Hon-damn this car is really cool!

This week is the New York Auto show, and recently I was reading an article about it.  One interesting thing I noticed, was that everyone’s biggest want from the show was for Honda to release another RWD—rear wheel drive—vehicle.  Then it dawned on me.  Honda hasn’t released or produced a RWD vehicle in over 8 years now.  Oddly, their last RWD car was one of their best ever.

 

 In 1999, Honda decided to release a 2 seater roadster to take on the Mazda Miata and the BMW Z3.  They released the S2000, and my god it was it fantastic.  Not only was it a RWD, two seater, and a convertible, but it was more powerful than both the Miata and the Z3.  It sat cheaper than the Z3 and slightly above the Miata, but it was well worth the money.  

It was one of the first cars to offer a digital speedometer, as well as a digital tachometer.  The tachometer is the gauge that measures the RPM for those who don’t know.  That’s another thing that makes this car special, it’s redline.  The red line marks where the maximum RPMs of the car can safely sit.  On an ordinary car its around 5,000-6,000.  

 

On an S2000, its at 9,000.  

That’s close to bike territory which is ridiculous.  Not only is it’s redline ridiculously high, but it revs insanely fast.  It can go from idle to peak power faster than a traditional gauge can even measure, which is why it’s digital.  

 

Aside from that, the S2000 is a cult classic when it comes to being an enthusiasts car, because the car is more or less a blank canvas for modification.  The car can become quite literally whatever you want it to be based on your personality, good or bad.  It came with mounts so that you could lower the car if you wanted to, and the wheel mounts were also super standardized so replacing them became really easy.  

 

Below are photos of my cousin’s S2000, and it matches his Middle Eastern Douchebag personality perfectly.  

In 2009, Honda ceased production of the S2000, and with it, its last fun car.  Recently they released the new Civic Type R again, but that’s more of a rally car than a sports car.  Toyota and Subaru and killing the market right now with the Twins, and Honda is sitting idly by.  Acura is once again losing money this year with it’s lackluster lineup, and Honda needs to do something.  Very rarely will a company actually make money off a sports car, but the rest of their lineup will make up for the slack.  

 

Honda makes an insane amount of money of their Civic, Accord, and CRV but instead of making cool sports cars for hooligans like me to buy, they decide to buy themselves Rolexes and give themselves bonuses.  That may be great for Takahiro Hachigō, but it leaves a question of legacy.  Since the company’s inception, Honda has been the face of youth auto enthusiasts, but now they are becoming the face of Robert the divorced science teacher who is looking for a raise.  

 

S2000’s are an anomaly in that the older they get, the higher in value they become.  In fact, if Honda keeps on their current track, it’d be a smart investment to buy a clean S2000 and then sit on it for a few years before flipping it.  

Or you could enjoy it.  
It’s a win win.  

via GIPHY

4 comments

  1. vcb5059 · April 14, 2017 at 12:59 pm ·

    “middle eastern douche bag” rofl. Still like classic Fords but some of these look kinda cool.

  2. kak6117 · April 14, 2017 at 1:33 pm ·

    That is definitely one Hon-damn cool car! I especailly love the look of your cousin’s gray one. So cool! I also greatly apprecate how you defined a tachometer. I would have had no clue what you meant.

  3. bch5258 · April 14, 2017 at 1:47 pm ·

    this car is pretty nifty. Not as nifty as the prius but hey you do you

  4. sjp5556 · April 16, 2017 at 5:14 pm ·

    That’s a really cool fact that the cars revs up too quickly for an analog gauge, necessitating the digital one. It’s neat how new technology forces even more new technology to be developed.

Toyota you’ll have to “Pri” me from my sports car

This past weekend, one of my good friends had a visitor from IUP.  She drove here to hangout for the weekend, and she came up in her Prius.  Now, I have a completely rational dislike of the Prius.  

 

An hour later I get a phone call from my friend.  The Prius wouldn’t start, and they wanted to see if I could fix it.  I got it running, after a much larger headache than it should’ve caused.  The battery had died and needed to be jumped.  An easy task.  

 

Here is the problem though.  

 

In the name of “efficiency”, the main battery is in the trunk, under the main trunk manifold.  The reason why is so they can use less material in the engine bay to make it smaller.  But in a Prius, when the battery dies the electric locks and trunk release seize up.  Which meant I had to crawl in through the window and rip apart the manifold from the inside to find the manual latch, twice.  

 

Eventually, I got the battery running again, but ran into another problem.  

 

You see the transmission in a Prius is also mainly computer based.  After it is jumped, it has to be on a level surface to shift out of park into neutral, reverse, or drive.  Which meant I had to hop into the fuse box and disconnect the fuse connecting the transmission to the wheels to push it out and get it running again.  Worst of all, I had to throw away my pride and swallow my dignity when my friend asked me to drive them to where they were going in fear that they wouldn’t know what to do if the car broke down again.  

 

So with God as my witness, I had to drive a Prius.  

Another incredibly stupid feature of the Prius is that the engine cuts out at a stop or when going out at low speeds to save on gas.  But when the battery is dying and cannot be recharged, that is not ideal at all.  To get the battery to charge, I had to drive in a spirited manner to keep the engine engaged, but in a Prius that just meant I drove the speed limit.  I had my foot to the floor the entire time and the car would take longer than Congress to decide if it wanted to get moving.  

 

And that is where I think the problem therein lies.  

 

The Prius is the antithesis of an enthusiasts car.  It is built entirely for people who do not care at all for the act of driving, and see a car as nothing more than a tool.  It is built for the sake of efficiency at the expense of everything else.  The interior is cheap and dated, the ride is pretty horrible, the handling is god awful, and it looks like a half circle for no other reason than to look “economical”.  

 

I have nothing against hybrids, I have something against the Prius.  Auto Manufacturers around the world have proven that Hybrids don’t have to be dreary and miserable and make you look like you have a haircut that says “Can I speak to the manager?”.  

