The clip is only a few seconds long: a black Toyota Chaser rolling slowly up a drive in Vermont, autumn trees over it, a red barn behind. The caption on the screen said it all: "explaining to my tuner how my car should sound like". If you've ever owned a turbo straight-six, you know that conversation.
What the JZX100 is
The Chaser was one of Toyota's "Mark II triplets", sold alongside the Mark II and the Cresta on a shared rear-wheel-drive platform. The JZX100 generation went on sale in September 1996 and was built until June 2001, the last Chaser before Toyota retired the name. From the kerb it looks like a sober executive saloon. Underneath, it's something else.
The Tourer V
The one to have is the Tourer V. It gets the 2.5-litre 1JZ-GTE straight-six with a single turbo and VVT-i, rated at 280 PS, and it was offered with a five-speed manual and a limited-slip differential as standard. Turbo six, rear-wheel drive, manual gearbox, five seats: that's the formula that made the JZX100 a legend, and why the 1JZ is famous for taking big power with the right supporting parts.
Source: JDM Buy Sell: Toyota Chaser JZX100.
Drift royalty
The same layout made the Chaser a favourite in Japanese drifting. A long wheelbase keeps it stable at big angle, and its size makes every slide look dramatic. Walk any D1 paddock and you'll still find JZX100s decades after production ended: at D1GP Ebisu 2025, competition Chasers and Mark IIs were still on the grid, and Daigo Saito's Fat Five Racing had a JZX100 Mark II for sale in the yard.
Our car
This one is ours. It came across from Vancouver to Toronto on its own wheels, a road trip we filmed for the TUNEX ONE channel, and it's now waiting its turn in the garage while the Mitsubishi Delica gets its rebuild. The plan for the engine bay is simple: clean, black, no colourful parts. As for the sound, the tuner has been told.
Photo: One Breath Pictures.
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