Question of the Week: What new car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?

Inspired by Jason’s article about Project Neo86, this week’s QotW should be obvious:

What car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?

Kev reported that today Toyota Australia announced a starting price of $29,000 for the GT86. For comparison’s sake, a new Aussie MX-5 is $45,000, a Subaru WRX $42,000, and a fully loaded Corolla $32,000. We think that the Scion FR-S‘s affordability is a key reason why it’ll be nostalgic in 2037. It’s price ensures that plenty of young enthusiasts will be able to enjoy them (and beat them to death) today. But in 25 years when they get wistful for the cars of their youth our FR-S will be waiting.

What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the winner  from last week’s question, “What’s Japan’s most luxurious car?“ 

Although Kev was pushing hard for the Autech Stelvio, JNC staff and their family members are not eligible to win. Sorry mate, the prize this week goes to Shane_lxi, who proclaimed the JC Eunos Cosmo most luxurious ride in the land.

The ’90 Mazda Cosmo is my pick, and I know this’ll get picked apart. Sure it was more of a failed sports car than a luxury car, sure it’s a coupe, yeah, it’s kinda ugly… but it was ahead of its time with electronic Japanese doodads that are the norm for any Japanese luxo now and since. Touch screen dash controls and navigation, factory cell phone, and a CD player to name a few. Look at a picture of the interior and tell me it isn’t a luxurious car. I would bang this thing. Plus, it was powerful. The first Mazda 3-rotor. And in true Japanese luxury form, it was only offered as an auto 4-speed. Deal with it.

Omedetou, sir! Your prize from the JNC gashapon is a Choro-Q TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin!

 

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36 Responses to Question of the Week: What new car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?

  1. Josh says:

    An Evo x might be a good choice if they go with some type of hybrid powertrain next model

  2. Tony240Z says:

    My vote goes to the Toyota Mark X. Sure, it’s just a Lexus IS with a Toyota badge and some alterations to the styling, but the fact that it’s a rear drive 4 door with several potent powerplants available makes this the perfect spiritual successor to the JZX series saloons. Also, it’s not available in any Western market, which makes it that much cooler. I’ll take one in blood red with IS-F mechanicals, ever-so-slightly dropped on a set of coilovers (oni-kyan? No thanks, I prefer hellafunctional) and 18″ multi-piece wheels powdercoated in textured black. Just think how cool it would look 30 years from now!

  3. cesariojpn says:

    The Scion iQ. I think of that little car as today’s Toyota Tercel. Cheap, small, and easily forgotten. Nowadays, unless you go into a junkyard or some backwoods rural area, you rarely see any Tercels mucking about. Same is slightly true for the iQ. You rarely see them about, nobody knows about it, and it’s cheap.

  4. Aaron says:

    Buy a new car? other than the 86?

    I think the GTR is the best best for a currently new vehicle that would be coveted at a later date. ZO6 and ZR1 come to mind, but there’s just too many of them on the roads. Yes, the GTR is what i would purchase. I rarely see them on the road, compared to other sports cars, and my thoughts of “overpriced Nissan” vanish immediately after seeing that beautiful body, with its aggressive lines. They look great bone stock, just like it’s predecessors (excluding R33, lol j/k), and boast performance figures of supercar status.

    Yup, put me down for a new GTR, in silver!

  5. Tyler says:

    Aaron, GTR’s are dead to me, as now they’re in the category of any other semi-exotic. Gone are the memories of a hopped-up underdog saloon eating Porsches. Now it’s just another front engine Porsche eating Porsches.

    I will go with the Juke. It’s similar to cesario’s argument- the rarity factor. The fact is many people think Jukes are simply ugly and possibly as a result I haven’t seen many around. Neo-hachi’s will be plentiful- we know this- but the true posterity comes in when you’re reminded of something long ago forgotten. When the son buys back his father’s ’65 Chevy after it was sold 30 years ago. When you bring your kids to the places you vacationed at with your parents. Or when you walk into a diner and hear a song playing on the Juke box that you haven’t heard since high school.

    I think the Nissan Juke will be fondly remembered in the future as a car with truly different styling. Something where you wonder if the auto execs had lots of guts or were smoking some really good sh*t. It’ll be like a Cherry X-1 for 2032. Like an old Juke box.

