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Originally Posted by Samson
threpwood - I disagree with your originality complaint. All things considered, the 370 is a pretty good evolution of cars like the 300zx. Sure, it has some questionable design details, but they are anything but unoriginal. It has interesting features like SyncroRev.
And Japanese sport cars in general? What's unoriginal about an RX8 or S2000? Those are all very unique in their own right. Rotary, real 4-door coupe (not that CLS or CC abomination), 9k redline on both cars... Sure, the MX-5 is just a modern interpretation of the classic British sports car, but it brought the entire genre back to the masses in a fun, reliable, and affordable way. Without the incredible success of the original Miata, I doubt we'd even have the Boxster.
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Ah yes the engine. Of course, most car makers have their own uniqueness in their engines because engine is the backbone, but what I was referring to is the overall design of the car to the eyes of the drivers, which IMO truly lacks the originality.
I noticed that many of these Japanese car makers is trying too hard to make these sport cars to 'look' like Porsches, Ferraris etc which they are not. That is why I said these Japanese car makers are lacking originality and 'lost' because to make something look "good", they must copy the current European style and make these cars into something that they are not. For example, for the thing as simple as A/C vent, how many Japanese sports car or even passenger cars that now have that European-style round A/C vent?
As for the Japanese car makers trying to be original, a good example is probably Toyota Prius (not a sports car but a good example). The car has a very good invented engine, but they are truly lacking in the design department because the car looks like a running rice cooker or microwave-oven for trying to look 'futuristic'. In the next few years, I am quite positive that they will get a photograph of newer Porsche coupe, Maseratti etc and totally rebuild the shape of the car based on that styles.
As for American sport cars, I am kind of glad that it went back to the basic style of muscle cars, such as Mustang & Camaro because it shows the originality of the product.