. If you allow that to happen, it will take another generation of national level effort to regain your formal greatness. You might not ever do it again.
10 comments
I agree that Japanese cars are really garbages.
Japanese cars are inferior to European cars/
Boycott Japanese cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very true
You are the stupidest person in the world. If It was not for Japan, the oil crisis could of never ended. THE S2000, SUPRA OR NSX WOULD OF NEVER CAME OUT.
Maybe you have zero reading comprehension.
The sale of Japanese cars in the United States cost us 60 billion in our trade deficit.
I grew up in Japan, and believe that a lot of Japanese cars “were” reliable. But with the current technology and improvements in the automotive industry, the average car is just as reliable. So, what has Japan done to improve their competition. US and European cars out perform Japanese cars in power, comfort, handling; even Korean cars are bumping up their game to be more competitive while Japan progress has dramatically slowed down. Sure Japan has GTR, new Fairlady, Lexus’s (which every model looks the same) but still does not stand up to the US muscle car,, and Mercedes GT63s, BMW M8 competition (to name a few brand/car), even some of the Kia and Genesis flagship price point give better bang for the buck then Japanese cars. Another thing I hate is that Japan has a monopoly on US, and European cars imported into Japan, some Korean cars are not permitted into Japan for sale (eliminate the competition), The price of all import cars into Japan is literally double the MSRP (including foreign Dealerships in Japan). I under there are cost for shipping and taxation, but really? The Math is MSRP x 2 = price of import cars in Japan. It’s sad that the average person in Japan can’t afford to buying an imported car and end up buying a Japanese cars. I wonder what would happen if Europe and US did the same math for Japanese cars sold outside of Japan.
all jap cars are junk. I don’t hate myself enough to drive one or worse think of owning one. Domestic cars are great. Why on gods green earth would anyone think the pieces of crap made overseas are better than home made cars. Some people are simply too stupid to know what is good for them. We were forced into a war with japan and won. why support their stinking car industry. Let them keep the crap they make in japan where it belongs.
Well domestics sucked amazingly badly in the 80’s and 90’s, they had to improve a lot or the vastly superior Japanese cars of the time would have put them out of business. In fact they did put a lot of the GM brands out of business.
you are not alone bro I hate japan car/automotive too even for their history ww2 to nasty to write, the only reason why because japan very dominant in our market share imagine you have 273 million people and 95% all of them market share owned by japan, they do monopolies! with increase price but decrease quality even their car are shit garbage, overprice and underpower
just look at the class of these cars