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why i hate imports

6.2K views 42 replies 28 participants last post by  1BadElky  
#1 ·
I don’t really hate imports. I’ve driven about a million of them at the auction over the past five years or so. They get fairly good mpg, get you from point A to B without much fuss and a few like WRX handle like they are on rails and are incredibly fast. Having said that they also have two huge drawbacks, they all pretty much look alike or as guy parked next to me at the last car show I did put it “they have no personality, they all pretty much look alike”. They are also pretty much impossible to work on for the average person. if your “check engine light comes on” see your dealer. If your fuel pump goes out, be prepared to pull your gas tank to replace it. They are anything but “user friendly” when it comes to working on them.
Even that I can understand, I guess what bothers me most about them are the kids that now build them and I use the term “build them” loosely here because to me building a car does not consist of a loud stereo, wing, body kit and a K&N air filter. I’m sure I’m not alone when I talk about encounters I’ve had with these kids and their “dirty looks” directed towards me driving around town in the SS. They just hate the fact that a 40 year old car will kick their ass any day of the week and 40 years from now no one is going want or remember that silly car they are driving today.
If dealing with them on the street is bad, dealing with them on the net far worse. All of their cars seem to run 10 sec quarter mile times yet none seem to know their 60 ft times? They all put out at least 600hp because of the turbos and nos they run but, none can seem to explain where they got the money to build a 30,000 dollar engine?
Forgive me for my lack of tolerance of the “import crowd” but, I for one have had a belly full of “not really that fast and furious over the fact that a good v-8 will always put them to shame” on any given day.
 
#3 ·
Say what you want to but I won't try and keep up with my sons Skyline. rocketship fast and will out corner a rollercoaster. It's not my thing but he can get a cpu and tune it to a T.
I like a big V-8 American muscle, but some of those little rice burners can tear you up ( maybe not you but me) I just won't back down cause I play who's got the bigger b-lls!!!!
Donny
 
#4 ·
Speaking of
they all look alike, you just described American cars too. Hard to tell who built the dam thing, let alone what goofy model name the big 3 auto makers hung on it..
No one builds a full sidzed car now it seems, and the new biggest Buick is the same size as a new Malibu. Same thing with SUVs, they all look the same. The big Ford is now only built for cop cars. They stuck us with front wheel drive, to save production money on the drive train, then made them all smaller. Can't think of any new car that I would want at this point in time, for a family type car.

(rant over):smileyb:
 
#7 ·
can't knock all imports either. built some nissans and hondas. will admit thw wrx is a POS. done more clutches and transmissions in those than anything. the problem with high HP imports is the reliability factors drops dramatically. hondas snap axles, nissan throw rocker shims out over 7k revs.

but then again it could be worse. could work on a new Mod motor mustang or ford pick up. by far one of the worst engines to work on.
 
#8 ·
I enjoy my WRX... Wanted something with AWD for the snow and ice, and some power, had to be a stick shift, and handle good, needed decent gas MPG too. Got it all in one package. :dontknow:
 
#9 ·
as i told a guy at work,i can respect some of the imports and like some of their looks but i will never own one.this is also the guy that bragged about how fast his honda was but refused to race my el camino.
his other"import"was built in bloomington,ill and has a chrysler engine so when some people go on their rants about imports i just ignore them.



ron
 
#11 · (Edited)
#12 ·
There is a place here Al...Other cars...Good, bad, or indifferent...To discuss, ask, or vent on other makes. I love my Beemer too and might have got one similar to yours if I didn't get a deal done for this new one.

My name for the vehicles mentioned here is 'Buzzers'..Def: Any little Honda or whatever with the funny sounding muffler on the back...Which causes the overwhelming need to show you that they can go faster than you happen to be going at the moment. I get my enjoyment in seeing them pulled over with the blue lights right behind them a little further down the road.:smileyb:
 
#13 ·
I had to chime in :)

I used to go out to the races with my buddy's Viper that had 1100 HP 1300 TQ. We would always have a Honda hatch back with a T88 turbo or some other bucket size turbo want to race us. After we agreed they wanted 60, 80, or 100 rolls so their turbo would be spooled. It was the most ignorant thing ever.

This is the reason these 600 HP hondas would never give a 60 ft... it only has 120 HP until the turbo spools on their stock motor.

The reason they usually only street race once every few months is because they hand grenade after a few runs. I can't tell you how annoying it was to be called out, drive 2 hours for a race, and have the motor explode after 2 runs on best 2 out of 3.

Ricers were actually the reason I bought my elky and built it. I bought it with the vette motor with bolt ons and a tune. Beat all the VW, Acuras, and Honda's I came across.
 