    • dankan says:

      I’ve seen a fair number of Juke’s here in Canada. Even toying with getting one as my next car. It could be a future classic though, as it will always stand-out and is a decent enough car that people will actually look back fondly.

  6. Chad says:

    If money was no object i would go with the LFA. Very limited production it should be more collectible in the future than it is today.

  7. Krzysiu says:

    The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. The standard Murano has been a fairly popular crossover since it’s release and it seems like there are always a dozen or so at the local grocer. When my wife and I talk about what my “dad-car” is going to be I usually end the conversation with “I’ll probly just get a Murano”. The CrossCabriolet seems to be on the complete opposite end of that spectrum with Nissan even stating that due to its UNpopularity they only plan to let it run through the next year or so. I can just picture rolling up to JCCS 2037 and having someone say “You know, I remember seeing ONE of those on the road back in 2012.”

  8. Tyler says:

    Also, just a quick question. Why are QotW’s every three days? I just realized they’re not actually weekly 😛

  9. Steve says:

    None. I buy cars for MY pleasure and enjoyment, not to preserve for other people to enjoy.

  10. dankan says:

    I think the Lexus IS-F will be a future classic, along with the GT-R and LFA already mentioned. It has the low production numbers and high-presitge to make it a very desireable car. The S2000 will also be a future classic, as the supply of non-molested Hondas will approach zero in the near future, no doubt.

    But the only car I would buy today to preserve for prosterity would be the LFA. The level or workmanship, and the noise are things of beauty that will be museum-bound in future. I would buy an FR-S or BRZ, but I have no intention of preserving that for anyone. I fully intended to rack-up intergalatic mileage wringing every last drop of enjoyment out of that little car.

  11. Kevin T says:

    A few of us think the LFA will be “the car” to preserve for posterity. Heck, maybe even for “prosperity”. If the 2000GT was any indication of its legendary status and its current value, the LFA will be for the next couple generations. If the sounds of that high rev’ing 9000 RPM, 4.8 Liter, V10, Yamaha built triple exhaust tips screaming like a banshee don’t make female nipples hard and make them wet while parked or rolling in motiion, I don’t know what else. It’s sensory overload really, with those high quality leather and smooth curvy, some angular hard lined interior panels. There is a good chance that any average fellow with a decent IQ, rolling in this monster of metal and carbon fiber machinery don’t get laid, I don’t know what other car will. Sure you got them Euro gems that chicks are familiar with, but the LFA demands originality and respect. Lots of regular folks don’t know a damn thing about the LFA and most likely never heard or seen one. If they see a Lambo or a Ferrari, they know its an expensive exotic. Too many people can afford to buy or heck, even rent a Lambo or Ferrari for a day. But a true creation of a mad scientist would be the LFA. And only wealthy folks with a true passion for a “real Japanese drivers car” will buy one. Why? Its because of its more unique and rather rarity supposedly only 500 to be made, at the rate of 20 per month. To me, it’s a damn hot sexy sizzling female model, but only in the form of an orgasmic, metallurgic and semi nuclear mish-mash product of ones imagination. I mean when are the other Jap makers going to come out with their own version of a super exotic to combat the LFA? GTR doesn’t count. It’s bad ass in its own right, but its no LFA. You would see more GTR’s around the world then you will see LFA’s. Enough said. Let me ask my co-worker really quick, (Kelly – She’s drop dead hot and has curves in all the right places with a beautiful face you would never be afraid to go anywhere with), if 2 average dudes, one driving an LFA in Red and one GTR also in Red, which dude would she rock? She said hands down (really one hand down to her crotch and the other holding up her left breast, damn she gave me a visual, but she’s cool like that) the freaking LFA. And she added by saying, she’d rock his ass several times a day just to cruise in that sucka! That’s all I have to say.

  12. Tofuik says:

    I almost want to find a near showroom quality RX-8 just to store away as a reminder of the death of all of my rotary fantasies when Mazda killed it off.

  13. L.A.M says:

    I actually had a talk that had to do with this with my friend last night. If there is any car to hold onto and preserve is has to be the IS-F.

