10 Best Cars the USA NEVER GOT

Welcome to Best Car Guy. In this blog, I want to discuss something that really grinds my gears and downright gets my goat. The fact that there are tons and tons of sick cars sold practically everywhere else in the world that were never available in the US. I'm talking turbocharged, four-wheel-drive hatchbacks, station wagons that make all kinds of V8 noises, race-ready supercars, and even trucks. Trucks! We freaking love trucks in America. So why did some of our favorite car companies neglect to make some of our favorite cars available to us? Today I'm gonna explore 10 of the best cars we never got in America, This is The List.

First stop, we got the Holden Maloo R8 LSA. A 6.2 liter, supercharged, V8-powered truck with a muscle car front that we didn't get in America. Now, this bright green, sheep rustling machine produces 583 horsepower. And did I mention? It's got a freaking truck bed. So, surely it would be available in the US. Correct? So, why didn't we get it? Chickens. The Chicken Tax is a 25%import tariff imposed way back in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as retaliation to France and West Germany placing their own tariff on the US exported chickens. Now the Chicken Tax applied to foreign-produced trucks as well as potato starch, dextrin, and brandy. Now that same year, the tax was lifted on everything but the trucks. And the Truck Tax remains to this day. So that is one of the reasons that you don't own a Holden. But the biggest reason you can't own a Holden is that their owners, GM, have decided that after 160 years, they will be retiring the Holden brand in 2020 and ceasing all production. That's right. Holden is owned by an American company and has been since like the '30s, but still, we didn't even get any. Okay yeah, I know, technically we did get some Holdens with American badges on them like the Pontiac G8. But, they didn't have that sick badge and none of them had a truck bed. But brace yourselves guys and gals because this isn't even the only American car on this list.

Ford RS200. - Now this one, this one really stinks Ford. Our very own Ford, Detroit's favorite son, produced the RS200, a road-going version of their legendary mid-80s Group B rally car that you could buy and drive on the street as long as you didn't live in America. Now this car was what's known as a homologation special. Essentially, a race car made legal for road use and sold in extremely limited numbers in order to convince the racing governing bodies that the car is a production car and not a race car developed purely for racing. Although, I want to make it very clear. That is exactly what all of them were. Now much like the rally car version that it homologated, this little boy toy had a mid-engine, all-wheel drive configuration, and retained many of the same ultra cool, ultra-strong, lightweight race car parts. It was conceived and built by Ford in the UK and was powered by a 1.8 liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine that came from legendary tuners. Cosworth. Now in base form, it produced 250 horsepower, but here's the thing. You can order it from the factory with a bunch of the technology, not exactly, strictly Go Rally stuff in it which reportedly brought the power up to over 350 horsepower in the '80s. Look at how small this thing is. That's certified bonkers. Certified bonkers. It had a 5-speed manual transmission and not one, not two, but three limited-slip differentials. One upfront, one at the rear, and one in the middle. Now I'm not a science man. So I'm not sure if that'snot enough or too many. But, it does sound very cool. Only 146 of these cars were ever made. Some have been imported all over the world. And honestly, a lot of them have crashed. But while I'm on the subject, allow me to reel off a few more homologation specials which we, unlucky Americans, did not get.

Lancia Stratos. - Now the Lancia Stratos was arguably the first car ever designed specifically to be a rally car in a race on mixed surfaces. This terrifying, to-drive hatchback was homologated in crazy low numbers to allow it to compete in the World Rally Championship in the 1970s. Designed by legendary designer Marcello Gandini. during his time in Italian styling house Bertone. It was powered by a 2.4liter Ferrari V6 poured from the Dino which produced 190 horsepower, and can launch the car from zero to 60 on practically any surface in 6.8 seconds. Which, let me tell you, was fast for the '70s. Fun fact. At one point, the Stratos was the shortest production car in the world. Now let me tell you. In terms of racing, the Lanciawas a phenomenal success. I mean, how could it not be? Everything it was racing against, was basically a heavily-modified economy car. But this boy was specially built to race on gravel, dirt, tarmac, and as a result, it cleaned the F up. Winning the World RallyChampionships in 1974, '75 and '76. Step off Doctor Disrespect. Because this is the three-time. Now the Stratos is truly, truly one of the greatest race cars of all time. And not to mention a design icon just like Nolan. 500 cars were made, all sold in Europe, and ever since we kicked England's butt in 1776, America ain't part of Europe. So yeah, we did not get them.

Renault 5 Turbo. - Another icon of world rally for over a decade. The Renault 5 started out as a plucky, gutless little car for French peasants and farm workers. But then one day with the rallying on the brains, some crazy SOB decided to cut a hole in the floor and mounted a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine in the middle of the car. Most mid-engine cars don't look like this. I mean, who was that guy? To find out, check out ourUp To Speed episode, right. Renault was supposed to build 400 of these homologation specials in order to qualify the car to race, but demand was so fierce that they ended up building close to 2,000, and guess what, we got a version in the States. Of course, it didn't have a turbo, the engine was in the front, and it only made 51 horsepower. So, whomp, whomp. Which brings me to the next reason some cars don't make it into American soil. And that has to do with marketing. Now during a car's development, the marketing department of the manufacturer will take the temperature of the car market in different countries, and decide if there's enough interest to cover their investment in said market. Now there were no 5 Turbo, and other really fast awesome cars like it are expensive to make. So if Renault was gonna sell the Renault 5 Turbo here, they'd have to sell a lot more of the base Renault 5sjust to cover the cost. Now in America, the R5was known as Le Car. And it did not do very well at all. We didn't buy Le Car, therefore we didn't get Renault 5 Turbo. Basically, it's our own damn fault.

