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Anyone here from the JDM Golden Era

2K views 41 replies 28 participants last post by  QUiKSR20  
#1 ·
Gonna sound really old but is anyone here that grew up as a young adult during the Golden Era of Japanese sports cars and got to enjoy them? Where actual AE86 were going for $2500, $1500 S13's, $5,000 S14's, FD's were $13K and so on. Did you buy a twin for a modern take of nostalgia? Would like to hear some of your stories. For me it was between this or a clapped out S13 for $20K that needs to be restored. Opted for a new car with warranty that I can mod that actually drives good.
 
#3 ·
Yep. I bought my fair share of S-chassis, Conquests, RX-7s, etc back in the early 2000s. Still have a bunch of 90s/00s vehicles. I also have an odd affliction for Saturns... first car was a 94 SW2, and now I have... a few of them.

I bought a GR86 because in my eyes, at least until '23, they were the last "90s" style sports car you could buy. Post-'23 are still alright, but got molested with all the eyesight nonsense.
 
#4 ·
98 Accord Coupe - 2002-2005
05 RSX-S - 2005-2008

That's how I grew up. Getting out of class on Friday, getting high. Going to the mall with friends, reading car mags and playing video games, waiting for 9-10pm. Hanging out at a gas station with 30-50 other cars, going out to the airport around midnight and racing until 2-3am
 
#5 · (Edited)
Did you buy a twin for a modern take of nostalgia? Would like to hear some of your stories.
I bought the BRZ because it's BY FAR the most fun and great handling new car for the money, that also offers back seats, a manual transmission, and looks sharp.

The interior though...absolutely nostalgic!!! Reminds me of my buddy's Isuzu I learned how to drive stick in blended with my trio of Z31 300ZXs I had from 2002-2007. Makes me smile every time I pop in the car. 🤙

Here's the favorite of my Z31s I owned back then (not my car in the photo, but I had the same)...1 of 1000 called the Shiro Sport. Factory recaros, viscous LSD, 5 spd, factory air splitter, 16" white wheels, pearl white paint:


Image


I was young and built mine with a single GT35R dual ball bearing turbo and made 445RWHP...a lot of HP back then.

- Mike
 
#6 ·
Old enough to remember these cars, just slightly too young to be able to buy them when they had depreciated and were still cheap. By the time I was out of college the s13s were already going up in value

In spite of the reputation, my first grown up-ish sports car was a lightly used g37 coupe still under warranty. Sold it after a few years when I went back to school

Did you buy a twin for a modern take of nostalgia?
At the time I bought my BRZ, my taste in cars was still...shall I say...basic. I had heard about the handling performance and track popularity with the first gen. I actually did test drive a gen 1 BRZ with brembos around 2018 or 2019 but didnt end up buying it. Always wanted an e36 M3 but decided to go new car route and settled on a '22 BRZ because I didnt want to spend too much

Nostalgia factor was just a nice addition. I didnt know this would be one of the last new cars to have that feel. The driving experience has exceeded my expectations to the point sometimes I dont like talking about it because I seriously feel like I've drank the kool aid
 
#7 ·
I drove a BMW 320i in 1988, that car cost me a fortune in repair costs, every month something was breaking and the cost of parts was horrendous. I bought a 1990 Honda Accord and never looked back, I have owned 20+ JDM cars since that time - numerous Integras, Civics, Accords, Preludes, WRX's, and one S2000.

I sold my S2000 in 2018 as it was too impractical for me, and at the end I wasn't driving it much. My biggest gripes with the S2000 were driver comfort, lack of torque, interior room, non-adjustable steering wheel, snap oversteer potential, and I never liked convertibles (I ran a hardtop on the S2000 most of the time) . When I sat in the BRZ at my Subaru dealer it felt like a modern version of the S2000 with increased safety, adjustable driver seat, adjustable steering, modern technology, driver comfort, interior room, added torque, and a fixed roof. I loved it immediately upon siting in the car, I didn't even test-drive it. I find the BRZ to be a more stable handling platform as well, less risk of spinning out when driving hard in the corners IMO.
 
#11 ·
I was born in 91. Grew up around cars thanks to my Dad. Got to go to Nopi, NIRA, HIN, and various other events. Rode in 550-1,000hp Supras, R34s, RX7s, etc.

I discovered drifting in like 2002/2003 and was hooked from that point on.

My first car was a 98 240sx that I drifted at various events from 2005-2010.
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Sunk all my time and money into that car working 50+ hrs a week at Sonic lol.