    This is one of the 3 cars I would have in my dream garage and is probably the most beautiful. For all the reasons I love it, the power, the quality, the price, the biggest reason is its design. It is a beautiful sports car that has striking details from the hood all the way to the exhaust. And to think that all this sideways glory is a sedan, it is all the reason to hold on to it for as long as possible. I feel that in 25 years this car will defiantly be on any big baller’s eye 😉

  14. Danny says:

    The GTR and LFA are just too obviously awesome (The LFA being more awesome in my opinion). What you guys are really going to want in 25 years is a clean example of the shoebox-square Nissan Cube. Like the first generation Scion xb, the Cube is unashamedly Japanese, and ultra-practical. Sure it’s slow, but with a proper 5 speed and a few suspension tweaks, it will probably be a blast to drive compared to the electric shavers on wheels that we’ll be offered in 2037. Pull the rear seats out and lay down some plush carpet, and the Cube has the potential to be the modern-day psychedelic van, without the Gandalf murals and acid hits. Drive to the beach while sipping fuel, and then stretch out comfortably in the back, instead of paying for a hotel. Kevin T’s co-worker will be less than charmed when he rips to the ocean with her at a buck-eighty, then can’t afford a hotel room because his LFA costs more than a house. That’s when the Cube driver lures her in with the plush amenities of his custom toaster-on-wheels. Just don’t paint “free candy” on the hatch door… it’s bad form.

  15. kevin t says:

    @danny haha funny shit lolz. No need for hotel bang the chick in the car!

  16. damageinc says:

    Only new car I’d buy to preserve would be one that actually gave it’s classic inspiration justice, and that’s the Challenger.

  17. car man says:

    Honda s2000 in indy yellow.

  18. TRDAE86 says:

    Hmm… maybe an orange 350z or an E46

  19. Jeff Koch says:

    I already bought it: a 2002 Subaru WRX. Bought it new mid-’01. I got the wagon, because I carry things, and for the added funky value. In 11 years and 160,000 miles, I haven’t done a single customizing trick to it. Others were first with the turbo 4/AWD combo (Diamond-Star, Mitsu Galant VR4, other Subarus like the turbo Legacy and the various Leone and XT variants, Mazda 323GTX, some European goodies like the Lancia Delta Evoluzione) but when Subaru and Mitsubishi got into it in 2002, they solidified the genre. Even then, they were different: the Subaru a hopped-up street car, the Mitsu, a toned-down racer. Together, they were the equivalent of the 1964 Pontiac GTO: it made everyone sit up and take notice. Hell, even HOT ROD magazine put an STI on the cover against a then-current Mustang in 2004-ish, and though no one would say it in print, the editors all preferred the WRX. I only wish there was an STi wagon brought to the States–I might have waited it for it instead.

  20. Lucien says:

    While it’s now out of production, its the S2000 for me. As a rotary guy it seems strange for me to pick it over the RX-8, but there is just something about the S2000. That beautiful, yet rough and course F20C revving it’s nuts off (higher piston speeds than F1!!) with the trademark vtec bark. In 20 years it’s the car I can see becoming the most cult classic. I’d love to have a 2000 in my garage. That’ll have to wait a few years sadly.

  21. idhuy says:

    Night Drift video, when TOYOTA 86 launch in Indonesia

    –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMV4OmCxfI8

  22. aloysius says:

    Current new car? The Daihatsu Copen. With raising safety and emission requirements, we will never see the likes of this again. 660cc turbocharged, well built and agile. Given the numerous special editions that Japan has put out over the years, I’ll go out on a limb here and say it’s the Nissan Figaro of this generation (even if the Figaro has much lesser production numbers and is hence rarer).

    If it’s possible to select an old car, hands down it’s the Isuzu Vehicross. We have not seen anything quite like it since, and will never see anything like it ever again (I still think the R35 borrowed heavily from this for it’s front facade).

  23. Don says:

    1992 Integra GSR because I have one already.

  24. mario says:

    If I could preserve one car it would be th lexus ls460 Awd

  25. yoda says:

    Purely on historical significance, NHW10 or NHW20 Prius; one’s the originator, the other’s the icon. In terms of what I’d want to drive, a secondgen WRX STi.

  26. Jeremy says:

    Definitely the CR-Z. Blue color with six-speed and all accessories sans navigation system

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