The racing-car-like, sporty body color.
As the suspension setup is in progress, the height may be further lowered.

“Vitz Turbo MN”, presented by the Team GAZOO as one style to enjoy cars, went through various types of customization with “Vitz 1.5 RS” as a base. As soon as I saw the car for the first time, I was impressed with the tasteful coloring design reminding me of a fast racing car. Or to be frank, I felt an irresistible urge to grab the steering wheel. Whoever loves sports driving would have the same feeling as I did. That is a quite significant point for such sporty customized car while I felt as if sudden serge had struck the part of my brain controlling the driving quest.

Although the suspension was a little hard on public roads, I was casually thinking that it’s quite a normal car, good for commutes, dates, etc…

Putting aside the explanation of customization details, following my instinct, I headed to the holy ground of the drive impression, Hakone Turnpike. First of all, I drove on the local road for about 15 minutes from the hotel. Upon the clutch meet from idling, the car started running quietly and smoothly, and ran without stress even in the fourth gear by less than 2,000 rotations. Due to some ongoing road construction, when the car went over bumps, I felt upthrust several times, but not to the extent that a passenger would feel uncomfortable while it felt a little hard on the flat roads. In other words, the car was suitable even for commutes, dates and family outings on the public roads; at least that was what I thought. However, such a soft image was completely gone as soon as I passed the toll booth of Hakone Turnpike.

With a wheelspin in the first gear, quick shift into the second gear.
The sensation in swift run-up over a hill is the real thrill of the compact turbo car.

After a quick stop at the toll booth, as I entered into the first gear and stepped on the accelerator at full throttle, the car started running up, powerfully accelerating with a slight wheelspin. “It felt so good!” was the only comment I had for such acceleration. Different from that of high-power machines with larger displacement, the acceleration of light-weighted compact machine with a turbo engine gave me an illusion that the car was pulling me with its heart as the engine reacted directly to my stepping on the accelerator with my right foot. Its power picked up in a straight line from the low rotation, and the unique force of turbo engine was felt by my sense at about 4,000 rotations, going up to 6,000 rotations in a single burst. The distinctive turbo engine sound was truly exhilarating.

Under the special hood, the same turbo charger as “Vitz TRD Turbo M” was installed. Feeling the ECU setting designed for circuit driving on the right foot is a turn-on for sports drivers.

The Vitz Turbo MN has the same IHI turbo charger and intercooler installed as the “Vitz TRD Turbo M” released by the Modellista in August 2007. The engine specification is 150ps/20.0kgm that is higher than the normal engine by 40ps/5.6kgm. However, the ECU (computer) setting of this machine was designed for the use on circuits; therefore, it was further more sporty and aggressive than its numerical capacity, having great responses to the acceleration at full throttle. Because it has enough power, for the sports driving on a rainy day, the acceleration control right after a corner should be handled with the greatest care. Of course, it is needless to say that this is, at the same time, the appealing feature for sports drivers.

Despite that the development is still in progress, the suspension balance is excellent.
It made me eager to drive it on a circuit next time.

Although the suspension was felt a little hard on public roads, it was excelled on the winding road, revealing its true potential. The vehicle load was shifted to the front precisely on the timing of brakes when turning corners in low speed while the rear adequately held on when accelerating. This perfect suspension balance allowed quick change of directions just like racing cars. Those drivers not good at cornering using a FF vehicle due to the experience of understeering (the difficulty to turn), may feel that their driving skill is improved suddenly.

“M” and “N” stands for the initials of two drivers from the Team GAZOO.

There was the “Vitz Turbo MN” sticker on the rear hatch. M and N stands for the initials of two drivers from the Team GAZOO who challenged the 24 Hours Nurburgring in June 2007. The “Vitz Turbo MN” is the machine that the Team GAZOO including those two drivers created with a united effort; at the same time, it carries the pure dreams of those who love nothing but automobiles and sports driving. This pure turbo sports car is just about to be completed. I would personally wish to have it if it would be available in the market.