10 Best Cars the USA NEVER GOT

- Hello everyone, today I want to talk to you about something that really makes me nervous and bothers me. The fact that there are tons and tons of amazing

cars

sold practically all over the world that were

never

available in the US. I'm talking turbocharged four-wheel drive hatchbacks, pickup trucks that make all kinds of V8 noises, super race-ready

cars

and even trucks. Trucks! We love trucks in America. So why did some of our favorite car companies refuse to make some of our favorite cars available to us? Today I'll explore 10 of the

best

cars we

never

got in America, as well as some of the reasons we never got them.

So wash your hands and close the doors, this is my new show because we were bored. This is List D. - Number 10. - First stop, we get the Holden Maloo R8 LSA. A truck with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine and a muscular front end that we didn't have in the United States. Now, this bright green sheep-stealing machine produces 583 horsepower. And did I mention it? It has a damn truck bed. So it would surely be available in the US. Correct? - Access denied. - So why don't we get it? Chickens. The chicken tax is a 25% import tariff imposed back in 1964 by President Lyndon B.

Johnson in retaliation against France and West Germany who imposed their own tariffs on chickens exported to the United States. The chicken tax now applied to foreign-produced trucks, as well as potato starch, dextrin and brandy. That same year, the tax was eliminated on everything except trucks. And the Truck Tax remains to this day. That's one of the reasons he doesn't own a Holden. But the main reason you can't own a Holden is because its owners, GM, have decided that after 160 years, they will retire the Holden brand in 2020 and cease all production. That's how it is. Holden is owned by an American company and has been since the 1930s, but still, we never got any.

Okay, yes, I know, technically we got some American-badged Holdens like the Pontiac G8. But they didn't have that sick plate and none of them had a truck bed. But get ready, boys and girls, because this isn't even the only American car on this list. - Number nine, Ford RS200. - Now this one, this one really sucks Ford. Our own Ford, Detroit's favorite son, produced the RS200, a road-going version of its 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. This car was what is known as a special homologation.

Essentially, a race car legalized for road use and sold in extremely limited numbers to convince racing's governing bodies that the car is a production car and not a race car developed exclusively for racing. Although I want to make it very clear. That's exactly what they all were. Now, much like the version of the rally car he homologated, this little kid's toy had a mid-engine configuration, all-wheel drive, and retained many of the same ultra-cool, ultra-strong, and lightweight parts from the race car. It was conceived and built by Ford in the United Kingdom and was powered by a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine sourced from legendary tuners.

Cosworth. Now in its base form, it produced 250 horsepower, but here's the thing. You can order it from the factory with a bunch of technical stuff, not exactly, strictly Go Rally, which supposedly raised the power to over 350 horsepower in the '80s. Look how small this thing is. That's certified crazy. Certified crazy. It had a 5-speed manual transmission and not one, not two, but three limited slip differentials. One in front, one behind and one in the middle. Now I am no longer a man of science. So I'm not sure if that's too little or too much. But it sounds very good.

Only 146 of these cars were manufactured. Some have been imported from all over the world. And honestly, a lot of them have crashed. But while I'm on the subject, let me tell you about a few more homologation specials that we unfortunate Americans couldn't take advantage of. - Number 8, Lancia Stratos. - Now, the Lancia Stratos was arguably the first car designed specifically to be a rally car in a race on mixed surfaces. This terrifying to drive hatchback was homologated in incredibly low numbers to allow it to compete in the World Rally Championship in the 1970s. Designed by legendary designer Marcello Gandini. during his stay at the Italian design house Bertone.

It was powered by a 2.4-liter Ferrari V6 sourced from the Dino that produced 190 horsepower and could launch the car from 0 to 60 on virtually any surface in 6.8 seconds. Which, let me tell you, was fast for the '70s. Fun fact. At one time, the Stratos was the lowest production car in the world. Now let me tell you. In racing terms, the Lancia was a phenomenal success. I mean, how could it not be? Everything I was competing against was basically a heavily modified economy car. But this guy was purpose-built to race on gravel, dirt, asphalt, and as a result, he cleaned up the F.