 

The Holy Trinity of Hypercars right now is the Porsche 918, the Ferrari LaFerrari, and the McLaren P1.  All three are cars with near 1000hp, cost over $1 million, and are hybrids.  They use electric motors with more horsepower than most traditional low powered gasoline engines.  On the “cheaper” end of the spectrum you have the BMW i8 and the new Acura NSX.  Even cheaper is the Honda CR-Z, the Lexus GS Hybrid, the Porsche Panamera Hybrid, etc.  All of these performance oriented hybrids do something the Prius doesn’t.  

They run both motors in tandem.  

 

The Prius runs one or the other to use the engine as little as possible.  

 

The Honda CRZ in my mind, is a far better vehicle than the Prius, and it is is just as economical and envirofriendly.  The CRZ is also far cheaper than the Prius, coming in at about $5k cheaper on the lowest trim, and about $10k cheaper at the highest trim.  The CRZ puts out equal power as the Prius, but because it runs both the electric motor in tandem with the gasoline engine, it performs on par with most low end sports cars.  And it doesn’t look like a deformed grapefruit.  

Hybrids are the future, and that is a future I am okay with.  Electric motors can deliver instant torque, which makes accelerating improve extremely.  To repent from my sins of driving a Prius, I am now legally bound to increase the vehicular hooliganry I partake in, so I signed up for a track day after finals week.  

4 comments

  1. vcb5059 · April 7, 2017 at 1:04 pm ·

    I drive a Jeep from ’99, so I can relate to having to jump cars and “driv[ing] in a spirited manner” to keep them alive. I too dislike the Prius. They are lame. Good post 🙂

  2. Alex · April 7, 2017 at 1:21 pm ·

    Excellent post, and great roasts of the Prius. Slower than Congress — that’s harsh! It also reminds me that I should really learn how to take care of a car.

  3. kak6117 · April 7, 2017 at 1:29 pm ·

    Ironically, just yesterday I was in a Prius and my friend was telling me that even though it has a bad rep, it’s cheaper so I should totally consider getting one. Perfect timing that I read this blog. I love the feeling of driving. My dad has an Acura and I absolutely love driving that car. From what you’ve told me, I promise I won’t get a Prius. Thanks for the heads up!

  4. sjp5556 · April 16, 2017 at 5:09 pm ·

    It makes sense that there are a lot of problems with the Prius for someone with more interest in cars, but also the car is made for a very specific audience, and it is good enough for the people who want it.

ZoomZoom

Recently, I learned that Kyle drives a 13 year old VW Golf.  Offhand, I know that the MkIV and MkV Golf’s only had a maximum of 150 hp and literally no torque.  Realistically with the age on the bearings, Kyle’s Golf probably has 80-90 hp.  On top of that, he mentioned that it was in the shop recently.  

(Probably nicer than Kyle’s)

So I’ve decided to dedicate this post to showing Kyle what car he should purchase to replace the Golf when it eventually kicks the bucket.  

 

Kyle, this is for you.

 

Now when I started thinking what car could fit the criteria of a Golf, but also of a Japanese sports car, I hit a dilemma.  Naturally, I was inclined to recommend the Subaru WRX STi hatchback, but then remembered Kyle probably doesn’t have a spare $40k lying around.  

 

So I decided to look into things more in the price range of the Golf and had a little history lesson along the way.  In 2000, Mazda began to use the slogan “ZoomZoom” to describe their cars.  The simple, onomatopoeia, catchy slogan slowly became a manufacturing motto of Mazda’s engineers, and the based their designs and builds around an idea.  The idea that no matter how old, wealthy, or knowledgeable about cars their customers were, they wanted their vehicles to be so fun that it brought everyone back to their inner 6 year old.  No matter how technical it got, Mazda engineers at the end of the day wanted you to get in and then leave your car with the same thought in your head, “ZoomZoom”.  

Eventually, around 2007 they wanted a flagship car for their “ZoomZoom” philosophy.  So they decided to do something unconventional.  Mazdaspeed is Mazda’s performance division, and they began to release performance versions of traditional Mazda cars in 2003, starting with the Protege.  In conjunction with the “ZoomZoom” philosophy, Mazdaspeed created the Speed3, a performance variant of their traditional Mazda3 hatchback.  The original Mazda3 Hatchback put out figures like 167 hp, and 167 lb/ft of torque.  The Speed3 put out 267 hp and 267 lb/ft of torque.  

One of the main philosophies of Mazdaspeed was their 1:1 power to torque ratio.  With that in mind, power delivery was extremely linear, meaning that the power wouldn’t bump higher or lower depending on where you were in the rev range.  No matter how you drove, if you put your foot down, the car would immediately accelerate at a constant(ish) rate.  It was one of the first vehicles to use Mazda’s new Skyactiv engine’s which increased efficiency dramatically.  

 

The car also offered a limited slip differential, which is fancy car talk meaning the car could handle amazingly.  You could take a corner that normally you’d take at 15mph in Kyle’s Golf, but at 40mph—and come out the other side completely fine.  It also offered Dynamic Stability Control as well as Traction Control, meaning that it adapted to the weather conditions and the road surface to restrict certain dangerous driving techniques.  And it had a hood scoop, which makes it look pretty cool.  Overall, it was a fantastic little hatchback.  

 

But then, disaster struck.  

 

The financial department got involved.  

 

Mazda’s execs didn’t believe in “ZoomZoom”, and instead followed their own philosophy of “ChaChing”.  Because of this, they largely cheapened the interior of the Speed3.  Instead of a large screen, you got a small one, instead of fancy buttons you got ones from the early 2000s, instead of real leather seats you got half leather half alcantara, etc.  

But it was still worth it.  

 

The Speed3 inspired a new generation of hot hatchbacks, and its released sparked the release of a new Golf, a new Focus ST, a new Subaru WRX hatch, etc.  

 

Unfortunately, “ChaChing” got the best of “ZoomZoom”.  In 2013, Mazda ceased production of the Speed3.  But that can also be a good thing.  They have depreciated extremely in value, and you can now find an extremely clean and low mileage option for as high as $16,000—or as low as $8,000.  I may have given some pretty stupid consumer advice in the past, but I sincerely mean it in this case.  

