Toyota Century - When you’re too Hipster for a Lexus
I’ve always considered the ideal driveway lineup to have three cars (see my previous post where I talk about maintaining a continual state of denial).
The first car is the one you love to drive, something manual, something you can take out on track. The second car has got to be something you can rely on, something you can shovel in whatever you need to move and don’t mind spending as much time in as you’ll need to get around.
Which leaves the third car, unbridled by needing to live up to any expectation dynamically, practically or even from a budget perspective. It can be something you want for what the car is, rather than for any objective reasoning a significant other might recognise as an informed purchase.
So, I bought one….
It was purely by chance that an early GZG50 Century came up for sale, imported just over two years prior in 2019, not 10 miles from work and way under the going price. Unusually it hadn’t already been snapped up by another enthusiast, but I put that down to the misspelling in the eBay listing.
I’d owned a UCF20 Lexus LS400 before, so I kind of knew what I was getting into with the Century, this one was slightly rough around the edges but still far better shape than most UK market Lexi of similar age. Needless to say I spent the test drive attempting to hide my excitement before immediately placing a deposit.
Once I got the car back home the rhythmic waves of excitement hadn’t yet left me - I was absolutely besotted, I crawled over every inch of the car, opening every cubby and feeling every material of every surface like a cursed ASMR streamer. For the next few weeks I ended up having my lunch breaks in the reclining rear seat until I ultimately reverted back to my daily driver for commuter duty.
But it’s just a fancy Lexus LS400 right?
Yeah - I can’t really argue too much with that, the similarities are hard to deny, both the Century and later model year LS400’s share a lot of parts, major parts like suspension and gearboxes, even minor parts like the steering wheel and indicator stalks.
Suggesting the Century is just an LS400 in a hand made suit would be selling it quite short though, for starters the 300kg weight difference, almost 200mm wheelbase and near 300mm body length increases over the LS400 make the Century drive and ride like something else completely.
On the inside it’s quite easy to see where all that weight and space is distributed, polished wood, finished metal and soft leather are laid on thick. Something Japanese cars are rarely afforded. Almost every interior adjustment is motorised and almost every switch backlit and labelled in written Kanji.
A tale of two halves
The Century’s interior experience can quite neatly be summed up from two perspectives:
From the front you’re provided the instrumentation needed to ensure the most smooth driving is practiced, the digital speedo along with a myriad of radio and climate control buttons help dial in exactly how this particular journey should play out. The only distraction potentially being the lingering odor of passenger feet from the pass through. The driver’s seat feels suspended separately to the rest of the chassis, combined with the light steering and deep travelling pedals, nothing reacts to your input in a way that evokes stress or encourages haste.
From the rear (and despite my Century being a poverty spec single screen car), all the cares from your previous board meeting will melt away in the reclining, heated and (somewhat rudimentary) massage seating. Although there’s nicer places to be, what the Century provides as a unique selling point is peace of mind. Not only can you not hear the engine back here, it’s difficult to hear the indicator stalk click when engaged.
I can also personally confirm that the wool interior is fantastic at both muffling the sound and trapping the smell of even the most aggressive of human backfires.
and it’s a V12?
By far the star of the Century’s feature list is the silky smooth 5 litre 60 degree V12 1GZ-FE engine. Unlike the 1UZ-FE V8 (which I still believe is the best engine money can buy in a 90’s Toyota) the 1GZ-FE uses its extra cylinders along with ACIS and VVTi to produce the 1UZ’s peak torque figure of around 400nm after only 1000rpm.
There is an argument the 1UZ might be superior in other ways, but scratching the surface of the 1GZ and learning of Toyota’s no expense spared specifications, notwithstanding titanium valve shims, three timing chains, magnesium cam covers or the hydro-electric cooling fan, soon puts any spreadsheet analysis comparison to bed.
This by far is the biggest draw to driving or riding in the Century, as it barely needs to turn 2000rpm to reach national speed limit, and in which time it never requires full throttle or shows any signs of labour during acceleration. The A342E Asin automatic does date the Century’s straight line speed with it’s vast ratios and spaced out shifts, but to try and rally or race a Century is denying the car what it’s able to do best - long lazy wofts along gently bending roads.
GranToyota A-Spec
In 2021 my partner surprised me with tickets and entry into the Toyota Parallel Pomeroy Trophy, hosted at Silverstone’s infield alongside the VSSC Pomeroy Trophy on track. Honestly it was an amazing day out and it’s unfortunate there hasn’t been another since 2022.
I entered with the Century, which I had outfitted with staggered wide summer rated tyres and a make shift alignment I’d fooled myself into thinking would provide a performance advantage, on arrival the car was stickered up with an entry number before being slung around a selection of beginner friendly autocross-lite type cone challenges. The second pass around these challenges was after some pretty heavy rain which made things interesting.
Despite being fairly competitive for its fighting weight, the Century handled about as well as you’d expect a 5.2 meter long luxury car to perform. Terminal understeer which when provoked only gave way to the slowest of rotation both on or off throttle. Given the 1.5:1 ratio of second gear and open differential out back, there was hardly any reaction from the drivetrain or chassis even when violently man handling the controls. It did make me reflect on my aforementioned LS400, which with the dynamic handling pack was a surprisingly responsive handling car for its size.
After quite a lot of specific stimulation for a seasoned Toyota nerd, a quick pit side interview that gave me a chance to completely butcher any facts I might have known about the car and some photo ops, the day was over. Sticker and Toyota branded hat aside, the memories alone made this a really special day that I’d never forget.
6 Years on…
It has been several years since all these major events - and I have to admit, other than the occasional day out and the odd MOT test, I’ve done next to no miles in the Century - it certainly isn’t looking as loved as it once was. I owe it to the car to bring it up to my standard and give it the attention it requires, but I keep finding excuses to become side tracked.
Since owning the Century I’ve experienced far more with cars in general than I had prior any point in my life - and despite many cars coming and going the Century has been a constant. I feel one day I’ll have gained enough experience and rounded off enough fasteners on my other projects to finally bring the Century into the focus of my attention.
I suppose to try and conclude this post in a somewhat final way:
It’s easier to meet your heroes than it is to live with them.
