With Fast X now in cinemas, we decided to look back at some franchise highlights. Here are some of the best Fast and Furious cars from the past two decades.
The tenth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise is coming to the big screen on May 19th 2023, and although this series has become a controversial one amongst the car community, we thought we’d celebrate it anyway. After all, despite the modern films’ disdain for physics and the increasingly convoluted plot, you’ll probably still catch us at our local cinema on launch night, popcorn in hand.
So, with ten films in the bank (discounting that questionable Hobbs & Shaw spin-off), we figured we’d come up with a shortlist of our ten favorite fast and furious cars of all time. Undoubtedly, you’ll have your own opinions on this, so make sure to get in touch and tell us how wrong or right we are on the Fast Car socials! Find us on Facebook, or Instagram.
Anyway, let’s get straight into it. Here are our picks for the best fast and furious cars to ever bless our TV screens:
Best Fast and Furious Cars
1994 Toyota Supra
From: The Fast and The Furious
Is there a more iconic Fast and Furious car than this? The twin-turbocharged 2,997cc 2JZ-GTE engine under the hood of this Supra was modified to produce around 650hp, with boost coming on at around 4000rpm. It famously earned its place in the original Fast and Furious movie after director Rob Cohen was scared witless in the passenger seat, and given those specs back in 2001, we can certainly see why! Given its subsequent Hollywood prestige, this Supra would go on to sell for $550,000 at auction!
Here’s the thing though, it’s not actually that much of a looker, is it? Those graphics were maligned by legit enthusiasts back in the day, and they haven’t exactly aged well. The same can be said for the rest of the styling. Nevertheless, it’s certainly a car which made an impression on most of you reading this when you were growing up, so for that reason (and its epic credentials under the hood) it has to top this list.
Top Fact:
Probably one of the most heavily tweaked cars from the early phase of the series, this Supra is a genuine tuner car from the modified scene’s heyday, equipped with a vast array of engine mods as well as a Bomex body kit and APR rear wing. If you want to know more about its history and its internals, check out this video.
1970 Dodge Charger
From: Multiple films in different incarnations
As one of Dom Toretto’s main cars, the 1970 Dodge Charger has seen a lot of screen time in the Fast and Furious series – something no doubt aided by the sponsorship deal that Fast and Furious has with various US-facing Stellantis marques. Crashed and rebuilt over and over again in all sorts of different guises, the Dodge Charger is one of the few cars to canonically make a recurring appearance.
The iteration pictured above is from the fourth film, however it’s the original which sticks in most people’s minds. Used to hunt down Johnny Tran and then take on Brian in one final race, the original Charger joins the aforementioned A80 Supra as one of the franchise’s top automotive icons. In total, the production team used five Chargers to create the first film, so we can only begin to imagine how many of these classic American muscle cars Universal Studios has torn through by now.
Top Fact:
The modified engine is supposedly capable of covering a quarter mile in 9 seconds flat, thanks to a supercharged Chrysler Hemi V-8 engine (bored to 445 cubic inches) with 900hp. In the first movie, the engine is mechanically injected, but in the fourth, Brian notes that Dom has swapped over to electronic fuel injection instead.
Only one scene – the first film’s ‘garage scene’ where Dom reveals his backstory – actually features the fabled engine in it though. The power unit was borrowed from a race shop for that detailed shot, but throughout the shooting of the rest of the movie, the stunt cars all ran on standard small blocks. For more info on this car, click here.
1968 Ford Escort RS1600
From: Fast and Furious 6
For the production of Fast and Furious 6, Universal Studios bought five right-hand-drive RS1600s and then rebuilt them all – the team went as far as stripping each car to the bare bones before starting a full revamp. All received custom roll cages – a standard mod for Fast and Furious cars – and the team also decked them out with racing seats, individual switches for ignition and fuel pumps, 13-by-7 inch wheels and a series of body changes to make a badass version of the British favorite. Arguably, these are some of the most tastefully built cars of the entire franchise.
Top Fact:
In one scene the Fast and Furious 6 Mk1 Escort performs and survives a huge jump that looks amazing in the film, but of course wrote-off two of the cars during filming. The gutting part is that those two smashed Escorts were genuine RS1600s, not replicas. Happily though, an enthusiast fully restored one of them, and later sold it for around £80,000 (approximately $100,000). If you’re based in the UK and love these older motors, then make sure you head over to Ford Fair later this Summer!
2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
From: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
The red Evo 8 hero car from Tokyo Drift wasn’t the first Lancer to have a main role in the franchise. Brian drove a green Evo 7 in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but from an aesthetic point of view, Sean’s Tokyo Drift ‘8 is surely the better of the pair.
That’s probably because all the Evos built for Tokyo Drift are replicas of a genuine APR Racing demo car, which Dustin Williams owns nowadays. The demo car makes about 450hp, however it never actually appears in the film. The replica Evos all feature very similar external modifications, but internally, they’re nothing alike the demo car. Crucially, the stunt cars had to undergo a conversion to rear-wheel drive so that they could, y’know… drift. As such, they’re actually slower than your average standard Evo 8. Still, they look incredible, and the car that they’re based on is a genuine HKS-tuned thoroughbred.
Top Fact:
Prior to Dustin purchasing it, the APR Racing demo car had just 10,500 miles on the clock. Also, the renowned Millen family had a hand in building the movie cars.
