Japanese Nostalgic Car

Small cars are going the way of the dodo. Toyota has killed the Yaris, Honda has killed the Fit, and Mazda has killed the 2. Only in the US market, of course; all those cars are alive and well in other markets. Still, it’s sad that its getting increasingly harder for those who want (or need) affordable, reliable transportation to get it. Cramming all your friends or worldly possessions into a cheap, tiny car is practically a rite of passage. As is squeezing herculean feats out of a car that just shouldn’t be able to do that, or getting butterflies in your gut when you introduce a date to your econobox for the first time. These are things RAV4 drivers with power everything will never know the joys of.

What’s your best story involving a small car?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your fondest Pajero/Montero memory?” Continue reading →

The death of the Mitsubishi Pajero has hit us pretty hard here here at JNC. So, we’ve been watching old Dakar videos and trying to remember the fond times we had with Pajeros. For me, it was the time a friend’s parents lent us a brown LWB first-gen to move. It was slow but it swallowed an entire apartment’s worth of stuff with room to spare. I recall us chuckling like idiots every time the tall body leaned into a corner at what seemed like a 45 degree angle. For other JNC staffers, it was a layover at the Dakar airport (voted the world’s worst), spotting a Pajero in Operation Condor, or the time when someone in San Gabriel opened a JAOS store and did up a Montero to the nines with what must have been 1,000 pounds worth of JDM off-road gear.

What’s your fondest Pajero/Montero memory?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “At what point do you fly instead of drive?”  Continue reading →

On this day in 1949, the first commercial jet made its maiden test-flight in England, ushering in a new age of travel by dramatically shrinking the time between two points. Fast forward 71 years, and flying is about as glamorous as taking a bus in the sky. Personally, if we’re talking strictly mileage, I’d rather drive if the distance is anything under 400 miles. Door to door, it ends up taking almost the same time. But I’d even extend that radius to, say, 500 miles just for the comfort, pleasure, and freedom I get from being the captain of my own destiny.

At what point do you fly instead of drive?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What does your dream truck look like?” Continue reading →