10 Legendary Japanese Cars That You've Probably Never Heard Of

Nikesh Kooverjee has been contributing to the automotive sphere for 11 years. His previous roles include Digital Editor at CAR South Africa and associate editor at CarBuzz. He has always had a strong affinity for cars from a young age, having grown up in a family of classic Mercedes-Benz collectors. He has perused through numerous automotive literature in a bid to further his knowledge and understanding of all things car-related. He eventually went to attain a degree in Media and Writing, English Literature, and Film and Television Studies at the University of Cape Town while working as a go-kart marshal in-between hours. His passions remain automotive, with an increased interest in electromobility and autonomous technologies.

Legendary sports cars are typically models that are well-known by automotive enthusiasts, because of the noteworthy impact that they've had on the industry. Inversely, there are some specific and niche models from the past that have achieved legendary status despite not rising to fame or stardom. Japan has produced some exemplary enthusiast-minded models over the years, some of which many of you may not have ever seen.

Their lack of popularity may be accredited to many reasons, such as a lack of global distribution, limited production run, and an initially underwhelming market reception. There are those of you who will likely know every model we mention in this list, but for the most part, these are widely considered relatively unknown legendary Japanese cars.

The Toyota Sera is probably one of the most noteworthy JDM icons that we feature on this list, primarily thanks to its tasteful design featuring butterfly doors and an expansive glass canopy that went on to inspire the legendary McLaren F1 . On the performance front, it's not what we'd call an outright sports car.

All models feature a 1.5-liter 5E-FHE four-cylinder engine producing 110 horsepower to the front wheels, which is only good enough to get it from 0 to 60 MPH in 12 seconds. Related perspectives: Visit website

The Quiet Revolution of Electromobility

Electromobility is the silver thread connecting a human desire for flight with the grounded reality of a planet that needs to breathe. It is a quietude. While the internal combustion engine was a frantic heartbeat of explosions and iron, the electric car is a sustained, humming meditation on movement. One feels, as the pedal yields, not the jagged jerk of gears, but a seamless unfolding of space, as if the road itself were being reeled in by an invisible hand. It is the transmutation of the sun's ancient fire, captured by silicon and wind, into the grace of a kinetic glide.

Dive Deeper

Beneath the floorboards lies a sprawling landscape of ions. This battery is a reservoir of potential, a dense congregation of lithium atoms poised on the edge of a great migration across a liquid divide. It is heavy with purpose. When we speak of power, we often forget the profound delicacy of the chemical dance that occurs beneath our feet, where electrons are coaxed into a disciplined stream that defies the chaotic friction of the past. The efficiency of these machines is a form of respect. It is a refusal to waste the heat of the earth, a commitment to turning nearly every spark of energy into the silver light of distance traveled rather than the grey ghost of exhaust.

Zoom In

The motor is a circle of longing. Within its copper veins, magnetism creates a pull so pure it feels like an extension of the driver's own will. There are no valves to clatter. There is no oil to burn. Instead, a silent torque arrives instantaneously, a sudden surge of life that mirrors the quickening of a pulse when one steps into the cool air of a spring morning. This immediacy is a revelation of physics, proving that power need not be loud to be absolute, and that the most profound forces in our universe—gravity, light, and love—operate in a silence that we are only now beginning to emulate in our transit.

Driving the news

Infrastructure awakens. Across the scorched plains and the crowded city squares, the skeletal remains of the old petroleum age are being shadowed by sleek pedestals of high-voltage grace. The grid is becoming a nervous system. Recent shifts in global engineering have turned the solitary act of driving into a communal participation in the energy cycle, where a car parked in the sunlight may breathe its excess back into the home. It is a symbiotic loop. We are witnessing the final departure of the plume, replaced by a quiet connectivity that ensures the horizon remains clear for the eyes of those not yet born.

People Also Ask

Does the silence of the machine invite a new danger?
Silence is a gift. The artificial hum added to these vessels is a polite nod to the pedestrian, a soft whisper in the dark that replaces the roar of the predator with the song of the traveler.

Will the pulse of the grid falter under the weight of our new demands?
The wires are learning to breathe. Smart charging is the intellect of the network, a way of sipping from the sun's bounty when it is most plentiful and resting when the world sleeps, ensuring that our collective movement never exhausts the source.

