Commute, Toy or Destroy – Iconic Japanese Sports Cars
It’s not every day that AutoGuide launches a new weekly feature. Today, however, is not just any day; it’s first installment of an interactive segment we call ‘Commute, Toy or Destroy’.
We will present to you, our faithful readers, a choice of three vehicles. We are asking you to decide which one you would make your daily driver, which one would become your weekend toy and which one you would have hauled off to a shady chop shop or incinerated in a North Korean nuclear attack.
The vehicle chosen to ‘Commute’ would be the daily driver of the three, tasked with routine missions like getting the groceries and taking the kids to soccer practice. The vehicle selected as the ‘Toy’ is the one you want to keep for a long time. This is vehicle that will be driven on weekends, garaged, modified, taken to the track or off-roading, etc. Finally, the vehicle selected as ‘Destroy’ is the one you would rather just point a RPG at, pull the trigger and return it from whence it came.
But wait, there is a catch (there is always a catch). We are not going to make it easy on you and select a Mercedes S-Class, Dodge Viper and Pontiac Aztek. Rather, each week we will pick three vehicles tied together by a singular theme. Then, we will leave it up to you to decide which one should be endured, enjoyed or destroyed.
To kick things off we have three icons of 1990s Japanese sports car fame: the Acura NSX, Mazda RX-7 and Toyota Supra. Let us know which one you would Commute in, which one would be your Toy, and which one you would Destroy.
1990-1996 Acura NSX
When the NSX came onto the scene in the early 1990s, Honda proved it was possible to have supercar looks, supercar performance and Honda reliability. The mid-mounted 3.0-liter V6 produced an impressive-for-1990 270 hp and would scream to 8000 rpm. The NSX wasn’t just able to hang with the big boys from Ferrari and Porsche, it was able to do it day in and day out without issue; a definite wake-up call for the exotics.
1993-1995 Mazda RX-7
The pinnacle of Mazda’s rotary engine occurred in the 3rd generation RX-7, code named the FD. Reliability be damned, this little 1.3-liter rotary engine featured sequential twin-turbochargers to produce 255 hp and 217 lb-ft of torque; not bad for a coupe weighing in under 2,800 lbs. But the RX-7’s real talent was handling. With a perfectly balanced chassis, it could make even a novice driver look like a pro.
1993-1998 Toyota Supra
With the Mark IV Supra, Toyota went all in. Gorgeous body work and massive spoiler aside, the real beauty of the Supra lay under the hood. The Legendary twin-turbocharged 2JZ motor produced a monstrous 320 hp and 315 lb-ft of torque; besting the output of the Chevrolet Corvette (non ZR-1), Porsche 911 Carrera and even the Ferrari 348. Despite weighing over 3,400 lbs, the manual Supra Turbo could hang with anything in its price range, and many cars that were far more expensive.
A 20+ year industry veteran, Mike rejoins the AutoGuide team as the Managing Editor. He started his career at a young age working at dealerships, car rentals, and used car advertisers. He then found his true passion, automotive writing. After contributing to multiple websites for several years, he spent the next six years working at the head office of an automotive OEM, before returning back to the field he loves. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA). He's the recipient of a feature writing of the year award and multiple video of the year awards.
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commute NSX toy supra and destroy the rx7. the rx7 is just too unreliable and i dont feel like dropping the engine 1-2 times a year.
If I were given an option of actually being granted 2 of these cars on the condition that I select one of the 3 to be destroyed, the one that would get the chop would be the Supra. Great straight line performance, but shoddy build quality and terrible aesthetics (especially inside) ruin the car. I was once lined up beside a black NSX at an intersection. I was in my S15, which is by no means a slouch. 0-60 in 5 flat and quarter mile in low 13's... The NSX utterly obliterated me. By the time I shifted to 2nd, he was at least 15 car lengths ahead. I've never, ever seen anything take off so quickly! I've come to the conclusion that with the right mods, an NSX can be just as potent as a Supra. Rock solid reliability and a high level of refinement and comfort mean that the NSX would probably be my daily driver. The RX7 is one of the best looking cars to leave Japan. Sure it requires replacement of water seals every couple of years; It is fairly easy to work on. New developments in apex seals mean that 13B's can last for a lot longer than they once did. The one major weakness that the FD had was the gearbox, but there are workarounds. I like the uniqueness of the rotary engine and I believe that when oil eventually runs out and the IC engine becomes antiquated altogether, the 13B will seem more significant than the mountains of old reciprocating lumps left to rust away in distopian junkyards. One day, it will be looked at as a real marvel of engineering. The FD is also notorious for being one of the best balanced and nicest handling coupes from Japan. Only the NSX and GTR have it beat. RX7 = Toy.