That says one of two things about the japanese:

A. Their cars are garbage

or

B. They're obsessive compulsive about having a new vehicle to drive

B

We had a kid from Japan stay at my friend's house as part of an exchange program....he said that Civics are crap. I always thought that was intresting

They swap cars b/c 30,000 miles is a lot in japan b/c there is no where to drive.. like here an average person trades cars at or around 100k-130,000 miles..

but thier engines are usually still good..

They are crap, relitively. The Civic is the Cavalier of Japan. Relative to all the other abvailable cars, they are still base models. It just so happens that a Cavalier or Neon is a MONUMENTAL POS in comparison to a Civic or Celica.

You should have asked him what he thought of Escorts and Cavaliers.

Im not so sure about cars getting faster and faster for much longer. If most of the cars being produced switch to alternative fuels I think thats pretty much gonna kill any performance they might have......but they might get 100 mpg lol

You have the potential to make more power with alcohol based fuels. They just don't produce IC engines yet to run in a manor that makes it worthwhile.

Actually i did ask him about our cars....he loved my Camaro. He was more of a motorcycle person and he told me his g/f back home has a skyline, he even showed me the pic of them together and the car. That was just sick

Skylines are only as cool as say a Camaro over there too.

mkiv supras, 3000gt vr4, fd rx-7, skylines are muscle cars for rice.

Anything that makes 300 hp and isn't a family sedan, truck, or SUV is pretty much a muscle car. Those cars you mentioned are anyway.

ya i have an '84 Z with a 305, not much to talk sh**t with, at least i'm trying to get a 350

rice? I havent seen too many skylines with an over-priced APC wing from autozone. Just because it isnt domestic doesnt mean its rice. I have seen tuners do some pretty respectable things with their imports. And if you havent noticed these stock pieces of "rice" are beating our wonderful domestic 305's and some can hang with or even surpass our 350's. Not only in a straight line, but a lot can beat us on road courses as well, especially the AWD wrx sti, lancer evos and the imprezzas (sp?).

I agree with the other post too that stu's humor is actually amusing if you get it. And it only makes it more funny when people get offended by it and start defending themselves. Plus, hes not just making statements out of his ***, he is more educated with cars and 3rd gens in general than most.

Id like to see an import that was fast and N/A.

Its true,Japan has very strict smog laws and cars that reach a certain amount of miles are retired.You cant drive a 60,000 mile car in Japan.Besides,most ppl in japan get around in scooters and bicycles

That's easy, pull your head out of your ***, grab the remote and turn on the Import Nationals. You do know how to watch ESPN right?

Well lets put it this way, Ive never seen a fast import that was N/A on the street in person. They might be out there but there not too common.

ok i really dont know about triumph but if they are foreign ive seen a N/A one around here in CT thats in the 8's 9's why because he shoved a 350 in it.

Its not too common because its much easier and faster for them to just slap on a 3k turbo instead of going through the trouble of basically putting in a whole new engine. Especially if its a 4 banger, its hard to have a fast one thats not N/A because it doesnt have enough displacement.

N/A four bangers are a waste of time unless you put the motor into the smallest car available. The Lotus Elise just uses a Toyota Celica GTS motor, but it still runs 13.1 stock.
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N/A four bangers are a waste of time unless you put the motor into the smallest car available. The Lotus Elise just uses a Toyota Celica GTS motor, but it still runs 13.1 stock.

Pick up a Beetle magazine sometime and droll over cars that run mid 10's with just over 250 whp.

They do exist, it's just that they don't weigh anything, or are a V6.

I do agree with Psycho on a few things.

You don't see nearly as many early 80s and 70s Japanese vehicles (Hondas in particular) on the road as you do similar vintage American cars. There are plenty of 70s/80s GM A bodies and G bodies, not to mention F bodies, that are still daily driven and abused.

You'll notice the first cars of that time period that started dying out were X/J bodies with front wheel drive and 60 degree V6s or 4 bangers. Eventually these cars and the W body phased out the A and G body platform, and it went rapidly down hill from there. Which is why you see more 80s RWD Cutlasses/Regals/LeSabres on the road still than FWD Cutlasses/Regals/LeSabres from a few years later. GM should have stuck to their guns, and continued refining the smallblock for those applications. Imagine if we would have had the LSX motors 8 years or so earlier! But that's sort of a tangent offshoot, though.

Anywho, as stated, while there are few 60s factory cars on the road out there, there are plenty of Q-jet/305 cars out there, and many more than similar vintage Hondas or Toyotas. When's the last time you saw a 1982 Civic? Even know what one looks like? Hint: It's the same reason why you don't know what a first generation Cavalier looks like.

Beyond that, the quality of the metal (this is from a body work standpoint) used on just about any Jap cars (and newer cheap domestics as well) is just crap. Can't do anything with it once it's been dented, gotta get a new fender or panel. It's too thin. Also rusts easily. Though Korean cars are the worst, not Japanese cars.

But that's all pretty much a rant with little to no relevance to the thread.