![]() ![]() ![]() But the del Sol is the original, and you can get one for $5,000 or less these days. And secondly, it had “TransTop,” which was a metal folding hardtop that’s now seen on various coupe-cabriolet European hatchbacks. The Civic del Sol (or CR-X) had two: first, it had a screaming 1.6-liter VTEC engine that was all the craze, capable of 170 hp inVTi trim. ![]() 1997 Honda Civic Del Sol ($5,000)īack in the 1990s, all major Japanese manufacturers were making fun, zippy coupes that each had their own unique selling point. If you want to look like you’re in a Fast & Furious movie or a Gran Turismo game, this is the car to get. And believe us, that’s the generation you want (or at least near the year 2000), because modern Eclipses are slower, uglier, and don’t have nearly as much character. The Mitsubishi Eclipse is one of the most popular tuner cars in the world, and you can find old models for ridiculously cheap – like $3,000 for a turn-of-the-century model. You can find a late-stage sixth-gen (1993-1999) for a ridiculous $1,500 or so. It has taken on many forms through the years, but the second to fourth generations, and then the sixth generation, are generally considered some of the better ones. Though the tuner-favorite car was discontinued in 2005, it had a long run beginning in 1970, lasting for seven generations. People will argue until they’re blue in the face about the “best” Toyota Celia generation, but just know that you can’t really go wrong with any of them. 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X ($18,000) 1. Here are 10 Japanese sports cars cheaper than anything American: 1. Whether you are a speed aficionado or someone looking for a car that is both practical and fun to drive around, the Land of the Rising Sun has you covered.Īpart from being reliable, the machines produced by Japanese automakers are also famously cost-effective they are quite the bargain if you are in the market for a pocket-friendly, sturdy, and safe drive. Perhaps it’s once again time to delight in the vehicularly unconventional.Japanese carmakers are renowned the world over for the stellar quality of their sports cars. It’s a ballsy move, and you know how we feel about balls. But, then again, neither did their Japanese predecessors when they buzzed into the Malaise Era 40 years ago. Neither of these marques has any heritage to draw from in terms of building or marketing real sports cars. Not surprisingly-since we’ve never appreciated a single design to emerge from Toyota’s “funsy” junior-varsity brand-the Scion is more unlovely in both respects, with a nose that resembles a bulldozer’s prow knitted from fireplace screen, and a clumsily Restylaned fender cove outfitted with oversize badges that recall the ones worn by the Waffen S.S. Surprisingly, given Subaru’s current overwrought/overinflated styling language, the BRZ is the more attractive of the two to our eye, with a cleaner front end and some nicely straked coves along the top of the fender. Like a pair of classic 80s Bermuda bags or Cyberdyne Systems Model T-800 Terminators, the mechanicals underpinning the two cars’ skins are pretty much identical-as are the skins themselves. We now live in an era when a standard muscle car like the Ford Mustang can produce an absurd (and thrilling) 650 horsepower and go around corners handily when safety requirements and consumer demands for creature comforts have caused even small, sporty cars to tip the scales at more than one and a half tons and when the kind of gratifying vehicles we tout as affordable cost as much as the median annual household income. At a time when the automotive label “Made in Japan” read to American consumers at best as “invincible whirring econo-box,” these sporty and stylish (or, in the Celica’s case, “styled”) rear-wheel-drive GTs changed perceptions, opened new markets, and created some of the longest-lasting nameplates in their brand’s histories: Datsun-now Nissan-still makes a Z car Toyota produced Celicas until 2006.īut as the sports-cars category aged, it changed dramatically-as did the industry. Cars like the Datsun 240Z and Toyota Celica split the difference between European élan and engineering and American affordability, reliability, and brutishness. Into the deep chasm of this bifurcated market, Japanese automakers dropped a mind-expanding third option. Alternatively, you could open your wallet wider and select among the European imports: unequivocally lithe, high-revving coupes that were as elegant and nimble as they were expensive and finicky. Back in the early 1970s, if you were set on buying an American-made performance vehicle, there was little mystery what you’d be driving home: a bulletproof, monster V-8 engine stuffed inside an aggressively styled, two-ton two-door. ![]()
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