Why no more Import Wars and the like?

Around here, they all have Subarus, Evos, or LSX swapped things now.

TeamEvil wrote: Did something happen to the popularity of front wheel drive import drag and street cars? There used to be a ton of them on the streets and at the local cruise nights around here. We had Nopi-Vision and Import Nights on the cable stations, loads of parts and pieces offered in the speed shops and such. Now nothing. I haven't heard a "fart can" equipped import whipping down the street in ages. Never see them on the highway either. Did the interest just die out that quickly? Seems like a couple of years ago the little rocket ships were everywhere, now pretty much absent. Wondering what happened?

Wrote a long essay on this. There are numerous problems here.

First with FWD cars, all the "kids" are into drifting now. They don't care about front wheel drive at all. They also don't care about cars like MR2s which is why they were so cheap until recently. You could pick up a couple years ago a AW11 for like $1800 clean.

Then you have the fact that the Japanese auto industry is in a total decline malaise era right now. The Civic SIs and Integras and cars like that which were popular that used to be like 2400lb cars with decent power to weight are now 3000lb cars that are really behind in value for the money. Anyone who likes that kind of car goes for a Fiesta or a 500 Abarth these days.

Then you have the total decline of asian performance cars in general. Everything that is good and competative is super expensive. Lexus ISF, GTR, etc. Everything that was compeative is now overpriced 370Z for example. The only popular new car in import tuner circles that are still made is the WRX and the FRS/BRZ. Think about this for a second. Mazdaspeed 3? Gone. Evo or LanRalliart? Gone. RX8? Gone. Nobody makes an affordable GT car aside from Nissan and that car is several years behind in its class. The Genesis is super popular with people around where I live though, however they don't mean the cheaper turbo version anymore that all these younger people bought.

Think about this for a second. In 1994 you could buy a twin turbo, RWD, straight 6 car with >300hp for $40,000. Today you can buy a twin turbo, RWD, straight 6 car with >300hp for less than that from BMW. Japan just can't compete anymore.

There is evidence the next Genesis coupe is going to be more of a Mustang GT size car and is either going to get a V8 or 3.3l V6 turbo. It's been caught testing as well. The Koreans and Americans have emerged victorious in this segment for now and it will remain as such until the Japanese companies get their act together. Like Honda. Still no type R in the US. Focusing on NSX that nobody will be driving but millionaires. No consumable RWD car in development. Toyota only prototyping supercar supras that nobody wants. Mazda ditched the rotary and has no GT on the horizon and no announcements for a new MS3, however I trust Mazda to release a new Speed 3.

The only Japanese company right now building affordable enthusiast cars is Subaru. BRZ, WRX, and STI. Then 2nd place is Mazda with its long in the tooth Miata only.

Meanwhile ford has not one but TWO hot hatches and has multiple iterations of a performance mustang including a turbo 4 version. Meanwhile Japanese companies can't build a RWD car that is affordable with more than 200hp.

Japanese companies are starting to become show queens. They show up to a auto show in Detroit or somewhere with a 280HP Sentra SE-R with turbo, show up with a 300hp turbo FRS, announce a 280 HP Civic Type R, etc. Then they only release malaise era equivalent power to weight cars or don't release it in the US or don't release it at all.

The worst thing is that people are claiming that Nissan isn't going to build that IDX now. Asian companies are pretty much living on past glory fumes in the gas tank right now. Nothing equals what they built in the 90s, or even in the 80s. They have to realize they are not Luxury brands. They are focusing on Lexus and Infinity building these ridiculous ultra-lux and supercars and forgetting their roots.

one thing to remember with young people and used cars, think about what is used. Cars from like 2000-2008 or so that would be cheap enough for them and not over 15 years old. Everything that was good then is expensive for a high school or college kid. This is not like the 90s where you had an insane amount of used car choices for awesome tunable RWD cars or great lightweight fwds from the 80s and 90s. their choices are from 2000-2008 when most everything was fat, automatic, fwd, and slow and cars like S2000s don't suffer from a lot of depreciation. That's why you see american cars all over with those people, they are cheap and super numerous. If you want anything decent from asian companies you will need to buy something from the 80s or 90s or pick up a cheap 350Z or Rx8 which are two cars I do see a lot of younger people driving. Even older WRXs are not cheap. Anything with a good reputation from the 2000s holds its value.

All I know is around here the ricer wings, fart cans, flybys and general ricer idiocy have dropped dramatically. I don't care about the whys and wherefores, I just enjoy the results.

Curmudgeon wrote: All I know is around here the ricer wings, fart cans, flybys and general ricer idiocy have dropped dramatically. I don't care about the whys and wherefores, I just enjoy the results.

Well the side effect to young enthusiasts vanishing could be in 20 years it will be illegal to drive your own car and a computer must do it for you. I wouldn't cheer that on.

It slowed down in Florida, but the honda ricers are still around here along with the theft and street racing on the bridges. From the people I've talked to, there are a lot of older Honda guys in the area, but they keep their built cars in the garage and don't take them out much.

I only see fart cans on middle aged guy's cars. Not that they put them there, but it was a cheap buy.

Got eyeballed by the Subaru kids at the clubhouse when I was leaving my parent's place. Either because the truck is loud or it it makes me look like a meth dealer. Subaru kids are the exemption, I guess.

Ebay and china killed the aftermarket profit margin, driving most manufacturers out of the market. No hop up parts = no hopped up cars. Toss in the fact that little Breiydiyn isnt interested in driving, cuz why should he be? Mommy will drive him everywhere, so he doesnt have to put down his twittstagram smartphone on his way to the soccer game where everyone gets a trophy made from vegan, gluten free, recycled honduh bumpers.