1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS
From: The Fast and the Furious
One of the first cars we see in the Fast and Furious franchise, Brian’s Eclipse certainly didn’t have it easy. Between the infamous ‘danger to manifold’ race scenario, to being blown up by Johnny Tran’s crew, the little Japanese coupe took a real beating.
Still, not every example used in the film production met its grizzly end on set. There are still genuine Eclipse movie cars in existence today and there are several replicas too, because despite this car’s relatively lowly position in the performance car pecking order of the time, it captured the hearts of the audience. Possibly because it was so attainable, and yet, still so aspirational.
Top Fact:
In reality, the Eclipse was a true entry-level build. Its NOS tanks were fake, and under the hood it had minimal modifications. These amounted to an Injen cold air intake, ported throttle body, and custom exhaust manifold. On a dyno, it’d probably produce about 150hp. What’s more, its Robocar bodykit was essentially an imitation of the more premium Blitz kit.
Veilside Fortune Mazda RX-7
From: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Given the love for the character Han, this car’s synonymity with him surely marks it out as one of the favorites. What’s more, whereas many of the Fast and Furious movie cars were mechanically stock, this one has genuine modifications. To begin with, this Mazda RX-7 was a Veilside demo car, designed to showcase the now-iconic Fortune bodykit. After its parade at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Universal studios decided to buy it directly from Veilside for use in Tokyo Drift. As such, it came pre-loaded with a bunch of mods that Universal wouldn’t have to fork out for themselves. The brake system was modified with some huge discs and four-piston calipers, while A’PEXi N1 coilovers tightened up the fender gap and the handling. All Universal had to do was repaint it from red to orange.
Top Fact:
Additional tuning to the Mazda RX-7 included a HKS T04Z unit turbo kit and V-mounted intercooler, producing 306 horsepower at 6,650 rpm thanks to its rotary engine. The model also attained 60mph in just six seconds, and only 14.1 seconds to take the quarter mile. For the full story, watch this video.
2000 Honda S2000
From: The Fast and The Furious & 2 Fast 2 Furious (in different guises)
The artistic Suki is one of the many likeable side characters from the Fast and Furious franchise, and her car certainly has plenty of fans too. For some, the pink paint scheme is too much, but it appeals massively to the Itasha livery crowd. Regardless of how you feel about its exterior (personally we love it!), the internals of this S2K are something which we can all appreciate.
Formerly owned by tuning culture icon, RJ de Vera, this S2000 is packing a supercharger conversion, as well as a HKS exhaust and suspension set-up. The bodykit is a Veilside number, as de Vera had a personal connection with the company. Doug de Muro has done a video on this car, which you can watch here.
Top Fact:
Suki’s S2000 actually has a much darker past. It’s the same car driven by the first film’s villain, Johnny Tran. In case you were wondering, Tran’s black aesthetic is much closer to how the car originally looked when it was part of de Vera and Versus Motorsport’s personal collection – just without the throwing star graphics. For the full story, watch this video.
2000 Nissan Skyline GT-R
From: Fast and Furious (the fourth one)
We’re going to be a bit controversial here. While we acknowledge that for many people, the 2 Fast 2 Furious R34 Skyline is one of the best cars of the franchise, we were never much fans of its muscle car-inspired livery. Instead, we prefer the much cleaner Bayside Blue example driven by Paul Walker in the fourth film.
Whereas they shot the stunt sequences with lesser GT-S models, the production crew used this genuine GT-R for the ‘hero shots’. Built by Kaizo Industries, Walker himself had a say in how the car turned out.
Top Fact:
If you thought $550,000 was a lot to pay for the Supra from the original film, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This exact R34 from the movie recently fetched a whopping $1.35 million at auction.
1993 Mazda RX-7 FD
From: The Fast and The Furious & 2 Fast 2 Furious (in different guises)
If Han’s Veilside-kitted RX-7 isn’t for you, you might prefer the more recognizable FD driven by Dom in the first film, and Orange Julius in the sequel. While canonically they’re not the same car, in reality, they are (just pre and post makeover).
It’s running the stock 13B rotary engine which produces 255hp, but comes equipped with a flamethrower exhaust as seen in the movies. The exterior aesthetics comprise of a Versus body kit and J-Spec hood, while the rims are 18-inch Ro_Ja five-spokes. On the inside, you’ll find a pair of Sparco seats and custom upholstery from House of Kolor.
Top Fact:
At the time of writing, this car has just 38,376 miles on the odometer and is up for sale at Mecum Auctions in Indianapolis, USA. Mecum estimates that it’ll sell for between $175,000-$250,000…
2002 Nissan 350z
From: The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
The more you dig into the plot of The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, the less of a villain Takashi (aka ‘DK’) seems to become. Sure, he might be Yakuza offspring and clearly has some anger issues, but besides that he’s simply surrounded by betrayal and family pressure. His car is certainly worthy of a villain though, I mean, just look at it.
Our final pick had to be the Veilside Nissan 350z. In total, the movie crew built 11 of these cars but only one got the full list of modifications. These included an APS twin-turbo setup, Nismo LSD, and Magnaflow exhaust system which ensured it could crank out 430hp. Professional drivers Rhys Millen and Tanner Foust handled the 350z’s stunt sequences, including the ice-cool ramp drift.
Top Fact:
The production crew chose the scarab/dung beetle graphics as the insect supposedly represents ‘immortality and resurrection’. Not sure what that has to do with anything, but hey, from a distance it looks kinda cool until you realize it’s a dung beetle.
