6G Celicas Forums

What are all of you're opinions on the different cars that we see in the import scene?

I mean obvioulsy there are the Japanese built cars (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and Nissan being the biggest imo). But there other companies have played off the idea of a sporty compact car w/ a little I4 that has a lot of potential and appeals to younger people. Some U.S companies didn't really start building these type of cars until semi-recently, and if you look at the Euro-tuner scene is mostly VW's(even thier selection is slim) and not many more European companies build these types of cars.

So do you think that the companies like Chevy, Ford, and VW are just "wannabes" for making cars that are similar to alot of the Japanese companies' cars?

Discuss....

eh not VW's but chevy and ford i think they might be. I think the best tuners come from the late 80's to the very early 2000's. not much of the younger group like myself are truely into japanese imports(i am). but the majority are mustangs and US made cars. the rest of them jsut like that looks cool

Well europeen and asian car companies (I'm not talking about specialty cars) have ALWAYS been into small cars with small engines..American was all about boaty cars with V8. So if you want my opinion, the whole "compact car with a big engine" and "sharp handling" idea was obviously an oversea idea.

If you think of the 70's, most american cars were still big and struggling to compete with the econo-boxes import. The 80's brought alot of sporty little cars like the CRX, the turbo celica, 240sx etc. The american had small cars with 4 cylinders but they were far from being "sporty".

This post has been edited by Rayme: Apr 1, 2008 - 7:36 PM

I agree, not much has come out lately that's horrifically great....But actually most kids and young adults up here seem to be more into imports than domestics.

Lately I was thinking, there's alot of "import haters" that says stuff like, buy a "real" car.. And obviously they're talking about the mustang and the camaro-trans-am clones...Is there anything else american that is much better? Some people have no clue.

This post has been edited by Rayme: Apr 1, 2008 - 7:38 PM

yea i dont like comments like that. Ive even had other tuners call my celica a "silly". dont like that very much

well considering chevy is toyota...chrysler is mitu****y...ford is mazda...id have to say that they have been in the "import" scene for a while now...lol...but no i think that any smart engineer would see what is selling best and try to put something on the market that would sell...such as the cobolt SS...the srt-4....stuff like that....i like the cobolt though and it def. has a lot of potential

how do you mean "chevy is toyota" and such?

go look under the hood of a chevy geo and be amazed!

you will discover a 7A-FE!!!

lol..didn't know that

The Cavalier is sold in japan as a Toyota. Most of the mid 90s Geos are toyotas.

lol yep...most people dont...the list will amaze you...chrysler use to own merceded-benz....everyone knows lexus is expensive toyota....audi is expensive volkswagon....but what do you think a ford escape is? its a mazda...just like chevy puts toyota motors in there cars...ford does the same...chrysler does it with mitu****y...so on and so forth...actually a lot of american cars are made in mexico but "assembled" in america...thats the whole theory behind that...if you want real american your gonna have to dip into the 80's and below

So would you say they are kind of stealing the ideas/ technology?

I kind of think so, since the 7A IS a Toyota engine.

This post has been edited by 96bluevert: Apr 1, 2008 - 7:56 PM

who's stealing? the companies involved agree to allow the other to market/use each others stuff.

Not stealing as taking w/out asking sense, but an auto company should be able to come up w/ thier own engine and build that up. It's not original if someone else used it first or had it planned beforehand.

If your talking about "tuners" from american companies. The only real "Tuner engine that I know of that is all american is the 420a enginer found in the 4cyl Dodge Avenger, 4cyl Crysler Sebring (Same Car) As well as in the Mitubishi Eclipse Non turbo and Talon Non Turbo (Same Car again)

Im not sure what otehr cars that engine is in. But it is a highly customizable engine that is almost literally bulletproof. Easily turboe. And comes with an extremly large aftermarket backing

Well not only using similar or same engines, but similar body styles as well.

True enough... But the Avenger is so much Hotter (Considering I owned one)

toyota and gm are NOT owned by the same company. they have done a few projects together mainly in the plant in cali
IE
corolla/prism
corolla/matrix/vibe
and apparently the cavalier.
the funny thing is that if it's the TOYOTA labeled version it's worth more LOL

the reason why the started that project in cali was toyota wanted to learn marketing strategies from chevy and chevy wanted to learn how to make a decent car. needless to say toyota learned how to market but chevy never learned about quality.
dodge has pretty much pulled out from mitsubishi
ford only partly owns mazda
and chevy partly owns subaru

you would (however) be surprised at how many automobile companies ford is tied with

ford- land rover, mazda, mercury, lincoln, aston martin (that's right), jaguar,

chevy- saab, saturn, pontiac, subaru, buick, opel, isuzu, toyota (project in cali)

chrysler- mitsu (not any more though), jeep, plymouth (dead), dodge, mercedes (i think that's done with now too),

i'm sure there are plenty more i could go through these are just the ones i could think of off the top of my head.

then there was that project between honda, nissan, and isuzu with the passport, pathfinder, and rodeo.

Everyone loves a nice tuner, I don't care who they are. These days with gas being high, sexy looks, and potential, I would say tuners have it hands down. I have been a BIG fan of Japanese cars of the 90's, though looking back many years, there are so many japanese cars with potential. Today, most cars made are P.O.S. and will not last like some of our favorites from the past.

As for the other american wannbe tuner cars..... I am sure they will make someone a nice contribution to a rent payment when they need to take it down to the recycling yard one day.