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Japanese cars are famed for being affordable and reliable, however, there are some downsides to the cars from the Land of the Rising Sun as well.

Over the years, Japanese car manufacturers have earned a reputation for making some of the most reliable cars in the industry. Although proven reliable, they have not really proven themselves with gear heads all over the world, who are often willing to put up with less reliable project cars and daily drivers.

The problem with having bulletproof reliability is that there will always be sacrifices in other areas. You can’t have a high performance engine, then expect it to be perfectly reliable. In most cases Japanese manufacturers will sacrifice that extra horsepower in favor of longevity, this approach makes perfect sense when making small economy cars, but doesn’t hold much water for enthusiasts.

Japanese manufacturers have improved over the years, but if you live near the coast or in an area that likes using salt on the road, then it is very easy to see which vehicles rust faster.

They are infamous for using thinner sheet-metal, it saves a huge amount of money in production but over time will degrade faster, making the vehicle very dangerous to drive, especially vehicles that tend to rust more underneath out of sight.

Although there are several ways to improve the suspension of a car, they all cost money, money that can be saved by the customer if they are willing to accept outdated suspension components that don’t require any re-tooling in the factory.

Even the famous Miata sports car, while fun to drive, doesn’t do all that well stock, but it is easy to modify by the end user if they are willing to spend money on the car and have become a popular affordable track car as a result.

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Most of the time they will opt to use under-stressed engines that are effectively de-tuned so that they will last longer, which can be modified easily, but then you risk taking it too far and lose all reliability.

Then they just get a little ridiculous when they offer a pickup with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine, affordable is one thing, but this will only serve to frustrate customers over time.

When producing cars in the volumes that Japanese carmakers do, it is understandable that quality control will slip up on occasion.

What is unforgivable though is their obvious cost-cutting measures that result in pretty awful finishing, most of the time this will only come to light upon closer inspection once you already own the car.

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Unfortunately, this particular issue came to light for most people with the Takata airbag scandal. Takata are themselves a big brand in Japan, but under pressure to supply airbags at a lower cost ended up bringing the quality right down.

By their own admission they were supplying a substandard product, and it goes without saying that when dealing with such volumes they are not alone in this crime.

Something that is far harder to explain is the fact that almost all Japanese vehicles feel like appliances. They are made to do a task, and they do that task very well, like a fridge or a microwave.

It is almost like they want as much as possible to remove the driver from any and all tasks, making you feel like you are not actually an integral part of the car. Which is great for commuting, but not much fun at the end of the day.

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If you like being part of the herd then this is ok, but if you are indeed after something individual or a little different, then a Japanese car might not be for you.

Aside from us car people, not many will be able to recognize the difference between three sedans made by three different Japanese manufacturers. These are cars tailored for the masses, so you won’t find many brave design decisions here.

Indeed, there are many underrated Japanese cars out there, but the vast majority, especially luxury cars and sports cars, are chronically overrated.

Anyone who has owned one of these supposedly excellent luxury vehicles for any length of time would have found out the hard way that they just don’t hold up well to regular abuse. These sports cars rarely deliver the feeling one expects from an authentic sports car.

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When they first started out, copying other foreign brands was very much the norm, it wasn’t so much that copyright infringement was rife, but original ideas were scarce.

Right up until today the same rings true, the Japanese automotive industry is obviously not interested in new technology that will compromise their cherished reliability ranking, and will usually roll out their version of commonly adopted ideas a couple of years later once it has proven itself reliable.

This one is literally impossible to explain, and there will be several JDM enthusiasts out there that will beg to differ.

It is a direct result of their desire to remove the driver, we are the soul of any vehicle, so as soon as you remove that element its soul is naturally lost.

Luke Zietsman is an all out automotive enthusiast based in The Philippines. If it has two or four wheels he has either owned it, researched about it or dreamed about it.