I got my first FRS in 2013, and then an 86 in 2020. And now a GR86.

To me, these are as close as you can get to the driving experience of a 90s-early 00s Japanese sports car in today’s new car market. They light, well balanced, and simple, fairly minimalistic in terms of features, limiting excess nonsense.
 
#12 ·
Yep, but I was a Honda boi back then. I had a 2000 Civic hatch for about a year. It got sideswiped and totaled shortly after swapping in a JDM B16A motor. Then I had a 1992 Civic Si hatch for awhile until it got stolen and stripped and recovered. Then I got my 2004 WRX and kept that until it fell apart and I traded it in for the BRZ last year.

I got the BRZ because I wanted something simple that I could learn to work on myself for a change. I wanted something lightweight and 4 cylinder and at least mildly practical for a dude with no kids. I wanted the naturally aspirated induction sound of a loud intake like my Civics had in the good old days. This car checks all the boxes.
 
#13 ·
Oh and a couple friends had 240SXs back then (the S13 180SX hatchback body style). They had the KA24 engines that everybody always made fun of for being Nissan truck engines. But they didn't care, they were happy in their S-chassis. We would watch Initial D on bootleg fansubbed DVDs and then go drive in the hills. We were young and dumb but we were never truly reckless about it. Plus this was before social media so none of it was ever documented lol
 
#20 ·
For me, yeah I did grow up in the golden age of Japanese motoring, and indeed in Australia we even got to see some of that at the time coz right-hand drive :p

However.... I was never cool enough to own anything iconic or 'fun' per se.

I had the aforementioned Mighty Boy for a little while, a Suzuki Sierra tray utility and a later model sierra Jimny.

One day back in the early 2010's, I sat in new a first gen 86 at a dealer and thought "I'll never own something like this". I loved the idea of it - that Toyota and Subaru had decided to make a traditional rear-drive front-engined impractical yet affordable sports coupe in what was even back then a pretty dry car market if you were on a budget.

In '22 at the back end of COVID, we bought an Outback to tow a trailer and go travelling with. I sat in the dealer gen 2 BRZ and thought "what if"...

Fast forward to 2023 and I could see the writing on the wall for affordable fun cars. I was up to 5 years ownership of my VW GTI that whilst fun in its own Germanic fashion, was never really 'it' for me.

I sold the GTI, ordered a new BRZ and never looked back.

This car is everything I expected it to be and I get as much pleasure and enjoyment from it as I did from day one.

There are faster, more advanced, more reliable, more powerful, better handling, better sounding etc etc ad cars but my BRZ is special to me for all the nostalgia it invokes and the simple joy of driving.

Cheers all!
 
#22 ·
I'm a '91 as well and since Canada has a 15 year import rule, high school was when all the good stuff started to show up... and relative to now, it was all dirt-cheap. An entire row of my high school parking lot was RHD JDM. Summer evenings were spent in the industrial park, where all the new tuning shops popped up, watching Supras, RX7s, 300ZXs, and GTS-T/GTRs racing or S-chassis' drifting.

My first car was going to be a '93 RX7 in Montego Blue, but honestly, it was just so scary at the time to drop $8K CAD on a car I had no technical ability to work on, nor the space at home, nor the parents who would let me drive something like that in the Alberta winter.

I've been very fortunate professionally and my 30s have been spent making up for lost time car-wise. With that being said, now that I have my 90s JDM car (BRZ) and my childhood dream car (911), I have no desire to own one of those 90s JDM legends anymore as the cost of a good one today isn't worth the nostalgia they may bring me. That's not to say I don't still love those cars, I do, I just don't need the ownership experience of them.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Totally hear what your saying, For project cars though atleast me as a wrencher its much more fun working with older OBD1/OBD2 analogue cars..
As a daily, not so much but totally possible. I also love older Euros, have had many old BMW & VW's and still have an E36 BMW I tinker with.

These 80s/90s cars are the 69 camaros of my generation.
 
#25 · (Edited)
You did miss out but can alawys find a 90s car down the road :), All BS aside your right.. The 86 feels like a modern day 90s car and thats a great thing.
My last few cars have been German ( VR6 Jetta / 328i / 335i ) and now being in a much more basic 86 I feel like im back in my
90s roots.. Cheaper materials, cheaper maint, much more basic yet just as fun as ever and with unlimited modding ability.
 
#27 ·
I love all the fun JDM cars from this era.
I also love the 90's mini-trucks. My first car was a hand-me-down '91 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, regular cab, 5 speed, roll up windows, manual locks, etc. Full peasant spec.
That led me to have a '99 Tacoma for a long time; regular cab, 5 speed, 4x4, manual locking hubs, roll up windows, manual locks, etc. Also full peasant spec, loved that about it though.