 

Kyle, if you want a car that has more power, more functionality, more torque, more storage space, better gas mileage, better reliability, get yourself a MazdaSpeed3.  

9 comments

  1. vcb5059 · March 31, 2017 at 1:25 pm ·

    Kyle could very well have a spare $40k lying around. You don’t know Kyle.

    • svo5186 · March 31, 2017 at 1:33 pm ·

      ^^^

    • Tatyana · March 31, 2017 at 1:52 pm ·

      Have you . . . have you ever met a grad student? They’re only slightly less poor than us regular college students.

  2. sjp5556 · March 31, 2017 at 1:26 pm ·

    I like how you used a specific purpose for this blog. The connection to Kyle and the jokes made it more relatable. It seems like the engineers never have much to do with bringing a great car down.

  3. Brianna Hambright · March 31, 2017 at 1:31 pm ·

    I think Kyle should get a prius but I digress. The mazda speed3 is supa cute and so it was a good recommendation if Kyle wants to kill some polar bears with its 18 city mpg. Kyle get a prius, save the icecaps. They came out with a sports one too! It’s nifty so at least consider it!

  4. svo5186 · March 31, 2017 at 1:34 pm ·

    I think the mazda is pretty! That’s like really all I have to say about the car… I dont really have the authority to say anything about the mechanics. I kinda have to agree with Bri’s comment– I see a Prius for Kyle. It just seems like the right fit; maybe in blue?

  5. kak6117 · March 31, 2017 at 1:34 pm ·

    I love how you dedicated this post to kyle! Very cleaver. And actually I have been meaning to ask, for a poor student coming out of college with loans and no money, what car and what brands do you recommend?

    • Haseeb · March 31, 2017 at 1:43 pm ·

      If I am going to be 100% honest, if you know what to look for, you can get great deals on actually really nice cars. People assume that if you are broke, you have to get a 1984 Toyota Corolla. The reality is this. Cars depreciate. That is a fact. For example, the Toyota Avalon is Toyota’s flagship luxury sedan. A 2017 model costs around $40,000. A used 2016 with 14,000 miles will run you about $26,000. You can purchase an extended bumper to bumper warranty from car max that will cover nearly all repairs for around $3,000. That can often times save you thousands on a car that you wouldn’t buy in fear of reliability. If you want a hatchback, I honestly really recommend the Speed3, the Golf GTi, the Focus ST, the Fiat 500 Abarth, or even an older Acura RSX. If you want a sedan, generally my go to recommendation is an Infiniti G35 or G37, or maybe even a BMW 335i. These brand names sound daunting and expensive, but you can get a 335i with a warranty for the same price as a new Toyota Camry.

  6. Alex · March 31, 2017 at 1:50 pm ·

    I agree with Bri, the gas mileage is a bit lower than I would want. But great post — it was good to see how your analysis applies to the cars that we’re more likely to be driving. And I’m sure Kyle will appreciate the digs.

The AK-47 of pickup trucks

Close your eyes.  When you think of a pickup truck, what do you think of?  Naturally when you think of a pickup truck, you’d think of the Ford F-150, or the Chevy Silverado—something big, tough, American.

What if I told you the best selling and most popular pickup in the world is something small and Japanese?  Well I’d be lying to you because you’re right, the most popular and best selling pickup in the world is the Ford F-150.  It is indeed something big, tough, and American.  

 

However, this is a blog about Japanese Sports Cars, and what’s sporty about a pickup truck?  

 

Well I am here to tell you.  

 

Have any of you ever heard of a sports truck?  Few people have, because generally they have no place in the market and don’t sell well.  Dodge attempted to make a performance version of their Ram pickup line with the SRT 10 model in 2004, but it didn’t really sell.  The two most popular sports pickups on the market currently are the Ford Raptor (which really is the better truck) and the Toyota TRD line.  TRD stands for Toyota Racing Division, and traditionally, this division of the company has only modified sports cars or sedans to make performance models.  

Well in 2008, they decided to take a crack at pickup trucks.  In the United States, the only two models of pickup truck that Toyota sells is the Tacoma and Tundra, the smaller and larger one respectively.  Internationally, they sell the Hilux, which they have sold since 1968.  However, the Hilux has never came to the United States.  The Hilux has a reputation for being an unkillable car because it it’s ridiculous reliability.  

All three pickups have more or less the same specifications on the TRD models, and they are as follows: A quad camshaft V8, a strong 6 speed transmission, locking differentials, upgraded suspension, and 4WD.  The quad camshaft V8 means that the engine is incredibly durable and can output peak power even  when under immense stress from rattling, bouncing, or other rough conditions.  The other factors more or less just mean it makes the vehicle far tougher and more versatile.  The TRD model can go 0-60 in 7 seconds, which puts it in sports car territory.  Unlike most other pickup trucks, the steering feedback is incredibly tight.  Even the most minute change will adjust the direction of the car.

One thing that is not equal across the trucks, performance models or not, is their reliability.  The Tacoma and Tundra are about on par with the rest of Toyota’s lineup, but the Hilux is on a level of its own.  Years ago, the show Top Gear drove one up an active volcano and got dangerously close to pouring lava and the vehicle just kept on going.  I have always wondered why Toyota hasn’t brought over their clearly superior truck, but hey, Japan does stupid things all the time.  

The Hilux does have a dark secret though.  While it does hold the title of the AK-47 of pickup trucks due to it’s reliability, similar to the rifle, it also holds it for a different reason.  Due to it’s ridiculous ability to survive any terrain, the Hilux is the vehicle of choice for most insurgents, terrorists, and militants.  So more often than not, someone driving a Hilux is holding an AK-47.  Recently, Toyota got into some hot water with the US Government, when they questioned why so many ISIS militants had brand new Toyota Hilux’s in their arsenal.  Toyota responded by asking why ISIS had so many brand new US made weapons.  The federal government quickly withdrew their complaint after the response.  

