Been ages since I've been around here, had a few cars over the last 5-6 years I thought I'd share in a massive dump
First I had a 1996 Mitsubishi FTO GPX:
Was an impulse buy: manual, sunroof and the sweet, sweet mivec. Was everything I liked but unfortunately had one issue: Structural damage in the front end (hence why that front doesn't line up properly) was a fun car to drive around for a year or so but since it'd be too much time and money for me to fix up I ended up selling it to make room for other cars.
1998 Lexus GS300
My first "grandpa car", again was an impulse buy, but this one ended much better than the FTO. For a car with 300,000km+ everything worked a dream and very minor maintenance needed to get on the road (couple of control arms and a rocker gasket and she was mint)
Absolutely loved the car, it got me into the luxury scene that I absolutely loved. This was at the time I got off my P's, and I yearned for a bit more power. The 2jz can be turbo-ed but I'd rather just buy something already turbo rather than potentially grenading a 300,000+ old engine. So I sold it in search for my first turbo luxury car. I still had a soft spot for the GS300, and always kept it in my mind... (Le Epic Foreshadowing)
I then impulse bought (I'm seeing a trend here...) a 1997 Toyota Caldina
I saw this and was immediately hooked, a 4wd turbo wagon, what's not to love? Used it as intended a couple times going to IKEA (folding the rear seats down is something I now dearly miss), but at the end of the day, just didn't really jell with it, and I missed the luxury car scene. So I ended up selling it for the ultimate turbo luxury sedan...
Which ended up as a 2004 Toyota Aristo Vertex Edition
2JZ Twin Turbo POWAAAAA! After having the GS300 I just needed to get another one, but have it be faster. Ended up in the right place at the right time, and managed to snag this beauty. Came with the BBS rims and a TOM's catback, just did a couple extra mods (Greddy EBC, HKS FCD and Pod Filter, and GarageWhifBitz Dump/mid pipe) and it's all sweet. Still own it today as my daily. Love it to bits but I'm getting tyres for it tomorrow since it chews through them pretty quick (I wonder how
).
Now I had my daily, I wanted a weekend car. Something I really wanted as a kid and will (hopefully) never sell. I saved up for a couple years, looking at the options I had.. Mitsubishi GTO, Supra, S2000, Skylines, WRX STI's, Evo's.. but there was one car I've always wanted as a kid, and during covid I thought they went out of reach, but they came back down and, much like the Aristo, I was in the right place at the right time.
My weekend dream car: 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Tommi Makinen Edition
This is it. I did it. A car I wanted since I was a kid, playing Gran Turismo 3, blasting Feeder and driving a modded TME around in all the dirt events. I never thought I'd see the day I'd sit in and drive a TME, let alone own one. Fun fact, until this car, I hadn't even SAT in an Evo, so it's the perfect car to pop my Evo cherry
. They say never meet your heroes, but honestly this is an exception because I love this car to death. It's everything I hoped it'd be and more, and it looks a million times better in real life compared to a video game. I made a replica of it in Gran Turismo 7 (because why not) and plan on doing a 1:1 photo shoot of it using a scape from the game in the future (because.. why not).
So ends my car spree, alot of jdm in a little time. Hoping to keep the Aristo and TME for the foreseeable future, as they go hand in hand for what I want out of a daily and weekend car