(my ae86 Trueno)
People often wonder why i drive old 1980s and 1990s cars, and have no desire to really own new cars, well here is my theory on the matter.
As a youngster i remember seeing all the great Japanese racing cars of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was a pretty exciting time for motoring history that introduced many big turning points.
late in 1989 Nissan Debut its most advanced car ever, the r32 Skyline GT-R, an AWD 2.6l twin turbo straight six that become the king of the road.
Honda VTEC brought engines with split personalities. Low cam with low end torque and High cam personality with hugh power. If you ask me, even today in 2009, the worlds best 1.6 is honda's B16B (followed by the earlier B16A), the best 1.8 is the B18C and the best 2.0 is the K20A.... a true testement to these old engines. to be honest, almost any small capacity engine without VTEC, they feel like unstreetable piles of junk.... yes, even my 4age can not compare.
1985 Toyota released its most radical car ever, the MR2, a mid engined rear drive 2 seat car intended as a baby Ferarri. It was the First mid engined Japanese car to see production.
A move that nobody saw comming from Toyota. Toyota is renound for its "safe" cars. When i say safe, sure i mean safe in terms of crashes etc, but my true meaning of "safe" is more-so BORING cars that are a "safe" marketing decision, something toyota only knows how to produce after 1996.
The MR2 wowed many people with its release and its great results in japanese motorsport and also worldwide motorsports even. This must have inspired honda to make an even more radical project, the NSX (New Sports eXperimental).... best described as an MR2 on steroids, it was the car that bridges the gap between MR2 and Ferarris.
NSX made use of VTEC that was first introduced to give the little b16a Civic SI-R high power and streetabilit, but this time applied its formula and technology to a 3.0l engine !
Anybody who has driven a b16a/b can tell you what a great engine it is, then imagine it with about double the cubic capacity... plus the fact that VTEC would be come more and more effective as the capacitiy is larger.
one of my favs was 1983. That year brought the arrrival of a mass produced 1587cc (1.6litre) engine with twin overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder, variable intake technology (TVIS), as well as multipoint electronic fuel injections. A truely advanced engine, the toyota 4AGE. The 4age is used in both my toyota ae86 Trueno and my aw11 MR2.
There was so so many stand out cars with radical new technologies back in the late 1980s and early 1990s in japan due to the booming economy. Now days its a different story, the great sports car era was over a long time ago. many of those cars i mentioned are no longer in production due to the Japanese economy, world economy and generally sooky people who can not handle such cars.
AE86 was replaced by a less pure front wheel drive varient, the ae92. then in the late 1990s, the 4AGE engine was finally retired.
s15 was the last Silvia to be produced, and Carloss Gohsn of renault killed off the idea of of a lightweight-ish rear drive turbo 2.0 to meet tightening emissions laws. rather than develop a new engine to power it, it was just killed off.
R34 Skyline was replaced by the boring V35 skyline that looked more like a volkswagon. Once again, Due to Carloss wanting a "euro nissan" brand.
MR2 and MR-S died off as people can nnot handle midship cars, and also due to the fact that it is more profitable to sell boring corollas, than to target a niche market such as the people who own MR2 and MR-S.
RX7 Spirit R, the final FD3S mazda RX7 was the last rotary turbo car to be produced. It was replaced by the worse in every aspect mazda RX8.
those are just a few examples of the great exciting cars dieing out, there is far more, but i just dont want to be repetitive any more, and im sure you get the idea.
To put it simply, cars these days are just, in one word..... BORING.
No sports cars can catch my interest really.
Sure 350z and S2000 and Rx8 are good and all, but the price is prohibitive for me... not in terms of money, but in terms of common sence.
why spend 35,000 dollars or so on a decent second hand s2000 (my pick of the new sports cars), when for 10,000 i can buy a japanese imported toyota MR2 SW20 mid 1990s model. that old mr2 accelerates faster, turns corners better and brakes just as well, if not better.... all for 25,000 less ! i could spend 5,000 dollars n the mr2 and have it blisteringly fast by doing a few small engine mods and a budget suspension upgrade. Still i have saved 20,000 and have an AMAZING car.
ok, fine, if i have to get a new car (post 1998) then why buy that honda S2000 for 35,000 when for 5 to 10,000 more i can get a mid engined porsche boxster... cooler looking, faster, turns better, and brakes better..... hell, proberly that 45,000 porsche boxter (one of the best value new-ish sports cars in the world if you ask me) can not even stand up to that 10,000 dollar SW20 mr2 that i spent the 5,000 dollars on !
new cars just lack excitement and also value for money.
ok, now its time to get back to driving my AW11 MR2 from 1989.... chances are i will overtake expensive new car, on the inside of my favourite corner on the way to the grocery shops ;)
