let me chime in from the younger generation (i'm 22)- sure, i may be an oddball in my generation, but i dislike the rice cars mainly because every teenage boy that has a civic thinks they have a 10 second car - it's just ridiculous. i've worked with a couple guys who (admittedly) drove stock hondas and thought they'd run sub 10 second quarters.

i was actually looking at an evo a few years ago in addition to an srt-4 as a DD - didn't get either. i've had one jap, actually korean, car and it was a 1.5L 5 speed (not much of a car lol), and it was pretty quick off the line, but at about 40, it was done.