The Japanese always do cool stuff for their market and the Toyota Mark X is here to point out how bad your Camry is. The limited edition GRMN recently unveiled simply makes it even better.
Yep, this could have been your Camry, but noooo, you’ve wanted a cheap boring mid-size sedan to just take you from A to B without needing service too often or making you feel waku-doki for a second.
Remember the Corona Mark II and the Cressida? Those are the aunts of the Mark X, which by the way is pronounced “mark ex” not “mark ten”. The car was introduced in 2004, it’s about the same size as a Camry, but styling and dynamics are a very different.
The Mark X simply looks more upscale than the “little crown”, it’s closer to Lexus and that can also be seen in its powertrain. The mid-sized sedan is offered with either a 2.5-liter or 3.5-liter V6 sending power to the rear wheels in standard mode or to both axles as an option.
GRMNpower
The coolest version of the Mark X has been introduced at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon in January as a GRMN concept. Now it’s in production and thankfully it comes with most of the parts we saw at the beginning of the year.
Exterior changes include a redesigned big-mouthed front bumper, a CFRP roof, black mirror casings, 19-inch dark wheels and a trunk-mounted lip spoiler. Inside, you get sport seats wrapped in suede with red contrast stitching, piano black accents as well as a sport steering wheel.
Performance upgrades are present too, the car being fitted with a sport-tuned suspension, chassis stiffening bars as well as a performance brakes and a sporty exhaust.
In the GRMN guise, the Toyota Mark X comes fitted only with the 3.5-liter V6 engine making 321 hp and 280 lb-ft (380 Nm) of torque sent to the Torsen limited-slip differential via a six-speed manual box.
Raised your interest enough? Well, you’ll be extremely lucky to get one. The GRMN Mark X will be produced in a limited 100 units, all with right-hand-drive setup and with prices starting at ¥5.4 million ($44,735/€36,737).
Oh, and for those not knowing what GRMN means, it’s the abbreviation for GAZOO Racing tuned by MN, where GAZOO is the Japanese motorsport specialist that collaborates with Toyota and MN stands for “Meister of Nurburgring”. And that’s Hiromu Naruse, Toyota’s test driver that tragically died behind the wheel of a Lexus LFA in 2010.
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