Used Japanese Vehicles which you may try not to look out for

Article Source : http://www.web2carz.com/autos/buying-and-selling/3479/nine-japanese-cars-to-look-forward-to

Nine Japanese Cars to Look Forward To Rising stars from The Land of the Rising Sun... by Andrew Krok

 

This week, Automotive News released a series of articles describing its vision for the five-year product pipeline of Japan’s Big Three automakers (Honda, Toyota, and Nissan). It’s a compilation of rumors and facts that attempts to paint a picture of what we can expect from imported vehicles through the end of the decade. There’s a lot of potential in these projected timelines, and while not every bit is exciting, there are plenty of things over which to geek out.

It’s not all sports cars, either; there are exciting products for every segment and for every buyer, for a number of different reasons. Let’s see what they’ve got planned:

9. 2017 Nissan Maxima

Nissan’s always called the Maxima its “four-door sports car,” but between the continuously-variable transmission, middling engine choices, and tired styling, the Maxima appears anything but sporty. That will change with the next-gen Maxima, though; we’ve already seen its concept at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, and it promises styling that’s far more aggressive and in line with Nissan’s other new cars. Looks aren’t everything, but they sure do help.

8. 2016 Toyota Prius

Look around you. Like it or not, the Prius remains the most ubiquitous hybrid on the road, and frankly, we’re getting tired of looking at it. That’s why we’re excited for the 2016 Prius, which should undergo a complete redesign on one of Toyota’s new multi-vehicle platforms. AN reports that fourth-gen Prius buyers will be able to choose between two different kinds of batteries (lithium-ion versus nickel-metal hydride) to add variety in both cost and gas mileage. These cars are still selling like hotcakes, and a good redesign could send those numbers even higher.
(Spy shots courtesy Autoblog)

7. 2017 Honda Ridgeline

Honda’s truck is a bit of an odd bird. People who own them love them, but traditional truck owners shunned the idea of a unibody pickup truck. Honda will stick to its guns for the next-gen Ridgeline, building it off the MDX/Pilot platform, so it will retain that unibody structure. If it wants to remain a viable choice for truck buyers, it’s going to need some seriously strong towing and hauling numbers. Considering modern unibody crossovers can perform just as well as body-on-frame SUVs, without the handling characteristics of a pontoon boat, this gives the Ridgeline some promise for more casual truck owners.

6. 2015 Honda HR-V

The HR-V is Honda’s new small crossover, based off the diminutive Fit’s platform. It slots in beneath the CR-V, and it should stand as good competition against other micro-crossovers like the upcoming Jeep Renegade, albeit with a bit less utility. AN says that Honda will attempt to maximize usable space by moving the gas tank to the front of the car, giving the rear seats plenty of room to fold flat into the HR-V’s floor. That could provide it with the suburban sales boost that it needs – after all, mini crossovers tend to sacrifice cargo space for rear-seat comfort, so this could be a good mix between the two.

5. 2016 Lexus GS-F

Japanese automakers don’t have too many sporty luxury cars. As it currently stands, Lexus’s highest-powered sedans are hybrid models that aren’t designed to go toe-to-toe with cars like the BMW M5 and Audi S7/RS7. That’s going to change with the introduction of the Lexus GS-F, which will shove a powerful V-8 underhood in an attempt to capture some more of the luxury-enthusiast crowd. You won’t hear anyone complain when adding more power to a car that’s already endlessly comfortable.
(Spy shots courtesy MotorAuthority)

4. 2015 Lexus RC

The last Lexus IS coupe was pretty awful, and we said as much in our latest review of the Lexus IS convertible. Thankfully, Lexus also realized this, and it’s remedied the situation by creating the Lexus RC. The RC is the coupe variant of Lexus’s newly-redesigned IS sedan, and it’s far more attractive than any previous IS coupe. It looks like Lexus is finally taking styling and sportiness seriously, which should help it gain some market share against its German competition.

3. 2017+ Honda Civic

The last Honda Civic redesign was so poorly received that Honda pushed the refreshed sedan to market just one year after it was originally released. Hopefully, that will change with Honda’s next-gen Civic, slated to appear sometime during or after the 2017 model year. At that point, Honda should replace the Civic’s tired old naturally-aspirated engines in favor of the brand’s Earth Dreams turbocharged motors. Honda’s been chastised of late for being boring, but a Civic revamp stands as the perfect way to re-enter the compact market swinging.
(2014 model shown)

2. 2018 Toyota Supra

Enthusiasts, rejoice; Toyota is working hard on bringing back the storied Supra nameplate, a badge it hasn’t used since the 1990s. This is actually going to be a joint venture with BMW, and according to AN, it will be a proper sports car – no hybrid systems, no all-wheel-drive nonsense, just two driven wheels out back and a high-horsepower motor up front. A well-received Supra would stand as a huge middle finger to everybody that’s called Toyota out as nothing more than an appliance manufacturer (a complaint we ourselves have levied).

1. 2017 Honda NSX

No, we aren’t talking about the Acura NSX concept. A source at Honda told AN that the Japanese OEM is looking to create a lower-priced variant of the Acura-branded sports car, to which it will affix a Honda badge. The Acura NSX boasts a complicated hybrid system underneath its metal (a component that will send the Acura’s MSRP into the ionosphere), and so the Honda version could sport just a motor and nothing more. Truth be told, we’d probably be more interested in that version, as it’s much closer in relation to the NSX of yore, a car that had Ayrton Senna’s seal of approval.
(Acura NSX spy shots courtesy Autoblog)