Winning the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Get off Doctor Disrespect. Because this is the triple. Now the Stratos is truly one of the greatest racing cars of all time. Not to mention a design icon like Nolan. 500 automobiles were made, all sold in Europe, and since we kicked England's ass in 1776, the United States has not been part of Europe. So yeah, we didn't get them. Another rally car we didn't get is... - Number seven, Renault 5 Turbo. - Another icon of the world rally for more than a decade. The Renault 5 started out as a brave and cowardly little car for French peasants and farm workers.

But one day, with rallying on the brain, some crazy son of a bitch decided to cut a hole in the floor and mounted a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine in the middle of the car. Most mid-engined cars don't look like this. I mean, who was that guy? To find out, watch our Up To Speed ​​episode, right. Renault was supposed to build 400 of these homologation specials to qualify the car for competition, but demand was so fierce that they ended up building close to 2,000, and guess what, we disliked them in the United States. Of course it didn't have a turbo, the engine was in the front and only generated 51 horsepower.

So, wow, wow! Which brings me to the next reason why some cars don't make it to US soil. And that has to do with marketing. Now, during the development of a car, the manufacturer's marketing department will take the temperature of the car market in different countries and decide if there is enough interest to cover its investment in that market. Now there was no 5 Turbo, and other impressive, really fast cars like this are expensive to make. So if Renault were to sell the Renault 5 Turbo here, they would have to sell a lot more base Renault 5s just to cover the cost.

Now in the United States, the R5 was known as Le Car. And it didn't do well at all. We didn't buy Le Car, so we didn't get the Renault 5 Turbo. Basically, it's our damn fault. - Number six, Porsche 993 GT2. - Now, the 993 variant of the Porsche 911 is, in my opinion, the most attractive 911. And it was the last air-cooled model before things got a little complicated. We have the Carrera S and Turbo S models. However, the GT2 was the

best

in terms of performance. Arguably the pinnacle of air-cooled Porsche performance. It was a version of the 993 Turbo derived from racing, and from the FIA ​​GT2 category.

Basically, it is the pinnacle where sports cars can compete. The FIA ​​had virtually banned all-wheel drive due to Audi's dominance of all platforms with the introduction of Quattro all-wheel drive. And so, the 993 GT2 was a rear-engine, rear-drive car that weighed 2,855 pounds and produced a navel-tingling 444 horsepower. Now, the 993 GT2 is probably my favorite Porsche, but it's a little out of my price range. Our next car is what I consider my attainable dream car. I want a really bad one. It's an Audi with a five-cylinder engine, which I love. I have one on my Golf, which is covered in Porsche parts. - Number five, Audi RS2 Avant. - Audi has made many fast cars.

But the car that started its fast truck legacy was the tough little boy with a sweet reputation for performance that, sadly, we never surpassed in America. The 1994 Audi RS2 Avant was the first Audi to wear the RS badge. What's even cooler than that? It was jointly developed and built by Porsche. A lot of parts on this car come straight from a 911. Okay? Now look at a Porsche 964, okay? Now look at an Audi RS2. They had the same wheels, they had the same mirrors, they had the same weird, wraparound turn signals. The brake calipers even say Porsche for goodness sake.

I love this car so much I wish it was my daughter. The engine is a 2.2-liter inline-5 that Audi produces 311 horsepower and 308 pound-feet of torque. All this was achieved thanks to the legendary rally-derived Audi Quattro all-wheel drive system. It's like they took all my favorite things away from Audi. Five-cylinder engines, turbos, all-wheel drive, hatchbacks and all my favorite things about the Porsche 993. The mirrors, wheels, brakes and side markers. Now, this car would go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds. And if it weren't for its fast top speed of 166 miles per hour. It's zero to 62 because it was probably measured in kilometers, zero to 100.

