There's a reason that 80s / 90s JDM cars reflect such a unique and amazing time in automotive history, a time that we’ll likely never see again.

Japan was going through its ‘bubble’ economy - it's residents were absurdly rich, industry was making money head over heels and car manufacturers were making unique cars for every possible potential segment of the market.

Even the segment of the market that saw those small, reliable little commuter cars pottering about, and thought ‘I want that, but with a high performance turbo and racing suspension'

And Toyota had it covered with the Starlet GT. No need to hand knot your own muffler scarfs or convince backyard tuners to touch this guy.





Building on the base econo box Starlet, which they made a million of - this limited production GT Turbo basically doubled the power output to 135 horsepower, which, when when added to a car that weighs 835kg, makes for a crazy power to weight ratio.

This is what, at the time, made these cars so special to JDM tragics like myself. These power numbers may have seemed small at the time, especially when you were comparing them against the big American or Australian cars of the time, who boasted huge horsepower numbers and enormous 5 litre plus engines. But often the Japanese cars had them dead to rights for power to weight, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost of ownership.

It also was really funny to see some tiny little buzz box embarass expensive muscle cars, the type that would often be adorned with bumper stickers saying things to the tune of ‘The only good 2 litres are milk and orange juice’ and have owners who would continually complain about 'rice burners.'

But back to the Starlet GT Turbo! This was a rad little car. Subsequent models added AWD which made them a little hot hatch weapon, and they were and always have been criminally underrated.







I myself actually had a (non spicy, granny spec) later model 1.3l 1998 Starlet, and it was an absolute hoot to drive, especially since it would take whatever punishment you would give it and keep going forever. These base models were for the longest time one of the best 500 dollar cars you could buy, though the GT Turbo and it's future evolutions still command a decent price today.

For Hiro's drag racing, this might prove to be a good option. Great power to weight, and solid platform to tune. It's also the cheapest car available.

On the other hand, I haven't been able to find a 3d model of it, so less opportunity for dumb videos.