> Cars from Japan, 2000 or current that are clean aren't street legal here because they don't meet the safety standards
I've seen this repeated for 25 years now, and to be honest I think it's simply not true.
Can you list one safety standard they don't meet?
The GT-R is identical as sold in Japan and the USA (well, actually, the US version has wider seats - true story).
Even when that one guy homologated the R32 Skyline into the USA he barely modified the front bumper at all and it met crash safety standards as it was.
I am not familiar with the NHTSA and EPA regulations to point you to one specfic place in the code but here is a citation. Also a lot of the Japanese vehicles that people point to as being more efficient are Kei class, these vehicles don't meet NHTSA code as they would not survive the crash tests.
https://gearshifters.org/nissan/how-to-import-a-nissan-silvi...
>Beginning in January 2024, the 1999 Nissan Silvia S15 will turn 25 years old. It will no longer be subject to NHTSA regulations after it turns 25 and can be legally imported into the USA.
>Because it did not adhere to federal safety and environmental regulations and featured a right-hand steering column, like cars in England, this particular vehicle was deemed unlawful in the United States. However, some Silvia vehicles have been registered in the US after being modified to comply with US laws.