The best 9 Iconic Sport Cars of All Time ! pt.2

5th place for the S2000 !

The only car that can make a Miata driver jizz instantly !
The car first showed up in 1995 as the Sports Study Model Concept. In 1999, it was put into production as a 2000 model, named S2000 as both an homage to Honda's S500, S600 and S800 sports cars from the 1960s, as well as its own 2.0-liter engine.It had a respectable 240 horsepower and a paltry 153 pound-feet of torque, both at lofty RPMs. Famously, with 120 horsepower per liter, the engine had the highest specific output of any normally aspirated production engine in the world.But revving is what the S2000 did best; the car could rocket all the way up to a stratospheric 9,000 RPMs. Coupled with a 2,750 pound curb weight, the S2000 could send a driver willing to wring the hell out of it from zero to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.

The S2000 wasn't built for quiet Sunday drives, it was built to hoon. Edmunds in 1999 described it as "minimalistic," and that's a fair assessment. You got a trick digital gauge, a steering wheel, a typically Honda-excellent six speed manual (no automatic here!) and... well, not much else. It didn't even have a clock at first. Uh, did I mention the top goes down?

The car's extreme rev limit and handling won over its critics, though they noted it wasn't for the faint of heart. Motor Trend in 1999 said it felt like "Formula One engineers built a sports car":

Most people will never drive in the best rpm range (7000 to 8500), shifting too early. Our advice is to treat the S2000 like you hate it and you'll get the most out of it. We did and loved every minute of it. Fifth place for the S2000 and we continue to the first place!

4th place for Mitsubishi EVO !

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, also known as the Lancer Evo, Lan Evo, or just Evo, is a high performance sports car manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors that is based on the normal Lancer. There have been ten official versions to date, and the designation of each model is most commonly a Roman numeral. All use two litre, turbocharged engines and all-wheel drive systems.

The Evolution was originally intended only for Japanese markets, but demand on the "grey import" market led the Evolution series to be offered through Ralliart dealer networks in the United Kingdom and in various European markets from around 1998. Mitsubishi decided to export the eighth generation Evolution to the United States in 2003 after witnessing the success Subaru had in that market with their long-time direct rival, the Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Japanese-spec cars were limited by a gentlemen's agreement to advertise no more than 280 PS (206 kW; 276 hp), a mark already reached by Evolution IV. Therefore, each subsequent version has unofficially evolved above the advertised power figures, with the Japanese-spec Evolution IX reaching an alleged output of around 321 PS (236 kW; 317 hp). Various versions available in other markets, particularly the UK, have official power outputs up to 446 PS (328 kW; 440 hp).

The car gained it's popularity through the WRC racing, having won 4 WRC drivers championship, this car proved to be a piece of history !This amazing car deserve this 4th place !

3rd place is for the Dodge Charger !

This is by far the most manliest car in the world that money could buy. Just by looking at the picture AC/DC instantly starts playing highway to hell and you imagine yourself sitting right next to Vin Diesel ! The bad boy of muscle cars sprawling two different 383 engines available in 1969: 2-barrel and 4-barrel. The 2-barrel was rated at 290 hp. The four barrel engine was rated at 330 hp and was identified by the "pie tin" on the air cleaner as "383 / FOUR BARREL". The 330-hp engine was unique to the Charger model in 1969. While this engine was available with an un-silenced air cleaner option, it differed internally from the 335-hp 383 "Magnum". In 1969 the B-series engines were all painted turquoise with the exception of the 383 four speed, 440 Magnum and 426 Hemi which were painted Street Hemi Orange. The 335-hp 383 Magnum engines were also painted Street Hemi Orange. The 383 Magnum motor was used in Road Runners and Super Bees, but did not appear in a Charger body until 1971. Differences between the 330-hp 383 4-barrel and 335-hp 383 magnum were mostly internal. Both versions used the Carter AVS carb and the larger exhaust manifolds from the 440 Magnum engines, but the Magnum had a windage tray in the oil pan, a different camshaft profile, and different valve springs.

Dodge Charger Daytona is probably the most iconic, with its unique design that stands as a testament to how far an automaker will go for racing homologation. Created for the 1969 NASCAR season, the Charger Daytona was a dominant force in American racing as it won 45 out of 59 races

This legend deserves our 3rd place !

And the hard part of the article comes Which car deserve the 1st place ... We all know that this a tough choice between two of the biggest japanese automobile giants. So we decided to leave this choice to you. You can comment here or on our facebook fan page Team Imports and Nissan Nismo Evolution and the nominations are ...

Toyota Supra !

The Toyota Supra was a sports car/grand tourer produced by Toyota Motor Corporation from 1978 to 2002. The styling of the Toyota Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the A70 Supra became a separate model from the Celica. In turn, Toyota also stopped using the prefix Celica and began just calling the car Supra. Owing to the similarity and past of the Celica's name, it is frequently mistaken for the Supra, and vice versa. First, second, and third generation Supras were assembled at Tahara plant in Tahara, Aichi while the fourth generation Supra was assembled at the Motomachi plant in Toyota City.

The Supra also traces much of its roots back to the Toyota 2000GT with the main instance being its engine. The first three generations were offered with a direct descendant to the Toyota Crown's and 2000GT's M engine. All four generations of Supra produced have an inline 6-cylinder engine.

The combination of the twin turbo 2JZ-GTE powerplant and Getrag 6-speed transmission is so insanely robust that it can handle horsepower figures reserved for million dollar hypercars — without any extensive modification. The engine's iron block, forged rotating assembly, and low compression pistons can handle 700 horsepower at the wheels pretty reliably, with the upper limit on the stock engine block being a hair under 900 wheel horsepower. Let's put that into perspective:

From the factory, the 2JZ-GTE engine produced around 300 horsepower at the wheels (320 HP at the crank, but most reports say that number is underrated, at the very least). How much would a reliable performance shop charge to get your Supra an extra 400 horsepower at the wheels? Around $15k - $20k..

Nissan GTR !

Four-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steering helps the brutal Skyline make any drive interesting! 

What we loved about the Skyline R34, the thing that set it apart from other Japanese rocket-sleds (apart from its butch, angular appearance – if a car could grow stubble…) was that it owned one of the most technically sophisticated and absurdly talented four-wheel- drive/steer chassis ever to cling to a twisty road. Never mind that it was called ATTESA E-TS Pro, what mattered was that it put all the drive through the rear wheels until the road conditions dictated that some torque should be directed to the front.

It sounds like a blast and it is. At first, though, it’s unnerving. The R34 has an entirely different feel to a Scooby or an Evo. It feels like an altogether tougher, bigger, heavier car. And those SUPER HICAS four-wheel steering responses appear to be artificially darty. At the same time, other aspects of the package feel curiously old-fashioned: hard-riding, slow-revving, conspicuously turbocharged. But then much of the high-tech hardware is designed to make it feel old-tech simple and honest. The only real disappointment was the rather tacky interior. A warrior-class performer nonetheless with a compelling mixture of raw stonk and PlayStation-esque all-drive chassis wizardry.

SO DONT FORGET THE FIRST PLACE IS IN YOUR HANDS

source:  autotrader    wikipedia    topspeed   carbuying  caranddriver  edmunds