Off season JZX Mark II - Machine Check
Calle bought his JZX100 Mark II early 2020 (before brexit). Him and his friend took a flight to London where they rented a car and drove out to the countryside and picked it up, then drove it all the way home to Sweden. The whole trip in video form can be watched here.
How it looked when Calle arrived in Sweden:
Since the JZX chassi hasn’t been all that popular in the US/EU until recent years I understand if there are people who has no idea what this car even is, or know of the JZX name but not the different models, so I will give you a very quick guide to the differences in exterior between them.
There are different generations within the JZX family, but the most talked about are the JZX90, JZX100 and JZX110. Calles is, as said earlier, a JZX100.
Bellow you will find the different JZX100 models and their pre-facelift and facelift variations. I won’t bore you with detailed texts so you’ll just have to look for the differences yourself.
Starting off with the Chaser (top: pre-facelift - bottom: facelift)
Mark II (top: pre-facelift - bottom: facelift)
Cresta (top: pre-facelift - bottom: facelift)
Photo sources: check the licenseplates
The JZX is a luxury sedan that just happens to come with one of the most popular engines used for drifting, the 1JZ. Even lowered on BC coilovers this car is still incredibly comfortable overall both sitting in the front seat or the back seat, highway driving or 360 entries.
I’ve wanted to shoot this car for a while but just never found the time to do it during summer, but was fun trying to work with what the fall season brings you.
The car has been fitted with a Vertex front lip, BN Sports side skirts and rear bumper that have been paint matched to the original two tone paint job. I do appreciate the fact that Calle went with the Vertex lip on the OEM front bumper rather than going with a matching BN front. It helps with keeping the luxury feeling of the car.
Good luck ever finding a Mark II without the middle piece cut out on the OEM bumper.
I suppose it comes down to what type of cars you are used to, but I always find the details on japanese “luxury” cars to extra fascinating, like the parking lights and the beautiful turn signals.
Calle repainted the R33 Skyline wheels that the car came with when he bought it and used them for a while. But they have now been switched out for 2 full sets of 18x8” & 18x9” Advan Model 5 wheels wrapped in Valino Greeva’s. The wheels goes great with the low profile styling of the car with it’s two tone paint job and over all OEM-ish look.
On the side windows you’ll find some old school Yonaka stickers. The OG logo decal and the illustration of this very Mark II that was sold for a brief period a few years ago.
While there are a few spoiler lip choices to choose from, I do prefer the wingless look on the Mark II.
Most of the interior is still stock other than the Nardi steering wheel, Mirco drivers seat and subwoofer between the rear seats. The double din stereo still has the Tokyo Drift DVD it had in it when Calle picked the car up in the UK.
The 1JZ has very decent power from the factory with it’s alleged 280hp (due to the gentlemen’s agreement). The boost pressure is now raised to 0.9 bar, it has gotten a Blitz front mount intercooler and a 3” exhaust. A combo that works very well for what Calle needs it to do.
Hearing the roar of a 1J and seeing a JZX rolling during these cold and dull late-fall evenings really brightens up your mood. Now let’s just wait another 4 months until the 2024 season starts and this becomes “just another saturday night” again.
The underglow and strobes are supplied by bringbackunderglow.se.
TLDR version: Calle has a very cool JZX. If you ever get the chance to take a ride in a big body japanese sedan - take it.