Back home, I always thought that Australians loved their Japanese performance cars above what would be the standard for the rest of the world. Sure the country is predominantly dominated by teenage hoons in VL Commodores, tradies with their arms hanging from the window of their brand-new Ford Falcon XR8 ute, or executive businessmen prancing about in their HSV GTOs, but you almost can’t drive five minutes down and road in any part of the country without seeing a Silvia, Skyline or other typical Japanese sports machine.
Over here though, things are a lot different than what I experienced at home.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of modified cars in Malaysia aren’t Japanese, the JDM tuning scene is thriving better than a host of marijuana in a particularly good hydroponic garden (not that I’d have any idea what that would be like). Whether it be a VIP-styled Perodua, a Lancer with a BOV screaming at every gearshift, or a Scion sporting a bodykit more agressive than Mike Tyson’s right hook, you can find anything and everything here in Malaysia.
If you’ve ever experienced what I’m talking about, you’ll first notice that although the average Malay doesn’t have as much of a disposable income to throw at his four-wheeled chariot as an Aussie does, they sure make up for it in determination and vigour. It’s not an over-exaduration to say that almost every car I’ve seen since arriving here has been modified in some way.
But when you do see a car that has had a serious amount of cash thrown at it, the quality and style in which it has been modified is usually worlds ahead of what I’ve seen back home. You see although Australians love modifying Japanese cars, they generally lack one important thing that is crucial to the end result: Taste.
It’s not uncommon at home to see an expensive Jap-racer like an R34 GT-R destroyed with an ungainly bodykit and a lick of absolutely-abhorrent metallic purple paint. Nine-out-of-ten Japanese cars in Australia that are modified end up looking somwhat like this and it does absolutely no justice to the original product, or the scene in general.
But the Malaysians - and most of the Singaporeans for that matter - seem to get what the late-model tuning scene is about. In essence, they understand what the Asian tuning style is all about.
And I bet there will be some of you out there (my Australian cousins most likely) who will say that I’m the one who has gotten it wrong with this post. They’ll say that how cars are modified in Australia just encompasses what the Aussie tuning and modifying scene is all about.
Well let me just say that if that’s the kind of scene they want to be in then that’s fine, but I think that it’s the people over here - and not the ones back home - who have got it right.
I’m loving it here already.
- Leon.