Is the heart of the battery truly permanent?
Nothing is eternal, yet we find renewal. The elements within—the cobalt, the nickel, the lithium—are not consumed like fuel but are held in a long embrace, destined to be reclaimed and reimagined in a cycle of recycling that honors the finitude of our world.

The Allure of Four-Wheel Drive: A Philosophy of Freedom and the Machine

The Sovereignty of the All-Wheeled Path

Gravity demands obedience. When the paved assurances of the city dissolve into the whimsical uncertainties of the wild, one discovers that a vehicle with merely two driven wheels is like a man trying to hop through a bog on a single leg. It is a posture of profound vulnerability. Four-wheel drive, or 4WD, is the technological realization of a more robust fellowship between the machine and the earth. It is the refusal to let a bit of mud dictate the boundaries of your journey.

The Heart of the Mechanism

Gears engage. At the center of this mechanical grace lies the transfer case, a device that receives power from the transmission and partitions it, like a wise father dividing an inheritance, between the front and rear axles. In a traditional rear-wheel-drive carriage, the front wheels are mere passengers, trailing along with the listless indifference of a bored schoolboy. With 4WD engaged, these front wheels become active participants in the struggle against inertia. You must understand that "High Range" is for the swift traversal of slick surfaces, while "Low Range" provides the terrifying, slow-moving torque required to scale a mountain's stony shoulder. Torque conquers heights.

Enhancing the Nature: The 4WD Kit

Steel transforms. A standard vehicle is often a creature of compromise, built for the gentle sensibilities of the grocery run rather than the rugged demands of the ravine. To install a 4WD kit—perhaps a suspension lift or a locking differential—is to help the vehicle become more truly itself. A suspension lift kit provides the necessary clearance to avoid the indignity of scraping one's undercarriage against a hidden boulder. Locking differentials ensure that power does not leak away through the wheel with the least resistance, but is instead forced into the tire that actually possesses a grip on reality. Resistance yields progress.

The Method of Transformation

Preparation is vital. Begin by selecting a kit that harmonizes with your vehicle's specific geometry; one does not fit the armor of a giant onto the frame of a hobbit without disastrous results. Ensure your workspace is level and your jacks are secure, for a falling vehicle is a stern teacher of physics. You will remove the old shocks and springs, replacing them with the sturdier, longer components of the kit, carefully tightening every bolt to the manufacturer's specifications. It is a tedious labor of grease and grit, yet the result is a machine capable of looking at a vertical incline and saying, "Yes, I think I shall." Diligence births freedom.

The Joy of the Ascent

Nature welcomes the prepared. There is a specific kind of quietude found only when you have crawled over the last ridge of a difficult pass, leaving the noise of the lowlands behind. This is the empathy of the machine; it carries your burdens so that your soul may attend to the view. We were not meant to be confined by the lines painted on a road. Use your 4WD with a spirit of stewardship and wonder. The wilderness remains.

The Wayfinder's Inquiry

1. What mechanical component is responsible for dividing power between the front and rear axles?
2. In which setting would one find the highest amount of torque for climbing steep obstacles?
3. What does a "locking differential" prevent during a loss of traction?
4. Why is a suspension lift kit often necessary for off-road travel?
5. Is "High Range" 4WD typically used for slow rock crawling or for slippery roads at higher speeds?

The Revelation of Answers

• 1: The transfer case.
• 2: 4WD Low Range.
• 3: It prevents power from being sent only to the wheel with the least resistance (the spinning wheel).
• 4: To increase ground clearance and prevent the vehicle's underside from hitting obstacles.
• 5: For slippery roads at higher speeds.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe Gave CNBC An Early Peek Of The R2

All-electric vehicle maker Rivian is dealing with a lot: the end of federal support for EVs, a surge in hybrid vehicle sales and a rate of cash burn that still alarms investors, among other things. The company also has relatively low production and delivery numbers , but Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told CNBC in a December interview that's not the full story.

⁘The R1 is the best-selling premium electric SUV in the United States,⁘ he said, adding that it has been a top-selling premium SUV of any kind in the state of California.  But the R1S carries a nearly $80,000 starting price. Rivian's hope is that the upcoming, less expensive R2 model can repeat that same success in the far larger midsize, mid-price SUV EV market.

