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Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by wlesieutre on Friday April 11, 2025 @09:33AM (#43653595)
Miata, BRZ, Nissan Z, and GT-R? Toyota's GR86 is BRZ derived but still counts, though their Supra is a BMW. Honda's closest thing is the Civic Type R, but they're bringing back the Prelude soon. Mitsubishi are the odd one out, all they have is an SUV recycling the Eclipse's name.

There's no million dollar Japanese supercars competing against Lamborghinis and McLarens, but I wouldn't say they stopped making sports cars.

Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by cestith on Friday April 11, 2025 @12:15PM (#43655493)
It’s no Supra, but the FRS is a sporty little car that was marketed in a fairly affordable range. It’s also basically a BRZ. It’s a little sad that’s no longer an option.

The WRX has a turbocharged Boxer engine, manual gearbox or optional CVT, and all-wheel drive. It’s a sedan, but it does a 13.9 second quarter mile stock off the showroom floor. That’s not bad.

Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by tristor on Friday April 11, 2025 @01:49PM (#43656484)
> It’s no Supra, but the FRS is a sporty little car that was marketed in a fairly affordable range. It’s also basically a BRZ. It’s a little sad that’s no longer an option.

The FRS/BRZ/GR86 are identical cars mechanically, Toyota owns Scion, so the FRS was replaced by the GT86 and later GR86 within the Toyota line-up when Toyota killed off the Scion brand in the US, and the FRS never existed outside the North American market, because Scion was a North American exclusive brand.

The BRZ/GR86 has a Subaru Boxer engine, with Toyota D4S Port+Direct Injection, using a Toyota ECU/ECM, Toyota/Aisin transmission, Toyota TCU/TCM, and Toyota infotainment (in some generations), but with a mostly Subaru designed chassis and nearly entirely Subaru suspension and post-transmission driveline, but the wheels and tires off a Prius (in the first generation), and a handful of things that were only created to be jointly used by the BRZ/GR86. Except no matter which part you pick on the car, it'll be marked "Subaru", including ironically the Toyota badge on the front of the GT86.

It's better to think of them as what they are, which is different branding for the same vehicle, that was jointly developed and manufactured.

Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by lloeki on Friday April 11, 2025 @09:55AM (#43653832)
> There's no million dollar Japanese supercars competing against Lamborghinis and McLarens

Well there was the NSX

Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by amrocha on Friday April 11, 2025 @02:45PM (#43657063)
Key word was, because nobody wants to spend 200K on a Honda no matter how many F1 drivers swear by it.
Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by kod on Friday April 11, 2025 @09:59AM (#43653862)
I get where you're coming from, but describing the fastest production FWD car as the "closest thing" is really funny
Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by wlesieutre on Friday April 11, 2025 @10:27AM (#43654185)
Yeah I mean dedicated sports car models, rather than sportified versions of existing models
Re:But what if I want a faster horse? by amrocha on Friday April 11, 2025 @02:44PM (#43657046)
Right, they still exist, but now they’re budget sports cars, which isn’t really what I was talking about. A GR86 is cheaper than most SUVs. A miata is even cheaper. The civic type r is neat, but that’s not a sports car. That’s a performance model of a family car.

The comment I was replying to said that people buy porsches because they’re beautiful.

That’s not it, because the NSX is beautiful, the LFA is beautiful, the FD is beautiful, but nobody wants to spend 200K on a Toyota.

Cars are a signifier, and the viewer needs to understand that sign. Luxury car makers bank on that. Put an LFA and a Cayman next to each other and 9/10 people would think the Cayman is worth more.

The original commenters idea works for content, because content is not a signifier of money. Rich people can’t have more expensive media taste than you, so the enthusiasts set the pace.

But they can have a more expensive car, so no matter how awful a car a lamborghini is, nobody envies the Integra type R next to it.