Porsche 993 GT2. - Now the 993 variant of the Porsche 911 is, in my opinion, the best looking 911. And it was the last air-cooled model before things got a little watery. We got the Carrera S and Turbo S models. Although, the GT2 was the top dog performance-wise. Arguably, the pinnacle of air-cooled Porsche performance. It was a version of the 993Turbo derived from racing, and the FIA's GT2 category. Basically, it's the pinnacle of where sports cars can race. The FIA had placed a virtual ban on all all-wheel-drive due to Audi's dominance across all platforms with the introduction of Quattro all-wheel drive. And so, 993 GT2 was an arear-engined, rear-wheel-drive car that weighed 2,855 pounds and produced an absolute belly button tingling 444 horsepower. Now the 993 GT2 is probably my favorite Porsche, but they're a little bit out of my price range. Our next car is what I have deemed my attainable dream car. I want one so bad. It's an Audi with a five-cylinder engine, which I love, I got one going in my Golf, that's covered in Porsche parts.

Audi RS2 Avant. - Audi's made a lot of fast wagons. But the car that started their fast wagon legacy was the tough, little boxy boy with sweet performance cred which sadly, we never got over in America. The 1994 Audi RS2 Avant was the first Audi to carry the RS badge. What's even cooler than that? It was jointly developed and built by Porsche. A ton of parts on this car came directly from a 911. All right? Now, look at a Porsche 964, okay? Now, look at an Audi RS2. They got the same wheels, they got the same mirrors, they got the same weird wrap-around turn signals. The brake calipers even say Porsche on it for crap sakes. I love this car so much that I wish it was my daughter. The engine is a 2.2 liter, inline 5 from which Audi produces 311 horsepower and 308 pound-feet of torque. All of which was set down to the ground via the legendary rally derived Audi Quattro all-wheel-drive system. It's like they took all my favorite things from Audi. Five cylinder motors, turbos,all-wheel drive, hatchbacks, and all of my favorite things from the 993 Porsche. The mirrors, the wheels, the brakes, and side markers. Now this car would do zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds. And had it not the unfast top speed of 166 miles per. It's zero to 62 because it was probably measured in kilometers, zero to 100. Now, this truly was the first fast Euro wagon and kicked off the trend for all the awesome fast family hollers that we have today. I'm talking about M5, Volvo V70R, Cadillac CTS-V. None of those boys would even exist without the Audi RS2. I want one so bad, you guys. Speaking of turbocharged cars with all-wheel drive, you knew it was coming.

Nissan Skyline GT-R. - Now I wasn't even gonna include a Skyline on this list. Because I feel like we talk about them so much on Donut. Also, there's a ton of generations, and I like all of them for very different reasons. But I decided to include the R33 GT-R because as of January 2020, you can now legally import them in the US. It is such a '90s Jdm Poster car and was powered by twin-turbocharged 2.6 liters, inline 6 which produced 276horsepower at 6,800 RPM. Now that engine was carried over from the arguably more influential R32, but the R33 was more aerodynamic and faster. Do you guys remember when you're playing PlayStation and you saw a Skyline for the first time and you were like, "Why is this Maximus so fast?" Didn't make any freaking sense. Because they were never sold here. But why? Well, this brings me to the main reason that the R33 GT-R and most of the other cars on this list don't make it here. Regulations. Basically, 99.9% of the countries in the world make their cars to a safety standard made up by the United Nations economic commission for Europe. Now the US has its very own set of rules. And that's why we have worse taillights, uglier bumpers, stricter emission standards. But it goes deeper than just emissions. We're not out here trying to save the world, okay? Now some people say these different regulations could be a form of anon-tariff trade barrier. Basically, the US is making it financially ineffective for foreign automakers to import their cars so that we'll just buy American cars. So if a car company wants to bring a car here, they got to know that they're gonna sell a ton of them. And sadly, that doesn't often happen for high performance, low-volume production cars like the GT-R family. So basically, at the end of the day, we didn't get the GT-Rs or most other cars on this list because of politics. But sometimes, a company has already federalized, say, the sedan version of a car and they neglect to give us the arguably cooler wagon version. Just out of pure spite.

