FooD2000

I've been comtemplating about this whole "domestic vs Import," ordeal. I often get a lot of shit for my Honda from the domestic guys and it bothered me to have something that I put a lot of effort into and which I’m very proud of to be tease. But before I get into it lemme give you guys a little story.

I've been into the game for 1.5 years, Started with an ls, now I have a gsr. I work at autozone with guys who have a variety of cars, Grand national, Probe, 5.0, type-r, harley and a honda RR. We all get along very well but as I go beyond the work place I see alot of demestic guys who look at our cars and shake their heads and I see import guys who go "dude, Intake! Exhuast! Gray bumper! I take 5.0’s all day." Lots of dumb arguments I hear all the time but one premise that bothers me is coming from the domestic guys, “if you really wanted horsepower, there’s no replacement for displacement. If the goal is speed why not just invest in a cheap 5.0?” I mean besides the cosmetic / reliability aspect. I’ve always pondered, why not go domestic? If I wanted serious power, the way to go is more displacement is it not? Who else gains 30 hp to the wheels from an intake? Why do I still like my import when obviously domestic’s power output just has so much more potential then my 4 banger? Am I stubborn? Why did I choose import in the first place?

What I’ve come up with to answer this question, after speaking to different people, is that import is just what my current generation is into. Like hot rods, muscle and now import. I grew up in California which has a vast variety of cars. Although there are so many choices… why did I choose import? When I look around I see generally 18-24 year olds in Hondas, Celicas, Mitsu etc… But when I look around at Cameros, corvettes or challengers forsay… I see older 25+ ages. My first reason for buying an import was basically social status. I needed and car and I figured well, why not get something cool like an integra. After I bought the car, I wanted to make it faster so I can race (anyone else start out like this ?). Then I spent time learning about cars and really learned to enjoy reading and became fascinated with it.

One way I like to look at it is imports (especially the 4 banger), is just in a different class. Like you’ve got walter weights, light and heavy. We’re in a different class but basically playing the same sport. You don’t see heavy weights fighting walter weights.

How do I feel about the domestic side? I really dislike how they look at our cars and don’t give me the respect I deserve. Although it frustrates me when Domestics guys don’t take the time to try to sort of understand why we’re into our cars. Constantly telling us what’s the point, a fart can won’t make you faster but I can also sympathize why they feel that way. By now… all the “ricers” of the muscle car era have sort of drifted off so all that remains are the real car enthusiast. So… when they look at what we’re doing, they see all the idiots with all sorts of weird wings, lights and different colored rims. Stuff which I know their generations did as well (one way or another). By the time our imports are no longer considered a “young” thing, we’ll be the ones who dog the ricers of our kids .

Imports: Well… of course I love them due to their eye candy and I love the personalization aspect of the aftermarket production lines. I also love the reliable factor (Hondas / Toyotas ;P), love the cars. As for the social crowd? Most import guys out there are all in it for the social status which is fine. But as most guys will tell you it’s when they mod their cars to “look fast” (look up rice and you’ll find this definition). This is one of the very frustrating part of the import scene. It’s being a poser and liar in the car enthusiast’s eyes.

No matter if you have an import, go kart or domestic. I think one of the most important aspect is to do as much of the work yourself as possible. I have a lot of respect for people who work on their own cars because I know how hard it is. Also how rewarding it is when you do a good clean project. Problem solving and planning. For ex: If you cheat on a test… sure the end result maybe the same but you don’t get the full effect for the class. If you study and worked hard on it, not only did you work for it. You got something out of it in the end. Same thing with cars, do it yourself and in the end it’s more beneficial.

Well.. my question? What are your guy’s views on this whole spiel? I’m just looking for other people’s conclusions on this sort of Domestic guys Vs Imports. Hopefully I get some good responses , if you bash me give me a reason so I can rebuttal.

Brar

cliffs?

