Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE You Should Know

Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

Our question this week was: What 2001 car would you import in 2026?

Thanks to everyone who participated! You showed plenty of enthusiasm for a wide variety of cars from around the globe. In the end, the Renault Sport Clio V6 and Avantime, along with the VW New Beetle RSi, were tied in nominations. So we turned to the thumbs to determine our winner. With a cumulative 18 likes as of this writing, the Sport Clio V6 is this week’s winning nomination, and BaT member @wh400 was the first to it right out of the gate:

“2001 Renault Clio V6 Sport”

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wh400 commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Phase one of the Sport Clio V6 officially went into production in 2001, and it was essentially a race car for the street—an absolutely insane one at that. Just peep the 2.9-liter six-pot mounted amidship for starters. Congratulations, wh400! Be sure to check your email to claim the prize.

Now, let’s take a look at some other popular nominations from this week’s discussion thread:

“2001 VW New Beetle RSi”

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misterdangerpants commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

That’s one hopped-up Bug.

“Gotta be a Renault Avantime. Oh so French. A coupe minivan. Crazy doors. Built by Matra. Available with a V6 5-speed combo. After 25 years it still looks fresh and advanced. And French. https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15137899/renault-avantime-mini-test-road-test/“

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lagunatich commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

The Avantime was another master class in French weirdness, and we’re here for it.

“Peugeot 406 coupe 3.0 V6. I will learn to live with it being mistaken for an Accord (eventually).”

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Dm123 commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

“2001 Nissan Skyline R-34 GTR. These cars are sick, and they’re really popular with the JDM market and young motorheads. The value keeps going up, and they’re so much fun to drive! And great looking cars too- a JDM Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R… https://www.hagerty.com/valuation-tools/nissan/skyline/2001/2001-nissan-skyline-gt~r_v~spec_ii“

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davek1661 commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

And for 2001, the luxurious M-Spec variant was introduced.

“Trying to stick to the spirit of the question, and having missed my real answer, I’d probably go for an MG Express. Rare variant of a hot-hatch we didn’t hear about in the US.”

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AlfaZagato commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

“2001 Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Sportwagon with a third pedal. Busso “Boss Wagon!””

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CarDogThreePedals commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Now that’s one cool longroof.

“Lancer Evo VII is the only answer to this question. While it wasn’t the top car in 2 Fast 2 Furious, it certainly beat out that purple Eclipse lol”

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RoyalKnight79 commented on Question of the Week: What 2001 Car Would You Import in 2026?—WINNER’S UPDATE

That’s it for this Question of the Week! Congratulations again to wh400—enjoy your new BaT gear. We’ll be back with a new question soon.

ORIGINAL POST:

Welcome to the BaT Question of the Week! For those unfamiliar, here are the rules: we ask an automotive-themed question, and the author of our favorite answer from the comments is awarded a $25 credit to the BaT Gear Store.

In the US, each new year brings about new opportunities for international imports. Since 2026 is just around the corner, we’re observing our seasonal tradition by once again asking you the 25-year question:

What 2001 car would you import in 2026?

Once the Y2K scare cleared and we realized our toasters weren’t coming for us, auto manufacturers kicked back into gear. MY2001 turned out to be a solid year for cars, and a banner year for the Japanese domestic market. Of course, they weren’t the only ones in the limelight that year. Take, for example, the MG ZT-T longroof hailing from the Isles. We’ll take ours with the 2.5L six-pot and a five-speed manual gearbox.

That’s the only example we’ll mention lest we spoil the discussion. And remember, we’re talking about the 2001 model year—no sneaking in 2002 cars with 2001 manufacture dates. With that, we’ll pass it over to you:

What 2001 car would you import in 2026?

Tell us all about it in the comments, and give a thumbs-up to any nominations that grab your attention. We’ll announce the winner on Monday.

