5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

Japan in the 1980s and 1990s built some of the most legendary cars ever, but most had short life spans because they were too complex to make continued business sense
5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

We love old Japanese performance cars. You love them. Anyone with any petrol in their DNA does, and a big part of the reason why is how amazingly advanced they were for their times; more advanced, even, than a lot of cars today.

Yet they were accessible; you could dream of owning one. They were working-class heroes in a way that most of the pinnacle BMW M cars, Audi RS machines and AMG muscle have been priced out of. Ultimately the late-20th-century Japanese performance car had every last ingredient to be as cool as penguin feet.

And yet they didn’t last. One generation, maybe two was the best that most ended up getting. Gone before we wanted them to be, they were brewed with a recipe that fell foul of a changing automotive landscape. Here we’ll give you a run-down of some of the most complicated 1990s Japanese cars – and why they were canned.

Mitsubishi GTO/3000GT

5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

The GTO was a true tech-fest. Powered by a 3.0-litre V6 with 24 valves and the option of two turbochargers. It was packed with advanced technology. All-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, active aerodynamics and electronically-controlled suspension were among its at-the-time mind-boggling innovations.

Contemporary tests found it to be way, way quicker in a straight line than the twin-turbo Mazda RX-7 and Nissan 300ZX, but all that technology was expensive to produce, and prices were going up fast. Sports car sales in key markets slowed down considerably through the late 1990s as a result, and after eight years on the market the GTO, which had been through a couple of minor facelifts, was abandoned.

Nissan 300ZX

5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

Since we mentioned the 300ZX, let’s go into a bit more detail. Nissan designed the original Z31 in the very early 1980s to succeed the 280ZX. It bore Japan’s first mass-produced V6 with as much as 222bhp without turbos. It was a great Japanese sports car in its time, but the Z32 brought the real tech. Hydraulically-actuated rear-wheel steering was among the headlines.

Variable valve timing had become standard on the 3.0-litre V6, while twin-turbo models got dual intercoolers and a pair of advanced Garrett turbochargers. The Z32 was designed with the help of the Cray-2 supercomputer via an early form of computer-aided design software – a seriously advanced touch. The ZX was killed by unhelpful exchange rates and spiralling production costs.

Subaru XT

5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

The Subaru XT, or Alcyone, is one of those cars that often flies below the radar, possibly because so few remain in running order. Built for just seven years and one generation, it was available with front- or four-wheel drive. A triumph of angular 1980s design trends, it was Subaru’s first non-utility car and came fitted with a 2.7-litre flat-six that forced the Japanese authorities to classify it as a luxury car in a much higher tax bracket.

Inside it had an instrument binnacle that moved with the steering column, a button for on-demand four-wheel drive, a joystick-shaped gear lever (because video games) and a 3D-imitation LCD display with orange back-lighting. The air suspension was height-adjustable, which was an incredible feature on a car this small. Subaru unfortunately chickened out of a second XT generation, plumping instead for the US-targeted and therefore flabbier SVX – more of which later.

Mazda Eunos Cosmo

Image: Wikimedia Commons/ゴリバー
Image: Wikimedia Commons/ゴリバー

The final Mazda to use the Cosmo name doesn’t need much explanation as to why it was too complicated. Built not just with a twin-rotor Wankel engine, it also offered a three-rotor unit. Naturally, both were twin-turbocharged and hideously expensive to maintain versus the smaller, more efficient and cheaper cars emerging at the time.

The Series JC lasted seven production years, throughout which it was sold on its technological prowess. It had a colour touch-screen controlling climate functions, mobile phone connectivity, GPS-based navigation, TV channels and more. This was, as a reminder, 1990. The damned thing was about 20 years ahead of its time, but expensive. Less than 8900 sold and the Cosmo was wound up.

Subaru SVX

5 Japanese Legends That Were Too Complex For Their Own Good

Our second over-complicated Subaru is the SVX. It was Subaru’s first major sports assault on America, but while the ingredients were promising – try a 3.3-litre flat-six for starters – the overall package was a dim-witted and blandly designed GT that barely had the charisma to get out of bed. Its one (totally unnecessary) feature of note was a split-window arrangement pointlessly mimicking a racing car or one with gullwing doors.

Comfort was a priority and the four-speed automatic delivered on that. Eight-way adjustable electric front seats became available early on, among other trinkets. Stability was assured by one of two all-wheel drive systems: a variable setup that sent 90 per cent of the torque to the front wheels until they started to slip (sold in North America, France, Germany and Switzerland), or a permanent 36:64 per cent front-rear split as sold in the UK, Japan and other European markets.

Japanese versions got four-wheel steering as well, but all this technology pushed prices to a level that buyers simply weren’t willing to pay. Bye bye, SVX.

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Comments

BrownGumshoe

Idk about thd rest but you can buy the first two pretty cheap in america and there some good fun

11/27/2018 - 12:39 |
48 | 2

Didn’t Hoovies Garage buy an SVX for only $500?

11/27/2018 - 12:42 |
20 | 0

Here in Portugal the 300ZX is being sold for 17/20k and the 3000GT for 10k.

Kinda wish we had cheap classics.
At least some of them would be looked after.

11/27/2018 - 13:18 |
16 | 0

Its not really about the cost to buy though, its the maintenence costs (not to mentoion finding someone who has knowedge of all the complex system) that make these cars less desirable to own now sadly

11/27/2018 - 13:52 |
0 | 0
London

Interesting article! 👏🏽 I am loving the look of the Mazda Eunos Cosmo - a grand looking car. Even though I love a rotary engine as much as the next man or woman, if it had had a more traditional inline 6 in it, it might have survived.

11/27/2018 - 12:49 |
8 | 0
Elliot.J99

Wasn’t the SVX also automatic only which certainly killed my love for the car

11/27/2018 - 12:57 |
0 | 0
Duggan (koalafan) (koalafan7) (Esprit Team) (Z32 Group) (Lot

I don’t care if it costs $328 dollars to service I’m getting my Z32 and VR-4 and SVX and any other money pit I like

11/27/2018 - 13:47 |
4 | 0
Duggan (koalafan) (koalafan7) (Esprit Team) (Z32 Group) (Lot

I love how they just use the lame wikipedia picture for the 3000gt. Here is a better one for you. This one is a rare Jamaican blue VR-4 and I saw one of these for sale near me a while ago. There were only 124 of them, ever made and the one I saw was loaded with new bits and mods and was only 4800 what a steal. I feel it is necessary you know this.

11/27/2018 - 13:58 |
18 | 4

The “lame” wikipedia picture is nicer to look at.

11/28/2018 - 02:28 |
8 | 2

At least he “lame” wikipedia picture is larger and better to look at.
This pic is too small and has horrible compression

11/28/2018 - 10:13 |
6 | 0
Griffin Mackenzie

The Z31 was pretty crazy too. I believe it had gauges to show stuff like a compass and your accelerating g’s and mpg and all that Jazz. Mind you this was still in the 80’s

11/27/2018 - 14:34 |
16 | 0

wow nice graphics
still looks very futuristic

11/28/2018 - 02:12 |
2 | 0
RWB Dude

Bet y’all didn’t know that the XT competed in Group B

11/27/2018 - 15:15 |
32 | 0
Anonymous

“276hp” heroes.

11/27/2018 - 17:50 |
8 | 0
......

is that just me or i would want all of these if i could

11/28/2018 - 02:12 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

2 pics of the 300 zx both worryingly close to the sea?

11/28/2018 - 08:39 |
0 | 0