Japanese sports cars are like catnip for collectors. The time from the '80s to the 2000s was a golden era for cars from Japan, with drifting and modding seeping into popular culture with the likes of Initial D. Then the scene became a global phenomenon, in part due to the success of the Fast and Furious franchise. What that means to us ordinary folk, who don't have a stack of cash to spend, is that Japanese sports carsfrom this time are highly sought-after and financially out of reach. But maybe we just aren't looking in the right place.Sidestepping the obvious Skylines, Supras, and Subaru rally reps, there are a few forgotten models from the Far East that are still cheap as chips. They may not be festooned with techy acronyms that sound like Italian coffee brands (say, for example, Nissan's ATTESA, or Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain), but they are still oozing leftfield JDM cool. Strike quickly before the world remembers these cars. 1993 Mazda MX-6 - $3,800 Bring a Trailer The original MX-6 was a fairly ordinary looking car, but for 1993, Mazda made it all sculpted and flowing, and, well, very pretty. As time has gone on, and cars these days have more folds and creases than an origami convention, the early '90s MX-6 may look plainer than it once did, but it's a great, low-budget sports coupe. The base model is fitted with a 118-horsepower 2.0-liter four, but the middle management big boys got a 164-horsepower, 24-valve, 2.5-liter V6. The latter powerplant was enough to propel the MX-6 to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, which was serious hot hatch territory for its day.Bring a Trailer A secondhand Mazda MX-6 costs around the same price as a half-decent bicycle these days. The average for a 1993 model is just $3,800, 1993 MX-6 pricing data, but the excellent examples do go for at least double that. It might not steal the show at the next JDM car park meetup, but the silky V6 MX-6 is a wonderful window into the world of pebble-like '90s coupes. 1991 Nissan NX2000 — $5,500 Bring A Trailer On paper, the Nissan NX2000 has all the right ingredients to make it a tasty classic. The car is based on the sleeper B13 Sentra SE-R, a car which did that classic Japanese thing of being very good underneath but wrapped in a skin that looked like a taxi. The plan was to take the Sentra's good bits, including the smooth double overhead cam SR20DE four-cylinder engine, and wrap it in interesting and sporty coupe bodywork. The four-pot was linked to a fast-shifting five-speed gearbox (with the option of a four-speed automatic), making the NX2000 a straightforward chuckable small sports car. But the reality was not quite as good as it sounded.Bring A TrailerThe problem was, and still is, with the NX2000 is that its looks divide opinion. The oval-everywhere styling does without even a hint of aggression and, to put it nicely, it was a bit too pretty for its own good. Now, a quarter of a century after its 1990 launch, it still sits in a no-man's land of neither kitchen sink cool, nor high-end techy excess. That's good news for the collector on a budget, with a bit of imagination, as the NX2000 (which often comes with a T-Top) is very cheap in 2026. You will literally struggle to find an example over $10,000, with reasonable-looking cars costing around $5,500. 2004 Mazda RX-8 - $7,244 Via: Bring a Trailer Blame it on those novelty rear doors. The RX-8 was by no means a failure (it won more than 50 global awards including 2003 Japanese Car of the Year) but it never quite captured the imagination like the RX-7. The RX-8 (like the RX-7) has a frantic rotary engine, revving to 8,500 rpm, but Mazda tried to make it more of a family car. This meant two rows of seats, and this meant quirky rear "freestyle doors" for entry to the rear. The shape, as a result, can be a bit awkward from some angles, and the roofline looks elongated. But get past this, and you have a sports car with up to 250 horsepower, rear drive, and a six-speed manual. The RX-8 reaches 60 mph in 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 150 mph. What's not to love?Via: Bring a Trailer Official figures show that Mazda has sold nearly 158,000 RX-8s around the world, which means that they are fairly plentiful. And plentiful means cheap. A 2004 RX-8 is astonishingly good value, coming in at $7,244, 2004 RX-8 market values. While you may dream of owning an FD RX-7, the longest running Japanese rotary car, these will cost more like $50,000. The RX-8 should work nicely as a stop-gap, plus you can take the family along for a ride too. Honda Civic Del Sol — $10,330 Honda Introduced in 1983, the Honda CRX was a car that could do no wrong by the end of the decade. The recipe was simple: take all the tried and tested bits of the Honda Civic, add a fastback roofline and hey presto, you had a simple, sporty car that didn't need a ton of power. Then Honda decided to go off-piste, drastically changing the ingredients for the third generation.The new car, introduced in 1993, had a removable top and a retracting rear window, making it a kind of half a convertible, or perhaps better described as a targa. The styling was cutesy and smoothed-over, making the Del Sol seem far less sporty than it actually was. The Del Sol Si came fitted with a 125-horsepower four, with a five-speed manual, enough to take it to 60 mph in 8.9 seconds.Bring A TrailerWhile the CRX has been hitting stratospheric figures recently, with one example selling for more than $70,000, the Del Sol is still lukewarm. Expect to pay just $10,330 for a 1993 Del Sol, 1993 Del Sol values, with higher mile auto cars barely achieving half that. The Del Sol is certainly a sunny proposition for anyone on a budget. 1991 Mitsubishi 3000GT - $16,895 Via Bring A Trailer The Mitsubishi 3000GT was a result of Japanese car makers absolutely crushing it in the '80s. High-tech, as seen in the R32 Skyline GT-R, made sports cars mind-bendingly capable and able to effortlessly take on more exotic and expensive machinery. The 3000GT was available in different guises, but the top VR4 model used rally car tech from the Galant VR4 remixed with a big GT/ sports car brief. The engine in the top-flight model is a 6G72 3.0-liter DOHC V6 with twin turbochargers and intercoolers, producing 300 hp and 307 lb-ft of torque. There was even active aero for good measure. The 3000GT VR4 can hit 60 mph in 5.4 seconds.Via Bring A Trailer While the 3000GT was a mini supercar, it was laden with luxury, which helped to push the curbweight to a chunky 3,800 lbs. In the end, it was a little confused, neither a serious sports car, nor a luxury cruiser. Some reviewers criticized it, while many people loved it. This difference of opinion has probably, in part, resulted in a car that's good value for what it is, especially while Supra prices go stratospheric. The 1991 3000GT has an average price of $16,895, while many 3000GTs have gone for the $10,000 range recently. Could this be the next Japanese icon in waiting? Only time will tell. 1991 Isuzu Impulse RS Turbo — $18,940 Bring a Trailer The Isuzu Impulse was born from the pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro, at a time when the legendary Italian designer had worked out a successful formula and was running with it. The Volkswagen Scirocco and the DMD DeLorean both had a wedgy cool to them, and the first Impulse (or Piazza) leaned into this design language. The second generation Impulse (JT22) was a bit more conventional perhaps, but it has more of a JDM edge to it, while carrying over the cool semi pop-up headlights. What made the Impulse even cooler was the handling by Lotus.If you want a rare and mean-looking Impulse, seek out one of 600 RS Turbo models with AWD, passive rear-wheel steering, and bonnet scoop. A standard Impulse XS, with a 130-horsepower, 16V, 1.6-liter four, will be cheaper. The last sale of an RS Turbo Impulse was on Bringatrailer. That car had just 27,000 miles on the clock and sold for just $18,940. That's not a lot of money for an incredibly rare and genuinely interesting Japanese classic.Sources: Hagerty.com; Classic.com