Here in Atlanta the modding trends tend to fall along racial lines. The young suburban white guys often drive dorifto style S13/s14s, older BMWs, rwd Lexi, even Miatas. The young country/rural white guys drive trucks & Jeeps with big mudding tires. The young hispanic guys who mod their rides either drive slammed pickups or hatchbacks with body kits. The young black guys tend to drive large american cars with huge chrome rims, lift kits and loud sound systems. In each case the emphasis is on show rather than go.

4cylndrfury wrote: Ebay and china killed the aftermarket profit margin, driving most manufacturers out of the market. No hop up parts = no hopped up cars. Toss in the fact that little Breiydiyn isnt interested in driving, cuz why should he be? Mommy will drive him everywhere, so he doesnt have to put down his twittstagram smartphone on his way to the soccer game where everyone gets a trophy made from vegan, gluten free, recycled honduh bumpers.

I like the cut of your jib.

mr2peak wrote: Drifting happened. On another note, what's the next big fad going to be?

Hopefully driving off a cliff into shark infested waters.....

Swank Force One wrote: Around here, they all have LSX swapped things now.

Hence my viewpoint on the lsx being the most played out/unimaginative swap of all time. Down with the LSX RICERS!!!!!!!!!

I can't speak to the fwd crowd....

but the AE86 crowd has thinned significantly... partially because these cars are getting rarer (rust, need of repair, or serious accident), but also Toyota has been weening their inventory of the parts for these cars.

Because of this... and the fact that there are no significant restoration supply companies for these cars... it requires a LOT more effort, and CASH to put together a nice car.

I rarely see the early 2000's era "riced out" cars these days unless I'm driving through a lower income area, but I have seen a ton of "stanced" and VIP cars over the past couple years. I almost always see some tool bag weaving in and out of traffic with his early G35 on stretched tires and absurd camber on my commutes to and from work. I have seen a lot of Miatas running steelies and stretched tires, and VW's with Corvette sawblade wheels (and again,stretched tires).

The element is still there, however the culture shifted from the underbody neon and fart can equipped cars to the "stance movement". Either way, it's still dumb.

Whats up with how few people compete in horse activities these days?

Here in rural Oregon, I see loads of what appear to be intentionally muddy cut up for rock crawling Toyota 4x4s. What I find funny is this is the same demographic that would have had patriotic "Buy American" bumperstickers on their Chevy or Jeep a decade ago.

In town (Eugene/Springfield metro area) the latest absurd trend amongs the upscale young car guys is late model upper end performance BMWs wrapped in a matte finish with pastel colored rims. This seems especially popular with Japanese exchange students at the U of Oregon.

logdog wrote: Whats up with how few people compete in horse activities these days?

I know it was a joke, but I wish it were true. If my wife didn't ride/show horses, I could be a lot less grassroots.

Powar wrote:

logdog wrote: Whats up with how few people compete in horse activities these days?

I know it was a joke, but I wish it were true. If my wife didn't ride/show horses, I could be a lot less grassroots.

Tell me about it.... we have 3 and my wife competes in Eventing.

The ricer is scene is alive and well in SoCal. Then we get the modded Euros, STI's, drift idiots, and stance tards in full force too.

Here (CA Central Valley) I see tons and tons of stupid tall trucks with big wheels and relatively small tires. Like 12"+ of lift and 33"s or maybe 35"s. It's weird.

There's also a decent amount of stanced Miatae here which always surprises me.

Like it's been said, they moved on to ruining Evos and STIs and Diesel trucks.

I dunno, maybe there's a lack of stuff for them to do? Around here, as far as I know, there's the drag strip unless you want to go to the other side of MD for autox or anything else. And really, unless you want to spend the coin, that little fwd is going to get its ass kicked by pretty much everything that rolls up anymore. What's the point in trying to get power out of a 120hp fwd box when you can get a 300hp awd car for slightly more money?

Lots of off roaders as well here, very few sports cars in general and a some classic cars (mostly American muscle). You do see the occasional Civic with a fart can, but something like my CRX seems to be mostly driven by someone with grey hair who remembers them from when they were new.

The riced-out Honda scene is still really big here up north of Seattle. Kinda annoying actually, as they still are loud as crap and they insist on racing everyone.

One thing that I finally noticed just a few weeks ago was that every 240sx I see now is never finished! Everyone of them has wide-body kits and the like that is still primered out. I don't think I've seen a clean, original looking 240sx in a long time. It's like that extra $1000 never comes around for the owner to spend on making it match the rest of the car. Too bad....

-Hamid

I too see the unfinished 240sx, along with Mitsu Eclipses in various states of unfinishedness.If you have no plans or budget for finishing such a cosmetic project, why butcher the car?

thatsnowinnebago wrote: Here (CA Central Valley) I see tons and tons of stupid tall trucks with big wheels and relatively small tires. Like 12"+ of lift and 33"s or maybe 35"s. It's weird. There's also a decent amount of stanced Miatae here which always surprises me.

I heard the "stupid amounts of lift with small (relatively speaking) tires" thing was pretty big in Hawaii too...

If I had a few extra dollars, I'd start an all new trend.

Mini trucks (Ranger/S10/Nissan/Hilux) slammed in the weeds, with too-wide tires and offroad fenders/bedsides to accomodate the fat tires/wheels.

IMSA widebody meets NASCAR Trucks.