Four affordable used Japanese performance car icons
Japanese icons don’t have to be expensive. These five-star stunners can be yours for under £40k
The next Japanese performance car icon is here, with the two familiar hallmarks of such a car very much present and correct: comprehensive ground-up engineering and an enormously protracted gestation time. The Toyota GR GT, with its brand-new twin-turbo V8 and aluminium architecture, is a mouthwatering prospect indeed, albeit one we won’t get behind the wheel of until 2027, and one that will cost aspiring owners in the region of £200,000. A bargain compared to the £700,000+ you’ll pay for a Lexus LFA nowadays, but expensive nonetheless.
> It’s official. The next Lexus LFA won’t get a V10
Not all Japanese icons are the preserve of YouTubers and crypto millionaires, however. Even in the realms below the £100k+ original Honda NSX and R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R the selection is generous, excellent and (of the utmost importance to most of us) affordable. Here are four five-star used Japanese performance car stars that won’t set you back any more than a quarter of the price of that wonderful new Toyota.
Toyota GR86
From £25,000
One of the very best sports cars of the last 25 years is no small claim, but it’s far from excessive when it comes to Toyota’s GR86. It’s a car resolved to an eCoty podium sitting standard, beating £200,000 hybrid supercars from Ferrari and McLaren and losing out only to Maserati’s MC20. We adored its bidability, balance, playfulness and friendliness. We also praised how it addressed the issues of the GT86 that it followed. It had more torque (184lb ft), available from 3700rpm rather than 6700rpm, a better ride, a slicker shift action for its six-speed manual and a nicer cabin. It also felt a bit more serious, in a good way, with its stiffer body and proper tyres.
> Used Toyota GR86 (2022 - 2024) review – short-lived sports car brilliance
Still being relatively new, heaped with praise and rare in the grand scheme of things, prices are robust. You won’t find a used example worth owning for less than £25,000 and there are still a few things to look out for, first and foremost in this rear-driven sports car, accident damage. All being straight and true, then look to the tyres and brakes for plenty of life left, the service history for the right level of TLC and the MOT history for an insight into future issues. Desirable modifications include a baffled oil sump, to stave off oil starvation issues on track.
> Find a used Toyota GR86 here
Honda Civic Type R
From £20,000
Another giant killer from the land of the rising sun is the Honda Civic Type R. In its latter-day 300bhp+ 2-litre turbocharged form, across three generations (FK2, FK8 and FL5), it’s featured on evo Car of the Year no less than five times. The latest FL5 represents the modern Type R at its honed and well-rounded best, but the FK8 got mightily close and only improved over its four years, culminating in the fabulous (if rare and expensive) Limited Edition. Raw intensity and sharpness of response, a world-class gearshift and an eager turbocharged engine are hallmarks of all modern Type Rs, but the FK8 became a more refined and usable road car and imbued the chassis with a bit more control.
> Used Honda Civic Type R (FK8, 2017 - 2022) review – 169mph hot hatch bargain
The FK8 is the Goldilocks Type R, not just because it’s better resolved than the FK2, but also because it offers 90 per cent of the excellence of the FL5 that succeeded it for less than half the price. FK8s are around from £20,000, which sounds like a bargain compared to the £50,000+ the new Type R commands (albeit not for much longer). Being a Honda, it’s also largely unbustable in terms of reliability, unless you find third when you were looking for fifth. Still, evidence of regular servicing and life left in the brakes and tyres will be desirable. These cars are driven hard, so an example that’s been looked after is what you want.
> Find a used Honda Civic Type R here
Mazda MX-5 2.0
From £12,000
We’ve not always been head-over-heels for the ND MX-5, which sounds a strange thing for us to say of a circa 1 ton, manual, naturally aspirated sports car. Nonetheless, in its earlier years it was just a bit rough around the edges. With the addition of a proper 180bhp 2-litre engine and limited-slip diff, it was significantly elevated. Likewise with the fitment of Bilstein suspension and slightly more supportive Recaro seats. It reached eCoty giant-killer status last year, taking joint second with a McLaren Artura, thanks to its latest update, which revised the steering and differential. Nonetheless, an older 2-litre is still a great car.
> Mazda MX-5 review – Japan’s lightweight sports car icon endures
They’re not cars that suffer ill treatment gladly, mind. The wonderful manual transmission can eat synchros from new, let alone after thousands of miles of crude use, so make sure your chosen car shifts nicely. As well as accident damage, check for rust – strange for a new-ish car, but not necessarily for an MX-5. All MX-5s are light on their feet and so have cheap-to-replace tyres and brakes. Nonetheless, good health in them will save you expenses early into ownership, which is possible for a 2-litre ND MX-5 from £12,000.
Nissan GT-R
From £35,000
Skyline GT-Rs of old aren’t what you’d call affordable anymore, with R33s and R32s in the kind of original condition you’d want being priced at no less than £60,000. Meanwhile a nice R34 is £100,000-plus at minimum. Surely that makes the R35 Nissan GT-R, the supercar-slaying reimagination that beat the 911 Turbo on the way to eCoty victory in 2008 – and in plenty of group tests since – a bit of a bargain? Its ATTESA-ETS four-wheel drive made it astonishingly versatile, while still being willing and playful. The raw twin-turbo VR38DETT V6 engine was explosively potent and hungry for action, and the whole car was just shot through with an industrial, fire and brimstone flavour of theatre. That they were devastatingly fast, in a straight line, across ground and around a circuit, almost goes without saying.
> Nissan GT-R (R35, 2009 - 2025) review – the Porsche 911 Turbo’s greatest rival
All that can be had from just £35,000, albeit for an earlier car. Later cars featured power increased to over 500bhp, more nuanced damping for a better ride and, in cars from 2017 onwards, revised styling and a higher-quality interior. But a GT-R is a GT-R, in that they all deliver a unique and addictive thrill behind the wheel. They can be capricious to own, with both the transmission and AWD system known for their issues. Likewise, be sure the adaptive dampers, enormous tyres and brakes are in rude health on your chosen example. The engines require regular and expert maintenance, and as much as a dyno sheet showing over 1000bhp might widen your eyes, be sure any modifications have been undertaken by reputable parties – Litchfield are our well-known GT-R modifiers and maintainers of choice.
> Find a used Nissan GT-R here
Will the Toyota GR GT join the ranks of these beloved modern Japanese icons? We’ll find out, if not as soon as we’d like…
