What Happened To Turbo/AWD/Compact Cars?

It was the late 90s and early 2000s.  A special genre of car was in and coming out of Japan.  These cars were all turbocharged four or six cylinders, had manual transmissions, had all-wheel-drive and were pretty darn light.  For a short time, only Mitsubishi sold their contributions to this genre in the United States but the game Gran Turismo made these vehicles increasingly popular in the United States as well.  They were the perfect formula.  All wheel drive meant that any idiot could drive them well, turbocharging meant that they were extremely easy to modify and their small size meant that it didn't take much power to make them into rocketships.  But they seem to be dying, so I thought I'd look back at this special genre of vehicle.

Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX - The first one of this genre of vehicles to make it to the United States mostly due to the fact that it was a partnership with Chrysler and was sold as the Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser.  Because these versions are essentially the same, they are commonly referred to as "DSM" which stands for the partnership between the two companies "Diamond Star Motors".  They were popular not only because they were extremely easy to launch but because their motor was a slightly detuned engine from the Lancer Evolution and was bred in rally competition.  That being a fact, the motor could handle quite a lot more power over its stock levels if the turbocharger was swapped out.  Easily modified vehicle = extremely popular vehicle.  It was beyond cool.  It has a cool body style, you could make tons of power and you could even get it in a convertible.  Of course, like all Mitsubishis, they weren't without their flaws.  Mainly in the fact that the crank would wear out the thrust bearing and slowly "walk" out of the block.  It's a design flaw, much like the head gaskets in the Subaru Boxer engines.  But enthusiasts could look past that flaw because 400 HORSEPOWER ON STOCK INTERNALS!  HELL YES!  Lesson #1 for car manufacturers these days, if your car is actually mod friendly, people will look past your failures.  Sadly, when it came time for a third generation, Mitsubishi decided to kill the car.  It got bigger, they dropped the 4G63 and the AWD.  Stupidest decision ever, nobody has taken the car seriously since.

Subaru Impreza WRX - This is the car that single handedly put Subaru on the enthusiast map.  Before the WRX, nobody cared about Subaru.  They produced economy cars that had the silly quirk of being AWD.  In 1992, Subaru started experimenting in the home market with a package for the Impreza compact sedan they called WRX.  Essentially they put a turbocharged four cylinder and AWD into their compact sedan to offer their "rally car" to the public.  Turbo, AWD, compact.  So it was popular, duh!  But it was one of those cars that the US didn't identify with, until the 2002 model year.  In 2001, Subaru released the WRX model of the Impreza to a United States that was just starting to miss the DSM.  EXPLOSION!  Suddenly kids were all over this little car that could make crazy power easily and had a quirky exhaust note.  It was so popular that Subaru took it to the next level and started offering the superpowered STi version of the WRX in the United States.  300+ factory horsepower in a AWD tin can, it was a sensation.  So much so that it spurred Mitsubishi to bring one of their unicorns to the US as well.  Subaru started throwing the EJ engine in just about everything and couple that with the fact that you can throw pretty much any Subaru engine and transmission into any Subaru car from the past 20 years and the entire Subaru enthusiast market exploded around a single vehicle.  Of course, the cars were plagued by shitty transmissions and head gasket failures and DAMN were they ugly but lesson #2: No matter how ugly your car is enthusiasts will look past that because COBB ACCESS PORT AND EXHAUST 400 HORSEPOWER!  HELL YES!  Sadly, the WRX and STi started getting softer and softer to the point where they could be beat around a track by a V6 Mustang in their stock forms.  Add to that the fact that the EJ nommed fuel like a boss and Toyota, I mean, Subaru decided to finally kill it.  Currently no WRX is in production.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution - In 1992, Mitsubishi decided to stick the 4G63 in their compact Lancer platform to create a rally racer and the Evolution was born.  It rolled along like everything else in its class until 1996 when the Evolution IV came out and it jumped to a whole new level.  Essentially it became the only other vehicle in Japan that could be considered a serious competitor for Nissan's greatest achievement.  It was light, it was fast, it was brutal.  It was Evolution.  It had unapologetic body styling and ridiculous performance.  But it was still a unicorn, something that the US wouldn't see until the Evo VIII.  And thus it came to the US.  Originally Mitsubishi had only planned to sell it as a speciality version but it was so popular that by 2005 it was its own model and had multiple trim levels.  Where the STi was a brute with tons of power and no finesse, the Evolution was a scalpel, often able to claim victory over its Subaru counterpart with ease.  Sadly, Mitsubishi completely screwed up the Evolution in the X version and tried to make it into some sort of budget GT-R.  They got rid of the 4G63 (huge mistake) and added a ton of technology.  Enthusiasts balked and Mitsubishi is killing the Evolution.

