Other than its culture there are two things I really love Japan for. Actually, maybe we should just make it one, my missus will probably read this, and if I start heading in that direction I’ll definitely be done for! Cars are what I’m talking about: modified tuner cars just like the one you see before you now!

But we haven’t had to travel 11 hours by 747-400 and then a few hours by car trying to negotiate Osaka city traffic to scoop the pics on this machine, no. Thanks to its new owner, Shane M, a quick 30-minute jaunt through mid-day Auckland congestion and here we were, standing in front of the car, jaws dropped, drool making a b-line for our NZPC Crew T-shirts.

I had seen this car in pictures many times before. It had even made an appearance in a US import magazine, and that got me wondering. Was this car the hard-tuned machine its persona exemplified, or just some show pony dressed in race-look stickers to satisfy the stateside craving for anything and everything JDM?

Shane handed me the spec sheet courtesy of its builder, Dijon Cars in Osaka, Japan, and lifted the bonnet. I quickly retracted my question.

Dijon (yes, like the mustard) owns the 5Zigen brand, one of the bigger names in the Japanese performance industry since its inception in 1987.

The name, just in case you were wondering, means five dimensions. Its business is predominantly exhaust systems and wheels, but as you’ll soon read, it seems to be very good at whatever it lends its hands at making. It has a huge Japan-based racing background and has actively participated in F3, N1 endurance racing, F3000, the Japanese Touring Car Championship and GT Championship. So when it came time to put together a new street-tuned demo car, it would be safe to say it knew exactly what it was doing!

When Japan’s Dijon Cars purpose-built an Impreza WRX for its 5Zigen trade stand at the 2003 Tokyo Auto Salon it most definitely didn’t do it by halves. How do we know? The car now lives in New Zealand, and we’ve just had a closer look!

The car in question is (or was shall we say was) 5Zigen Japan’s very own ’02 Subaru Impreza WRX. If you were lucky enough to be in Japan around the time of the 2003 Tokyo Auto Salon, you would most definitely have seen this machine as it took centre stage on the 5Zigen stand, flanked by a couple of kawaii race queen lovelies!

It’s a very well sorted car in all respects, but what better place for us to start than under that bonnet. The EJ20T engine’s internal spec is a bit of an unknown quantity, but suffice it to say, I’m pretty adamant that at least a little inner fettling must have gone on underneath that canopy of carbon and chrome.

As for the bolt-ons, well they’re a bit easier to see, and what a sight they are! If you look carefully there’s big ball-bearing blower in there, running a pretty serious turbo set-up that starts with a 5Zigen high performance exhaust manifold. The jumbo front-mount intercooler is an ARC air-to-air item, and runs an undulating course of custom 5Zigen, chromed, and highly buffed piping around the engine. Look closely and you’ll see it’s a sectional, cut, butt and weld affair — tedious work, but guaranteed to provide a higher flow than run-of-the-mill press bends. There’s aluminium turbo pipe and one of 5Zigen’s Pro Race EX-I stainless exhaust systems. The lightweight exhaust is actually a prototype part, used by 5Zigen to gauge its performance and build quality before it went into production. Suffice it to say, it obviously met all its expectations.

On the intake side you’ll find a Pro Racer air intake system, lavishly created from carbon fibre and drawing cool air from the front of the car. C-West snuck in one of its carbon air flow meter covers, and 5Zigen added what looks like (and actually is!) a hollow Kei car-sized muffler as a bit of an expansion chamber just before the throttle body. Weird, but cool s**t!

There’s some extra fuelling supply and a tuned ECU, while additional engine cooling is taken care of via an ARC three-core aluminium radiator, and water-cooled ARC oil cooler. As for the performance numbers? Well, that’s anyone’s guess at this stage, but from the driver’s seat it’s pretty obvious that there’s a lot more wick than an off-the-shelf Impreza.

When you start to push serious power through a stock standard driveline things can often get messy — and in the case of AWD set-ups, messy and expensive. 5Zigen took no chances with its TAS showpiece and fitted an ATS Pro-Spec reinforced carbon single-plate clutch with one of its very unique 5Zigen Twin Mode Systems; an operation that at the push of a button (on top of the custom carbon gearknob) actuates the clutch and allows for  Tiptronic-like gear shifts through the factory five-speed manual transmission with out the use of the clutch pedal. The Subaru viscous centre LSD remains up front, while an ATS mechanical unit has been installed out the back.

