As the country’s commander-in-chief recently discovered, there’s a whole world of cool, interesting cars that exist outside the US. But you can’t just import whatever you like. American foreign car collectors must wait 25 years from the date an overseas vehicle was manufactured before it can be imported here.
This means every year, there’s a new graduating class of 25-year-old, former-forbidden-fruit cars that become legal to import and register for road use in America. All of the vehicles on this list began production sometime in 2001 and weren’t sold stateside, meaning you’ll be able to import one very soon or perhaps even right now, depending on when you’re reading this.
There’s a pair of diametrically opposed E46 BMWs, two Renaults in a similar vein, two legendary Type R Hondas, and perhaps a Fiat and Toyota you’ve never heard of. While this year may not be as robust as last year’s list, there are still some very interesting vehicles on offer.
Here are 10 of the coolest and most interesting cars you can legally import to the US starting in 2026.
BMW 3 Series Compact (E46)
The E46 BMW 3 Series is, at this point, a staple of the used enthusiast car market. Good handling, handsome looks, huge aftermarket support, and now perfectly affordable. One variant America didn’t get, however, is the Compact, a three-door shorty version made for the young urban European professional with a smaller budget and modest rear-seat needs.
The Compact’s steering rack was given a quicker ratio than that of the regular E46, and the most powerful 325ti version used a 189-horsepower straight-six that sounds like a mild riot. But the E46 Compact’s most notable deviation would probably be that front-end design. If the E46 were a person, seeing the Compact’s front headlights would feel a bit like seeing them without glasses for the first time. You don’t want to be rude, but what the heck is that?
BMW M3 GTR Strassenversion
On the complete opposite end of the E46 3 Series spectrum, meanwhile, is the M3 GTR Strassenversion (or “Straßenversion,” if you’re the sort of person who pronounces it “bay-em-veh” out loud).
That suffix is German for “street version,” and BMW only built 10 of these road-legal monsters purely to fulfill homologation rules. The 4.0-liter race car V-8 never appeared in any other production car and it made 350 horsepower. That helped the GTR reach 183 miles per hour. It was attached to a six-speed manual transmission with a variable, limited-slip diff.
The M3 GTR’s real cultural claim to fame, however, is arguably being on the cover of 2005’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The first person to import a Strassenversion, wrap it in that livery, and pull up to Cars & Coffee wins all of the automotive gamer points.
Fiat Stilo
You’ve likely heard of Stilo helmets, but did you know Fiat made an unrelated small hatchback called the Stilo in the 2000s? No? Admittedly, neither did I until I started doing research for this list, but it’s one of the more interesting-looking normie European cars that entered production in 2001.
There was also a hot hatch Abarth version that made 170 horsepower and got from zero to 60 miles per hour in 8.5 seconds. It also topped out at 136 mph. A manual gearbox was introduced in 2004, but the initial 2001 Abarths came with the SMG-style “Selespeed” semi-auto that was, shocker, panned for being too slow. For more practically minded enthusiasts of obscure Italian compacts, there was a Stilo MultiWagon, uh, wagon and a five-door hatch version with lots of room for stuff.
Honda Civic Type R (EP3)
If the Stilo Abarth is spiritually up your alley but a little too obscure, there’s the EP3 Honda Civic Type R. A blue-chip classic hot hatch if there ever was one, this is the “breadvan” generation of CTR—the one after the OG EK9 but before it slowly started turning into a cyborg.
A K20 four-cylinder with VTEC made 197 horsepower and a noise the new Type R could only dream of, while its six-speed shifter famously jutted out from the dash longitudinally instead of vertically. In case the steering wheel being on the wrong side doesn’t give it away after you import one onto US soil, red Honda badges, red seats, and Championship White wheels mark this car out as not just any old Civic.