Now this really was the first fast Euro wagon and it started the trend of all the amazing fast family screamers we have today. I'm talking about the M5, Volvo V70R, Cadillac CTS-V. None of those guys would exist without the Audi RS2. I really want one, guys. Speaking of turbocharged all-wheel drive cars, you knew it was coming. - Number four, Nissan Skyline GT-R. - Now I wasn't even going to include a Skyline on this list. Because I feel like we talk about them a lot at Donut. Plus, there are a lot of generations and I like them all for very different reasons.

But I decided to include the R33 GT-R because as of January 2020, you can now legally import them into the US. It is a Jdm Poster car from the 90s and was powered by a 2.6 inline six cylinder engine liters with twin turbochargers that produced 276 horsepower at 6,800 RPM. Now, that engine came from the arguably more influential R32, but the R33 was more aerodynamic and faster. Remember when you were playing PlayStation and you saw a Skyline for the first time and we were like, "Why is this Maximus so fast?" It didn't make any damn sense. Because they were never sold here.

But why? Well, this brings me to the main reason why the R33 GT-R and most of the other cars on this list don't make it here. Regulations. Basically, 99.9% of the world's countries manufacture their cars to a safety standard developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Now the United States has its own set of rules. And that's why we have worse taillights, uglier bumpers, and stricter emissions standards. But it goes beyond simple emissions. We're not here trying to save the world, okay? Now some people are saying that these different regulations could be a form of non-tariff trade barrier.

Basically, the United States is making it financially inefficient for foreign automakers to import their cars, so we just buy American cars. So if a car company wants to bring a car here, they should know that they will sell a ton of them. And unfortunately, that doesn't happen often with high-performance, low-volume production cars like the GT-R family. Basically, at the end of the day, we don't include GT-Rs or other cars on this list because of politics. But sometimes a company has already federalized, say, the sedan version of a car and they forget to give us the arguably cooler wagon version.

Just out of pure spite. As in the case... - With the number three, BMW E61 M5 Touring. - Now that BMW has decided not to make an estate variant of its current or previous M5, this is the last fast M5 estate you can have. It is powered by a naturally aspirated V10 and a 7-speed manual transmission, developed by the BMW Sauber Formula 1 team. And during its production, it was the fastest truck in the world with the ability to reach a top speed of 190 miles per hour if you ordered it with the factory M Performance package. Now the United States acquired about 8,800 M5s during the five years this generation was manufactured.

But they were all sedans. Also known as E60 and none of them had the radical 7-speed manual transmission. We even have herea base 5 series truck without any M elements. So you have these fun things and you have the wagon part, why don't you put them together for us? It's frustrating. Just over 1,000 E61 M5 wagons were built. And this one really bothers me because they brought the sedan, okay? Our next car answers the question: "What do you buy if you think the Ferrari Enzo is too tight but it's not stylish enough for you?" Well, you understand... - Number two, Maserati MC12. - Yes, this is both a sleeker and more racing version of the Ferrari Enzo and in some ways it is only the second most stylish car on the list.

The most elegant is the following. But first, the MC12. One of the most underrated homologation specials of all time, the Maserati MC12 was, as I said, a redesigned version of the legendary Ferrari Enzo. It was done explicitly with the purpose of returning Maserati to the podium in racing some 40 years after the last significant campaigns with the legendary Tipo 61 Birdcages. At the time, Ferrari and Maserati were owned by Fiat, and the decision was made for Ferrari to share the Enzo road car platform with Maserati to help his brothers. Maserati and its designer, the American Frank Stephenson, were allowed to change the bodywork and dimensions of the car, but were not allowed to touch the Ferrari 6-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine that had been limited by Ferrari to ensure that the Enzo would always be slightly higher.