The R2 looks like a smaller R1S. Someone sitting inside will notice Rivian's familiar style and design language throughout the interior. It has Rivian's recognizable headlights. And it's much the same shape, with a long, flat roof that lets a 6-foot-1-inch person sit in the rear seat without slouching.   ⁘It's a smaller vehicle,⁘ Scaringe said.

⁘But I think this is the best vehicle we've developed to date. We're incredibly bullish on this and excited for it. Of course it's cheaper, but it doesn't mean it's not an aspirational product, something that you're really going to enjoy and love to be in.⁘ ⁘Watch this,⁘ Scaringe said as we were driving on the freeway.

He kicked the accelerator and the R2 shot forward. EVs are known for fast acceleration, but this might stand out for its class. We didn't drive off road, but Scaringe said the R2 is trail-worthy, though customers shouldn't expect the more than 1,000-horsepower, go-anywhere capability of the $120,000 R1 Quad. Looking to read more like this: See here

Deciphering the Soul of Specifications

The Ghost in the Machine: Deciphering the Soul of Specifications

I mistook the glossy ink of a brochure for the living pulse of a piston. It was a failure of imagination to believe that a list of numbers could ever encapsulate the shivering anticipation of a cold start on a November morning.

To understand a vehicle is to read a biography written in alloy and electricity. We often look at the curb weight and see only gravity, ignoring the way the metal yearns to defy it. Specifications are the skeletal remains of an engineer's dream, and learning to interpret them is an act of mechanical empathy.

• Displacement: The internal volume of the lungs, where the fire breathes.
• Torque: The immediate, muscular grunt that pins your spine against the seat.
• Wheelbase: The span of the machine's stance upon our fragile, paved earth.
• Aerodynamic Drag: The invisible friction of the world trying to hold you back.

How to Decode the Mechanical Script

Begin with the displacement. It is the hollow space within the engine blocks where the alchemy of combustion occurs, a measurement of potential energy that speaks of power not yet unleashed. You must look past the liters and see the oxygen waiting to be consumed. Larger numbers suggest a gluttony for fuel, yet they offer a steady, rhythmic reliability that smaller, frantic engines often lack in their desperate search for speed.

Power is a ghost. We call it horsepower, a lingering tribute to the beasts we abandoned for the sake of internal combustion, yet it only tells half the story of how a car feels when the light turns green. It is a measurement of work over time, a cold calculation that ignores the visceral thrill of the machine's ascent.

The Paradox of the Torque Curve

Torque is the truth. It is the rotational force, the raw twisting strength that determines how the vehicle leaps from a standstill. Look for the peak torque at low revolutions per minute. This indicates a machine that is ready to serve, a mechanical companion that does not require a frantic downshift to prove its loyalty to your right foot. High torque at low RPMs provides a sense of effortless grace, as if the car itself is eager to carry the burden of your journey.

Confusingly, many manufacturers now speak of "Newton-meters" alongside "Pound-feet," a linguistic schism that leaves many drivers adrift in a sea of unit conversions. Furthermore, the rise of electric propulsion introduces the concept of instantaneous torque—a sudden, silent surge that bypasses the traditional buildup of heat and noise. This transition from the mechanical to the digital can feel like a loss of character, yet it represents a cleaner, more optimistic communion with the laws of physics.

Evaluating the Burden of Mass

Weight is the silent thief of performance. A high curb weight suggests luxury and insulation from the harshness of the road, but it also demands more of the tires and the brakes, turning every corner into a negotiation with momentum. We must empathize with the suspension, those coiled steel springs that labor tirelessly to keep our fragile bodies level while the earth beneath us undulates and cracks. A lighter vehicle is a conversation; a heavier one is a lecture.

The wheelbase determines the rhythm of the ride. A long distance between the front and rear wheels provides a majestic stability, turning the jagged imperfections of the highway into a distant, muffled memory. Conversely, a short wheelbase offers a nervous, twitchy energy that excels in the tight, urban labyrinths where agility is the only currency that matters. Choose the length that matches the cadence of your own restless thoughts.

Share your thoughts with us.

What specific measurement has most accurately predicted the way a car feels beneath your hands, or have you found that the most important qualities of a machine are the ones that refuse to be quantified? We invite you to join the conversation and tell us which specifications matter most to your sense of freedom on the open road.