Of course when it comes to building a car of this pedigree 5Zigen was never going to leave the suspension standard, nor was it going to just biff in a set of solid shocks and short-ass springs. Instead it had Zeal make up a special one-off set for the car, which of course is adjustable in every possible way and features tunable pillow-ball top plates. Get down on all fours, poke your cranium under the sills and you’ll find adjustable suspension and link arms — all 5Zigen’s own handiwork, just like the stunning titanium front strut bar that takes pride of place back up top.

A Cross Performance Rod (5Zigen’s words, not mine!) is used to tighten up the ride and reduce sill-to-sill flex, and this, together with a seven-point bolt-in (but now bolted out) roll-cage makes for a pretty unyielding chassis, well worthy of being punted round a race track at breakneck speed!

When it comes time to stop, Subaru’s factory four-wheel disc, ABS-equipped set-up probably would have done the trick, but then again, they’re nowhere near as good-looking as the Endless six-pot callipers and 15-inch slotted rotors hanging off the front hubs. The rears are stock, but I don’t care. I can’t stop looking at those blue anodised six-pots through the 18×7.5-inch 5Zigen Becketts FN01R-C alloys. Drool! In achieving the cutting-edge TAS look it was after, 5Zigen commissioned body specialist C-West to come up with an angry-looking kit for the car.

What it got though was something really pissed off, starting with PRFP rear bumper, side skirts and a deep front bar complete with carbon fibre aero canards. There are carbon aero mirrors, looking like they’d be more at home on a Formula race car, and a carbon boot lid with a whopping great adjustable carbon GT wing. I guess we can’t forget the carbon fibre bonnet either, with its mammoth vents and substantial scoopage easily capable of Hoovering the odd wayward pedestrian. Inside it’s all just as impressive, starting with a pair of Bride (that’s pronounced Bree-day you know!) Zeta race seats up front. The rear seat and door cards didn’t escape some Bride sponsorship either, and they’ve been re-trimmed in the company’s trademark pattern and insignia. There’s a Takata harness for the driver, as well as trio of K’S meters to measure oil pressure, oil and water temperature — and they’re all housed in a carbon fibre shroud upon the dash. Another K’S meter — the all-important 2.0kg/cm2 boost number — has found its way into a driver’s side air vent.

Now that’s trick. Balls to match its bulges? Most definitely!

Shane has got himself one car most of us here would give our right nut to have parked in our garage. It’s torque by the truck load, handling like a slot car, and the looks! well, I’m pretty sure they speak for themselves! Better still, unlike many of its Tokyo Auto Salon counter-parts, it gets driven, and driven hard too!

SPEC

Vehicle: 5Zigen’s 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX

Engine: Subaru EJ20T, 2000cc DOHC 16v turbo, forged pistons, ball-bearing turbo, ARC front-mounted air-to-air intercooler, 5Zigen custom sectional intercooler piping, 5Zigen aluminium turbo pipe, 5Zigen high performance exhaust manifold, Pro Racer EX-I prototype stainless exhaust system, Pro Racer carbon cold air intake, C-West carbon air flow meter cover, ARC three-layer aluminium radiator, ARC water-cooler oil cooler, re-mapped ECU

Driveline: Subaru five-speed gearbox, ATS Pro-Spec reinforced carbon single plate clutch, factory viscous centre LSD, ATS mechanical rear LSD

Suspension/brakes: Zeal custom built coil-over shock/spring set-up, 5Zigen pillow-ball suspension arms, 5Zigen pillow-ball link arms, 5Zigen titanium strut tower bar (front), 5Zigen Cross Performance Rod, Endless six-pot front callipers, Endless 15-inch vented front rotors, 5Zigen stainless brake lines

Wheels/tyres: 18×7.5-inch 5Zigen Becketts FN01R-C Solid Silver alloys, Dunlop Formula 225/35R18 tyres

Exterior: C-West body kit — PFRP front and rear bumpers, PFRP side skirts, GT wing, carbon aero bonnet, carbon boot lid, Bellof HID headlight conversion kit

Interior: Bride Zeta front seats, Bride re-trimmed rear seat and door panels, Takata harness seat belts, ATC steering wheel, K’S water temp, oil temp, oil pressure and boost meters

Performance: Not tested

Thanks: YHI NZ — www.yhi.co.nz, www.modifymycar.com, Dijon Cars/5Zigen Japan