Modern technology as we know it today allows for many pleasures. And by me stating that, and before you suddenly realize that you haven't downloaded your weekly ‘exotic' movie over the net, what I mean is that any single gadget can almost certainly be fitted with other functions. A lot of hand-phones nowadays are fitted with mega pixel cameras and refrigerators are able to order groceries online. Perhaps, it won't be long before people will be typing college assignments using the freezer. An interesting thought yes, but weird nonetheless.

The Toyota Caldina here is probably the automotive equivalent of a ‘difficult to categorize' car. In fact, even we at Hypertune had some trouble whether to grade this car being either an MPV or a high performance car. For those of you who has some knowledge about the GT-4 N-Edition Toyota Caldina will know what I'm talking about here, but for the less informed, allow me to explain.

Being fair, we have seen quite a few of these types of cars released in the market these past few years, some aided by forced induction or a few using the good old way of larger displacements. Just last issue we featured one of them, the Subaru Forester. Or if you're more of a Mitsu fan then the Airtrek is a fine example. Or how about the new Volvo V50 wagon? Interestingly, the Caldina has a history longer than any of the cars mentioned above.

You'd be forgiven if you say that not many Caldina's can be seen on the road, no matter what generation. Aside from the fact that most were imported from grey importers, the lack of buyers might be the fault of the company's designers back then. First introduced in late 1992, it was based on the Corona sedans, but referred to as Caldina for the estate and van variants (I can't help but wonder why the Japanese practically have a dozen names for any car model that starts off easy to be identified). I must say that while the styling could have been ‘bearable' in the early 90's, it wouldn't last ten minutes now. What can I say? Unfortunately it looked like a hearse, and many people I've talked to have used the same description. Thankfully, they've done superbly to make the car look stunning now. It looks quite a bit like the more popular Honda Stream, which I would like to think was designed by the same person who drew the Bullet train's initial sketch. But still, the design doesn't tell enough of what's under the hood. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

If the contented expression on the owner's face is anything to go by, it's safe to say that he got a pretty good deal. Megat the owner should know better, as he works with Mutiara Motors. Since Mutiara is also the exclusive distributor of GReddy products, it's no wonder the internals and cabin interior feature quite a number of products from the well known parts manufacturer. The already beastly 3S-GTE engine with factory-fitted turbo plus full time all wheel capability spells a major dose of driving gratification. If the nagging wife (or parents) insists that you can't buy a turbine engined car, then the Caldina is a nice trick to pull from up your sleeves. They won't know the difference.

(The rest of the article can be found in Hypertune Vol. 47)

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