I think the diversity in customer base is what makes the Hilux so great.  You could be John from England driving his pickup to his construction job, you could be Konstantine the Russian gangster transporting a hidden body to dump, or you could be Mobutu the Congolese warlord, and you’d all have the same truck.  

 

If that isn’t an advertisement for versatility, I don’t know what is.  

The moral of this blog post at the end is, if you are going to buy a performance pickup truck, you have to be okay with the idea of being in the same owners club as the Taliban.   

 

3 comments

  1. Alex · March 24, 2017 at 6:27 pm ·

    Love the references to Mobutu Sese Seko, ISIS, and Toyota’s response to the U.S. government complaint about its trucks. I agree that “the AK-47 of pickup trucks” is a good moniker for the Hilux.

  2. sjp5556 · March 26, 2017 at 2:39 pm ·

    I like the variety you bring to your blog with this post. I had never thought about pickup trucks being designed with sports car specifications. I know I have heard about how militant organizations tend to use this truck, and that was a very clever title as a result.

  3. vcb5059 · March 31, 2017 at 1:27 pm ·

    I’d be lying if I said I didn’t make fun of Toyota pick-up trucks in one of my three Ford pick-ups. *shrugs* *ropes calf*

This is the one Spider you won’t smash with a shoe when you see it

We live in a world where words like bans, and walls, and nationalism are thrown around freely.  Well today, I am going to branch out and do a bit more of a globalized post this week.  

 

Automakers have routinely worked together to make cars, but they usually stick within their country or within their region.  

 

But there is a saying in automaking.  

 

The perfect car will be engineered by the Germans, designed by the Italians, built by the Japanese, and tested by the Americans.  Each country has their own reputation for what they can do with cars.  Italy, above all else, makes pretty cars.  Usually, they are pretty because they are sitting still because everything under the hood is broken and doesn’t work.  

 

The most famous of the Italian designers was Pininfarina, a small family run business formed shortly after the Second World War.  Battista “Pinin” Farina was responsible for designing cars for various Italian companies after Italian manufacturers were banned from auto shows post the surrender of the Axis powers.  Battista’s most famous partnership was with Ferrari in the 1950s, but there is something special he did towards the end of his life.  

 

Fiat, a company now most associated with the compact 500, was the most popular manufacturer of cars in Italy, and approached Battista to design their next car.  Battista knew he was in failing health, but made a promise to himself that he would finish this car before he died.  After many months of work, Fiat rolled the first 124 Sport Spider of the line in 1966.  The company took one out to Battista’s home, and an old and frail man got to see his swan song.  

6 weeks later, Battista “Pinin” Farina died.  

 

His son Sergio took over the company.  Pininfarina under Battista was Pininfarina’s renaissance.  Pininfarina under Sergio was Pininfarina’s dogshit.  I guess the design genes weren’t genetic.  

 

Fast forward to 2016, and Fiat decided to bring back the 124 Spider moniker, and Pininfarina’s original designs.  But they did something different.  Everyone and their mother knows if you want a reliable, cheap, fun two seater convertible, you get a Mazda Miata.  

 

But what if you wanted an Italian sports car?  

 

So Fiat ripped the body work off the latest Miata frame, threw a new frame on, added some herbs and spices, did that weird Italian thing where they bunch their fingers up and kiss it, then proceeded to say “perfecto”.  And let me just say, I love it.  

There are a few differences between the Miata and the 124.  For starters, you can get the 124 with a performance pack from Abarth (another Italian company).  This turns the Italian sports car into an angry Italian sports car.  It has a harsher exhaust, beefier 1.4L Turbocharged I4 engine, and a more sporty tune to it overall.  And while it does have faults, its an Italian sports car, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.  Even better, it was built by the Japanese, so it’ll actually do more than just look pretty when standing still.  But as the saying goes—when in Rome, do as the Romans do.  

Well the Romans make stuff expensive.  

 

A base 124 starts higher than a decked out Miata, and an Abarth version will run you north of  $30k.  So while, I think the Abarth 124 is the better car, the best bang for your buck is still the Japanese Mazda Miata.  

 

I would list stats about the 124 Spider, but to be honest the Italian automakers lie about most everything so it would more or less be pointless.  The final buying decisions really comes down to what kind of personality you want your car to have, and you can only really achieve that by driving each and making up your mind.

 

So here goes my ever wise financial advice.  If you have around $26k to spend on a two seater convertible sports car, take a loan and go buy an Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, because even though that car wasn’t talked about at all today and costs $66k, its pretty damn cool.
I never said I gave good financial advice.  

 

via GIPHY

5 comments

  1. bch5258 · March 17, 2017 at 1:13 pm ·

    I WOULD LOVE TO MENTION THAT I GAVE THE IDEA FOR THIS BLOG ARTICLE AND MY SERVICES WERE NOT APPRECIATED.
    anyway thanks for writing about the Fiat. You the best.

  2. vcb5059 · March 17, 2017 at 1:34 pm ·

    id sell my kidney for the 1966 model

  3. sjp5556 · March 17, 2017 at 1:55 pm ·

    I didn’t really know that car makers worked together on designs. It is especially interesting that each nationality of car maker tends to have a specialty in the manufacturing and design process.

  4. kak6117 · March 17, 2017 at 6:53 pm ·

    I love you funny and lighthearted tone throughout this piece. It make it so easy and enjoyable to read! And yeah I was totally one of those people who only saw Fiat as the Fiat 500. Whoops. But now I know. And I know that if I am ever in the market for the luxury car, I will trust your expertise and get a Alfa Romeo 4C Spider.

  5. Alex · March 17, 2017 at 7:28 pm ·

    Quite an entertaining post! Italian sports cars do sound enthralling, but I think I’ll save my money for now.

You spin my rotary engine right round baby right round

I consider myself to be a major auto enthusiast.  But everyone has their knowledge kryptonite.  No matter how hard you try to understand it, it doesn’t make sense.  To me, that’s the rotary engine.  

