Lightweight Monster: AE101 Toyota Sprinter

The Toyota 4AGE, it's the combination of magic letters that have been the go-to choice for most Toyota (…and some Mitsubishi (!)) front-wheel drive platforms for almost a decade now. But the winds are changing now, in the never-ending hunt for power, tuners are now considering last generation Celica 2ZZ-GEs, older 3S-GEs and some have even tried tinkering with the 3S-GTE turbo-charged motor. So is this the end of 4AGE's golden era? We find out.

Today we have Zain Md Abeer's AE101 Sprinter GT. No, not the hardtop Sprinter Marino, but the slightly rarer sedan version…well sort of, as rare as a mass produced Toyota sedan gets anyway. I don't particularly like this generation of Sprinters; I think they are fat and it's probably because I have not seen a good example of this car, but this is an obvious exception. Exterior wise, it's very OEM+, a clean set of body extensions all around that look like they are OEM items. It's like this car could've been made by Toyota in limited production, but it never was nor will be.

Contrary to my opinion, this car is only as fat as Jennifer Carpenter. Anything that isn't required was taken out, the entire air conditioning system, rear seats and door pads, all gone saving more weight than a 10 year old can get with his Corolla wrapped in fake carbon fiber sticker from a certain decoration shop in Dhanmondi. According to Zain, the diet plan reduced 70 kilos of weight, considering the car weighs only 1000kgs to begin with give or take a fat Zaer (There you go again with that self-referential humour. Stop or get some weight reduction you fatty. ~ Editorial team). And the obsession with lightness doesn't end there either. Aerospeed lightweight pulley, a JUN racing lightweight flywheel and Stage 2 clutch married to a C160 6 Speed manual box with limited slip differential reduces rotational mass from the crankshaft. And since every black car deserves a set of white rims, this car has Buddy club lightweight 15" alloys.

The car sits low on Zerone coilovers, when we reviewed the car, there was no play in the suspension whatsoever, but a comfortable ride is overrated when you have a racecar. It has almost every bar Ultra-racing made for the AE101 chassis, even the fender bars. And if you thought this car looked good, you have not seen the best part yet. The interior consists of a rare BZ Touring gauge cluster, a set of Sparco bucket seats and Takata harness because racecar.

It's possibly one of the fastest 4A-GE powered AE101s out there. Powered by Tomei Pon-cams, a simple upgrade that is proven to show significant power gains. You can hear them over the exhaust a mile away, this is a loud car made even louder courtesy of the big cams. With the short ride-along it has proven itself: with each shift, the wheels spin as they try to grip the road for the next gear. It's a little restrained initially due to the big cams, but the revs climb quickly and the ponies turn into racing horses. We are told the fun starts after 100kmph and that was evidenced in the ride along, unlike most other cars, the acceleration doesn't show any signs of slowing down after 100, if anything the 100-120 climb was faster than the 80-100kmph. This car is built for speed and handling, and it's built right. This is a proper 4A-GE, not the usual dime a dozen overrated twin cam you see every new kid driving these days.  

With what I experienced in this car, I can safely call upon my superior judgment and say this car has a fighting chance against the gruntier, more powerful engine swaps out there. If people start to step-up and tune these engines, 4A-GEs will never die, just get faster. I'm partial to 2ZZ-GEs, which is why a 4A-GE rarely impresses me, but this one exceeded my expectations to the point that I want one… badly.

Zain has had this car for almost 7 years now, and it was in his family since it was brought into the country. Before this, he had a hot version of the Honda Civic hatchback, the EG6. He knew there was no aftermarket support for Sprinter body parts, spares are harder to source and more expensive too, but that did not stop him from looking away from the Sprinter, and we're glad.