I think this all started when Nissan made the R32. Ever since then, Japanese cars are fast
Rice... i don't know. I'm shure it was around long before the Fast and the Furious. For every car, somone wants to make it go fast (13 second Geo Storm in Sport Compact) and look fast (30% of the Civics i see everyday).
I'd rather just dump $30,000 on an STi