That's such a Ferrari move. The Maserati still made 621 horsepower, just 29 less than the Enzo's 650. And interestingly, it turned a second faster around the Nurburgring than the Ferrari during testing. And although the €600,000 price tag dictated that inside, the Maserati was luxuriously anointed with Alcantara® and leather virtually everywhere; These things were incredibly powerful and had a reputation for being difficult to handle on the road. I mean, because duh. The MC12 was totally dominant in the FIA ​​GT. Basically, again, that's where cars based on awesome street cars compete. He won 40 races, 16 titles, two constructors' championships and six drivers' championships.

When I die, this is the car I want. I'll be in heaven with Tupac and Carroll Shelby, and we all have Maseratis and we'll race from light to light in the Paris sky. We all have babies in our arms or are going to David Bowie's house for a party. But we're responsible, so after the party, we'll leave the MC12s outside at Bowie's house and have my driver pick me up in the fanciest car the planet has ever seen and the number one car on this list. - Number one, Toyota Century. - That's right, you didn't see it coming.

The most stylish car in the world is a damn Yota boy. Our D List is topped by what I believe is one of the coolest cars ever produced and sold outside of the United States. Period. This is such a great car, so exclusive, that Toyota literally chooses who it wants to sell it to. A car so timeless that it belongs to Japanese royalty. A car so lavishly decorated that it would be embarrassing to be seen driving it when they could be driving you. There have been three generations of the Century. The first was a V8-powered sedan, which was offered from 1967 to 1997.

That's 30 years. That's longer than Nolan. Then, from '97 to '07, the Century underwent major updates, including a total redesign and, most importantly, a V12 engine. That's right, a Japanese V12. This was such a significant and important engine for Toyota that not even Lexus was allowed to borrow it and use it in any of their vehicles. The newest Century is once again powered by a V8, but this time it has the Lexus LS Hybrid system and the price starts at a whopping 19,844,370 yen. In dollars, that's equivalent to about $180,000. It's elegant, it's elegant. Pure damn class. Now the inside of a Rolls Royce fandom is lined with the skin of 17 Scottish cattle that have never been bitten by a mosquito or seen a barbed wire fence for fear it might mark their perfect hides.

The interiors of the Century are loaded with miles and miles of soft, breathable wool that doesn't squeak when you're sweaty. The car is hand-painted and there are only four people in the world that Toyota considers skilled enough to apply the seven coats of lacquer that make up the Century's mirror-like sheen. The hood ornament. A heavenly rooster named Ho-o. Hello Ho-o. Hello James. Well, thanks for stopping by today. No problem, James. And it takes 45 days to carve. Interior wood panels are sanded for 15 hours to ensure a perfect fit and finish. All panels are assembled and finished completely by hand.

This car is a work of art, guys. According to Toyota, less than 10% of Century owners will ever sit behind the wheel of their car. That's why so much time and effort goes into ensuring the interior is a symphony of form and function. Think of a Rolls Royce but with more class. Recently, someone asked Toyota if it ever plans to sell the most luxurious vehicle outside of Japan. And Toyota engineer Masato Tanabe responded: "No. "No." That's cool. That's cool, that's cool, that's cool, that's cool. A total of 27 Centuries have been sold to people outside of Japan. And I'm talking new, not like a second market.

Some of them were for Germany, some for Australians, a couple for British and some for the United Arab Emirates, but legend says that if you live near Plano, Texas, You have good luck and treat your mother very well. You may see Ho-o in the front of a Toyota Century that has been imported under special immunity to ferry visiting Toyota executives from the airport to Toyota headquarters in North America Well, that was the first episode of D-List. Every week, my son Max and I and the rest of the Donut team will bring you a list every week while we're all stuck in our garages and living rooms. , and definitely, definitely, after we can all get back to normal, there will be a lot of new things coming from Donut.

We are not going to stop. Make sure you don't miss any of it. Make sure to hit the subscribe button and follow us on all social media @donutmedia. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @jamespumphrey. We have new products, visit donutmedia.com. Boost Creeps t-shirts are alive. They're honestly the coolest t-shirt we've ever made. I love you.