9600baud

Take it to the basement

Ninj4r

On a totally different score...
I think it's astonishing that the "there's no replacement for displacement" thing is kinda shot out of the water nowadays...

nothing more incredible than being able to get someone from an engine half the size.

honura

I got into the honda game with I was 16. I am now 26 years old. My first Honda was a 91 civic si with a 94 integra gsr motor. Now Back then we did swaps alll Fed up!! Cutting wires and cutting this that. I remember when this was a luxury. Now a days seems like all hondas are modded. Anyways. I love the pure fact of getting into my car and ripping on it just because that's what I love. I love love love to hear that motor rev up. There is nothing like a honda motor reving up. Domestic side of it ehh I respect them. Don't like most of them but there are a few out there I like. I guess it's the same way vise versa. that's my look at things.

Exadar

I really think this boils down to personal preference, not just power. Sure, us import guys could have a car with a big V8, but obviously, there is something that has drawn us to the cars we drive. I for one, also like oldschool domestics like GTO's, Camero's, Le Mans, Chargers, Challengers, etc... but for the most part, they're just too big for my taste. I mean hell, I drove my friend's 72 Pontiac Le Mans Sport that had 450 hp and it was a blast. If I was totally loaded I'd probably have a few domestics and a few imports.

Back to the issue at hand. "Why did I choose an import?"

This probably boils down to the fact that I knew I wanted a small car that would look nice, be reliable, get good gas mileage, and still be fun to drive. When I was looking at cars I eventually got it narrowed down to 1995ish Celica's or Integra's. After doing my research I realized that they were both very reliable cars, so I decided to go with the Integra because I liked the styling and the way it drove more.

As a final note, I think that the constant battle between domestic drivers and import drivers will never end, but we should all do our parts to keep this battle civil, on the track and at shows. Who knows, we all may meet a few domestic guys that are actually fun to be around one of these days :P

FooD2000

Most of the guys are my work are domestic guys, when i first worked there they were very reluctent to listen about what i had to say but they eventually opened up. Being a student, that was one of the main factors why i choose an import as well, the reliability factor. Another factor i didn't enclude was the fact that out cars have good handling. Although... 1/30 people actually autox.

It took a while before i felt my co-workers start to appreciate my import, esphecially after i took them for a ride around corners (yay for suspension) and beating my friend at the strip (Grand national, he runs 9.4's on the 1/8 now but it took a while to get it down). Before it was constant jokes and teasing, it gets to you eventually.

You know... actually when i'm down at the strip, I get complements from domestic and import owners.

shirley

i joined the dark side with my gsr but before that i was a hardcore domestic...i grew up with a father who could name just about any car by the exhaust. and has had just about every muscle car their ever was from the gt500 to the grand torinos with the super cobra jets...ive always loved the big domestics and always will..

now the imports well they are another type of fun altogether. its something that combines excellent reliability and endless performance options. also in my area of northern michigan u dont exactly see alot of modded hondas...so it was a market for me that seemed untapped and i decided to try my hand as i was a first of a kind in my town.

when it comes to diehards i can tell you just me having my car and doing the little bit ive been doing ive raised awareness of the hardcore domestic builders quite a lot...at first they laughed at me and now they respect me because ive shown them what u can do with a honda motor when u take ur time and do the right research.

all in all im diehard domestic to the end...today is a good example why. we just got done doing a small block for this kid, his first motor. well we had it on our stand and we are running it open headers and the minute u rev that bitch up it sends shivers down ur back. cant hear urself talk and leaves a ring to the ears. no import will ever compare for me.

1turbodc2

i use to have a domestic, and to be honest i got tired of all the problems, don't get me wrong i have nothing but respect for the guyz who own them, but now that i have a turbo gsr, i get laughed at by the domestics cause they think they can smoke my ass (the funny part is they can't touch me and my 1.8 liters) i think a lot of the domestic guyz are just fed up with the "rice cars", which is not the type of cars u generally see here, and need to do a little more research and see the vas potential fo our 4 bangers, and the guyz who are innovating the import scence with the endless motor swaps, boost applications and so forth!!

TheOtherDave™

I respectfully disagree.

I think this is a good topic, one worthy of keeping here for the time being.
The time will come when this group of Integra owners will move on.
And it's been a while since we've had a really in-depth discussion on what we plan to do after we're done with the Integra platform.

Just keep it civil and on-topic.

That means NO FLAMING or FLAMEBAITING.