Ferrari makes the most emotionally charged cars, Porsche the world’s best-known performance car and nobody does exhilaration like Lamborghini. But the three most influential sports cars of the past few decades have been Japanese.
Mazda MX-5: rule breaker in chief
The most significant is the Mazda MX-5. This is a brilliant car, very probably the most driver-focused everyday usable vehicle ever made. It should become Japan’s 911, a car that can continue successfully for decades with only a small tweak here and there. Its brilliance lies in its balance of fun and user-friendliness.
I drove one (again) just a few months ago at the Millbrook test track in Bedfordshire. What a pleasure to drive a small, light, uncomplicated, inexpensive rear-drive sports car that is sweeter handling than any hyper-money supercar. It’s proof that inexpensive sports cars can be commercially successful, despite the previously perceived ‘wisdom’. Many manufacturers, from MG to GM, tried belatedly to jump on (in MG’s case, remount) the bandwagon. It is also a continuing reminder to the now deflated British motor industry how they screwed up their one-time métier. The MX-5 is a traditional British roadster in all but country of origin. And in its reliability, lack of leaks and ease of hood-raising…
Honda NSX: the supercar that democraticsed the breed
Japanese car number two is the Honda NSX, the most influential supercar of the past 20 years. It proved that fast sexy sports cars didn’t have to be difficult to drive. All that barping, coughing, balky gearchanging, pedal heaving, awful reliability, bicep-building steering and general frangibility – step forward any Italian supercar of the era – was exposed as engineering ignorance rather than divine artistry.
Readers with long memories may recall the gullible Green once awarded a comparison test victory to the contemporaneous Ferrari 348TB over the majestic NSX, in CAR magazine’s pages. The Ferrari won because of its sense of occasion, its character, and because it was a Ferrari. Etc. I regretted that choice about an hour after I wrote it. The NSX was a vastly more capable car, full stop, which history now thankfully acknowledges.
Honda sadly no longer makes the NSX. But Audi does. It is called the R8 (V8 or V10, it makes no difference). It is the perfect example of a mid-engine supercar – like the NSX – that looks brilliant, goes fabulously and yet is so blissfully uncomplicated to drive, fast or slow. In fact, all supercars have been hugely influenced by the NSX’s driver friendliness and general usability. Ferraris now are no longer the intimidating capricious meaty motors of distant memory.
Nissan 370Z: the gung-ho choice
Car number three is the Nissan Z car. This coupé was always more visible in America than in Europe. Just as the British motor industry should have had the wit to make the MX-5, so GM, Ford or Chrysler (all frequently as witless as British Leyland) should have invented the Z. Here was a sports car that combined style, affordability, dynamic pizzazz and muscle. As with the MX-5, the recipe was simple and the execution brilliant. The Yanks loved it.
Unlike the MX-5 and the NSX, the original 240Z was debased when superseded (the nadir was the bloated 280ZX), in the foolish belief that customers wanted more power and more luxury (with ruinous effect on handling, steering and general driving élan – where have we seen this before and since?). Thankfully Nissan now makes a good Z again. The latest 370Z subscribes to the same simple values that made the original 240Z, 40 years ago, so achingly desirable.
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