JDM cars have a reputation for affordability and reliability. Here are the best to buy used and others to stay away from.

What is the most reliable JDM car? While admitting the unfairness of making this selection, Vicky Parrott writing for Hagerty UK selected the Mazda RX-7 Mk3, Toyota Supra Mk4, Subaru Impreza WRX STi MkI,Honda NSX MkI, and the Nissan Skyline GT-R MkIV as five of the greatest JDM performance cars. Parrott went on to elucidate on what makes these JDMs great. Reliability is a big, if not the biggest, part of what drives JDM markets outside Japan.

Are JDMs reliable? As we’ve said before, JDM cars have always had the upper hand on their European and American counterparts when it comes to sheer dependability. In fact, Japanese automakers taught the rest of us that a car isn't just a mass of moving parts expected to fall apart at some point. JDMs taught us cars can start in the cold.

Reliability and value for money are JDMs’ two foremost attractions. To the average car shopper, nothing beats a combination of affordability and reliability. What about performance JDMs? Well, we’re in an era when performance cars can be dependable enough to serve as a daily driver. Below, we list the five best JDM performance cars on the used car market and give you're better off leaving alone.

Related: 10 Best JDM Sports Cars for Racing Enthusiasts

Honda made the first-ever Integra Type R available to the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) in 1995, equipped with a 1.8-liter DOHC VTEC in-line 4-cylinder (B18C) engine.

Even as the markets prepared for an all-new Integra model in 2002, Edmunds cautioned against any form of disrespect for the Integra version that was introduced in 1994. After all, at the time, this was the best-handling FWD car ever made, and the engine loved to be revved all the way to the redline. The most expensive Integra Type R ever sold went for a whopping $211,928.

The Acura RSX is no Chevrolet Vega. It’s not a bad or unreliable car as a whole. However, the car demonstrated the age-long saying that you are only as strong as your weakness. We’re talking about Honda’s infamous manual transmission (the Honda Integra got sold in the US and elsewhere as the Acura Integra; the Acura RSX is America’s version of the Honda model).

The gearbox had a bad reputation for popping out. So, unless you are religious with your fluid changes, the Acura RSX’s MT would make you wish you never bought the car. In any case, prices for these model-years Acura RSX now range from $5,000 up to $18,000 or even $38,000 on TrueCar.

Any post-1999 Nissan GT-R R34 is one of the best JDMs to buy. We know you're thinking about the issues with JDM imports. Yes, you can only import an R34 into the US under the "Show or Display Exemption" of the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), which allows for a maximum of 2,500 miles driven yearly.

We found this 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec for an estimated $171,500 total price on Japan's largest used car marketplace TC-V. Nissan designed this car with Group A in its crosshairs, and it certainly dominated. People often compared the R33’s successor to the Porsche 959 when the Japanese automaker introduced it in 1989.

While preparing this article, we Googled “Crankwalk” on a dare. Sure enough, photos of the Mitsubishi Eclipse were the only accompanying images for this keyword. In case you’re wondering, “crankwalk" is an automotive or engineering slang that describes the "condition of having an excessive play in the crankshaft alignment, letting it drift back and forth, and allowing off-alignment interaction with the rest of the engine."

The 2nd-gen Eclipse used a turbocharged 4G63 engine notorious for this problem, ultimately seizing the engine. It doesn’t help that the best way to resolve this is to swap the 4G63 for an older engine. We found a 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS Spyder manual FWD for $8,988 on TrueCar.

Mitsubishi’s Evo was the friend Subaru’s Impreza loved to hate. The feeling was mutual, anyway. Both dominated the nineties rally racing and regular roads. Though always getting motivation from a 2.0-liter engine, the Mitsubishi Evo had performance-enhancing features such as torque vectoring and aero-optimized bodywork.

On December 10, 1999, Mitsubishi Motors announced a Tommi Makinen Edition of the LANCER Evolution VI. It was sold through Mitsubishi Galant dealerships across Japan in January 2000. Responding to the news at the time, Tommi Makinen said, "The LANCER Evolution realizes a beautiful balance between all performance parameters, and it really provided me with the perfect car to rewrite the WRC record book. I would just like to say that anyone who buys the LANCER Evolution has made the "Right Choice."

