These Are The 10 Coolest Japanese Cars Featured In The Fast And Furious Franchise

If you are a Fast and Furious fan, you will argue the franchise is outright the best car-based movie franchise ever. But that only holds true if you only consider the first few releases, where the franchise adhered to some semblance of believability. Recent films have switched from street racing to big-budget action-packed sequences with stunts that defy all laws of physics. The only thing everyone can agree on is that the Fast and Furious franchise featured plenty of cool JDM cars and helped fuel a car culture revolution.

The two decades of movies helped shape the automotive landscape and elevated the sport-compact scene from a subculture to the mainstream. This, while helping create lots of car enthusiasts. Cars too benefited, with Japanese imports getting lots of love. For instance, the Honda Civic, once a hand-me-down car from parents, was now subject to modification after the first Fast & Furious film came out.

The franchise has always featured cool Japanese cars in all their movies. Craig Lieberman might have played a crucial role in including JDM cars in the first two movies, and the tradition has lived on to date. Here’s our pick of the coolest Japanese cars featured in the F&F franchise.

10 Nissan 350Z


One of eleven 350s
Via – Drifted

With 287hp stock, the Nissan 350Z was already a capable performer. However, VeilSide did their magic on a 2003 model and upped the horsepower to 430hp, and the result was the dark gray stunner driven by Takashi aka Drift King in the third Fast and Furious film.


Nissan 350Z Fast and Furious
Via Hypebeast

You will remember the car from the drift battle scene at the car park, where it effortlessly slides up the circular ramp. Six Drift King 350Zs were totaled during filming, but one survived, and it happens to be the one that received the performance upgrades. It was recently listed for $133,683 on Auto Trader UK.

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9 VeilSide Mazda RX-7


VeilSide Mazda RX-7 In Fast & Furious
Via: internet movie database

The 1997 Mazda RX-7 is Han’s car in Tokyo Drift and VeilSide’s other contributions to the Fast and Furious Franchise. It features modifications to the 13 B rotary engine, HKS turbocharger, and VeilSide’s titanium exhaust system. A Fortune wide-body kit gave the car its mean looks.


Mazda RX-7
Via: internet movie database

Nine Mazda RX-7 were modified for filming. This car enjoyed more screen time than the other RX-7 cars in the first two films, but we see it destroyed in a scene that supposedly killed Han. Only two of these survived filming.

8 Lexus LFA


Lexus-LFA
mrM8a via fandom

The Lexus LFA is a bare-knuckle boxer of a supercar. That, plus its limited availability, makes it a cool car. It helped the Japanese manufacturer flex its muscles against the world’s best sports carmakers. It featured a 4.8-liter V10 engine punching 552hp, And to certify its cool status, it had to appear in the Fast Franchise.


via f&f fandom

However, this high-tech supercar was only used briefly on fast and furious filming. Its maiden and only appearance come at the end of Fast Five, where we see Han and Gisele speeding along a highway towards Berlin. Perhaps, Lexus wanted so much to be part of the franchise without necessarily taking part in the destruction.

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7 Honda S2000


Sukis S2000 before she owned it
Via – S2ki

Besides being powerful and fast, appearances also play a big role in cars featured in the Fast and Furious franchise. Johnny Tran’s Hero 1999 Honda S2000 is one of the best-looking cars. Suki later drove it in the next film after extra exterior upgrades. The car was by no means slow as it could achieve a top speed of about 155mph. However, the car’s highlight is in its stunning looks.


Honda S2000 Fast and Furious
Via S2ki

Everything makes it an attention grabber, from a lowered suspension to the eye-catching body kit.

Fast and furious producers chose to paint it pink and fitted neon lights under the body to make it more colorful and stand out, more so for the night scenes.

6 Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)


R34 (fastandfuriousfandom)
via fastandfuriousfandom

The Fast Franchise has had a fair share of cool Nissan GTRs, from the R32, R33, and R34. This R34 was one of the star cars driven by Paul Walker’s character Brian O’Conner in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Brian bought it after his Dodge Stealth got impounded and used it to win the street race against Suki.


Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R - Paul Walker 2 Fast 2 Furious
Via: FlowersWallpaper.info

The 1999 R34 was powered by an RB26 twin-turbocharged 2.6-liter DOHC straight-six engine and features a killer C-west body kit. The original car was rented from technical director Craig Lieberman’s collection, with five more duplicates purchased and modified for filming.


5 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS


via The Fast and the Furious Wiki – Fandom

Anyone who has watched the Fast and Furious movies will outright recognize Brian’s Mitsubishi Eclipse GS in Kawasaki green. It was a highly modified car fitted with a smoke machine, large bore exhaust, intercooler, and a larger turbo. Its 2-liter four-cylinder engine produced 210hp, however, with the heavy mods, it was only good for 150hp in reality.


via YouTube user BlackWater Motorwerks

Craig Lieberman sourced the car, and although it did not have a prominent role compared to other cars, it remains one of the more recognizable original hero cars. This legendary car was sold to the Hollywood star cars museum after Paul Walker died, and his car collection was sold.

RELATED: The Coolest Car Every Fast And Furious Cast Member Drives Today

4 Toyota Supra MK4


Paul Walker’s Orange 1994 Supra MK IV
Via: @Barret-Jackson Twitter

The Supra with a 2JZ-GTE twin-turbo engine stands out as one of the few automatic cars to make their way to the manual favoring Fast and Furious franchise. They added a fake shifter knob not to spoil the fans’ taste. Regardless, it is one of the major cars driven by Brian after his Eclipse gets totaled by Johnny Tran. After Dom’s garage restores the rusted Supra, it gets so powerful that it smokes a Ferrari in a street race.


1994 Toyota Supra Mark IV racing driven by Brian O'Conner, Paul Walker's character in Fast and Furious
Via: GhostRacersClubHD Youtube

In the movie, they claim to spend about $20,00 to restore it, but in reality, $100k was used to turn it into the monster it was. Mods included the Nuclear gladiator paint job on the Bomex body kit and an aggressive rear wing.


3 1994 Acura Integra GS-R


 Acura Integra GS-R from Fast and Furious movie
Via: Hondanews.com

The Acura driven in the fast and furious was a 1996 model featuring a heavily modified suspension, engine, and body specs modification, and race-capable tires, rims, and brakes. This was Edwin’s car in the first film and is one of the cars provided by Craig Lieberman.


Red 1994 Acura Integra GS-R
Via espiritu RACER

Although a minor car in the franchise, the Integra featured the best body kits, graphics, and gadgets available on the tuner scene at the time. The original car was sold in 2014 on eBay for close to $50k.

2 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R


1971_Nissan_Skyline_GT-R
via fastandfurious fandom

Also known as the Hakosuka, this 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R was another of Brian’s cars, although it was a minor car making a brief appearance. We see Brian drive himself and Mia to Rio de Janeiro in it after Dom breaks out of the prison bus in Fast Five.


Gray 1971 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R
Via Hemmings Motor News

A fun fact, this was the first Skyline model to receive the GT-R badge. It sports a 2.0-liter DOHC straight-six engine that made 160hp from the factory. It is a beautiful classic added to the cool collection of cars driven by Paul Walker’s character in the franchise. Sadly, it appeared for only a few minutes, never to be seen again.

RELATED: 10 Cheapest Cars Driven By The Fast And Furious Crew

1 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R R33


leon skyline
via The Fast And The Furious

One of the coolest cars in the franchise happens to be driven by a minor character. This 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R R33, also known as Big Bird, was one of Leon’s cars, and he drove it to Toretto’s Market and Café in the first film. The car was originally white with black graphics, but was painted yellow for the film.


1995 Nissan-Skyline-GT-R-R33
fast and furious film screenshot

According to Lieberman, only one car was used for just a few shots due to the high costs of shipping duplicates from Japan. They also feared it would upstage Brian’s hero Supra, which explains its brief cameo. This iconic car had a sad ending in real life as it was confiscated and crushed because the owner changed its VIN.


Paul Walker Supra
These Are The Coolest Cars Driven By Brian O’Conner In The Fast & Furious Franchise

The Fast and Furious franchise was played a huge part in these cars to attain icon status, especially those driven by the late Paul Walker.

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