A couple months ago in our diesel issue, I spoke about my new appreciation for diesel performance and what that crowd has been achieving with those engines. However, I also admitted, until recently, I wasn’t too familiar with diesels or trucks as I never grew up around them. That’s not the case when it comes to import cars. 

For as long as I can remember, my family has driven import vehicles and has really loved a number of import brands. I have always owned import vehicles myself – a couple Hondas and a Toyota. My family has driven Mazdas, Volvos, Toyotas, Lexus, and Subarus. I probably don’t have to tell you, but those are some truly great cars.

Obviously, there’s a plethora of great American vehicles too, but this is our import issue, so that’s a discussion for another month. Like the diesel crowd and the American V8 crowd, the import world is filled with passionate folks who eat, sleep and breathe this stuff, and their devotion to pushing the limits of these vehicles and engines is incredible.

Whether it’s with Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, or something else, you’d be amazed at the horsepower levels being achieved with what most people consider to be tiny engines. Of course, quality components and turbocharger technology have played a large role, but it’s no less impressive because of it. Four cylinders making well over 1,000 horsepower is absolutely insane!

In this issue we spoke to a number of different import engine builders and asked them to break down their most commonly built engines to reveal how they get peak performance for their customers. I don’t know about you, but I might just have to soup up my wife’s 2008 Honda Civic!  EB