Power Rush: 1999 Toyota Mark II Tourer V

About two years ago, I wrote the very first article for Shift, about a Toyota Crown. That was not like any other Crown in the country and there's a very good reason for that - it was not really a Crown but more of a turbocharged 2JZGTE powered mansion on wheels. To this date that's still on my list of the top ten most thrilling ride-along(s) I've been in, so when we got news that the same guy that built the Crown got his hands on another JZ build, we just had to go check it out in person.

This time though, Salman Farsy took a completely different approach from the Crown for the Mark II X100 build. Where the Crown had a 2JZ shoved into an otherwise stock frame and mechanicals, this was built from scratch with a complete Tourer V half-cut sent with love all the way from Japan. No, sadly, overnight parts from Japan doesn't really work as seen in Fast and the Furious movies - in reality it took a good four months to reach Bangladesh and the same amount of time to rebuild into the locally sourced Mark II base. The gain from this is that you get all the upgraded brakes, suspension and interior from the donor car, parts which are vastly superior to what you get in the basic X-chassis models.

The Mark II sits on a set of Rays 18 inch alloys paired with grippy Yokohama Advan AD08R tires sitting on Tien EDFC controlled coilovers – unlike most X100 builds, this thing is built for grip. Unlike my personal Lancer Evo VI, this car manages to be comfortable enough that you can take it around the bumpy roads of Bashundhara while still being stiff and stable enough for when the going gets…fast. The 1JZ-GTE is paired with a R154 5-Speed manual transmission, which is rare for a Mark II because most people would rather opt for the automatic. The car effortlessly gets up to speed and will stay there for quite a while thanks to the torque of the single turbo VVTI motor. And unlike the Crown, this car will actually stop when you want it to, without much drama.

The outtake is dealt with by the Kakimotor exhaust which although drones a little at the lower revs check, sounds brilliant when the boost kicks in. Most turbo cars would have the exhaust note drowned out by the spool noise but the Kakimotor manages to make itself known even at full boost. Aside from the exhaust, you wouldn't even guess what's going on under the skin of this beast. Even the ride height is left near stock, although the owner mentions that's going to change soon - I think it just adds to the mad sleeper cred this car already has. I might just go so far as saying this might be the perfect daily driver for Dhaka - it can go over the mountainous speed bumps with ease, seating five people comfortably thanks to the enormous leg-room offered by the Saloon body style and it still packs so much punch you'll never be late for a date.

Salman plans to take it a notch higher with a complete overhaul, which will take this wolf in sheep's clothing beyond 500 horsepower. Let that sink in for a bit.