BMW E61 M5 Touring. - Now BMW deciding not to make a wagon variant of their current or previous M5, this is the last fast M5wagon that you can own. It's powered by naturally-aspirated V10, and a 7 speed manual transmission, developed import by the BMW Sauber Formula 1 Team. And during its production run, it was the fastest wagon in the world with the ability to top out at 190 miles per hour if you ordered it with the M performance package from the factory. Now America got around 8,800 M5s during the five years this generation was made. But they were all sedans. Also known as E60s and none of them had the rad 7 speed manual transmission. We even got a base 5 series wagon here just without any M stuff. So you got this fun stuff, and you got the wagon part, why don't just put them together for us? It's frustrating. Just over 1,000 E61 M5 wagons were built. And this one really annoys me because they brought over the sedan, okay? Our next car answers the question, "What do you buy if you think "that the Ferrari Enzo is really tight "but it's just not fancy enough for you?"

Maserati MC12. - Yes, this is a simultaneously more fancy and more race car version of Ferrari Enzo, and somehow, it's only the second fanciest car on the list. The fanciest is the next one. But first, the MC12. One of the most under-appreciated homologation specials of all time, the MaseratiMC12 was like I said a redesigned version of the legendary Ferrari Enzo. It was made explicitly for the purpose of returning Maserati to the podium in racing some 40 years after the east meaningful campaigns with the legendary Tipo 61 Birdcages. Now at that time, Ferrari and Maserati were both owned by Fiat, and the decision was made for Ferrari to share the Enzo road car platform with Maserati to help their bros out. Maserati and their designer, American, Frank Stephenson, were allowed to change the bodywork and dimensions of the car, but they weren't allowed to touch the 6 liters,naturally-aspirated Ferrari V12 engine which had been limited by Ferrari in order to ensure that the Enzo would always just be slightly superior. That's such a Ferrari move. The Maserati still made 621 horsepower, only 29 shies of the Enzo's 650. And interestingly, lapped one second quicker around the Nurburgring than the Ferrari during testing. And though the €600,000 price tag dictated that on the inside, the Maserati be luxuriously anointed with Alcantara® and leather pretty much everywhere, these things were incredibly powerful and had a reputation for being hard to manage on the open road. I mean, because duh. The MC12 was totally dominant in FIA GT. Basically, again, that's where cars based on amazing road cars go to a race. It won 40 races, 16 titles, two constructors' championships, and six drivers' championships. When I die, this is the car I want. I'm gonna be up in heaven with Tupac, and Carroll Shelby, and we all have Maseratisand we're drag racing just from light to light in heaven Paris. We all just got babes on our arms, or going to David Bowie's house for a party. But we're responsible though, so after the party, we're gonna leave outMC12s at Bowie's house, and have my chauffeur pick me up in the fanciest car the planet has ever seen and the number one car on this list.

Toyota Century. - That's right, you didn't see that coming. The fanciest car in the world is a freaking Yota boy. Our D-List is crowned by what I think is one of the coolest cars ever produced and sold outside of the United States. Period. This is a car so cool, so exclusive, that Toyota literally chooses who they want to sell it to. A car so timeless, it is owned by Japanese royalty. A car so luxuriously appointed, it would be embarrassing to be seen driving it when you could be being driven in it. There have been three generations of the Century. The first was a V8 powered sedan, and that was offered from1967 all the way through 1997. That's 30 years. That's longer than Nolan. Then from '97 to 2007, the Century took on significant updates including a total redesign and most importantly, a V12 engine. That's right, a Japanese V12. This was an engine so significant and important to Toyota that not even Lexus was allowed to borrow it and use it in any of their vehicles. The newest Century is powered by a V8 again, but this time it has the Lexus LS Hybrid system, and the price begins at a cool 19,844,370 yen. In dollars, that's about 180,000 bucks. It's classy, it's classy. Pure freaking class. Now where a Rolls Royce fandoms interior is lined with a skin of 17 Scottish cattle who've never been bitten by a mosquito or even seen a barb wire fence for fears that they could mark their perfect hides. The Century's interiors laden with miles and miles of soft, breathable, not squeaky when you're sweaty wool. The car is hand-painted and there's only four people in the world who Toyotadeemed skilled enough to apply the seven coats of lacquer which comprised the form, the Century's mirror-like sheen. The hood ornament. A celestial rooster named Hoo. Oh, hello Hoo. Hello James. Well, thank you for stopping by today. No problem, James. And it takes 45 days to carve. The interior wood paneling is sanded for 15 hours to ensure the perfect fit and finish. All panels are assembled and finished completely by hand. This car is a work of art, guys. Less than 10% of Centuryowners will ever sit behind the wheel of their car according to Toyota. This is why so much time and effort is spent making sure that the interior is a symphony of form and function. Think Rolls Royce but classier. Now recently, someone asked Toyota if they ever plan to sell the most luxurious vehicle outside of Japan. And Toyota engineer, MasatoTanabe, answered "No. "No." That's cool. That's cool, that's cool, that's cool, that's cool. A total of 27 Centurieshave ever been sold to people outside of Japan. And I'm talking new, not like the second market. Some of them were to Germany, some of them were to Australians, a couple British ones, and some in the United Arab Emirates. But legend has it if you live anywhere near Plano, Texas, and you're very very lucky and treat your mother very well, you might catch a glimpse of Ho-o on the front of a Toyota Century which has been imported under special immunity in order to chauffer visiting Toyota executives from the airport to Toyota North America HQ.