TopGear may have perfected the budget-minded cheap car shootout, but it’s one thing for three Brits who are all about picking a car down to it’s core to score beater cars and try to make something out of them. Finnegan and Freiburger have made a pretty decent living doing just that for the last few years now. But one thing they don’t do often is play outside of the U.S. market with their cars (at least, not on screen.) So why not tie their hands behind their backs and force them to stay out of American cars for an episode of Roadkill? There are plenty of worthy imported cars that would fit both a performance mindset and the normally frugal budget that they give themselves, and both went straight to Japan for their rides. Freiburger’s Mazda RX-7 is a solid choice…it’s seen better days, sure, but for $1,500 it looks like a neat little score and should be an outright hoot, even if it’s not that quick. Finnegan…well, let’s just say that this was one of his more experimental choices. It’s a 1974 Honda Civic, one that somehow has missed every rollover contest held in the last thirty years, and it’s equipped with zero suspension, a bitchy e-brake cable, and an engine that’s just a highway trip away from giving Mike the single-digit salute before turning into a smoke bomb.
Oh, and since this was filmed the week of SEMA, not only are they driving their newfound rides to Las Vegas, but they are running these cars at the Optima Ultimate Street Car invitational race. You know the one…where Pro Touring cars go to battle it out on roadcourses and compete in a show-and-shine event? Yep. This will go over like a fart in a church pew…
Not sure what your point is – the 240Z is Japanese, the Jaguar is an English nightmare. Oh, and of course the Mazda pickup. Any Mopar as well, after all those are all Fiats. I’d say most of the Roadkill cars are imports…. and I’d be right.