I’m admittedly pretty bad at self-promotion. It’s probably something I should work on a bit more. In a step towards improving my own ability to metaphorically pump my own tires, I thought it would be fun to talk about my 1997 Toyota Aristo Vertex Edition.
It’s been about two years since I last wrote about my Aristo. To be fair, the car does occasionally show up in some of our event coverage or be the least popular car in existence on DODOlogic’s Facebook page, but I never talk about it on the site.
In the two years of driving the car, I’ve come to realize a few things. The first thing I’ve learned is that people generally don’t make a fuss about Aristos (at least in Canada). The second thing I learned about Aristos has a lot to do with the first thing I learned. Aristos aren’t a car that a lot of people familiarize themselves with. The answers to the two most popular questions I get are: “2JZ-GTE VVTi” and “No, they didn’t come manual from Toyota. You either have to find a swapped one or do it yourself, and I found myself a swapped one.”
Those two answers might relate to the reason people don’t make a fuss about Aristos. To be honest, it doesn’t really bother me that Aristos aren’t the “it thing” and popular opinion on these cars – or the lack thereof – haven’t discouraged me from enjoying it.
I can honestly say that of all the cars I’ve owned this is my favourite. It’s sort of like having a big comfy 4-door Toyota Supra without the 6th gear. It’s not to say this car is without flaws. It definitely needs a little TLC, and by that I mean it could probably use a new set of coil overs and maybe some day it would be cool to change the wheels from the Wald D23’s. But living in Vancouver has its perks and extra money for car mods isn’t one of them. I’ll slowly make improvements over a long period of time and just enjoy driving the car whenever I get a chance. With any luck, it will be less than two years until my car revisits DODOlogic.