Quote:
Originally Posted by MarcoF90
But this is as fast as it gets with Acura, barring the NSX. Truth be told most Acura enthusiasts end up going German anyway. I got a few friends that have had the same car as me end up converting to BMW, Audi or Mercedes. Now its my turn, and again, I am excited to begin on this journey to M Life.
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Yes, many honda/acura past loyalists have left those brands because Honda Corp, has essentially starting in about 2006-2008 time frame gave up on making fun cars.
Cars like the integra type r, original NSX, S2000, CR-X, 90's and early 2000's Civic Si were what made the brand fun and showed their heritage, and kept the reliability with great handling, lightweight reliable cars that you could have a lot of fun with.
Why they abandoned that heritage is confusing to me, but also not confusing. I would likely still own fun Japanese cars if Honda and Toyota kept up and continued to innovate.
I get cars growing in size and weight over time, safety regulations, EPA, etc. I get it. But the germans kept advancing while Japanese focused more on hybrids and commuters. They could have kept a portion of the efficiency, and reliability, while continuing to advance handling and power. We all know Honda and Toyota have made some of the best motors (or used to) on the planet. They have tremendous racing heritage, but they just stopped caring about that stuff to a degree. I get it from a business perspective, enthusiasts make up a small portion of the brands market share. But the germans still appease enthusiasts, and make it work well from a business perspective. Why the Japanese cant, I dont know. Nissan tries, but IMHO they have always fallen a little short. They had some decent cars though as well, 300Z turbo, GTRs, 350Z, some of these were and still are fun cars.
Most have NO CLUE, and could be a big surprise, especially to Audi fans, but the V8 Audi RS4, from like 2006-2008? It's a Honda V8... but they would NOT put a V8 in any car, truck or SUV that had a Honda or Acura badge on it. It's mind blowing. They refused to put any V8s in their cars, refused to make anything RWD except the s2000, and it's just too bad, because they made some really cool cars. As did Toyota. At least Toyota used their V8s in their cars and trucks.
I have a small soft spot for honda also, I worked for them for 5-6 years. But the soft spot stops in like 2001. Which in my opinion was the real start of their abandonment of enthusiasts. the 1994-2001 Integras, Civic's are still some of the most fun cars and the 1.6-1.8L high revving B series VTEC 4cyl were and still are some of the best 4cyl motors ever made. Then the S2000, one of if not the first NA motor in history to put out over 100 hp per liter. 8-9000k redline in a production inline 4cyl motor was crazy back then. Hell most don't know but Honda was one of the first mass production companies to reliably put variable valve timing in their motors, VTEC. They didn't invent it or only ones doing it, but they were kind of the first big brand to do it, and now pretty much any ICE engine has VVT in some fashion.
Just sad IMHO. I used to be a big fan.