Nissan Skyline GT-R - The Skyline is the odd one out in this group.  Where the other ones were converted rally cars, the Skyline was a road racer.  The first GT-R was created in 1969 and sported 160 horsepower, quite impressive for that day, but it wasn't until 1989 that the Skyline GT-R roared onto the scene.  At the time, the Skyline was a simple 2-door coupe and had some hot versions.  It was most noted for it's "RB" engine which stood for "race bred".  The GT-R was designed for racing and it's RB26DETT engine could easily make 500 or even 600 horsepower with stock components.  You can talk about your Supras all day long, the Skyline was the pinnacle of Japanese performance.  Even in stock form, it was a pure beast.  The production vehicle record at the Nurburgring when it was created was 8 minutes 44 seconds.  It ran an 8:20.  It won every single race in the JTCC and thus it became desired.  In 5 years, they sold nearly 50,000 R32 Skyline GT-Rs.  Not bad for a car that was only made for race homologation.  Kids in the US saw the car in Gran Turismo and they came, then they came again.  The car was the unicorn of unicorns.  Every time it showed up in popular media, they came.  The engine was the engine that people want when they get an engine.  Rumors passed around of the engine being able to exceed 1,000 horsepower on the stock block.  They came again.  When the WRX and Evolution made it to US shores, enthusiasts hoped that the GT-R would be right behind it.  Sadly, it was not.  By 2002, the R34 GT-R was in its last year and sales had been slipping due to the car's astronomical price and to release the GT-R in the United States would result in the car having a $50,000 + price tag outshining the Evolution by over $10,000.  The Skyline would become the basis for the Infiniti G, losing the RB engine and "R" chassis numbers.  Enthusiasts reverse came.  Calling a luxury sedan a Skyline was as bad as calling a rebadged Subaru the AE86 reborn.  Oh wait, u mad?  So essentially the Skyline was dead.  The good news is that the GT-R did finally make it to American shores as the ultimate troll car.  The bad news is you'll never afford it and it breaks constantly.  A far cry from the GT-R that we all came to love; sales have been tepid and Nissan is already planning it's demise.  Which leads to lesson #3, if you make something too damn expensive nobody cares.

The moral of the story: The FR-BR-GT-POS-S-Z-86 blows.  I know this seems like a really long article to say something I've said hundreds of times already but these cars listed above are the reason why the Scionabaru is bad just like Bon Jovi is the reason why Justin Bieber is bad.  Bon Jovi had actual talent while girls schlicked to them and Justin Bieber is a girl and has no talent.  Skyline GT-R had actual performance while we fapped to it and the FR-S is a girl car and has no performance.  Bon Jovi reference to insult a car, +10 Internets.  But even further than that, you'll notice I ended each section with a "sadly" part because each manufacturer ended up disrespecting something that enthusiasts loved.  The Eclipse became a car that girls danced weird in, the WRX got so soft it gets beat by V6 Mustangs, the Evolution was straight up killed and even Godzilla was replaced by Mecha-Godzilla and his name was attached to a sedan.  And the AE86 got replaced by an underpowered piece of shit built by a company known for their shitty handling cars.

What the fuck is wrong with Japanese auto manufacturers?