The JDM C-List - EP 67

In this episode we discuss the JDM cars that just didnt hit like the A list cars everyone loves. We discuss cars like the Mazda RX-8, Nissan Pulsar and Accord Euro R. Make sure to let us know what we missed. 

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And we're back with another episode of the right hand drive guys podcast. The show for guys, leg right hand drives. As usual, I'm Bobby. This is Aaron. Yeah, we go. And this is episode 67. 67, man. We're keeping it moving. And so in the spirit of keeping it moving, we figured, well, we've talked about, you know, the worst JDM cars we've talked about the best JDM cars we've talked about our JDM cars, right? So, you know, there's kind of something in the middle there. And you know, we were talking about this episode and I'm like, you know, what do we name this thing? What do we, you know, the red headed JDM stepchildren? Yeah, I don't know if that goes, but cars. The man. Yeah. So, and then Aaron said, oh, the sea listers. And I said, though, what? And he said the sea listers. And I'm like, that's it right there. So these are the sea list JDM cars. And of course, as usual, this is just our opinion. You know, you may love some of these cars. And that's sick. Like dope, you know, just, but for us, when we put our heads together, these were the ones that just kind of came out as, you know, I don't know. The cars that just didn't quite hit. Right, right. I mean, I'm sure they're cool in their own little ways. You know, if I saw one out in the wild in Japan, I might take a picture of it. Yeah. I might not post it. Yeah. And some you probably wouldn't even take a picture of it. Right. Right. It's like, oh, I just, I drove one of those in Gran Turismo one time. Right. It was the base car that you got when they get, you know, whatever. So, yeah, let's kick it off. And when we first were scheming this episode, we were both thinking of the exact same car when we thought of, you know, for example, what is the C list car? And we were both thinking the same thing. And what was it? Dude, the Mitsubishi FTO. The FTO. Dude, it looks like it would be so cool. Yeah, it does. It's got some cool style to it, but like, it's just... It's just... Isn't there, dude? Yeah. It's just not there. I mean, I don't even think I've ever seen one modded. I don't think like... Not really. And I, because you hardly really see him. Yeah. I don't think we ever seen one in Japan. No, no, no. I mean, even for sale or out there, I saw one red one. And I remember, they're so rare to see that I was like, what the heck is that at first? You know? And then I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right. They do have the FTO. And I think they just maybe didn't pair the right motor and drive line and everything to where it could be successful, performance wise, and hence, beyond at least the B list. Right. You know? So, I don't know. I mean, regardless, I think the FTO is for a certain enthusiast. Yeah. It's like one of those cars that's for sure love it or hate it. Somebody even, there is like, oh, that looks dope. Like, you know, whatever, or they're like, no. Right. So, the first one on our list, and this is in no successful order. This is just the way we did it. But. Just on a mountain. Yeah. The second one we actually have in the shop right now. And this one was more my opinion, I'll admit that. But when we're talking about like the C list, like these are cars that either were the successor of another car or a, you know, side or sub model, you know, of the manufacturer that was still meant to compete, but just really didn't. Right. Yeah. So, the Mazda RX-8, right? Yeah. Yeah, we got them in the US. But this was, you know, Mazda Japan's answer to, we want another RX-7, right? But we thought of a great point with these is 2001 was the last model year of the RX-7. And these came online in 2004, or was it 2003? Oh, three or four. Oh, three. So, these came online within years of the FD. And literally, no offense, boys, fell flat on their face comparatively, right? Right. Think about it, right? Like the FD, you know, garnered this like certain little cult following, right? And those would be the guys that pick up this model because whatever all the RFDs are, sorry, all the FDs are not for sale or two, but whatever, right? This is like the next one. No. That's not it. It was not even closed. No way. And so, I mean, I don't know, you drove one for the first time, granted, it's this one that we have in the shop is turbo and, you know, it is modified. So it's not a stock, RX-8. But I mean, what did you think? I don't know, man. It's just not, it's definitely not an FD because I've driven twin turbo FD as well. And it's definitely not that. Right. You know what I mean? And it's definitely a rotary. It sounds cool. It does sound cool. It just stiff flames and do all that, but it's, I don't know, style wise, it's not there. Oh, yeah, no. And performance wise. Yeah, I mean, and you were driving a boosted