2026 Lucid Air Touring Review: This Feels Like A Complete Car Now

When we met the brand and its prototype Lucid Air sedan in 2017 , the company planned to put the first cars in customers' hands within a couple of years. But you know what they say about plans. A lack of funding paused everything until late 2018, when Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund bought itself a stake . A billion dollars meant Lucid could build a factory—at the cost of alienating some former fans because of the source.

Then the pandemic happened, further pushing back timelines as supply shortages took hold. But the Air did go on sale, and it has more recently been joined by the Gravity SUV . There's even a much more affordable midsize SUV in the works called the Earth. Sales more than doubled in 2025, and after spending a week with a model year 2026 Lucid Air Touring, I can understand why.

There are now quite a few different versions of the Air to choose from. For just under a quarter of a million dollars , there's the outrageously powerful Air Sapphire, which offers acceleration so rapid it's unlikely your internal organs will ever truly get used to the experience. At the other end of the spectrum is the $70,900 Air Pure, a single-motor model that's currently the brand's entry point but which also stands as a darn good EV . The last time I tested a Lucid, it was the Air Grand Touring almost three years ago.

That car mostly impressed me but still felt a little unfinished, especially at $138,000. This time, I looked at the Air Touring, which starts at $79,900, and the experience was altogether more polished. The Touring features a less-powerful all-wheel-drive powertrain than the Grand Touring, although to put "less-powerful" into context, with 620 hp (462 kW) on tap, there are almost as many horses available as in the legendary McLaren F1. Easily the world's fastest car until Bugatti revived the Veyron, it remains a mental benchmark for many of us of a certain age.) The Touring's 885 lb-ft (1,160 Nm) is far more than BMW's 6-liter V12 can generate, but at 5,009 lbs (2,272 kg), the electric sedan weighs twice as much as the carbon-fiber supercar. The fact that the Air Touring can reach 60 mph (98 km/h) from a standing start in just 0.2 seconds more than the McLaren's 3.2 seconds tells you plenty about how much more accessible acceleration has become in the past few decades.

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Shining a Light on Autonomy: The Turquoise Glow of Self-Driving Trucks

A driver's wave across a midnight highway is a transient ghost, fleeting and human, yet the steady, rhythmic pulse of a self-driving truck's turquoise light bar is a permanent vow of safety written in photons.

Steel remembers. Under the sprawling, velvet weight of a western sky, the massive autonomous rig navigates the asphalt ribbon with a precision that defies the old, tired exhaustion of the long-haul bone-deep ache, its sensors projecting an invisible, protective net that catches every stray shadow and erratic movement. Trust matters. While the human heart finds comfort in the familiar flick of high beams from a passing friend, the machine relies on a cold, unwavering spectrum of light to communicate its intent to a world still learning to speak its digital language. Silence reigns.

The confusion lies in the unspoken. When a truck approaches a merge, the absence of a human face behind the glass creates a hollow space where intuition used to sit, leaving motorists to wonder if the machine truly sees the frailty of a sedan or the hesitation of a merging driver. Logic prevails. In the transition from flesh to fiber optics, the industry has birthed a new vocabulary of luminescence, specifically the turquoise hue that cuts through the visual noise of red brakes and amber signals. A new dawn. This specific wavelength—chosen because it does not mimic emergency vehicles or traffic signals—serves as a beacon of transparency, telling every soul on the interstate that the ghost in the machine is awake, alert, and fundamentally incapable of distraction.

Common Inquiries Regarding Autonomous Illumination

Why was turquoise selected as the primary identification color for autonomous trucks?

Engineers and safety researchers identified turquoise as a distinct color that stands out against the saturated red of taillights and the harsh amber of turn signals, ensuring it is not confused with blue or red emergency strobes used by law enforcement.

Does the light change intensity based on the truck's operational mode?

Current SAE J3134 standards recommend that the light remains consistent when the Automated Driving System is active, providing a steady visual confirmation to nearby motorists that the vehicle is operating without human intervention.

Will these lights be visible in heavy fog or blinding snowstorms?

The placement and luminosity of ADS marker lights are designed to penetrate adverse weather conditions more effectively than standard halogen lamps, utilizing high-output LED technology that maintains clarity even when the world turns white with winter's fury.

Is there a universal language for these lights across all manufacturing brands?

While federal regulations are still maturing, the industry is coalescing around a unified set of signals to ensure that a truck manufactured in Sweden speaks the same visual language as one built in Texas, preventing a chaotic mosaic of conflicting signals.