 

To understand (or not understand in my case) the rotary engine you have to look at the car that made it famous.  In my first ever blog post, I talked about the Mazda MX-5 Miata and how it saved Mazda and the entirety of the Japanese sports car market.  Well, its important to understand why it fell apart to begin with.  

 

In the mixture of all of the great Japanese sports car of the day, there were some questionable choices too.  In 1978, Mazda decided to do something different.  They developed the RX line of rotary engines.  Now, a traditional engine has pistons, usually aligned in a V or in a straight line, that fire off up and down which combusts fuel, creating energy, which moves the car forward.  A rotary engine doesn’t have pistons exactly, it has a sort of wheel that spins with pistons inside it that slide into different spots that combust fuel that makes energy that propels the car forward.  I have no idea how this works and still don’t understand it after all these years.  So I’ve elected to believe that you put fuel in the car, some black voodoo magic happens under the hood, and then the engine makes power.  

 

So after Mazda created their voodoo magic engines in 1978, they decided to design a car around it.  

 

This was the birth of the Mazda RX-7.  

The first generation of RX-7’s were incredibly lightweight, coming in at just over a single ton.  This combined with the the 100 horsepower produced from the engine, it was incredibly nimble.  While 100 is actually pretty low, you have to remember this is black voodoo magic horsepower, and the normal laws of cars don’t matter.  So for whatever reason, this generation of cars was incredibly quick.  

 

A second generation of RX-7’s was released in 1985 and ran until 1991, where it was met with a crossroads.  The RX-7 was so expensive to make because of the rotary engine, Mazda lost money overall on the project.  If it wasn’t for the immense sales of the Miata in 1991, the company likely would have gone under or worse—tried to make cars that competed with the non-sport Civics and Corollas.  

 

The final generation of RX-7 ran from 1991 to 2002, and it had a myriad of improvements.  First off, the final generation output 276 vhp (voodoo horsepower) while only weighing 200 lbs more than the first generation.  Alongside that, the transmission was vast improved from the original.  Due to reasons I can’t explain, RX-7 transmission suffered from the car’s incredibly high redline.  A redline is when the engine reaches peak revolutions per minute before it starts to damage the car.  The high redline would put stress on the individual gear cogs and the clutch because they would be engaged for far longer than an ordinary car.  

On top of that, the RX-7 wasn’t exactly environmentally friendly.  Because the engine would be spinning, friction (along side the evil spells occurring beneath the hood) would create an extreme amount of heat so owners found themselves depleting their oil reserves in a week.  Normally, that lasts months in a car.  

 

There is a lot wrong with the RX-7.  The powerband is funky, it burns through oil faster than the US Army, its transmission is glass, and it has Dikembe Mutombo the Witch Doctor for an engine.  

 

But I still kind of want one.  

 

No, not because I think Han’s RX-7 from Tokyo Drift looked cool (which it did mind you).  There is a certain allure to owning something that has such a legend behind it.  Even if that legend is evil.  It almost seems like a right of passage to own one of the POS sports cars before you can own any of the legends.  

And that isn’t to say you can’t tame an RX-7.  There are many cases of RX-7 owners understanding how rotaries work through lots of engineering and religious text research, and creating some fantastic cars.  

 

Am I that ambitious?  Absolutely not.  

 

Am that stupid?  Absolutely.

 

Pray for me guys.  

 

via GIPHY

3 comments

  1. sjp5556 · February 17, 2017 at 2:14 pm ·

    For the first time I actually felt like I understood fully what you meant when you talked about a piece of a car! In high school the physics teacher had a model of a rotary engine in his classroom that I played around with a lot, which really helped me understand how they worked. What I hadn’t thought about, though, is the amount of friction that is generated. I can see how that would be a major detractor in the appeal of the car.

  2. Alex · February 17, 2017 at 2:26 pm ·

    That sounds like an interesting line of cars, and I think your dark imagery about black magic under the hood describes its appeal pretty well!

  3. vcb5059 · March 17, 2017 at 1:36 pm ·

    The phrase “knowledge kryptonite” really affected me. Idk why. Might steal it, look for it in my album. As usual, your posts are equal parts informative and hilarious. keep on keepin’ on.

Buy me an RSX: How bout dat?

I am 18 years old.  Which means I am still technically a teenager.  Which means statistically, I like to do hooligan things with cars.  Even moreso statistically considering I am a car enthusiast.  

 

From the late 1970s onward, Honda had been known as the motor vehicle manufacturer that made small cars with zippy enough engines that young people could have fun in.  While Datsun and Toyota had the advantage of making objectively better cars, Honda had one huge advantage in the youth market.  

 

It was cheap.  

 

Cheap enough that most teenagers worldwide could afford something that Honda made, and that made the aftermarket scene for Honda products explode in popularity.  Teenagers were purchasing cheap Hondas that could rival the performance of top of line Toyota and Nissan (Datsun) sports cars.  In the United States, Honda sold most of it’s performance and youth focused cars under the Acura moniker.  However, at the turn of the century, Acura began to try to go a different route.  Honda wanted Acura to be respected on the same level as Lexus and Infiniti—as upper end luxury cars.  Slowly but surely they moved their cars away from performance and more towards luxury.  

 

But not before giving the fun loving engineers one last word.  In 2001 Acura released the RSX as a successor to the widely popular Integra.  It offered front-wheel drive, a 6 speed manual transmission, 200hp, and a double wishbone suspension.  The double wishbone suspension meant the the frame was designed exactly how it sounds, like two wishbones.  This meant that you could throw the car into a corner and not have to worry about it coming out the otherside alright or not.  

The higher performance Type-S model used Honda’s VTEC technology that essentially acts as a pseudo turbocharger.  VTEC stands for variable valve timing and lift electronic control.  What that means in normal human speak is that the car would have two modes, full power and semi power.  The car wouldn’t utilize full power until the engine had reached a certain RPM (revolutions per minute).  Once it did, the car would utilize the entire 200hp given to it.  The engineers at Honda gave it their all on this engine, as it was the last of the tunable K-series that the CEO’s of Honda let it make for these types of cars.  

