Priced Out Of The Skyline GT-R, Gen Z Is Quoting A 656cc Honda Instead
We’re not here to give you a play-by-play of an ongoing cost of living struggle. You probably come here to avoid the day-to-day tribulations of the world to begin with. For our purposes, all we need to discuss is how the best and brightest of the sports cars late millennials and early zoomers grew up adoring are already priced well beyond our means. Take the R34 Nissan GT-R, for instance. Late millennials and zoomers waited until most of them were college grads to import them legally, only to find they were priced like they were worth their weight in gemstones. Well, there are still JDM imports you can aspire to, if you’re willing to temper your expectations.
Kei Cars, an Eccentric Sub-Class Indeed
The first Kei cars were introduced in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when Japan was still in the depths of a post-war recovery that seemed impossible at the moment. Initially, engine size was seldom higher than 150cc, barely any bigger than a two-stroke bike motor. Over the years, as Japan’s economic revival stopped being theoretical and started being a legitimate miracle, that limit increased to a whole 660cc.
Every class of vehicle was represented in Kei cars, everything from pickup trucks to cargo vans and little family runabouts, and even odd-ball stuff like boutique sports cars. The first Kei sports cars were actually introduced back in the early 1970s, right at the same time European drop tops were reaching peak class and the American muscle car wars were at its zenith. By the late 1980s, those early efforts had evolved into more capable machines you’d actually have a lot of fun driving.
The Kei Sports Car Revolution: The Tiny Turns Exciting
Fast forward to the late ‘80s, and the Japanese bubble economy was in full swing. Automakers were flush with cash and willing to take massive, weird risks. In some cases, this meant designing eccentric and audacious F1-engined hypercars like the Jiotto Caspita. Other times, it meant taking ordinary Kei runabouts and making them as zippy as possible. Such was the impetus for the turbocharged Daihatsu Mira TR-XX and Suzuki Alto Works, cars so quick and dangerous that the Japanese mandated kei cars couldn’t make more than 64 horsepower.
In the end, the power limit wasn’t a huge downside, because OEMs like Suzuki, Mazda (via Autozam), and Honda, could play around with other factors to provide as pure of a driving experience as possible. Items like weight distribution, engine layout, and funky, sporty body designs filled the void that a stark lack of power left, and gave sporty Kei cars a timeless feel all their own.
This paradigm shift from souped-up grocery getters to purpose-built, miniature sports cars birthed the legendary “ABC” trio of the early 1990s. On the Mazda side the gull-winged Autozam AZ-1, a pint-size mid-engine supercar facsimile with a 12-valve three-cylinder engine. In Suzuki land, there was the adorable Cappucino, a short-deck, front-engine roadster with a three-piece targa roof and a 657cc dual overhead-cam turbo three-pot under the hood. As for Honda? Well, they quietly teamed with Pininfarina to design one of the purest sports cars of the 1990s.
The Beat: The Mini NSX, Just Smaller and Cuter
The 1991–1996 Honda Beat isn’t just a niche product with an interesting backstory that’s also fun to drive. It’s also one of the most noticed classic sports cars by Gen Z enthusiasts as they finally grow to classic car ownership age. It isn’t hard to see why once you look past the size, not that that’s all that easy when the average person drives a pickup truck or crossover these days. But once you do, you’ll be able to appreciate its naturally aspirated 656cc engine.
With MTREC (Multi-Throttle Responsive Engine Control) system rocking individual throttle bodies and no turbo lag to deal with, the Beat is a true-to-form sports car in every way but crazy speed. Its engine revs to a healthy 8,500 RPM, which is high enough to pretend you’re driving an S2000. With its mid-mounted engine, it’s fair to say a Beat handles even better than a heavier S2000. Better still, the beat is genuinely economical, with fuel economy figures in the mid-30s normally. Granted, the tiny six-ish-gallon fuel tank won’t get you very far, but it’s not like you’ll spend all that much with each fill-up.
Per the most recent quote data by industry experts, the Honda Beat is among the most popular collector cars in Gen Z enthusiast circles today. Along with other gems like the JDM-spec Lexus LS clone Toyota Celsior, the Need for Speed Veteran Chevy Cobalt SS, and the early-2000s Acura RSX, the Beat represents exceptional value for money in terms of cheap thrills, reasonable operating costs, and a uniqueness factor that gives you the satisfaction of driving something performance-forward. Still, that begs the question. If you’re in the market for a Honda Beat, and you’re ready to put money down somewhere, what kind of investment are you looking at?
A Reasonable Investment in the Midst of a Quasi Recession
Compared to the astronomical prices of 1990s halo cars, the Honda Beat is an absolute steal. It doesn’t really matter which auction website you look at, once they’re safely off the boat at an American port, you can find Honda Beats all day long for between $5,000 and $8,000. Heck, a concours-level car is seldom much more than $13,000 before taxes and fees. So, approximately the downpayment you’d need to throw down before a Japanese exporter would put an R34 GT-R in a shipping container.
Looking at the Beat, the narrative that Gen Z doesn’t give two you-know-whats about cars completely falls to pieces. They absolutely do care, passionately, enthusiastically, and emphatically—they’re just so buried in student debt and high rent that there aren’t enough anxiety pills in all the land to help them crawl out of that hole. No worries, one 8,500 RPM pull will make them happy again.
Source: Hagerty
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