Toyota Cressida (JZX)

The Cressida family, also called the JZX series, is ranked amongst the flagship cars of Toyota and is one of the best Toyota drift cars out there. The family consists out of basically the same cars. Sold as the Toyota Chaser, Mark II and Cresta they all share the same chassis, but have slightly different body styles. The easiest way to distinguish them is by their head –or taillights.

It can get pretty confusing sometimes but simply put, the Cresta is the base model, the Chaser is the sports model and the Mark II is the luxury model.

Because most car manufacturers were switching over to FWD, demand for a true RWD sports car increased and this allowed the Chaser, Mark II and Cresta to gain so much popularity. Since it has a basic RWD layout and the inclusion of a high-powered reliable engine it was the obvious choice for drifters looking for 4-door sedan Toyota drift cars.

It’s another extremely popular tuning car that is often seen at the race track, for drifting as well as time attacks. Since the line-up of the JZX series is so versatile it is also popular to turn them into luxury cars. There are a lot of accessory-loaded Cressidas around in Japan, mostly the Mark IIs. In Japan these pimped out luxury cars, filled with options, usually black or white and with super low bodykits and suspension, are called VIP cars.

Due to its popularity on the race track the Cressida family has grown to be the best of both worlds, for racing as well as luxury. It all depends on the trim and how it’s tuned.
The most popular Cressida generations are the latest models, the JZX90 and the JZX100. The JZX series started as sedans with the coming of the JZX81 in the late eighties.

Considering the popularity it’s no surprise that there is an overwhelming amount of aftermarket support for these cars. So which one should you go for? Basically all the rear-wheel-drive models are good enough for drifting, but because of the aftermarket support the best would definitely be the JZX90 or JZX100, and in particular the Tourer-V model.

The Tourer-V model features updated suspension and a more rigid body with a 2.5 liter twin turbo 1JZGTE engine, delivering 280 hp and very easy to upgrade for little money.

The model line-up can get quite confusing for the Cressida cars, but it’s not that hard to get familiar with them if you do some research. There are however many, many versions of this car. To sum it up: Cresta, Chaser and Mark II, as an Avante, Tourer-S or Tourer-V, with the different generations JZX81, JZX90, JZX100 and JZX-110.

To make things even a little harder there were also sub versions of these cars with minor modifications and different options (JZX91, 93, 101, etc). Besides the JZX version there was also a LX version, sporting a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engine.

The JZX90 Mark II and JZX100 Chaser are probably the best looking cars from the JZX series, but of course taste is a personal matter. As long as you get the 2.5 liter 1JZGE or 1JZGTE engine. Manual transmission models are hard to find but they can be easily swapped from an other Cressida, a Supra or Soarer.