Which Japanese Performance Car Should Be Revived Next?
S2000? Evo? MR2?
At long last, the new Nissan Z is upon us. Rocking a manual gearbox as standard, 400 horsepower, a starting price "around $40K," and styling to die for, it's generated quite a lot of buzz this week. That said, it's far from the only Japanese performance icon to be redesigned after a long period of not being redesigned, or brought back from the dead entirely. For starters, the new Toyota GR 86 and Subaru BRZ twins will be hitting dealerships this fall, a new Subaru WRX (that will definitely be keeping its manual transmission) shall be revealed very soon, and, most shockingly, Acura has confirmed that a revived Integra is coming next year.
It's a good time to be a JDM fan—perhaps the best it's been since the late '90s—and that got us thinking. Y'know what would make this era even sweeter? More performance car resurrections from Japan, of course, but we wanted to pass the buck to you: Which Japanese performance car should be revived next?
I, for one, want to see Honda build a new S2000. Look, Honda, if a comparatively tiny firm like Mazda can keep the Miata on the market all these years, I'm sure you guys have the resources to take the Civic Type R, keep the engine and transmission as-is, flip the drivetrain around, shorten the wheelbase, and cut the roof off. Boom, new S2000. It's just that simple—right, guys?
Or how about a new Mitsubishi Evo? I once wrote about how Mitsu should bring the Evolution back as a rebadged, reskinned, four-door GT-R, what with the company's Nissan alliance and the GT-R's Evo-on-steroids-esque premise. But how badass would it be if Mitsubishi Heavy Industries took all of that money it makes building air conditioners or whatever and spent it on an all-new road-going rally car to end all road-going rally cars?
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