As far as cars go, I had a '94 Eclipse GSX, '90 Eagle Talon TSi, '92 Plymouth Laser RS (N/A 4G63 motor!) '91 Civic (sedan), '89 Civic (sedan), '96 200SX SE-R (N/A SR20 motor!), and a '99 Camry as a 'not fun, boring, but solid' car. Everything but the Camry was manual.
Then I made a jump from 90's cars to the 2015 BRZ I had. Sold the '99 Tacoma and bought a '00 NB MIata. Now I have my '23 BRZ alongside my Miata.

The Twins are very nostalgic. I fell in love with them for trying to be a modern day '90's car. I don't want all the tech bullshit, give me 3 pedals, lightweight chassis, fun engine, and leave all the tech garbage out. The Twins did the absolute best they could within the regulations they were confined to. I still wish they never added Eyesight, but at least I got a '23 and dodged that bullet.
 
#29 ·
I love all the fun JDM cars from this era.
I also love the 90's mini-trucks. My first car was a hand-me-down '91 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, regular cab, 5 speed, roll up windows, manual locks, etc. Full peasant spec.
That led me to have a '99 Tacoma for a long time; regular cab, 5 speed, 4x4, manual locking hubs, roll up windows, manual locks, etc. Also full peasant spec, loved that about it though.

As far as cars go, I had a '94 Eclipse GSX, '90 Eagle Talon TSi, '92 Plymouth Laser RS (N/A 4G63 motor!) '91 Civic (sedan), '89 Civic (sedan), '96 200SX SE-R (N/A SR20 motor!), and a '99 Camry as a 'not fun, boring, but solid' car. Everything but the Camry was manual.
Then I made a jump from 90's cars to the 2015 BRZ I had. Sold the '99 Tacoma and bought a '00 NB MIata. Now I have my '23 BRZ alongside my Miata.

The Twins are very nostalgic. I fell in love with them for trying to be a modern day '90's car. I don't want all the tech bullshit, give me 3 pedals, lightweight chassis, fun engine, and leave all the tech garbage out. The Twins did the absolute best they could within the regulations they were confined to. I still wish they never added Eyesight, but at least I got a '23 and dodged that bullet.
Awesome!!! I had a mighty max and grew up with NA SR20s ( B13/B14 SE-R's ), also grew up with tons of DSM's

Working in tech I dont mind some of it but I agree the 86 has a 90s vibe too it and I appreciate the light basic fun car in todays day and age... I definitely agree that this feels like driving a 90s car wrapped in a beautiful exterior.
 
#28 ·
eh i'm certainly old enough. i remember the cars and had a few friends into them. at the turn of the century i had a 94 m6 camaro with a blower on it. i sold that car and then bought my first ls1 car.

i was in a destructive phase at that point of my life and any cheap japanese cars i ran across got gutted and derbied in my buddy's field. or trailered to laurel or badlands. or we'd throw a brick on the pedal in neutral and time how long it took to blow up.

we actually caught a sentra on fire with a brick on the pedal during a burnout. tire popped, wheel sparked long enough to catch the brake lines on fire. it was a sight to see lol oh the good ole days
 
#32 ·
Bought a poorly maintained '87 Integra RS in 1990 - worst car i've bought and only lasted two or three years. Replaced with a new '93 Civic DX econobox after the Integra was towed 140 miles to the nearest Honda dealership (no Acura dealers in the state at the time). Buddy is still driving the '93 with ~250,000+ miles on it (odo works when it feels like it). Read about the bugeye WRXs when i was working overseas. Looked like a great AWD performance value so i bought a new sport wagon when i returned to CONUS and i still have it. Bought a used '97 del Sol Si which we still have - an oil burner. Not old cars but bought a 300 mile '17 Civic Si which i traded in on a new '18 Type R which i sold to Carvana before buying the BRZ.
 
#33 ·
I didnt have a first gen Integra but I had a similar first gen CRX as well with a ZC swap which was like a JDM 1G integra motor.. You couldnt kill those little D series that came in EF/EG civics... How did you like the Type R? I wasnt a fan of the looks of that generation but the new one looks nice.. After my older JDM cars I moved to RWD cars and never looked back.. I still have a soft spot for FWD but RWD dynamics are what I prefer these days.. All fun in their own way though. Those bug eyes were cool, buddy had a pastel yellow one whatever that color was called.