The quality of Japanese cars at large speaks for itself. From the expertise of SlashGear’s Ivo Gievski, these are 13 of the best-looking ones ever made.
Japan is the third largest producer of cars after China and the U.S. The world’s biggest automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation, also comes from Japan. Crucially, Japanese automakers have built a reputation for building cars with unique selling points. Go back to post-war Japan, though, and things were wildly different. Copycat cars that borrowed design and even mechanical parts from American models were the norm. What about the reliability and quality you’d associate with today’s Japanese cars? Non-existent. To put it bluntly — they were bland in almost every way.
Fast forward to today, and JDM culture gave us some mythical four-wheel machines. Engineered to perfection, fast, and often equipped with world-beating technologies, these JDM legends have put a stamp on car culture — without copycat designs. Not only did Japanese automakers stop replicating their rivals, but they also pioneered new design signatures that stood the test of time. In this piece, we’ll celebrate these historically good designs and tell you more about their fascinating history.
Here are 13 of the best-looking Japanese cars ever made!Toyota 2000GT (1965 to 1967)
At the beginning of the 1960s, Toyota was far from the unstoppable force it is today. It had just entered the North American market in 1957 as Toyopet, but its offering, the Crown, wasn’t particularly attractive. The world-beating Corolla was still in development, while the Corona had shown some positive sales figures when it launched in 1965. Still, Toyota needed a halo car to truly draw attention to its brand — and exhibit its engineering prowess. In 1965, the company showcased the 2000GT — Japan’s first-ever supercar.
Jointly developed with Yamaha, the 2000GT wowed everyone at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show. The svelte GT was equipped with a 2.0-liter DOHC inline-6 sourced from Yamaha, good for 148 horsepower — an outstanding figure for such a small engine of the era. It also had double wishbones on both axels for better handling and rack-and-pinion steering for more precise inputs. The 2000GT was so good that it set three world endurance speed records in the 1,500 to 2,000cc category.
The Toyota 2000GT was even cooler than the sum of its parts – low slung, streamlined but with emphasized wheel arches, and with perfect proportions, the 2000GT is a letter-perfect GT car. Still, it also had unique features, like pop-up headlights and wraparound windows, which added to its character. Toyota also produced a one-off convertible for the “You Only Live Twice” James Bond movie, which looks equally stunning. Overall, just 337 2000GTs were sold, making it one of the rarest Japanese cars ever.Mazda Cosmo 110S (1967 to 1972)
Toyota wasn’t the only Japanese company trying its hand at a high-class sports car in the 1960s. Mazda had already shown the gorgeous Cosmo 110S at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show, drawing a lot of attention to its brand. Unlike Toyota, Mazda went in a different direction. Mazda started developing the iconic Wankel rotary engine in 1961, and the Cosmo 110S was the car that would demonstrate its performance benefits.
Mazda carefully engineered every aspect of the engine for six years to ensure that the rotary was ready for primetime. Finally, after developing seals made from high-strength carbon infused with aluminum, which proved reliable in high-speed endurance tests, Mazda launched the production version of the Cosmo 110S in 1967.
Consisting of two 491cc rotors, the 1.0-liter engine was good for 110 horsepower and 96 lb-ft of torque and a high 7,000-rpm redline. Thanks to the car’s low weight of 2,100 pounds, the tiny rotary was enough for a 0-60 sprint of 10 seconds and a top speed of 115 mph. Pretty good for a 1967 sports car, but more importantly, the Cosmo 110S started the lineage of Mazda’s unique rotary sports cars.
It also showed Mazda could produce very attractive machines. The low-slung body with clean, flowing lines exudes charm and finesse like the Italian sports cars of the era. Still, the jet-age details, similar to American cars, give the 110S quite a unique, retro-futuristic design signature. Pure visual poetry — from any angle.Mazda RX-7 FD (1992 to 2002)
The Cosmo 110S was a dream start for Mazda’s rotary journey, but the FD-generation RX-7 is undoubtedly the highest point. Cut for the same cloth as its predecessor — a svelte, low-slung body powered by an advanced Wankel engine — the final RX-7 became famous in automotive circles.
Looking at RX-7’s stunning shape, it’s easy to see why. Easily one of the best-looking Japanese cars ever made, it combines perfect sports car proportions with organic “coke-bottle” surfaces. The long sloping nose, pop-up headlights, short rear deck with unique lighting, cabin that sits almost in the middle, and expertly sculpted body, give it that perfect GT look. It looks fast, but in a graceful kind of way.
However, the Mazda RX-7 isn’t one of the most iconic JDM cars just because of its looks. The FD is the culmination of the RX-7 nameplate, with the previous two generations also revered in the JDM community. Notably, FD’s twin-turbo, twin-rotor 1.3-liter rotary is the stuff of legends, producing up to 252 horsepower in the JDM version. Thanks to the 2,800-pound curb weight, that’s enough for a 0-60 spring of 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 156 mph. Crucially, Mazda positioned the 13B near the middle in a “front-mid” engine configuration for a perfect 50-50 weight distribution, resulting in balanced, dialed-in handling.Datsun 240Z/Nissan Fairlady Z (1970 to 1973)
No JDM sports car story is complete without the Z in it. Nissan’s lineage of front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports cars is still alive, with the latest Nissan Z successfully carrying the heritage burden in terms of performance and design. Still, it can’t hold a candle to the first Z sports car — the Datsun 240Z, known in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z.