The performance features include a high-response titanium turbocharger for better low-end and mid-range torque, using a smaller, shape-optimized compressor wheel. A 2001 model fetched $168,000 during a week-long auction hosted by Collecting Cars last year. However, Australia’s CarSales currently have 1999 models listed for as low as $60,000.

Related: 10 JDM Sports Cars That Will Last You A Lifetime

The AE86 isn’t here just because we think it’s an overpriced relic of history. It's here because you only need to go through relevant forums where people who actually owned this car speak their truth freely without getting in the crosshairs of hardcore Initial D fans.

Based on comments by AE86 owners, the car is prone to rust (no surprise there) and the engine issues. When you think about it, the AE86 models are nearly four decades old already. So, you can't exactly blame the engine for 'complaining' when you rev the little twin-cam to the highest heaven every time you leave the driveway. The ‘86 Sprinter Trueno has an average price Of $30,000 on JDM Export.

Toyota sold the MR2 between 1985 and 2007, but the 3rd-gen (1999–2007) took a different approach than its predecessors, exemplified by the convertible body style and the “Spyder” marketing term.

The mid-engined 3rd-gen MR2 got sold in Japan as the Toyota MR-S, the MR2 Spyder in Europe, and the MR2 Roadster in North America, France, and Belgium. This is Japan’s first mid-engined car, which explains why it also got called a “Midship Runabout-Sports.” They’re currently available for as low as $10,000 on TrueCar.

The US got the SVX (marketed as Subaru Alcyone SVX in Japan) in July 1991 as a 1992 model. Subaru designed the SVX to replace the Alcyone XT and XT6 coupes. The Subaru SVX often gets confused with the Subaru Legacy because the latter received an SVX-inspired facelift in 1992.

Throughout its lifetime, the SVX relied on just one engine – the EG33 3.3-liter boxer horizontally opposed flat-six. It was Subaru’s largest engine for road-going cars until the introduction of the 3.6-liter EZ36 engine in 2008. However, the heavy SVX was underpowered even with the burly 3.0-liter flat-six. But that’s not the only reason to avoid this otherwise terrific classic sedan.

It suffered from overheating transmission problems, warped brake discs, and “premature wheelbearing failure caused by the temporary grease Subaru packed into the bearings in misguided anticipation of its dealers replacing this gunk with stouter stuff during the pre-delivery inspection." According to Edmunds, a 1996 Subaru SVX in outstanding condition has a $10,000 value.

Mazda sold the rotary engine-powered RX-7 across three generations between 1978 and 2002. The front-engined RWD sports car was popular for its compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. If you can be mindful enough to take care of the rotary engine, you’d find the 3rd-gen ‘93–‘96 Mazda FD series a reliable and very smooth mill when backed with turbos.

The FD-series RX-7 featured elegant styling, thanks to the magic touch of Tom Matano, but also offered more power. The RX-7’s twin-turbo, twin-rotor 13B 1.3-liter rotary engine produced 255 horsepower (the most powerful the RX-7 had ever been).

Honda developed the Del Sol compact roadster from the Honda Civic platform as a successor to the Honda CR-X and sold it from 1992 until 1998. This explains why you can sometimes see a Del Sol branded as a CR-X Del Sol or Civic Del Sol in the US.

As the ‘roadster’ implies, Del Sol was an open-top (Targa style) with a sliding rear window. It got motivation from various straight-4 engines. According to RepairPal and the HondaTech forum, the Del Sol is prone to several reliability issues especially with the removable roof often noisy and prone to leaking water.

HondaTech explained that this happens because the rubber gets too soft around the top of the glass. RepairPal also mentioned the issue of warped front brakes and bad engine mounts leading to engine vibration, roughness, and rattling. According to Classic.com, the Honda Del Sol has an average used car price of $10,232.

Sources: TrueCar, TCV, Classic.Com

Philip Uwaoma, this bearded black male from Nigeria, has written more than two million words in articles published on various websites, including toylist.com, rehabaid.com, and autoquarterly.com. After not getting credit for his work on Auto Quarterly, Philip is now convinced that ghostwriting sucks. He has no dog, no wife- yet- and he loves Rolls Royce a little too much.