We Wish We Owned These 10 Cars From Initial D

Initial D was a Japanese street racing manga/anime series that has, in one way or another, influenced the way we see cars, due to how they were depicted in the iconic series. Furthermore, because it has reached a wide range of audiences on a global scale, it's safe to say that Initial D has played a major part as to why 90s JDM cars are increasingly becoming collector's items, and mint conditioned examples fetch big money in auction sites around the world.

Simply put, cars of today have become somewhat too complicated, and stuffed with lots of automotive gadgetry that puts an emphasis on safety, comfort, and automation. A lot of people look for examples of simple and very straightforward cars that are just meant to be driven hard, just like the examples from Initial D, that gives off the best sense of connection between car and driver. With that being said, here are some of the cars in the iconic manga series that we wish we had in our garages.

10 Toyota Corolla AE86

Initial D Toyota Corolla AE86 Drifting — via animewiki

Of course, we're starting off this list with the main protagonist of the series, the Toyota Corolla AE86 driven by Takumi Fujiwara. While it's fairly easy to acquire a Trueno in real life, the engine it had in the series is considered as one of Toyota's Holy Grail engines.

Initial D Toyota Corolla Drifting — via drifted

Having a Formula Atlantic 4AGE motor that revs up to 11,000 rpm can only be considered the stuff of dreams in real life, and we're kinda envious that Takumi uses a car with a racing engine for tofu deliveries.

9 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R

Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R Initial D — via pinterest

Takumi's dad, Bunta Fujiwara, must've really had deep connections to get himself one of the rarest Imprezas to add to the AE86 in doing tofu deliveries. The Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R was used as the basis for the Impreza WRC version due to the coupe layout, making the chassis stiffer than the four-door sedan versions.

Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R — via pinterest

Only 635 of these were made in real life, and cost around $28,000 back during its model run in 1998. Today, if you're lucky to find one, prices start at around $46,000. It's another example of rare JDM metal that's appreciating in value nowadays.

8 Mazda RX-7 FD3S

It's safe to say the Takahashis had great taste when it comes to styling their cars. In the first few seasons of Initial D, the yellow Mazda RX-7 FD3S driven by Keisuke Takahashi sported some of our favorite wheels, the phone dial-like Mazdaspeed MS-02.

Then later on, the yellow RX-7 received an RE-Amemiya wraparound bodykit together with the bronze 18-inch SSR Type C wheels. Safe to say, if we were to flex one of the cars in Initial D on our Instagram, we'd definitely put this at the top of the list.

7 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Initial D — via reddit

Kyoichi Sudo's Lancer Evolution III has the distinction in Initial D for being the first car that beat Takumi's AE86, after the latter blew up his engine for trying to keep up with the all-wheel-drive sports sedan.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3s are hard to find nowadays, and it would really be bonkers to own one that has 350 hp and a WRC-style anti-lag system. It pops and bangs all the way, all day long.

6 Spoon EK9

Only a cat prevented Tomoyuki Tachi to beat Takumi Fujiwara in the manga series, and that sort of stuff doesn't happen every day. But the fact is, the Todou School demo car would make the AE86 eat dust in real life because of four words — Tuned by Spoon Sports.

The real-life Spoon EK9 has the Spoon B16B engine that revs to 11,000 rpm, and produces 260 hp. It's also fitted with the now-discontinued special Spoon Sports gauge cluster, which costs as much as a used 90s car nowadays. For Honda fanboys, this is the ultimate inspiration for their EK Civics.

5 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

This is the car that brought back the GT-R nameplate for Skylines in the best way possible, by dominating all the racing competitions it participated in. Though in Initial D, it's more commonly known as the car used by the "Grim Reaper", Rin Hojo.

Of course, it's not our advice to run your opponent off the road with the R32, but to be fair, the car has plenty of potential to leave an opponent in the dust, thanks to the RB26DETT motor and the awesome ATTESA E-TS all-wheel-drive system.

4 Honda S2000

The Honda S2000 depicted in Initial D was driven by Dr. Toshiya Joshima, or the guy called "God hand", because of his ability to do performance driving with only one hand on the steering wheel.

In real life, we're happy to say that it is possible to drive an S2000 with only one hand, as it has an electric power steering and a quick steering ratio. And of course, you can smoke an AE86 even with a stock S2000, just make sure not to vomit before the end to seal the deal.

3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII

We've mentioned earlier that we'd love to flex Keisuke Takahashi's RX-7 on Instagram due to the aggressive body kit it had. And now, here's another car featured in Initial D that we deem as Instagram worthy — Kobayakawa's Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII — via pinterest

We find the C-West front bumper as one of the nicest kits in the market to enhance the overall look of Cedia-based Evos (Evo 7,8,9), and when completed with a Voltex GT Wing, the car really looks aggressive and ready to pounce on its opponent.

2 Toyota MR2

The Toyota MR2 was famous in Initial D for doing the Irohazaka jumps, where the car literally flies off the ground for a faster way around a tight downhill hairpin curve. While it looks awesome in the series, it's not exactly advisable to do in real life, unless you want to trade broken rims and shattered suspension bits for style points.

However, we'd still want the MR2 as it teaches its driver to become smooth in his inputs, or otherwise fall victim to snap oversteer which the SW20 is notorious for.

1 Suzuki Cappuccino

Suzuki Cappuccino Initial D — via reddit

The Suzuki Cappuccino is the least powerful car in Initial D that battled against Takumi's AE86, and the latter needed to pull out all the stops, including the "blind attack", just to get ahead of the cute little roadster. How did that happen? It's fairly simple. Power-to-weight ratio.

In real life, the Cappuccino is only powered by a 660cc three-cylinder engine that could produce up to 130 hp with the help of an upsized turbocharger, but it only weighs 1,598 lbs.