A modern day hachiroku

[Apolan]

Oh c mon guys, cant really say that Scooby is a hachi successor. its a completely different car. Though i agree that it is bang for buck when searching for preformance.

That bimmer comes close, but it is neither lightweight, nor it has a smal high-rev fourbanger stashed under the bonnet. On top of everything it is pretty expensive.

Mazda seems to be the closest now w/ the new Miata. Its FR,greatly balanced, great engine and transmision, it has LSD, it is incredebly light (considering it is a muuch bigger car now) - has a sexy design and on top of everything its pretty afordable to. But miata is miata, its a legendary roadster w/ a spirit of its own.

Kabura looks to zoom-zoom for my taste, and its also said to have a v6 no?

I mean really, the basics of fun-cheap-preformance motoring, that were so popular in past decades now are completely gone. The market is flodded w/ FF hot hatches. but sport FR-s can only be had for alot of money.

Hachiroku for its day , it was masterpiece of engeneering, simple, light, fun to drive, pretty sexy/attractive - and preatty cheap. Why not make such a car again? IMHO a good example would be if Honda made a DC2 integra to be FR. Its light, k20 is great, has lsd, supreme suspension and overall mechanics, very atractive and still cheaper than most hot hatches out today.

[The Doctor]

I think that if Toyota would get the MR2 ZZW230 back in production, with the 2ZZ-GE, it could be an option.

But on the other side, it would cost pretty much, since the 1ZZ-FE'd MR2 allready wasn't a cheap car.

I think the times of good RWD cars is over.
It's all on FWD nowadays.

Just look at the old days:
Lotus Cortina, Dolomite Sprint, Escort MK1 Mexico/RS1600 etc. etc.
I could make this list 3 pages long if i want to. All pretty fast, lightweight and very nice cars.

[nmwisima]

No V6, just the Miata's 2 litre engine and transmition

[Apolan]

Mr2 again is mr2. Its a car of its own. its midship so its perhaps a more demanding car, and nor so easy on drifting.

I think because of that (having no cheap FR around) people are rather throwing their money into 200sx', 86's, datsuns 240', starions, mk1 escorts.. an other great cars.

Some people have "invested" so much money into their hachirokus, they could easily buy a new Civic type R or a new GOLF GTI.

i hope those fine days are not over; with the rise of drifting in past years, i think the market is right for such a car to be launched again. The AE86 (and TE71 etc) community should rise and demand that toyota makes a new hachiroku.

[Apolan]

well kabura looks to "specific". it stands out too much i think. maybe not for the future, who knows. but now it just doesnt feel like a "hachi" successor.

Without a doubt it will be a fantastic car. Only that 2 litre mazda engine could output some 20- 40 hp more. then it would be perfect =)

[The Doctor]

i think it's pretty impossible for a big make, to launch a car which weighs no more then 1000 kgs (that's what you want if you want to keep the price down).

with all those silly safety rules nowadays.
700 airbags, abs, ebd, cbt, opq, zlf, qrp, agtpf-x etc. etc.

It all ads weight to the car.
And to give it nice handling and power, you need a big engine.
By then you need bigger suspension parts, bigger brakes.

Bigger engine demands more cooling, more cooling demands more space, thus more weight (look what happend with the Veyron, they need the silly 1000bhp to get the 2000+ kg car moving)

[Apolan]

well how does a DC2 integra work than?? its pretty much everything a hachi was for its day and much more. Only the drive is on the wrong side of the car.

[nmwisima]

The Kabura is a 3 seater concept.
Mazda wanted it to be just a show car, but press and public reacted so good they start thinking of producing it.

It will probably have just 2 seats and a less extravagante design, so...

MR2's production has stopped so....

[jnk]

and what about honda s2000 ?

[Apolan]

S2k is my favourite car, its a great piece of engeneering. but its not quite like hachiroku. its a roadster, and its a bit too heavy/too little torque. and with a great balance it hs it almost drives like some FR-MR hybrid. and besides it is too expensive. I want one baad. its pretty much the only car that i would rather have than a nicely restored and modified hachiroku.