#15 ·
Im 18 and have grown up around my familys gto trans ams, camaros, big blocks, small blocks, nitrous everything. But being 18 I'm also friends with the tuner cars. I'm very interested in engines now than the cars they are in. First of if an rb30 out of skyline with 12 pounds of boost and good tune was put in a 240sx, half of the "muscle cars" wouldn't be able to catch up and then would be put to shame when the first turn came. If you put an rb30 in with the factory stock 8 pounds, 25% of the muscle cars would have problems with it. Around here when the car is "built" stay away. Theres a guy with civic hatch that runs 7s down at the 8th, theres an sr'd 240 around here with 320 whp, doesnt' sound like much but in such a light car thats fast enough to run 11's with the right traction. I have respect for both but honestly most "kids" don't have loud steros and all that gay stuff, thats just the wanna be punk ass honda boyz that rev at anything with a heart beat. Nissan cars are my favorite foreign company, and japan isn't dumb with FWD (only honda) They don't build sports cars with FWD, most of there sports cars are RWD and thats because over there drifting is a very popular sport. The 2jz motor from toyota can handle 1000hp on the STOCK block. Thats the motor that came in the toyota supra and lexus sc300. The nissan 240sx is probably THE only car you can buy for 900 bucks put in about 7,000 into and have the scariest car you'll ever have in your life guarenteed oh and thats with one NASTY LS motor with a T56. So if you here a car is built. stay away. Cause if that kid knows what he's talking about than you'll be crying for a very long time.
 
#16 ·
hater

Your title says "why I hate imports" but then you start your post with "I don't hate imports" What gives? You say you have driven " a million at auction over five years" Even if you worked every day of the year, that would be 548 per day. Seems a little high. You say they get from point A to B but neglect to mention they do so for two or three hundred miles. You say they all look alike. So this-
Image

Looks like this-
Image

Next you say "they are impossible to work on" somehow I made a living doing just that for a number of years, guess I'm special.
Let's call it a draw.
 
#17 ·
Canted, I don’t even know where to start with you? First off “my driving a million cars” was an “obvious” exaggeration so you’re just silly for even bringing that up. As far as “my not really hating imports” I was just trying to give some “props” where props are due, some of them are fun to drive but for the most part they are very utilitarian vehicles.
And your posting of pics of a Ferrari Testa Rosa and a Yugo to prove your point that you can tell one import from another I found intellectually dishonest. Maybe you need to look at a VW Jetta and Audi A6 to understand the point I was trying to make. And to your last point, I’m glad you make a living at fixing imports but don’t take my words out of context I said “pretty much impossible to work on”.. I can replace the starter in my SS in about 20 mins. How long does it take to replace one in a Lexus, Honda, or Nisson?
This is not even close to a “draw” dude :poke:
 
#20 ·
K, here we go, "my friend, my dads". I pull 2 bolts from my starter and it falls on the ground then I take two more off and it's out of the car. How do you get a stater out of a Lexus, Toyota or Nission in under less than an hour? I'd love to see some pics of that. Post them if you have them or "put up or shut up" as they say. Oh!! and tell me where your fuel pump is? I'm sure that must be a 30 minute job also:???:
 
#21 ·
This is a silly argument that could go on forever. Almost all new cars, import or domestic, have some things that are easier to work on than an older car, and some things that are tougher. Nobody will win the argument.
 
#23 ·
many ricers drool over doing an LS engine swap... muscle cars drool over the weight of imports... each have thier pros and cons. on the starter note, it takes me 15 mins to take out my 4runner starter, i just need about a 3 foot extension to reach one of the two bolts!!! lol so yea... easy but inconvenient
 
#24 ·
I’m going to have to side with sk on this one. I hate imports, and when I say imports I’m talking about the ricers not the european cars. To me, those two are in different categories. I like a lot of european cars but I don’t think there is a single import that I would ever drive. And it’s really sad to watch them (the imports) at the drag strip. When a big mussel car rolls up and does a burn out you know it’s going to be a good night. You can smell the rubber off the tires as the smoke cloud covers the crowd. And when she lifts that front end off the ground when the light goes green, you know that’s some intense power. Power you can feel. When the imports go down the track you just feel sad for them. They "try" to do a burn out with their front wheel drive cars and the whole body starts to shake its self off the frame as the motor racks itself off the rev limiter. then the light goes green (there’s no smoke to waft in or rubber to smell before the green light because their "burn out" didn’t really do anything but show how big of a POS they are) and the body shaking, bouncing off the rev limiter, horrible coffee can muffler sound goes crawling down the track for a blistering 15+ sec 1/4 mile. There’s no replacement for displacement.

P.S. I do have one question for the ricers out there. Why do you have a gigantic wing on the back of a FRONT wheel drive car? You’re not getting any down force on your driving wheels and there’s no way in hell you are ever going to be going around a corner fast enough to need any down force.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Well, I do things myself and don't complain when they get hard or if because something is different. I'm sure someone in the 70's said those damn muscle cars need to go. BTW I'm not sure where your getting this fuel pump stuff from? maybe gen 1 chevys but any newer car unless someone put an external pump on it then most of them are in the fuel tank ESPECIALLY chevys. They go together with sending unit and all, they look kinda like this http://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-MU151-25314333-C2500-Suburban/dp/B002CK7C8Y
 
#26 ·
Well, I do things myself and don't complain when they get hard or if because something is different. I'm sure someone in the 70's said those damn muscle cars need to go. BTW I'm not sure where your getting this fuel pump stuff from? maybe gen 1 chevys but any newer car unless someone put an external pump on it then most of them are in the fuel tank ESPECIALLY chevys. They go together with sending unit and all, they look kinda like thishttp://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-MU151-25314333-C2500-Suburban/dp/B002CK7C8Y
yeah those new pumps on the chevys are a pain, just put one in an s-10 for shop class. had to drop the tank and every thing.
 
#27 ·