They say people want what they can’t have—especially when it comes to cars. Sure, something like the GT-R is great, but would it have become the legend it is today had it been publicly available in the US back when it was new?
*Takes a break from writing. Sees that a US-market Acura Integra Type R just sold for $200k. Questions thesis of this post. Questions life in general. Gets back to writing.*
Okay, don’t answer the GT-R thing. But there still is no fruit sweeter than the one that’s forbidden. Or do I mean unobtainable? This metaphor is continuing to get away from me. Point being, I was genuinely shocked to see this Camry TRD parked outside a hotel not too far from Tokyo Disneyland.
While I didn’t see its owner, the fact that it wasn’t on Y plates leads me to believe it didn’t belong to a member of the US military who had it shipped over, so my guess is that its owner is a native resident of Japan.
If someone is dead-set on spending a small fortune to import a Camry of all things, the Camry TRD would be the one to get. It’s naturally aspirated 301-horsepower V6 makes it one of the more powerful cars on Japanese roads, and its retuned suspension makes it feel a little more special than your average family sedan. I openly hate Toyota’s insistence on two-tone exteriors, but even I’ve gotta admit that the black-over-white works here thanks to all those complimentary black aero bits. And Toyota nailed it in terms of wheel design, stance and offset.
Is this TRD Camry as cool as a GT-R? Well, no. But personally, GT-R owners are making me dislike GT-Rs. So maybe if I lived in Japan and wanted a car that made a statement, I’d probably roll in a Toyota TRD Camry, too.
Since I’ve taken to also mentioning the tools behind these photo posts: both of these were shot with an iPhone 14 Pro, but through the Lightroom app for both RAW image capture and photo editing.