 

And therein lies the problem.  

 

The RSX is the perfect case of an entry level sports car that works for everyone.  It has 5 seats, 2 doors, and is technically a hatchback.  It puts out 200hp from an I4 engine so it’s relatively fuel efficient too.  

But Honda was so focused on attracting a new audience in order to charge them more money for what is essentially a fancy Honda Accord.  To put it this way, a mid to upper range Acura isn’t marketed to the people who can actually afford it.  The most expensive Acura sedan costs $55,000.  Someone who can afford to spend $55,000 isn’t spending it on an Acura sedan that is front wheel drive and puts out similar horsepower to a $16,000 Honda Civic.  Comparatively in Japan, Lexus makes the GS350, which costs a similar amount, but is rear-wheel drive and has far more power.  Acura’s sales have been dropping alarmingly and I honestly think it’s because Acura is marketing towards the wrong people.  They forget who the people were that made them Acura.  

 

Slapping a bunch of leather on an Accord doesn’t make it a luxury car.  

 

I loved the RSX because it was everything I love in a sports car—small, zippy, nimble, fun.  I am extremely biased towards it because when I was I child I still remember my Uncle pulling into my driveway with a brand new 2004 RSX Type-S in Jet black.  It was the first sports car I had any experience with at all, and I was only 6 years old at the time.  Honda discontinued the RSX in 2006 and they have been disappearing rapidly.  

I personally would liked to have purchased one, but all the ones I have found so far have extremely high miles and have already been modded to hell.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to mod an RSX to hell and back, but I want to do it, not buy it off someone else.  The RSX’s left on the market are TOO cheap.  Most are selling for around $3k, and call me insane but I would love to pay close to $10-$12k for a late model Type-S RSX with low miles.  The fact that Acura stopped making these meant that either the cars left on sale have damn near 250,000 miles on them or have been scrapped.  

 

I fear that the next generation of car enthusiast will not be able to say that they did hooligan things with the cars they bought and modified.  A big tenet to being an enthusiast is understanding that anyone can buy the same car, but only you can change your car to be the exact car you want it to be.  It helps form a bond between you and the car.  And while yes, some of those modifications may or may not be illegal/help you do illegal things, that’s half the thrill.  

Modern cheap cars have next to no soul, and while there has been somewhat of a resurgence in cheap sports car, I think it’s important to look back at what we once could do.  Lest we not doom ourselves to the days of the Prius.  

5 comments

  1. Alex · February 10, 2017 at 2:06 pm ·

    I like the attention-grabbing one line paragraphs (i.e. “Slapping a bunch of leather on an Accord doesn’t make it a luxury car.”). It seems that these car companies should have car enthusiasts to give them advice… it would be interesting to see what direction they would take then.

  2. Victoria · February 10, 2017 at 2:27 pm ·

    Okay, your title makes me nauseous. Do I need to cash you ousside? I love the premise of this post, and I latched on to this particular quote: “Modern cheap cars have next to no soul.” YEAH. Modern music has no soul, either. Lol. My car is from the 90s, does that count? As always, impressed by your insane knowledge of cars and other automotive-y things. Keep up the good work. 🙂

  3. sjp5556 · February 10, 2017 at 2:27 pm ·

    My concept of Acura has always been of a brand that produces really expensive luxury cars. I knew they were directly related to Honda, but I didn’t know that Honda at one time did well with the youth market. It seems that it might not be that way now since the quality and price of the cars seem to be much higher. I have to wonder why Honda made the move toward luxury over fun with Acura when, based on who you describe it, they were doing quite well with the youth market?

  4. Brianna Hambright · February 10, 2017 at 2:49 pm ·

    I personally like the Prius. That is the one thing I can disagree with because everything else is kinda over my head. But I learned stuff! Like double wishbone suspension. Nifty.

  5. kak6117 · February 10, 2017 at 2:56 pm ·

    I really liked the intro of today’s blog. And usually I have not driven that cars you talk about but my dad has a 2008 Acura and I absolutely LOVE driving it! It is so much fun to be behind the wheel in that car. I love all the pictures and learning about cars like I never have before. Keep it up.

Twins!

We are going to talk about the twins today.  No, not Beyonce’s twins.  The Japanese twins.  Toyota and Subaru are two of Japan’s largest and greatest automobile manufacturers with an immense pedigree for all things sports car.  They created some of all time legends, such as the 2000GT, the WRX, the STi, the Supra, the Celica, and the E20 Corolla.  

 

But recent times haven’t been kind to them.  In 2008, the global economy hit a standstill during the financial collapse.  The federal government had to bail out the American automobile manufacturers—Ford, GM, and Chrysler.  Toyota took this moment to capitalize on the market and sales of Toyota vehicles momentarily spiked.  But there was a problem.  Toyota suffered from a faulty braking system in a half dozen of their cars, ranging from the Toyota Prius to the Lexus ES350.  After a near two year investigation, nearly 10 million cars were recalled and their reputation had a dark stain on it.  

 

Subaru suffered a similar problem.  Normally, the Subaru brand is held synonymously with safety.  If you want a safe Japanese car, you bought a Subaru.  Well in 2009, nearly 500,000 Subaru cars were recalled for things ranging from airbags to rear seatbelts.  The performance Subaru’s also suffered from an issue called “ringland” failure, which occurred when the rings holding the pistons in place in the engine would fail, thus causing a piston to misfire and projectile it across the engine bay.  To put that in non-technical jargon, the harness holding the most important part of the engine would break and stuff would fly everywhere in the bay breaking everything.  

 

The board of directors of both of these companies would go on to remove the CEOs of both companies amidst this and take a new approach.  Toyota has largely been a family run business since it’s inception, and in 2009 Akio Toyoda took over control of the company.  A few years later he approached Subaru with a proposition.  In order to not only salvage their image and reputation, but also breathe new life into the company, they agreed to team up and build a car platform together.  

 

After a few years of secret research (and I do mean secret, I’m pretty sure that their engineers were banished to a mountain temple to appease the sports car gods or something), they came up with an idea.  

