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Project Cars

Little ray of sunshine 1997 Toyota Starlet Glanza V
The first time I saw a Starlet Glanza V was in a showroom when they were first being sold. That's more than 12 years ago. I went with a friend to test drive a black V with a manual transmission, stiff lowered shocks and a tight-fitting driver's bucket seat. I fell in love with the car, although my friend didn't. It was zippy, lazy, initially, but damn it shot like a startled cat when the turbo spooled up.
All those years later and I try one again: a nearly mechanically mint 1997 Glanza V. This generation of Starlet was the last of Toyota's affordable but supremely dull small cars, with the Glanza V adding spice among the rice. The small 1.3 engine was paired with a turbo, a two-stage offering allowing a max of 130-135bhp. That is more than enough for a tiny city car. This, the 90 series, and the previous 80 series Starlets have started to catch on with the enthusiast crowd in Bangladesh. Both the Starlet GT and the Glanza V are now hot items for people looking for an affordable yet fun car with handling to boot. The two doors meant they weren't that popular initially when they started trickling into the country. But now, everyone wants sporty, and two doors are sporty. So sporty in fact that some people are welding rear doors of a sedan shut. Prices have started rising with some people so determined they convert a regular 2-door Starlet into this.
Except this one is as original as it gets. Mahbub Hussain showed me around, and the only mods it had were the stereo and the gauges. It was kept stock as it was a daily driver. He and his brother Mahfuz love these little cars so much they not only have the V, but also an older 80 series Starlet GT with the much sought after quad headlight arrangement.
"Mahfuz watched The Italian Job and he went nuts wanting a hatchback," explained Mahbub on how he got hold of two such collectible pocket rockets. "So we looked through the classifieds and found not only the Glanza but also the GT." They ended up having both the cars in a short space of time. And it's been with them for the last few years, till the younger brother went off to Australia to study. One of the cars now needs to be sold. This one, specifically. So where do I come in? I like little cars and I cannot lie. First impression after all these years is the design has aged well. It's not a typical family car, it's not a boy racer either. The spoilers are just big enough without getting in the way.
How does it drive? It's an automatic so the acceleration is a little lazy in the first gear. As the revs rise, you can almost predict when the boost is about to kick in. The car has stock suspension, so the ride is comfortably pliant and yet, the turns are tight. The dimensions are like a comfortably creased jacket you wear. And then I realized this was the exact fun machine from all those years ago. Sure, a manual would help me stick through the optimum rev range a lot better. It's a tiny engine giving out quite a bit of grunt but it needs to be kept singing loudly to get all the horses to gallop.
I grinned. This is the car for people who want to have car that takes them to the office, and on the weekends when the roads are free, it takes them out of the office and into real fun zones. I get why people want it so much. It gives them the best of both worlds while maintaining a decent ratio of fuel bill to fun. Of course, the fuel efficiency goes down the drain if like me, you are standing in traffic and occasionally push the engine to hit 4000 rpm only to hear the blow-off valve go whoosh. It's got a silly name -"Starlet". But you forget that when little hatch bolts forward every time.
This particular octane driven, no accident, no rust, no smoke Glanza is for sale. For contact details, check the Shift facebok P^e.
Things to watch out for:
Turbo feed lines. Watch out for the pipes and clamps. These are rubber and plastic and might crack. When that happens, your engine heats up quick.
So quick tip? Maintain feed lines, replace coolant every summer in Bangladesh and use the best possible engine oil. Everything else on this car is your typical old Toyota; won't break unless you neglect it. Oh, and the interior plastic door trim is a little on the crappy side for this entire decade of Toyotas.
Words and Photos: Ehsanur Raza Ronny