Turning Japanese: PH Blog
A drive in an RX-7 has got Dan all wistful about the golden age of Japanese performance cars
What is it about Japanese cars of this period that makes them so beguiling? I’ve already done a £100K garage and there’s a long backlog of PHer contributions waiting to go live so it’s not fair I abuse my position to create another one on this theme. But the dream of a collection of 90s Japanese classics would, I think, be an excellent way of spending a hundred grand, virtual or real.
As part of a generation of car nuts who gained as much of their four-wheeled education through Gran Turismo as car mags it’s perhaps not surprising Japanese cars figure so highly on my radar. Certainly games helped raise awareness but having ‘graduated’ into driving the real thing my love of them has only strengthened.
What is it then? One of the things I love about this period in Japanese performance cars is the sheer creativity of the engineers and, seemingly, the enthusiasm of their bosses to indulge them and nurture their talents. Culturally these cars were built to very different norms than European or American cars and that’s what makes them stand out. Here cars are inexorably linked to legacies of class and status – given that many of the early pioneers, especially the motorsport enthusiasts, were drawn from the upper classes and aristocracy it’s unsurprising notions of hierarchy remain deeply seated in European car culture. Meanwhile in America it’s easy to generalise that a more simplistic obsession with power and excess are the primary motivating factors. Both cultures have created many wonderful cars but there’s a modesty and humility about the way 90s Japanese performance cars were built that I just love.
Yes, hierarchy and exclusivity were still there, with ever more esoteric and exclusive special editions to appeal to the true aficionados. But in a different frame of reference, dictated by legislation that made the horsepower and vmax arms races seen in Europe and America seem a little vulgar. With strict limits to horsepower and top speed – 280hp and 180km/h respectively – the engineers had to look at other ways to make cars exciting, each coming up with their own responses. GT-Rs and others were designed to cope with two or three times the legislated power cap and it was left to the owner and the aftermarket to unlock the potential. Honda instead went for crazy specific outputs from high revving normally aspirated engines and anally retentive weight saving like titanium gearknobs. Then there were the rally boys, exploiting four-wheel drive traction and turbocharging to make up for on-paper power deficits. Amid this diversity constants like tactile contact points with the inevitable Nardi or Momo wheel and fast-shifting, close ratio manual boxes, well-placed pedals and compact dimensions all add up to cars that work as well on British roads as they did on the Japanese ones they were designed for. Given the growing disparity between modern fast cars’ abilities and the chances to enjoy them on road or track maybe there’s something we could learn from this.
Anyway. I’m getting a bit philosophical here. Back to the cars. The RX-7 I’m to drive later is a perfect example of what I’m on about; it’s small, it’s technically eccentric and interesting with its sequential turbos and Wankel engine and as time passes the good ones are becoming ever more rare and sought after. The tuning culture that’s part and parcel of the Japanese performance world is, in this case, both a blessing and curse. Tweaking and personalising the car to your taste is a fundamental part of the game. And yet hypocritically we all prize the treasured original, unmolested car over and above the one that’s been modded.
So if/when my financial ship comes in I’m jumping aboard and immediately pointing out east to try and scoop up my dream fleet of 90s JDM specials before they all disappear for good. On the shopping list there’d have to be a Skyline of some sort – an R32 like this one I think – and an NSX Type R. Indeed, there’d be a few Hondas on there, including an EK9 Civic Type R, an Integra and maybe even a Beat. I’d have to have an Impreza – an early stripped back Type RA I think – and of course an RX-7. A Eunos Roadster too? Well, already got one of them. You’ve got to start somewhere after all...
At which point I open the floor and invite you to share your favourites of the genre too. Over to you!
Dan
Sad to say I have never driven en example, I do sense future classic with this one.
Was at the 11th hr of buying one years later but the day before I was going to hand over the money I got posted (Army) and my annual mileage jumped from 9k to 30k.
So didn't buy. Still gutted to this day. Was a facelift in white with all the aerokit, big wing etc.
Would I buy any of the current Mitsi range? Nope.