 

That idea, was the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ.  Scion, as a reminder, is Toyota’s now defunct youth division.  They are identical in every single way, aside from a styling cue here and there, as well as the badge.  They are both RWD (rear wheel drive), boxer front based engines, and offer manual transmissions.  A boxer engine is one where the pistons fire off in a line, instead of in a V motion like other sports cars.  This means that power is linear, and the car handles adjustments in speed incredibly well.  To put it plainly, it’s freaking awesome.  The two Japanese giants managed to do something they hadn’t done in years.  Make a lightweight car.  The lack of a turbocharger or AWD makes cutting weight easy.  They did go a bit spartan on the interior, all you get is air conditioning and a small media screen.  

What it lacks in features, it makes up for in price.  You can have a new BRZ or FRS for $25k.  You can find a used one for around $18k.  That is hands down, the best bang for your buck for a sports car on the market right now.  Personally, I would rate the two higher than the Miata which many hold as the king of cheap sports cars today.  

 

There is a problem however.  While it handles perfectly, it does lack in power.  The I4 boxer engine only outputs 200hp, and while that is adequate, you always leave a corner wanting more.  When Scion went defunct last year, Toyota rebadged the FRS as the 86, and promised it would return with more horsepower.  It did.  It went back to the Tokyo mountain temple to appease the sports car gods and came back with 5 more hp.  5.  Yes you read that right.  Aside from that gripe, the twins give me hope for the sports car industry.  


After nearly a decade of missteps, Japan is starting to do things right again.  As an enthusiast, I can only look to the past and try to use and drive older cars for so long before it no longer is practical or viable.  So I think twins moniker works well.  Not only are these cars identical siblings, but they also represent the children of the industry.  They represent the future of doing hooligan things in a car, and I couldn’t be happier about it.  

 

via GIPHY

4 comments

  1. kak6117 · February 3, 2017 at 2:11 pm ·

    My family has had Subarus forever and I never knew that they experienced those call backs or teamed up with Toyota, let alone that they were even a Japanese company. This was an interesting blog and I really enjoyed reading it and learning about it. Also I loved your tone throughout. (little comments like “yeah you heard that right” and “no not Beyonce’s twins”, etc.)

  2. sjp5556 · February 3, 2017 at 2:13 pm ·

    As always, this is really interesting. You did a good job with the back story that leads up to the cars. In particular with this post I liked how you made sure to bring in jargon specific to sports cars and explain it in a way that non-enthusiasts can understand. I do have to wonder: how often can you use all 200 horsepower going through a corner?

  3. Alex · February 3, 2017 at 2:34 pm ·

    That’s a really good story and it’s great to hear that the future of Japanese sports cars is bright. Thinking about my group’s deliberation topic, I wouldn’t imagine you’d be one to welcome the adoption of autonomous cars taking over for human drivers… Do car enthusiasts worry about autonomous cars, or is that seen as an unrealistic or distant problem?

  4. Victoria · February 3, 2017 at 2:42 pm ·

    I’m seriously impressed by your knowledge of cars. Where do you even learn all of this stuff? My dad has a vehement hatred for Subarus. It’s so intense that when those cheesy “Love, it’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru” commercials come on, he does that dad dissaproval thing where he crosses his arms over his stomach and shakes his head and it’s honestly hilarious to watch. Even though I know next to nothing about cars, as evinced by the fact that I forgot my Jeep was a Wrangler on Wednesday, I had little to no trouble understanding your points here. Good job 🙂

Lexus who the “F” designed this thing

I want you to imagine a scenario.  

 

You are a 45 year old father, living an upper-middle class life, with two kids, a wife, the whole scheme.  In your youth, you were a car enthusiast and loved everything about driving and its dynamics.  But life hit you, and you had to make sacrifices.  You traded that two seater roadster for a CRV.  

 

What if you didn’t want to compromise though?  

 

That’s where performance sedans come in.  

 

In technical talk, a sedan is a 4 door car, with 5 seats, and an engine at the front.  Normally, most people buy an affordable mid-size sedan.  The most famous and most popular worldwide being the Toyota Camry.  A Camry is FWD—or front wheel drive—meaning that all engine power is directed towards the front wheel as your press your foot on the accelerator.  The front wheels also have the job of steering a car, regardless of where the power is going, so FWD cars tend to not handle very well.  They go into corners and will understeer, which means that you will turn the wheel but the car will continue to go in a straight line.  

 

A performance sedan on the other hand is quite a different beast.  A performance sedan is the same basics as a sedan—4 doors, 5 seats, front engine—but is usually either rear wheel drive or all wheel drive.  And they have much bigger engines.  Much bigger.  And a lot more power as well.  Performance sedans don’t come cheap; most don’t start new south of $50k, but you do get a lot for your money.  

 

Since the 1980s, if you wanted a performance sedan that was well made, reliable, and powerful, you bought a BMW M3.  There was no argument about it.  Next came the Mercedes AMGs, then the Audi S line, etc.  Now you are sitting here wondering, “Haseeb, this is a blog about Japanese cars, why are you talking about German cars?”  I’m getting to it just bear with me.  In the latest refresh of the BMW M3, BMW did something a bit different.  They dropped their traditional V8 for a turbocharged V6.  Now, a traditional V8 is just that, it has 8 cylinders in the engine bay that fire off to create power.  The turbocharged V6 only has 6 cylinders, but also two turbos (which in a sense act like cylinders but use exhaust pressure instead of gasoline for power.  Turbos generally create lag when used, because pressure needs to build for them to start working.  Sales of the turbocharged M3 didn’t go as planned because BMW didn’t realize how much people missed the V8.  

Enter Lexus.  

