Why did all the Japanese performance cars disappear?

>slower than a camry

Lots of things are slower than a Camry these days, speed alone doesn't make a car

All of the cars you just listed are shit or are very likely going to be shit.

Thanks for your input Mr. Bus Rider.

I am sure your extensive evaluation of these vehicles is highly reliable.

Performance is generally associated with speed and having the ability to go fast.

Mazda CEO recently confirmed that they're developing the 16X rotary engine but have no plans to put it in a car.

While I don't disagree that speed is an important part of performance, it's not everything.
Would you consider a Boeing 747 a better performance plane than the likes of an MXS-R just because it flies faster?

I own an FD and one of Renault's early hot hatches. There is absolutely no way these cars would get made today. The fact that they both only have one small airbag for the driver only is enough.

Plus people just won't buy cars that don't have onboard computers and ICE out the arsehole, climate control capable of terraforming Mars and three cupholders per person.

Which small Renault?
If it's a Clio WIlliams I'll buy it from you?

new line of lawn mowers coming out?

Most of the people who were interested in those kinds of cars are now in their 40s and up, and now have different priorities when shopping for a car. Younger people want more practical cars, if they want a car at all. Driving for fun isn't their jam.

I see your point and understand where you're trying to go with it. But this thread is about cars, particularly performance cars. Which going back to what I said, and the examples of what op gave, these cars are associated with having the ability to obtain a high level of speed. May it be around a corner or in a straight line.

>Civic Type R, which owns 5 drive records at European Tracks, including the Burger King.
No one can beat the 6:57 driven in a 918.

A sports car has to be able to corner fast as well, on most tracks you usually don´t exceed 200km/h by much anyways.

It's pretty simple.. kids make less money.
We're in a massive inflation / earnings recession.
Most late 20's were buying houses in the late 80's and early 90's.

25 years ago a high percentage of 30 year olds could afford to buy a performance car, now it's much lower.
They have massive school debts, lower comparative wages, with increased cost of living across the board.

The good news is that an FRS with a mild turbo is just as fast if not faster.

Just buy a Miata and turn in into the car you want

Of course not. I was talking about front wheel drive records.

It isn´t even the best FWD, a MK VII Golf GTI clubsport S holds the record.
fastestlaps.com/models/vw-gti-clubsport-s

>what is the GT86

That was proven false. CEO was asked if the rotary would be used as a range extender, he answered no, media said no rotor for you. RX-9 is being developed.

The Golf is the fastest but...

The VW isn’t a proper series-production car, only 400 are planned. Even its rear seats removed.

The civic type R is much slower, other mass produced cars where faster.
7:50 isn´t that good.
youtu.be/1lXGmjt1FtQ

In the fwd category?

Aside from the VW, which car?

>other mass produced cars where faster.

Seems to me that aside from the limited production Golf. The Type R is the fastest fwd.

And the next question was
>Are you making a performance car bigger than the MX-5
>No
Rotards BTFO
No RX-9 for you

Okay, I was wrong, but the Golf is still the fastes FWD on the ring.

Why not a rotary MX-5?

If you think about it, a 16X powered MX-5 with about 400hp would be fucking awesome.

Market shifted towards consumers wanting safer, more economic vehicles to get back and forth to work, such as it has many times before since any economy is a rollercoaster ride. This really doesnt effect performance cars being produced because companies know that there will always be a buyer for a more enthusiast-oriented car. Performance cars have always been kept mid-high price range and produced in low volume for that reason.

>civic type R
>sports car
No need to exaggerate here.

Veeky Forums has convinced itself its really expensive and slower than a minivan.

so thats sort of just become truth now

The sad reality is that interest in these types of cars is fading away. The 'car enthusiast' community is smaller than you think - especially for that particular genre of cars. The pussification of our generation has resulted in a bunch of beta numales that don't have the heart to appreciate the heritage of certain manufacturers or wrench on their cars (which is what at least half of owning a rx7/supra/240/300/mx-5) is about. Not to mention everyone is broke as shit these days so they much rather buy a prius thats going to last them 250k miles instead of a rusted out initial D meme car.

These cars are hobbies and there isn't much money in it. They don't prioritize things like safety and emissions which is what everyone is all about these days. The Rx-9 is going to flop, the supra is going to flop, the wrx sti is already becoming mainstream, and the nissan gt-r is played out. the only real options left are some form of benz AMG or bmw 7 series

My R32

Because people with buy a ton of them. Also the emissions restrictions are less strict for trucks and suvs.

can it turn?

Nah m8 it's a nissan

Mazda doesn't build awesome cars anymore. They stopped all that nonsense after the MPS.

of course yours was a shitbox. It wasnt an All-Trac, which is a 200hp Tubro AWD Celica

such a waste
i would rather have a cayman or something with potential to turn

...

>There will never be a small, lightweight, all-mechanical-AWD turbo car ever again

I miss audi, mazda better make this shit happen.

shih

"Toyota, I love what you do for me." - Toyota

Japan took a hit to the nuts economically not too long ago. When you're desperate to make cash, you don't make illustrious cars, you make cheap, practical cars. They're just now beginning to fully recover, and you can see that with the Supra and the GTR.

No rx9
Supra will have a BMW engine
GT-R is ancient now. Nissan a shit
Mitsubishi is dead

The days of affordable Japanese sports cars are dead. 86 and Miata are the only ones left

That is such a great slogan.

The Toyobaru is a shit car.

Shit suspension, non-tuneable engine, glass gearbox, not as light as it should be honestly. Out of the box as a low speed drift car? Sure, but it needs an engine and tranny swap to be viable. It looks -kind of- cool and it's RWD in a time when that's uncommon for a "cheap" car.

30 grand can get you a MUCH better car, like an FD for example, with money to build the engine and do reliability mods and push 400+ horsepower while lightening it to 2500 lbs.

it's beautiful and i want it

Because of DOT
More here: transportation.gov/mission/about-us

my daddy isnt going to let me build my first car :(

86 actually takes low boost levels pretty well.

People also are getting 200rwhp with pretty much a header and good tune. Not bad for a modern day NA 2.0L

Transmission is basically from a AP2 s2k and isn't nearly as bad as early ND transmissions.

It's the lightest rwd coupe you can buy with a manual transmission, what more do you want for 25k?

Keep comparing a brand new car to a 1993 sports car that was almost 60k new accounting for inflation.
You sound like you are 17 desu

We're talking the cost of buying either of the two cars today, not what one cost + inflation. The FD is the better car in every way, and will be cheaper to buy and modify.

Low boost levels sure, just keep adding more weight to the front and negligible power! That's the recipe for a good car, right?

The choice of a boxer engine was retarded for an FR car. All that weight in all the wrong places. The FD's engine sits behind the front axle.

Then keep it stock and spend even less than the FRS would cost. It's still a better car by a huge margin.

I want all the people responsible for disappearance of windows to roll over crash.

>We're talking the cost of buying either of the two cars today,
That's the only way the FD can win this comparison, after 20 years of depreciation.

FD gets crap mileage, the interior quality is terrible, and 86 has more cargo area. 86 also has a stiffer chassis.

The FD has better performance, but it's also almost 25 years ago now. Some people don't want to spend +20k on a car and then proceed to try and make it like new again.

How much is a clean FD these days?

Just because the 86 has its flaws doesn't mean it's a shit car.

...That's how things work, yeah. Are you retarded or something? Nice strawman

I'd rather buy a new FD for 60k than an underpowered and poorly thought out GT86. Luckily we don't have to make that comparison because we live in the real world.

The FD gets shit mileage because it's a proper sports car. It's actually better than a 911 turbo or Viper of the time, yet outclassed both cars and cost less, but I digress. Would you rather have an underpowered car getting 20 mpgs or a beast that looks and performs excellent and get 17?

I bought a clean FD for 6 grand US from Japan with shipping included. They usually go for 15 or so locally though.

The interior quality on an FD is fantastic, actually, so I don't know where you pulled that out of. The 86 has a stiffer chassis but it's still bigger and not as nimble, plus the FD was ridiculously stiff for its time and only requires bracing when you're pushing 500+ whp and doing serious driving.

The 86 would have been a great car if it changed a few things.

1. low compression motor ready to accept a turbo, maybe 2.2 liters to compensate for power loss stock
2. inline 4 so the fucking thing doesn't spill its pigfat weight into the fenders
3. tranny capable of taking 350 ft lb of torque at least

Instead they tried to make it as good as possible stock by forfeiting performance upgradeability. It's not worth the price.

Also forgot they should have used better suspension, macpherson struts are garbage for body roll and dampening characeristics.

OK, find me a clean manual rx7 for 15k in the States.

It seems like you are missing the entire point of this car. It's not supposed to be Toyotas halo car. It's supposed to be an enjoyable rwd car that you can still DD and take to the track with low running costs. It's the revival of the ae86, not the supra or FD.

It also has to pass regulations that didn't exist 25 years ago.

The FD also can't fit a baby seat in the back which is why I could not justify buying one. That also eliminated cars like the corvette, s2k, and Cayman from my list.

track day bro?

The truth hurts, user. Please try to accept it, those cars blow ass.

>all this butthurt at the superior 86 because all you could afford was a ropey old 6 grand RX7

mate, you shouldn't be tracking your only car.
i

It's always the exact opposite. People buy FRS/BRZs because they aren't financially apt enough to put away some money and buy a decent car outright. They are forced to finance and end up spending $30k on a car that's worse in every respect to every 90s Jap RWD coupe, most of which can be had for $10k or less.

I've drove faster than you've probably ever driven and probably driven backwards more miles than you've driven forward. I've raced cars that were barely road legal, and have driven in over 14 countries. I've restored around 200 cars from the 50s all the way up to a late 90s Hondas and Toyota/Lexus.

These cars are trash.

who are you, his mum? fuck off
j

>beginning to fully recover

They're not... it's going to get worse before it gets better. Add demographics to the mix and it's an even bigger mess.

why would you restore a 90s lexus?

OK, which 2+2 Japanese coupe should have I bought instead of my BRZ for 10k?

>fwd records

Tippytopkek what's next? RV records?

fwd is pretty cool desu.

3000GT
2.5 RS STI

2.5 RS STI not available in the States. Importing is costly in California

3000gt vr4 You're seriously recommending that for a DD? That's the ultimate money pit

Not everyone is scared they might lose their job at the drop of a hat.

Dingdingding

This is it.

absolute fucking idiot tripfag, what a surprise

just throwing this out there, but a used 2013 genesis coupe /w stickshift can be had for $10-$15k these days

It weighs 3300lbs and has dick windows sure, but it also has a 274 hp turbo 4 and a decent aftermarket

Used v6 mustang is better in every way.

Please don't buy into the Hyundai meme.

it also was one of the most unreliable cars you could buy new in the united states when it came out. and nearly all of their interiors rattle

that's why i suggested the 2013 model

yea but you're driving a v6 mustang, and 2015 models still cost $20k used unless you go for a convertible model

Shhhh, I know.

Not talking about current gen mustangs

Korean is never a good choice when it comes to performance

>Not talking about current gen mustangs

so one of those old shitty ones with a live rear axle then? LOL

haha tricked you
fwd is trash

integra == rsx

Yep. And it's still a better car than the turbo Genesis. Sad right?

ding ding ding.

Rent used to be 1/5th what people made each month. Now it's over half in a lot of areas.
Home ownership is the lowest it's been since the 60s.
Number of people under 35 living with their parents is the highest it's been since the great depression.

>the interior quality is terrible
The fuck?
My FD is 23 years old, has 80k miles, and there isn't a single interior rattle.

Most of it is leather wrapped. There's only a few, yeah, 90s hard plastic parts, but most of what you rest on is soft. Even the ceiling above you is soft leather.

It sucks that the dash and center console is that crappy plastic, but that's how all cars were at the time and it's not like you're resting your arm on it. Like I said, no rattles or anything, so how can you say the quality is terrible?

>the entire point of this car. It's not supposed to be Toyotas halo car. It's supposed to be an enjoyable rwd car that you can still DD
Right it's supposed to be like a Silvia. Not a Halo car.

It still disappoints me, regardless.
Too heavy. Too front heavy. Center of gravity is too high. Polar moment of inertia is too high.
And more than all that, it just feels inauthentic.

At least we still have the successor to the 300zx like the 350z/370z

This. Oh god this.

This too

The 86 is better in one way: it has a stiffer chassis. Too stiff for what it is.

It's worse in every other way. You're only replying to make yourself feel better for spending 30 grand on a car that disappoints.

Face it. Regulations will never allow another car like the FD to exist. The literal closest thing we have is a corvette with leaf springs and overheating issues, and it's big as fuck and not nimble at all even though its weight distribution (front to back only) is good.

But you probably don't care about the other types of weight distribution, transfers, or characteristics because you bought a chunky meme car that is over a full second slower to 60 than a STOCK FD and can't do anything but drift... and it cost you your yearly salary as a grocery clerk.