Enjoy the RX7 Dan, you won't be disappointed
late 80's / early 90's jap cars will be what I'll be spending my money on if I ever won the lottery, so many good cars from that era.
Indeed. Okay it doesn't fit every car - an M5 or CLK black being designed as a straight-line monster (that can manage corners), is fine - but for mid-range sportscars and hot hatches it becomes tiring when "innovation" means "a bigger engine with more power". If those extra CC's were so brilliant, why not put them in the first time?
Given the space, I would have one in a heartbeat. I'll just have to make do with my 350Z for the time being! Now how much are those turbo kits...
I'd love an S15, but it offers nothing above what my 180SX has, which is one of the most beguiling and wonderful cars I've owned I think. Very characterful, I love the driving position and it can be bonkers fast round a track one minute and lock-stops hooligan the next.
I'm on my 3rd. I think this one is a keeper.
My previous:
The RX-7 I had was awesome to drive when it worked. The problem was in the 6 months I had it, it had an engine rebuild followed by any number of other gremlins in every other part of the car. I think I managed about 500 miles in it that weren't running in miles...
For now I am making do with an MR2 mk1 which also meets all the above criteria with the addition of a t-bar roof. Such a fun car to drive - always willing to rev away and carry this grinning idiot wherever he wants to go at great pace. It must have been a terrific car to have owned from new in 1989.
I agree about the philosophy of the time for Japanese performance metal (and growing (still) on Gran Turismo ! ).
For me i'd have to go for the full deck.
240Z
EK Civic Type R
Evo V
Impreza STi V (and a Forester STi as a Q Car!)
ST205 Celica GT-4
Mk4 Supra TT
R33 Skyline GT-R
FD3S RX-7
NSX
The lot. They were (and in some cases still are) my poster cars. Don't get me wrong, I love Ferrari's, Lambo's, BMW's etc, but there's just always been something unique about the Japanese approach. The slightly obsessive approach.
Even as late as the 2ZZ Celica (my current car) and the S2000, they just felt different to their contemporaries, that I think most modern cars of any nationality just don't have. The NC MX-5 and GT86/BRZ are the closest to that at the moment, then until recently probably the RS Clio and Megane.
Regulations and politics are a big part of the homoginisation of todays cars, but we the consumer at the rest! If everyone wants big torques and all the gadgets, who can blame makers for working to that big market!
Perhaps the recent approach from Scion in the US is a good one. Perhaps we should all be a bit more Japanese and fettle a bit more? I know that after the safe, honest performance and learning experience i've had with my Celica, that my next car WILL be fettled to a degree, but i can be sure that it still probably won't feel as special as those 90's machines.
If you asked me to rank my cars in order of enjoyment it would go:
1) Impreza
2) S2000
3) Boxster
4) MX5
As for where I go from here....new impreza or a widetrack? An Evo of some description prob a 5 or 6.....I just don't know!
I (well, my wife and I) have had a variety of JDM cars, and all have done various things exceptionally well.
3 MX5s, for various top down budget thrills
An AW11 MR2, for a wonderfully charismatic drive, with a soundtrack full of character (the 4AGE is a masterpiece!), and a real sense of feel for the road.
A DC2, for, well, we all know the things that make them so much fun.
2 200SXs, which do the budget turbo cruiser thing so well, but have so much tuning potential
And an FD RX7, which I've had for over 6 years now. It was a boyhood dream, has had 2 rebuilds, is rubbish on fuel, hugely impractical, but lives up to every single thing I thought it would be (including the previous foibles) And to these eyes it's one of the most beautiful car designs the world has seen. The turn in is crisp, mid corner poise is exquisite, the soundtrack is fabulous, and even stock, they are very, very fast road cars.
I sometimes do find myself wishing I'd never got carried away with tuning it though. As a relatively stock road car with just some breathing mods and an aftermarket ECU it was nearly 300 ATW and felt like a big engine in a petite chassis.
Wonderful things, I plan on keeping it for a looong time.
I have always had a soft spot for R32GTRs though - one of those would happily sit in my garage (in that slate grey) next to a fixed headlight NSX-r. Oh, and I want our 1996 DC2 back as well. Best car we've ever owned.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff