Whatever Happened to The Sport Compact Scene?

stealthfighter1 wrote: cops harrasing everyone with a sport compact on th street, making it unaffordable and not particularly fun to have a sport compact...especially if you're a young person ... idk just a thought.

Try again.

My brother and I started tooling with cars in the early 90s when he inherited the DA Integra from our uncle. So in nearly 2 decades neither one of us has ever been pulled over or harassed for what we drive. I've spent entire summers driving my stickered up autocross car with a straight pipe and never had any issues.

The retarded movies killed the fun. We stick to Hondas as they make reliable family cars, the idiocy became tiresome. Every tool bag had a comment when I drove around the CRX, with the E30 iX the only comments I get are from people who love old German cars.

YMMV

it might depend on where you live , i've been pulled over a few times, all bogus, why...? the car. i never drive like a douche or over the limit or showboat , but the ratio of cops to civilians in my town is like 1 out of 10 people is a cop...yeah

autoxrs wrote: Try again. My brother and I started tooling with cars in the early 90s when he inherited the DA Integra from our uncle. So in nearly 2 decades neither one of us has ever been pulled over or harassed for what we drive. I've spent entire summers driving my stickered up autocross car with a straight pipe and never had any issues. The retarded movies killed the fun. We stick to Hondas as they make reliable family cars, the idiocy became tiresome. Every tool bag had a comment when I drove around the CRX, with the E30 iX the only comments I get are from people who love old German cars. YMMV

I do agree with you there. I do not get half the problems in the saab or bmw that I got in my Tib from people making comments. I do however still get the occasional Ricer wanting to race the BMW and I started getting them with the saab now that it looks more like a turbo than a NA. I guess I cannot win

mad_machine wrote: I do agree with you there. I do not get half the problems in the saab or bmw that I got in my Tib from people making comments. I do however still get the occasional Ricer wanting to race the BMW and I started getting them with the saab now that it looks more like a turbo than a NA. I guess I cannot win

I now get a ton of interest in my stickered up SAAB where as before it used to be invisible on the street. Funny part is all the way home from the challenge I got tons of nods and thumbs up from people in everything from mustangs to a sunbeam, but the only guy to want to street race on a public highway was a young guy in a korean sport compact! I just laughed and shook my head!

I, personally, have gotten too old for that E36 M3. I can afford to have fun on private courses at sanctioned events with well sorted cars. Cheap economy cars with questionable mods and worse aerodynamics berkeleying around on public property was a necessity at one point in my life, but I do not miss it at all. I cannot be alone in this.

Oh where to start. I was in HS in the late 80's and drooling on Neuspeed and Jackson racing itinerations of the MK1, Mk2 golfs and the Civic and CRX. I wanted one so bad I could spit, but I had less than no money. fast forward a few years and I finally get a used CRX-HF slow as dirt but fun and a start, 1999ish the CRX gets totaled by a friend and I find a well used 89 Civic Si I jump into the "Sport Compact Scene" at age 28 with the car I always wanted in HS. FF movies come out, mean while I am driving around in an Olive Drab autocross car and getting trophies belive it or not at NOPI Nats for being original becuase I had a stipped interior and racing numbers, Now that car is fully caged lives in my garage and sees very very limited street use and lots of Track Time as my HPDE car Race car to be project. I cannot drivie it on the street without getting pulled over, which is one reason i found an old van to tow it ot the track. I have cop magnet paint or something. Around here the police tend to be a few years behind the trend for young trouble makers it always surprises them to see a new 40 year old driving around in the "FERIEN" (southern for Foriegn) fart can car.

I guess I qualify for several of the groups mentioned before. I am building the car I wanted in HS just still don't have any money, was always a GRM guy just didn't know it until I found the magazine. I have a yard full of projects and the newest car I own is a 1990 (G-freind has a 1998) and maybe the SCC scene is dead or dying becuase as several people have mentioned most of the ricers grew up and sold or had their cars crushed. They have kids and the ones that can are buying either used faster (WRX, Evo, BMW, ?) or more luxurious (Infinity, Lexus, Uper Acura, BMW, Mercedes) cars. I don't go to the shows any more just can't take the scene any more, I went back to my roots again and bought an air cooled VW like I "had" to drive in HS and that is the show scene I'll be going to now. I am just that messed up in the head. Now I know I belong here.

It doesn't strike me that anything different from any other "fad" has happened to the Sport Compact Scene. The "cool" kids (i.e. those with disposable income) have moved on. In some ways, those who promoted it (Sport Compact Car, HIN, etc.) are responsible for speeding the process up. Look, eventually, the stupidity of either throwing 10-15K into a 3K (for the working classes) car OR buying a 30-40K car (for the trust fund kids) and immediately voiding the warranty to be part of a "scene" was bound to sink in to anyone other than the trust fund kids who weren't spending their own money in the first place. That's what was marketed as the Sport Compact Scene. The trust fund kids moved on, the "average joe's" wised up, the posers realized how pitiful a Kia with a fart can is and the "scene" disappeared.

The good news is I can now drive my kids to the movies in my SE-R w/o some backwards hat, baggie pants moron revving his engine at me. Oh, and I still enjoy the car. So I guess my take on it is "good riddance".

Trust fund kids??...

The countless s2k/evo/Sti kids around here are known as the "best buy crew" because they work as cashiers in target/best buy, live at home for free, and spend ALL their earnings to afford their cars & the trendy/overpriced do-dads that are in-vogue, as part of the current "sport-compact" scene...

All joking aside, we convinced the most gullible one there's this new iridescent paint manufactured by Spoon that can lower transmission & oil pan temps 2-3degrees, but its $100/ounce; he scoured the net for a day or two with one of many CC's handy...

paul wrote: All joking aside, we convinced the most gullible one there's this new iridescent paint manufactured by Spoon that can lower transmission & oil pan temps 2-3degrees, but its $100/ounce; he scoured the net for a day or two with one of many CC's handy...

He didn't look hard enough... it exists, or existed at one time. At one point, its manufacturer claimed it would boost gas mileage. It didn't.

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

RoosterSauce wrote: In about thirty years or so, old guys having their mid-life crises will want to relive their youth, and will do restomods on "classic" Honda Civics. Fart cans, primered body kits, and NAWZ stickers will be cool all over again.

Not true. All the old guys (older than me anyway) with the 60s/70s cars have nice ones now because they couldn't afford nice ones when they were younger. The same will happen with the tooner scene. They guys that started in Civics than went to WRXs and finally to (presumably) BMWs will look for a decent old Civic and a NOS body kit and pay someone to build them the car of their dreams. Just like the street rodders when I was a kid and the muscle car guys when I was in high school. You can already see the 70s cars and styles appreciating right now, even into the 80s. Hell a mid-80s car qualifies for vintage plates in most states now! Soon the guys that never threw out their pre-China strut braces will dig them out of the attic and have eBay gold and a whole new vintage JDM fad will start up. Todays interest in early JDM stuff (as sometimes featured in GRM) is just the tip of the iceberg. Its gonna be HUGE!

I think it's already starting...

I'm wanting to start over again with a clean Civic/DA integra/80s Celica.

Badly.

Just to make a nice JDM tyte driver, y0!

MadScientistMatt wrote: He didn't look hard enough... it exists, or existed at one time. At one point, its manufacturer claimed it would boost gas mileage. It didn't.

It would of failed the only two things that matter in the jdm sport compact... (e.g. think of what the typical person who shops for designer jeans & sunglasses looks for): trendy in-vogue brand (jdm), and ultra-premium prices ;)

You guys mean my 1988 Corolla GT-S with a JDM (y0) 4AGE 20v motor is becoming "hip" again? I just have to wait a little longer?

autoxrs wrote:

stealthfighter1 wrote: cops harrasing everyone with a sport compact on th street, making it unaffordable and not particularly fun to have a sport compact...especially if you're a young person ... idk just a thought.

Try again. My brother and I started tooling with cars in the early 90s when he inherited the DA Integra from our uncle. So in nearly 2 decades neither one of us has ever been pulled over or harassed for what we drive. I've spent entire summers driving my stickered up autocross car with a straight pipe and never had any issues. The retarded movies killed the fun. We stick to Hondas as they make reliable family cars, the idiocy became tiresome. Every tool bag had a comment when I drove around the CRX, with the E30 iX the only comments I get are from people who love old German cars. YMMV

Just saying, It might be where you lived. I went from driving a MGB with traffic on the belt to jfk here in ny to doing the same with a Focus. Keep in mind, keeping with traffic is 80, or you've got an escalade up your bum. 0 tickets with the flashy 2 door sports car over the course of 5 years. At the 3rd one with the Focus (bought it in MARCH) I decided its time to DD something else. I have no doubt that police have had a major impact on the turner people around here.

NY is a police state, that may skew my results compared to yours, but I wouldnt go around blaming other people for their cop issues... I'd count myself lucky.

As a side note, not kidding about the Escalade/etc up the arse. its honestly cheaper to drive at speed with or ahead of these people and worry about tickets then it is to go slow and wonder how long it will be before its "your time"

canoe