one, boosted, right? Yeah. Like, you know, imagine factory. Right. It's wise. Yeah, you wouldn't have been able to even close to do what you did out here. Right. Right. So number two is the Mazda RX-8. I mean, again, like, just our opinion, but I just don't think it could live up to what it's trying to, you know what I mean? All right. And so the next one, this was definitely you. Like, I'm not in this proves, like, right? Like, I'm an A-list guy, right? I'm like an A-list or, you know, maybe a B-list, but I'm definitely not really a C-list guy. You know, whatever. I'm just not. That makes me ignorant to a lot of C-list cars, like this one that you're about to say. Yeah, the Nissan Bluebird. The Bluebird. Yeah, the... We got these in the States, but here they were Nissan Ultimas. Oh, I see. That big Ultima energy, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, big Ultima energy. Oh, yeah. You know, you know. Yeah. But no, the Bluebird is special. They had a certain model, the Nismo, at least as a SSS. And it was all-wheel drive Turbo SR20. Wow. That's legit. Yeah, and a small car like that. All-wheel drive Turbo SR20. Dude, yeah. Think about it. Shit and get, dude. Dude, I just bow imagine. I bet. And, you know, back in the day, there was a guy around Nashville and he actually had a Bluebird swapped Ultima. And I was like, I pulled up on him one day. And I was like, why is this guy got this mod at Ultima? And he popped the hood and it was an SR20. And I'm like, wait, what? I knew what SR20s were because I was in the 240s. And I'm like, wait, what is this? And then he was like, yeah, it's an all-wheel drive. And I didn't know what that was for the longest. And then one day I came across it on the internet or sometimes, oh, that's what that dude was talking about that one day. Wow. What? Yeah, and so, I mean, again, I had never heard of this one. Yeah. Yeah. It's obviously not like super desirable. I'm sure like, yeah, the Turbo SR all-wheel drive version, but that's not the majority of these cars. No, no, no, not at all. Like most of them are like the commuter type beaters. But, you know, that one specifically is cool in his own sense. And I would consider it a sea list. Whereas the base models, those are not even on any list. Okay, and so next up another Nissan is the Nissan Laurel. Yes. And I have actually seen, I know this car. I've seen these cars for sure. What is the motor that makes these even? These have an RB25, D&T and the roll drive. All right. So yeah, yeah, that's where I see them. They're like, episode thrashers. Yeah, pretty much. I guess you could say it's like Nissan's comparison to the Chaser. You know, like, and Nissan did a really good job with the 90s of like sharing parts with a lot of different platforms. So like a lot of the things from S chassis will bolt on to, you know, the Laurel and a lot of other chassis, same with the R chassis. Like, all of them share all these similar parts. They're just different bodies, you know, different wheel bases, different, you know, different shape. But pretty much the same car under a beef kind, right? Yeah, and it's cheaper to produce, I guess, too, right? Yeah. Because you're producing more of a Moscow instead of six, more than you get to. Yeah, exactly. So I mean, yeah, turbo 2.5 liter. Right. If you can afford, you know, a GTT skyline or a R34 or an S14 or a 15 or something. Right. I mean, I guess I could see that and it is something that you could go drift for fun and then still drive to work. Yeah, for sure. And it's not like full race car status. No, at all. It's pretty, you know, but I mean, I wonder what the MSRP of a Laurel was compared to, you know, in 19, you know, like, it's just a different classic car. Right. Right. Yeah, it was still probably up there. I would imagine. Yeah, because it is, as you said, more of a big body. I mean, yeah, they can all be A-listers, right? I mean, there's not a lot of big body A-listers period if you think about it. Right. So moving on to this one, this one, you know more about. Yep. I'm not a huge Corolla guy, but the Corolla, the Toyota Corolla 11, AE92. AE92. Wow. Yeah. So everyone knows the A-86. Yeah. This is like, that was the 80s, early 90s. This was after that. So I don't know. These are cool in their own sense. They're front-wheel drive. They're not rear-wheel drive. So that's probably why a lot of people don't get in trouble because it's not the same. Right. But they're cool in their own sense. They got a supercharged version of it. And dude, why wouldn't that rib? Yeah, supercharged front-wheel drive. Why could that compete with a Type R? Or you know something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wheel hop for days. Right. Yeah, yeah. And they, I mean, they look sporty. They usually have some cool little arrowkits and stuff like that. And they also have like the, the 4-AGE, which was also popular in the A-6's. Yeah. For sure. I'm pretty sure they use that engine to swap into those. I see. I can't really