The Japanese Supercars
By Chike Dellimore
About the Author (click here)

November 2002

Flashback: For the sports car enthusiast, the mid to late 1980’s represented a period of limited choices for high performance hardware. The fastest reasonably priced options ranged from the 240 hp Chevrolet Corvette to the 247 hp Porsche 944 Turbo S – all other choices such as the Ferrari Testarossa, Lotus Esprit and Porsche 928 had asking prices on par with those of some luxury homes. At this time, the Japanese economy was booming and its six largest automakers – Subaru, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi – wanted to boost their international market share by proving to the world that they could build more than inexpensive, reliable economy cars. They all turned to their R&D departments to come up with the blueprints for supercars that could rival the best from the US, Germany, England and Italy…

Fast-Forward 5 years: By 1993, all six of these automakers have ‘halo’ cars that are well established in the western markets. Subaru’s SVX was an AWD Grand-Touring cruiser with 230 hp and exotic styling penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign. Mazda’s RX-7 was a lightweight 2700 pound ‘go-cart’ with a 50:50 weight distribution, that utilized a turbocharged version of Mazda’s renowned 1.3 liter rotary engine producing 255 hp. Toyota’s MK IV Supra was a 320 hp twin-turbo street-legal race car with a rear spoiler that would be more at home on the Mulsanne Straight of Le Mans. Nissan’s reborn Z came ready for action, packing dual turbochargers, 300 hp and exterior styling with timeless proportions. Honda’s (Acura) Formula-1 derived NSX was an exotic, mid-engined two-seater that had an all aluminum unibody frame, variable valve timing, titanium connecting rods and 270 hp (updated in ’97 to 290 hp). Mitsubishi’s dazzling AWD 3000GT VR-4, with its Ferrari-esque exterior styling was the technological marvel of the group and was going through an update that year which would leave it with 320 hp, and 315 ft-lbs at an incredibly low 2500rpms.

The Japanese automakers were pulling no punches, and their onslaught on the US market sent their rivals scrambling to develop better and faster products – in 1992 Chevrolet updated its C4 Corvette to 300 hp – or near bankruptcy in the case of Porsche. Straight out of the factory these six cars came ready to dance, and each one – with the exception of the SVX – was capable of 0-60 runs in the high 4 to low 5 second range with top speeds ranging from 144 mph for the SVX to almost 172 mph for the NSX!

Subaru SVX

The Strengths                Giorgetto Giugiaro styling; sumptuous leather interior; excellent driver visibility; broad torque band from the 3.3 liter boxer engine!

The Weaknesses             A transmission that overheats with spirited driving; performance on par with the base models of the 300ZX, 3000GT and Supra.

Mazda RX-7               

The Strengths                50:50 weight distribution; excellent steering feedback, 2700 lb weight; fade resistant brakes; amazing turbo rush!

The Weaknesses             Spartan interior, long-term turbocharged rotary reliability issues.

Toyota Supra

The Strengths                Street racer styling; perfect handling and balance at the limit; amazing acceleration; smooth shifter action!

The Weaknesses             Plain layout of the controls on the dash; top speed limiter on a Supra…c’mon Toyota!

Nissan 300ZX

The Strengths                Timeless styling; ergonomically sound interior; out-of-this-world performance!

The Weaknesses             Poor rearward visibility; twitchy movement of the HICAS system at the limit; slight brake fade after serious hot-lapping.

Honda NSX                

The Strengths                Exotic mid-engine layout; great looks; endless rush of power once the variable valve timing kicks in at 5000 rpm.

The Weaknesses             Semi-exotic price tag; evil dealer mark-up when the car was first launched; little torque in the low rpm ranges. 

Mitsubishi 3000GT

The Strengths                Leather interior that was second to none; well engineered AWD system that performed flawlessly; addictive rush of turbo power; predictable handling and progressive break-away at the limit.

The Weaknesses             Notchy shifter action; 3700+ lb curb weight.

Unfortunately, due to a downturn in the Yen’s value, high insurance ratings and a shift in the automotive market from sports cars to SUV’s in the mid 90’s, each of these cars with the exception of the NSX, were discontinued by their respective manufacturers between ’95 and ‘99.

Today, we stand on the threshold of a second high performance invasion from the Land of the Rising Sun. Nissan’s 350Z is already on sale, while Mazda’s RX-8 is due out in the summer of 2003 with Toyota’s MK V Supra slated for arrival a year later. Mitsubishi and Subaru have shifted their focus to producing high performance rally cars and the Lancer EVO VIII and WRX STI are both due to arrive on our shores by the summer of 2003.

The Best of the Best*:

* Fastest performance results recorded by Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road and Track, Automobile Magazine or Popular Mechanics between the years 1989-1999.

Little known facts:

Subaru’s SVX was only offered with an automatic transmission as they had no manual shifter that could handle the engine’s torque. They later developed one that is used currently on the WRX.

Mazda’s RX-7 with it’s 1.3 liter turbocharged engine, has a 196 hp/liter ratio that is one of the highest ever for a production car (remember the magical supercar mark is regarded as 100!).

Toyota’s Supra has an actual horsepower rating of 326 in the American version and without its 155 mph limiter, the car would climb to over 170 mph!

Nissan’s 300ZX was also known as the Japanese Corvette and is regarded by many as being the second best Z ever built, behind the original 1970 240Z.

Honda/Acura’s NSX has a super light all-aluminum body frame that weighs a scant 462 lbs with doors, hood and deck lids installed (about a 40% reduction in weight over steel)!

Mitsubishi’s 3000GT has mid-engine styling that goes beyond mere looks. Between 1995 and 1999, Mitsubishi produced a limited number of two seat mid-engined GTO’s (Japanese name for the 3000GT) that were sold in Japan only as the GTO MR. The mid-engine layout didn’t improve acceleration (as the car uses an AWD layout), but greatly increased the car’s handling abilities at the limit. No exterior styling enhancements were needed for this change in the powertrain’s location. 

Questions or comments? Contact the author at: chiketkd@yahoo.com