Japanese Soft-Roader Weekend Edition: Toyota Starlet Remix

Japan is home to some very interesting developments of initially uninteresting cars. The Toyota Starlet is one such example, as it’s a honest, humdrum hatchback with no real styling effort seemingly undertaken at any point, except for the unapologetically jazzy seat trim. But give it seriously heavy-looking body cladding and available four-wheel-drive, and the car is transformed into a camping-themed soft roader in an instant. The Remix is so 1990s I should be writing this on a CRT monitor and a 56k modem at best. Inside, there are sport seats and shiny yellow switchgear, without forgetting the automatic transmission as so often brandished in Japanese promotional material. These are city cars, and they rarely need a 5-speed shifter on the home market. Over here, I don’t think the Starlet was even available with A/T. “I love camping”, declares the spare wheel cover. The Starlet in non-sporty guise was available with two flavours of 1.3-litre engines, and the Glanza turbo version had roughly 50-60 horsepower more than the base units. Still, the Remix sold – at least this particular car was shot by Wikimedia user Tennen-Gas.