Ask any petrolhead and everyone will probably agree that the 90s was the golden era of Japanese cars and tuner culture. Almost every automaker had some sort of a driver focused car to offer to the petrolheads. An era when the car scene was dominated by the Supras, Skylines, Silvias, Type Rs and the Evolutions.
Concealed under the hype of these soon to be JDM icons were many capable cars, some of which went completely under the radar.
Let’s take the Toyota Starlet Glanza V for example. A 3 door light weight hot hatch,
considerably smaller than Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas, and powered by a 1.3 liter turbocharged engine that drives the front wheels.
For this issue of Turbine, we feature a Glanza V which is owned by Mr. Khandaker Hasib Rafin since 2018.
This particular 1999 Glanza V seen here is one of the freshest and rarest examples in the country.
According to Hasib, the car was in superb condition when he first bought it about three years ago.
“The first week I purchased the car, I drove it to my hometown,” said Hasib when sitting for an interview with Team Turbine, “To me this is still the best memory I have with this car after owning it for the last three years.”
A lot of aftermarket modifications have been done to the car by the previous owner but Hasib took it even further.
The starting was with replacing the stock air intake with one from K&N.
Since then, the final list of aftermarket mods done to the car till now includes:
1. Zisco compact manifold
2. Speedvision Ct9 hybrid 3rd gen turbo
3. Roadrunner divorced downpipe+ screamer pipe
4. Magnacor plug wires
5. Pivot grounding wires
6. Fidanza lightweight flywheel
7. Hel stainless steel clutch line
8. Hel braided brake lines
9. TRD brake pads
10. Hypersport short shifter kit
11. Gear linkage Polyurethane bushes
12. Autobahn Radiator Hose pipe
13. EPR hood raiser kit
14. JAPSPEED full catback exhaust
15. Innovate motorsports AFR
16. HDI Electronic Boost controller
17. FMIC
18. Walbro Fuel Pump+ Sard fuel pressure regulator
19. Jam Racing Cooling plate
20. HKS BOV
21. JD Tuning engine Torque damper
22. JD tuning clear hood scoop
23. Dixel slotted rotor
When it comes to cosmetic upgrades, quite a lot has been done to this car. Painted in a beautiful shade of white, this Glanza V sits on BBS rims wrapped around in Zestino tyres. An aftermarket Livesport spoiler has been added to the rear along with a brilliantly done custom ducktail spoiler.
However, his favourite work on his Glanza V till date remains to be the fixing of the boost controller system. His aim was to obtain a boost of 13psi which is the maximum boost that could be attained with the stock ECU.
Hasib’s Glanza V now produces a lot more horsepower than when it was stock. Although, the exact power figure is unknown as the Glanza has never been dynoed. Despite that, the current power seems to be decent enough to make the amazingly lightweight Glanza V to blaze through the streets of Dhaka on cold Thursday nights.
It’s obvious that the Glanza V was built to be a fun to drive car and Hasib seems to strongly agree to that!
“I love driving this car! It drives amazingly well especially when considering the handling” – Khandaker Hasib Rafin
Almost every car enthusiast knows about the GR Yaris today. Toyota’s latest offering of a performance oriented car. A tiny hot hatch designed for homologation rally racing and sold as a production car to meet the rules of World Rally Championship.
It may come as a surprise but in Japan the GR Yaris is also offered in a front wheel drive option besides the all wheel drive option that is sold internationally. To me, the particular front wheel drive variant of the GR Yaris is the true successor to the Toyota Glanza V as Toyota’s motto with the GR Yaris still seems to be the same- to offer a small 3 door lightweight hatchback that’s fun to drive!