 

Lexus for those who don’t know is the luxury division of Toyota.  They are most famous for their high end luxury sedans.  A few years ago they forayed into the performance sedan market with the IS-F, a beefed up version of an ordinary IS.  It sold decently but didn’t really catch on.  At the 2016 Detroit Auto show last year, they unveiled the Lexus GS-F.  It was a performance sedan that packed nearly 500 hp, 4 doors, RWD, and a sport-tuneable luxury suspension.  To put all that jargon into words, its a performance sedan with all the bells and whistles you could ever ask for on top of being practical.  It’s even got things you didn’t even think you’d need.  There are switches to increase or decrease the volume of the exhaust, sliders to decide how precise the steering should be, dials to decide how soft or how stiff the ride should be.  And on top of that, it drives better than any of the competition in it’s class today.  The workmanship of all of Tokyo’s best engineers is very visible here.  

 

But there is a problem.  And a big one.  The car looks like a tsunami of vomit.  Lexus has generally been known for making subdued cars.  Cars that are designed very simply and that age gracefully.  Straight lines, muted colors, etc.  The GS-F takes all of that and does a burnout over it.  The front grill looks extremely confused giving the front face of the car a look that shouts early 2000s anime.  The angles all around the car change very suddenly giving it a pseudo transformers look.  Also the transmission is as well put together as a first grader’s lego set.  It’s crap to put it bluntly.  To add to that, Lexus is demanding a fat $85k for the car.  

As much as I want to love this car, and as much as I want to say I want this car, I can’t bring myself to endorse it.  Owning this car requires you to say “wait I can explain” any time someone asks you about it, and that really isn’t okay.  

 

Internally, the car is near perfect. Externally, it looks like a refugee from Fukushima.  

However I will say this car is a step in the right direction.  Lexus has been churning out better and better cars in recent years and this is evidence of that.  They have a long ways to go, but there is hope indeed for the forgotten kings of Tokyo.  

3 comments

  1. Alex · January 27, 2017 at 2:26 pm ·

    I like the description… a car nearly perfect but for being a tsunami of vomit and a refugee from Fukushima. Entertaining and informative as always!

  2. sjp5556 · January 28, 2017 at 12:02 am ·

    As with many of the cars we see on the road today in America, I forget that they are often from foreign manufacturers. It is no different with Lexus. I associate them with Toyota and see them as rather bland cars in general. All of the technology that is packed into these new performance Lexus models is really impressive, and it shows me how simple most cars are relative to their performance counterparts. I do think the more aggressive exterior suits the performance car, although it could be refined for sure.

  3. Brianna Hambright · February 3, 2017 at 2:29 pm ·

    I know this isn’t your latest article but it’s the one I accidentally clicked on so here I am. This was so funny. I legitimately laughed at loud reading this. On top of that it was very informative, I learned a lot about what a bad car looks like according to Haseeb and that I should never buy a GS-F if I want to be respected *laughing criey face emoji*

Infiniti? More like Finite.

This past week was quite exciting for a car enthusiast such as myself, because the Detroit Auto Show took place.  For those of you who don’t know, Detroit is the Mecca of all things automobile.  For one week a year, all the automakers all around the world take the gloves off and agree to a truce and simply announce all new projects they have as well as share new ideas with the public.  

This year Infiniti announced quite a lot of new updates to its Q line.  But to explain it’s Q line requires us to turn back the dial on the clock a little. 

Infiniti is owned by Nissan, and is considered the luxury/performance division of the brand.  In 2003, to coincide with the release of the 350z (which you can read about on an old blog post), Infiniti released the G35 sedan as well as a coupe variant.  The difference being that the coupe is a 2 door version, and the sedan is the 4 door.  Both used the same VQ V6 engine out of the 350z, although they were uptuned to 330 hp each, had a limited slip differential—which meant going sideways was very fun and very possible—, and were available with either a 6 speed manual or automatic.  

Similarly to coincide with the release of the 370z in 2009, Infiniti released the G37.  Also coming with a sedan and coupe variant, Infiniti had managed to do something that neither of the other luxury Japanese manufacturers had achieved.  You see between the years of 2003-2008, if you wanted an affordable performance sedan or coupe with some luxury you bought a BMW 335i, no question.  But the G37 changed that.  It offered a legitimate challenge to the authority of the Germans, and offered it at a better price point and offered Japanese reliability to add to that.  Personally, I love the G37 coupe, and am legitimately looking into purchasing one after my lease is up.  The G line of Infiniti’s are back to basics rear wheel drive, front engined, Japanese sports cars, with all the bells and whistles you could ask for.  It is in my mind, the perfect blend between overbearing technology and you killing yourself by being a hooligan.  

But Infiniti decided to change things up in 2014 by changing the name of the G line to the Q line.  

The G37 coupe became the Q60, and the G37 sedan became the Q50, with a longer version released as the Q70.  Here’s the thing though.  They were exactly the same cars as before, but only rebadged.  

With all these Q’s, I have a Q for Infiniti: whose mans is this?  

In the year after the rebadged, they neutered the Q line by skyrocketing the price to near $60,000 as well as throwing in more overbearing technology, and not adapting to the new BMW 335i on the market, which is quite good.  Infiniti has made it now nigh impossible to tune their engine for the Q60, and only offers them in an automatic transmission.  

Infiniti is trying to rebrand itself as a luxury family brand by updating its line of crossovers, SUVs, and hatchbacks, which I can admire from a financial standpoint.  But they have alienated the entire base of people who loved their cars in the first place.  I don’t care about automatic brakes, backup cameras, and push button starts and all that glitzy nonsense.  
Bring back the days of a passionate rear wheel drive, 6 speed, front engined Japanese beast, and I’ll bring back my business.  

via GIPHY

2 comments

  1. sjp5556 · January 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm ·

    Really cool…my uneducated view of Nissan (and Infiniti, to some extent) has always been that they are rather average cars, with nothing to really distinguish them. Your analysis of this line of cars going back years shows how much you know about them. I’m new to this class and reading your blog, and I can tell that there’s a lot to learn about this type of car, which I didn’t even know before could be considered a category.

  2. Alex · January 20, 2017 at 2:56 pm ·

    That was interesting to read about, and it sounded like very smart analysis (though I’m not one to judge). The background about the Q line really helped to make your point about the changes they made recently.