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite Piece of Automaker Lore? — Explained
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

Welcome to the BaT Question of the Week! For those unfamiliar, here are the rules: we ask an automotive-themed question, and the author of our favorite answer from the comments is awarded a $25 credit to the BaT Gear Store.
This week’s question is: What’s your favorite piece of automaker lore?
The more interesting parts of automotive industry history contain countless obscure tidbits, stories of legendary rivalries, wild urban legends, and even a particular tale involving some illicit contraband. This week’s question focuses on these stories of yore, apocryphal or otherwise. Here are two examples to kick off the discussion:

Read More Question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite Piece of Automaker Lore? — Explained
Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What’s the top Car Powered By a Non-Automotive Engine?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

This week, our question was: What’s the best car powered by a non-automotive engine?

Thanks to everyone who participated! We broke out our exhaustive engine start checklist, fired up the laptop, and went to work reviewing your comments. Your suggestions were diverse, and in the end, John Dodd’s “Beast” and the STP-Paxton Turbocar received the most nominations. Seeing as the latter was the subject of a 2025 QotW win, we’re exercising our Editorial Privilege and handing the win to The Beast! And the first to it was BaT member @jglowe77:

“The Beast with the 27 litre aircraft engine”

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AnonUserasSRy commented on Question of the Week: What’s the Best Car Powered By a Non-Automotive Engine?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Read More Question of the Week: What’s the top Car Powered By a Non-Automotive Engine?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Editorial | Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What Car had the top Brochure of All Time?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
This week we asked you what car had the best brochure of all time? Normally, being bombarded with sales collateral isn’t an experience we’d sign up for voluntarily, but the brochures you shared had us thoroughly delighted from start to finish.

Read More Question of the Week: What Car had the top Brochure of All Time?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Editorial | Question of the Week

Here’s question of the Week: What Production Vehicle Most Deserved a Factory V8?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

Happy Monday! We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

Our question was: What production vehicle most deserved a factory V8?

Thanks to everyone who chimed in! We read all 110+ comments, bench raced a few of your theoretical V8 swaps, and tallied up all your nominations. The Plymouth Prowler was the most-mentioned pick this week, but we already used it as an example in our original post! So we’re exercising our Editorial Privilege this week and picking the nomination that stood out to us the most—the Pontiac Fiero. @Mike_Breinin was the first one there, but seeing as he’s a multi-time QotW winner, we wanted to spread the wealth. So we’re handing the prize to runner-up, @40fordlover.

“Pontiac Fiero to go head to head with Corvette.”

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40fordlover commented on Question of the Week: What Production Vehicle Most Deserved a Factory V8?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Read More Here’s question of the Week: What Production Vehicle Most Deserved a Factory V8?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What’s Your Drag Racer Nickname?—WINNER’S UPDATE: A Practical Look
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

This week, we asked: What’s your drag racer nickname?

Thanks to everyone who wrote in! We broke out our roster and got to work reading the list of nicknames—many meant business, few were self-deprecating, and plenty landed somewhere in between. We’re picking our favorite nickname (Editorial Privilege!) as this week’s winner, which was submitted by BaT member @ChunkyLover75:

“Gordon Heavyfoot”

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ChunkyLover75 commented on Question of the Week: What’s Your Drag Racer Nickname?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Read More Question of the Week: What’s Your Drag Racer Nickname?—WINNER’S UPDATE: A Practical Look
Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What’s The top Body-Swapped Vehicle You’ve Seen?—WINNER’S UPDATE
Byjustpastevehicles August 28, 2026

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

Our question this week was: What’s the best body-swapped vehicle you’ve seen?

Thanks to everyone who participated! We read through your suggestions, pondered the semantics of “rebodied” in a few cases, and determined our winner. The Golf/928 mashup dubbed the Super Rabbit was the most mentioned nomination this week, and BaT user @caymanandwent was the first to it:

“The modest VW Golf that was a Porsche 928 in disguise. 240hp V8 lurking in the 1978 VW Golf.”

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caymanandwent commented on Question of the Week: What’s The Best Body-Swapped Vehicle You’ve Seen?—WINNER’S UPDATE

Read More Question of the Week: What’s The top Body-Swapped Vehicle You’ve Seen?—WINNER’S UPDATE

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