remember. So not too versed on them, but I just do know that they're a sea-lister. They didn't like get, they didn't like get that popularity that the A-6 did because of that front-wheel drive. You know. Because, yeah, obviously with the anime and stuff that's, a lot of people were into drifting in like that type of driving. And this car just did not have that. Right. You couldn't do it. Yeah. I mean, I guess I could see that in-- And obviously, this car wasn't in the anime. They didn't. I don't think they had ever-- They don't think the A-6 would have been popular if it wasn't in the anime. That's pretty much what you just said, right? I mean, it has a lot to owe to that, I believe. He says it has a lot to do. I mean, with not the core, like hardcore people that are into them, but all the people that wouldn't be into them if they weren't for the anime. Yeah, which I'm sure is a large percent. Right. So the-- What's up next? The next one, this one is more in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah. And I had decided on this before you said the whole sea list thing because honestly, this is more of a bee list. Yeah. But I mean, so whatever, that's fine. I think it's a bee list car. It's on the sea list right now. The shit list. I'm just kidding. But Nissan Pulsar. And so, of course, the GTI are. That's-- that's baby Godzilla. Yeah. This baby good you. Yeah, okay. But in the GTIR trim, that's for sure a bee list car. Oh, yeah. I'm sure you could say a list, depending on how long is the list. Right. Yeah, the list. How long is that? So-- but the Nissan Pulsar just-- besides the GTIR, it's not anything. You know, it's a basic little hatchback car with not enough room to put all your bags in that. Yeah, for sure. I think they come with an SR-18. Like, get that out of here. What? Oh, it was an SR-18. Like, in the base models. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The GTIR was the only one that had the turbo SR. Right. Which is in his all-wheel drive as well. All-wheel drive as well. Yeah. And yeah, dude. Yeah, the SR-18. Funny story about one of those back in the day when I worked at a Nissan dealership. One of my buddies I worked with had ordered a front-wheel drive SR-20 to put in his centra. Well, I see. Dude, back in the day of the shady, you know, importer selling engine swaps. Dude, he got the engine. Unwrapped it off the crate. Red the stamp on the block. He said, SR-18. I was right there with him. I was like, SR-18. What is even this? I'm like, I don't even even know how to do this at this point. Like, what is this? And he's like, what? No, you're kidding. No. You just got ripped off. Big time. So, yeah, that's definitely a C-Liscar. Yeah, I mean, for sure. And again, yeah, the GTIR SICK. You can make them like crazy little demons, like, for sure. But, all right, moving on. This one, this one you were hard on about, you know, which I get, you would have thought that this car would have like gotten a lot more of a following because of the fact that it is one of the soul like this. Well, maybe not the car, but the engine. The engine, yes. It's the Subaru Legacy GT. And it came with the twin turbo, the twin turbo boxer. Forgive me, I don't know much about Subaru's, but. It's an EJ. It's an EJ-2-0-2. I don't even know. It's a 2-something. But, yeah, it's a twin turbo. Like, in the times that, you know, the only things that were twin turbo were the, you know, the big boy cars. Like, you know, the GTR is the Subaru's turbo. Big dog turbos. Yeah. Two of them. Two big dog turbos, but. So, yeah, to have it in a legacy wagon, it's just kind of an odd thing, like, to put something that's, I don't know, should be in your flagship type model. I feel like. Yeah, I mean, this is a big swap for Subaru guys. They will get these a lot. Like, I see these for sale quite a bit. And yeah, you would have thought, but the legacy was, and I know there are legacy guys out there. Yeah. Love them. Dude, love the legacy guys. I really do. But, that car is not. It is not, that's not it. Right. Like, if you're going to put it twin turbo, I mean, I can't say that an impressive would have housed a twin turbo motor and had it like, still have the same, I don't know, you know, like, because I get it, the Subaru legacy was kind of there. Like the touring car. That's right. And like, twin turbo isn't always just about power. You know, I mean, the efficiency as well. So, I guess, you know, but yeah, I mean, it didn't hit. Wish it did. And whoever they're doing the swaps in, dude, crank those things up, dude. Oh, yeah. I bet they do. All right. So, up next, we got the Toyota Starlit Glanz-A-V. Yes, these are pretty cool. They're little hatchbacks. Yeah. And they come with 1.3 liter, I believe. Yeah, I think we saw one on Marketplace a few months back. Yeah, we did. We saw a couple of them. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I mean, it's just one of those cars. It's not your first pick. Probably not your second car. It's not. Probably might be a third pick, you know what I mean? See, yeah, I mean, it's not like that, like you, right? Like it's not that good looking. I mean, it kind of looks like an EK hatch fell and tripped and messed up its face. And stuff, it's totally good. Stuff, it's dope, but I mean, it can look cool, I think. You put some cool wheels on it. The right guy for sure can make a Starlit Glanz-A-V lipstick. Yeah. Oh, 100%. And yeah, I'm sure they sell little turbo kits for them. Oh, yeah. I bet they'll rip. Yeah. For sure. And I mean, you know, I mean, again, we saw a few on Marketplace, but these, I'm sure aren't hot cars on the importing list as well, you know? I'm sure they're not lined up. Yeah, and there's probably not many of them around, like many clean ones, because these were just beta type commuter cars, you know, like, and then later in their lives whenever people did get them, they would take them to tracks and stuff, because they were the turbo support model, like, why not? Right. So there's not many of them left, I would think. And so they were, yeah, they were kind of like one of those cars that became popular because they were affordable. Right, right, right. And so when that happens, a lot of them end up dying. But, you know, that's life. And so, I mean, the next one might have heard some feelings, nothing but love for you. And it goes along with the first one that we did, the, you know, the Mitsubishi GTO, you know, the 3000 GT version here was not hot. You know, I mean, there's a group of guys, for sure, for every single car. There's a group of guys. And yeah, like the VR4 version, cool, you know, to interwo, all-wheel drive, some models all-wheel steering. Active-erro. Yeah, active-erro. And these were supposed to compete with the GTRs in that class. Right. So to speak. And the Supras and the RX-7s, yeah, they were supposed to be like it. That was Mitsubishi. So weird. So weird. It's like the fallen soldier of the group, like, the RX-7 found its way. And, you know, the Supra found its way. Yeah. And dude, I mean, even the Civic found its way into this, like, group of imports that are desirable. And, I mean, Mitsubishi had to be just friggin' hugging the guy that thought of the EVO, because otherwise dude, like, they wouldn't have had a car to even be remotely in this class of desirable '90s in early 2000s. And, I mean, I mean, yeah, GTO, I never liked it. And I really didn't like it as a Dodge Stealth. I really didn't like it. That was always so bad when there was an American version of the Japanese car. Yeah. Dude, they were always so bad. Like the Cavalier. Like the Cavalier. Just kidding. Right. But like the, the Plymouth laser. Like, yeah. Was it the Ford Pro? No, that was its own thing. But there was a Mazda based off the Pro. I forgot what it was. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. I mean, so it's just-- But still, was it? It's like one of those things they tried. They failed. Yeah. Again, it's for some guys just definitely not me. And they look super heavy. Dude, they are super heavy. They look like they would be. Even by the day standards, they're super heavy. Yeah. So, yeah, we'll pass on the GTO. And I did mention the Civic. And we really, we've been picking on Nissan and Toyota. And we had to find a Honda. Well, dude, it's hard to find a Honda that's either not really good. It's not an A-list or B-list or F-list. You know what I like? Right. There's no really sealant Honda's. Not really. Not to find. They're either good or they're bad. Yeah, right. They were either popular or right or they weren't. And most of them really kind of were popular because they were the affordable economy car at the time. Right. However, one thing that we think they probably could have done without is the Accord Euro R. 100%. Get it out of here. They would have just skipped it. Like let's just skip it. You know, like there was nothing outlandishly awesome about it. Yeah, I don't think anyone asked for it, did they? Probably not. Maybe the Europeans did. We don't know. But I mean, it's just, it wasn't spectacular. A couple good things though. It did have V-tech. So that was cool. It did have V-tech. It did have V-tech. It did look all right. It had decent wheels. It had some like, you know, cool looking headlights and tell lights. It was styled all right, I guess. Right. That's why it's on the seawaste. Not not at all. It was. That's why it's not Euro type R. It's just Euro R because they wouldn't give them the type. They wouldn't because it's not, dude, a type R is an amazing car. And it's because of all of the chassis, rigidity and all the different things that they do to separate it from a DX hatchback to a Civic type R. Yeah. Type R is like a whole thing. Like, a lot of people don't even, I didn't even realize it. Albo told me this whenever we were in Japan. I was right, we were right in the S2000. He was like, we were talking about the S2000. At the time, someone did an S2000 type R like a V-tech motor sports. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were talking about that. And he was talking about how Honda never wanted to build an S2000 type R because it's a convertible. And you can't have a convert, they want to save the type R for their sports cars. You can't have a convertible sports car, I guess. Or something along the lines. Yeah, I see. Because it wasn't, you know, what didn't match their model for that class. Yeah. And so, yeah, I mean, exactly. Type R is its own whole thing. Which is why this isn't a type R. Right. That's what they... This is the team from Europe. This is Honda Europe that did this whole thing. And that's why it can't have the type R badge because it wasn't that hard. Yeah, that really literally was it. We read about it when we featured it one other time. And right, and that's what I'm saying. It's not like, it's not built like a type R to be like a race car. It's a show that it looks cool and has, you know, so we threw that on there just because we think that they could have done better, but that's what happens when you hand Europeans the reins to a Japanese car. It just doesn't work. It doesn't. I mean, you know, I think the same team designed the EP, right? Oh. No, we're not going to go there. Sorry, Tiger. But yeah, okay. So, we got a few more minutes and we had one bonus, which I think this one may have been on like our worst car's list. But it is a seat. I mean, it's the only K-Car on this list. So, I mean, it's kind of giving it props innocence. Yeah. Yeah, because it's not on the K list. It's on the C list. And so the AutoZam AZ1, right? And so, yeah, that little thing. I see those in my nightmares and my sleep. I hate those things. They're just the Liberty Walk one. It looks like the F4. No, well, that's cool. I mean, like. For what? Yeah. Yeah. Before we went, I wasn't really a Liberty Walk fan before we went to Tokyo Auto Salon, but then I just saw how I actually felt there vibe instead of just seeing it on the internet. Right. Like, I felt it and I was like, oh, shoot. This is, I see what all the fuss is about. But, and again, yeah, they took an AutoZam AZ1 and made it look like a mini Ferrari. Like, it looks so sick. Right. Beautiful. You can look it up. But. It's definitely the most unique, uh, K-Car for sure. There's not, there's not another K-Car like it. Because wait, does it have the doors? Yeah. It has a butterfly. The butterfly does. It's done as a hobby, you know? Yeah, it is. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's, it's one of those things they went out on a limb, right? And who is AutoZam? Is that their own company or is it Mazda thing? Yeah. I'm collab with Mazda with that thing because there was also a Mazda version. Oh, I see. And a Mazda speed version, I believe as well. Wow. But, yeah, not too into them, but for a K-Car, I guess it's cool. Not cool enough to be on an A-A realist, but not terrible enough to be off the list. Off the list. So, okay, so. I didn't even look that. So, here we go. Okay. To end this out, what I want to know is if you had to pick one of these cars and you had to drive the rest of your life. Oh. Yeah, I know. I went heavy. You didn't expect this, but I want to know if you had to pick one. Oh, actually, this is easy. I know what it is. Oh, yeah. Like we're all waiting. Oh, mine would be the Laurel. The Laurel. Okay. I guess that makes sense. With that thing. I mean, I would today, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that one really isn't. That's a C-Clutch to be honest. That isn't a horrible car. Maybe B minus. But. Because you still have a bunch of options. Right, right. Like you're not like bottled and I can tell. It's got a good, it's got a good driveline and all that. It's got good bones, Bob. Oh, yeah. I don't know, man. I would just walk. Yeah. No, I mean, like you pointing that out, probably the Laurel would be the best bet as far as like your potential. I think if you were dry, like if you had to drive it as you're like, you're like, you're like daily, maybe the legacy GT because it'd be like a comfortable daily. It is a wagon. Yeah, and it's a wagon. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. The Euro R I guess because I'd stay true to the Honda. Poffy tech. Yeah. Get some will hop dash rattle. Oh, dude, I love it. That's the best. But yeah, I mean, again, these are just our opinions where it's all love. These cars are all great. I mean, every vehicle kind of has its place. And again, has its own little following, right? And I'm sure there's some guys on the podcast somewhere in our cars are on the sea list. Yeah, yeah. 100%. Cool. Some weird universe. Yeah. But yeah, man, this was this was episode 67. We definitely absolutely positively appreciate you coming and listening to us and watching us on the YouTube's and definitely make sure that you follow us at our HD G U I S. Find us on YouTube, find us on TikTok, whatever your preferred social media is. But for episode 67, the sea listers, I'm Bobby. This is Aaron. See ya. Peace.[COUGH]