Hello Speedhunters. James here, a 25 year old ordinary dude who is an engineer from Sydney. I first purchased this car for roughly 2 years now heading into 3 years. As many may know it is Toyota JZX100 Mark II Tourer V. It is my JDM car of choice.

I first bought it in August 2007 and it took me about 7 months of daily searching (my own sources) to find a stock, manual, grade 5 example with books while being under 30,000km (I wanted to be the first and only one in Australia).

When I got it, the car was bone stock, looking like it was rolled off the factory floor from Toyota. No bodykit, no stickers, no exhaust, no anything.

After finding it I enlisted an importer and got it over here. It was a hell of a wait with plenty of delays but it was well worth it. Before I even got to drive the car, I had purchased modifications, parts and a body kit for it ready to go when it landed.

Originally I was in love with Silvias before this car but then I got sick of having a loud car, rough suspension and basically an old car having owned a 180sx face Silvia. Originally I was looking for an Aristo with a 2JZ-GTE VVti & 6MT but found out I would not have been able to pull it off without spending excessive amounts, so the next best thing was the JZX100.

After owning it and driving it, I now believe the JZX100 is the best balance for a street car costwise in Australia. 4 doors, turbo, JDM, rear wheel drive, manual, luxury, quiet and fast. What other car in Australia can balance all these aspects like a JZX can?

If I had to choose a feature I like best, to be honest it would be too hard, I can't pin it down to just 1, theres a few. It's rarer than a Chaser (not so rare as a Cresta), it's reliable, it looks classy, it's quiet, 89dB to be exact, it's got heaps of torque and it's fast and the most important thing to me is that it's very comfortable!

I wanted to pull off the true JDM street style JZX100 (and be the first to do it in Australia) like they do in Japan (which they do flawlessly mind you) and I think I've got gotten pretty close to it. Pretty much most of the mods are simple power upgrades and dress up mods.

Essentially most of my inspiration has come from the typical street JZXs driven around in Japan by your regular salaryman. I've been told by many that my car looks like it belongs in Japan/just came off the boat/most JDM looking JZX100 they've seen which is exactly what the direction I wanted.

It's been engineered (a requirement on Sydney roads) and the current setup is great on the street. I think 210kw at the wheels is more than enough for me and I get good economy too.

As it stands I'm happy with it. I'll admit I've spent most of my time on the exterior. I don't plan to put a full 3037 pro kit on it as it will just throw the car off balance and turn it into potential a money pit. Most the street JZX's in Japan would be running stock turbos, with those running aftermarket kits tracking their cars.

I wanted to be unique and original and one of the first here to build and style this rare car before there was an influx of JZX's coming into the country and I'm happy to say that I believe I've achieved that. JZX100s are quickly growing in popularity in Australia.

As it stands many people here still don't know what a JZX100 is! They always mistakenly ask if it is Mitsubishi Magna or Toyota Camry!

I am a moderator on www.JZXWorld.com of which many of my fellow JZX driving friends are also on, without their support and knowledge, JZX chassis cars would not exist in Australia and also www.jdmstyletuning.com of which is a predominately Sydney based automotive forum which documents the entire progress of my car there.

As you noticed, the car has gone through many wheel changes, as it sits now I have settled on Work VS-KF wheels all round but I'm not sure how long I will last as many friends have told me in the past hahah!

I am extremely pedantic with the car, the car's purpose was always to be driven on the streets, having pretty much everything on the car purchased and imported straight from Japan bar one or 2 items. Even the interior has gone through its fair changes including Karo checkered mats and bubble shift knob right down to the drift team stickers, I had to have it all!

Other than the odd wheel changes I'm done with the car and will sell it once the JZX110 is ready for compliance (legally road street drivable) in Australia. I'll be heading down a similar route with the 110 but it will be better than my current 100 for sure.

Roughly half of these photos were taken by the many great photographers whom of which are my friends here in Sydney. Thanks and props to them all!

When I set out to buy a car, essentially my goal was to build a simple yet unique street car that was both comfortable, balanced, fast and able to turn heads.

And that's.. My Super JZX100 Mark II Tourer V Tuning Life.

-James