I Just Bought A $20,000 Japanese Rolls-Royce - The V12 Toyota Century

okay let me get this straight you were gonna buy an ev to replace your audi s4 yeah you didn't buy an eevee no instead you imported a 5 000 pound 17 foot long v12 jdm luxury sedan yeah i approve oh good [Music] you're watching throttle house i'm thomas and i'm james and after driving in this for a couple seconds i'm gonna say yeah it might just be the bargain no don't say that of the century okay fine i actually really like that and the reason thomas is saying it is because above toyota there is lexus and above lexus there's toyota again but only for one model the century imagine that you're a japanese business mogul or perhaps you're a high-level government leader or even the emperor himself you obviously don't drive so you get whisked around in a rolls royce right wrong every day you let yourself sit above the road on the air suspension of a toyota one that is outfitted with luxurious wool and handcrafted interior finishes it has five mufflers this is a vehicle for which toyota spared no expense because make no mistake this is the flagship car not just of toyota but all of japan and now thanks to the 15-year import rule in canada we can have it too and thanks to the 25-year rule americans can now finally buy this second gen as well the one with the 5 liter v12 but should you i never cared for it until i sat in this 2004 example for 10 seconds at collection auto a dealership here in toronto that specializes in japanese imports and i've got to say it was love at first ride so i immediately went home and started researching it like you do when you fall in love with the car and every piece of information i came across felt straight out of an origin story that plays at the start of a kung fu panda movie it was filled with magic mysticism and charm and so naturally james couldn't pull the trigger even with the car being offered at 10 of its original value the price of a new honda civic to effectively buy an entire rolls royce from japan he's the most indecisive man i've ever met despite all the sports card temptations that come with our job he's driven the same miata for five years and in this case my pestering to buy this century wasn't enough but then this happened okay so for the last 24 hours i've been obsessing over the toyota century ever since driving it and we've come here to a friend's house and on the wall is the same tc that adorns the side of the toyota century it is a literal sign it has to happen we must buy a limousine from japan clearly you might say that the writing was on the wall awful just awful oh and by the way james obviously needs a personalized plate for this car drop your eight-digit suggestions in the comments winner gets a t-shirt and if you're new to throttle house [Applause] we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing about so subscribe hit the bell [Music] all right welcome to my toyota century how does that feel to say my i told my parents they're so confused they're like what what is it one more time so yeah you have to explain to everyone what this is okay i just just before i i need to explain just how smooth and quiet this car is yeah like this is completely serene it transports you to a cherry blossom in sakura season is that right i don't know in japan i'm gonna believe you having just left a meeting i wanted to i wanted the antithesis to the miata right yeah that was one of the things that sold me i got it once i discovered that is this do i have any controls you've got plenty of control oh my god there's so many controls okay can i i want to stamp on the engine and skate but it won't oh i can control this seat it just smooth oh that's so smooth right like this is like 290 horsepower i think it's supposed to have 270 or so but the imported one it's a gentleman's agreement it's all the japanese stuff it's not supposed to have too much power why i'm listening i swear yeah well i can drop it into power mode don't ask me about fuel economy and it should be quicker it's not slow there's actually a nice noise to it builds power up it really does this is the 2004 this has the full speed transmission okay so the six speed comes on 2005's onwards which we can get in canada but i didn't get that oh this is just such a a different experience to anything what i've been going on recently about the miata's really really fun you know epitome of like fun sports car drop top i want this with manual this is big or it's the opposite it's everything literally the opposite to your miata in every single way but it shares that quality that i i've decided i've discovered that i love which is being very simple in its intent and doing a task for a lot cheaper than the competition so the same way that an mx-5 is can actually be more fun than the f-types and the 911s of the world i was listening there's a pillow yeah that's that's a pillow so that you can anyway this in a way is advertiser's humility how much is this car again 20 over 28 canadians there is a japanese saying that the hammer the nail that sticks out gets hammered and this is supposed to be conforming it's supposed to be a subtle design it's not supposed to be flashy and i kind of love that it's so quiet it's so so quiet it actually it didn't lean too much in the corner there no it doesn't no but if i start going fast it really doesn't happen like that's oh this doesn't feel right now yeah all of a sudden it doesn't feel like it's supposed to do that very rolls-royce in its demeanor very role-playing very rolls-royce it's calm it's quiet i feel so relaxed driving it i'm comfortable listen and i'm not even just saying this this is not hyperbole but a brand new phantom is quieter than this yes but not by much no not by much a brand new phantom you can actually just whisper and it is it's fine yeah we're 70 kilometers an hour with these cars that go by yeah and and you know there's something about the fact that the brand known for obsessing over reliability this is their best version of that their best car and just so unreal i just spent 10 seconds in your position and i was like i need this that was exactly where i was just like that this is just so good and it's not even the drive everything about this car is nuts let me show you the paint okay it's incredible isn't it and only four people in the world are qualified to paint a century after they get sent to a six-month lacquering workshop which i imagine is in the hills next to an oracle somewhere probably a cherry blossom tree lots of cherry blossoms which we tried our best on short notice this is the best we could do this is all we could do um but yeah so they they apply seven layers of material to make the paint look like this it has to the requirement is it has to be a mirror finish yes because that giant blind spot that is the c-pillar is supposed to be a last glance before facing the public mirror wait what yeah okay so this little bit of oh you're head of state you're head of a company so i'm supposed to get out yeah i'm sure someone will close the door for me right it's got soft clothes right and i'll go exactly exactly that that is outrageous what a fact the finishers the you know the people that carve and and sand and to make it and shape it yeah they have to do decades of lesser toyotas okay and then they apprentice for a master century body builder body they're very strong it's hard work master century builder and then once they qualify from that they get their own set of tools that are made to measure for their hands this car's overkill it's overbuilt the sign at the factory says best car in the world the best car in the world it's like elf best cup of coffee it's exactly the world's best so i believe i believe them they did it the best car in the world it's amazing and that engine we've been experiencing the very smooth v12 yeah that's the only v12 japan has put in a series production car it's because this is above lexus so lexus isn't even allowed the v12 the best they have is a v10 right so that lexus lfa kind of is wonderful it's it's so good amazing so good he really likes that yeah he does yeah okay um um i just want to say that the the kind of the this car is very imposing and i think that's probably their intention with the with the headlights and the huge grille and these like crazy wing mirrors i i believe you can get sentries with the mirrors mounted here you can you can yeah this is what makes it look weirder though this gives it a presence like no this has got so much attention yeah well i've been i didn't expect it i've had people pull up thumbs up people wondering where it is why is he in the right seat uh but yeah i you know as cool as the steining is and as i didn't grab me remember i didn't care for this car until i drove it and or i sat inside right so i got to show you what's going on okay yeah so no soft clothes on the front doors no it's a passenger-focused car right of course as it should be um so i haven't sat up here yet this is really neat a couple things uh that is just such a cool badge oh yes the golden phoenix the golden phoenix yes it's it's like part of mythology and it's from the imperial family so i see phoenix is kind of like a rising from the ashes metaphor yeah but i think it is also the baddie in kung fu panda too isn't he i keep saying it i want to like it but i hate that guy james may have watched kung fu panda recently uh it's really good it is gonna be um okay so a couple things i want to point out uh this is a century it is not a lexus however there's some lexus things in here i'll tell you yeah the the the color of the green in the digital things is very like lexus ls from the next okay okay and the and the needles are very uh lexus yes but it's a digital gauge cluster technically yeah it's it reads the speedometer digitally you know fair enough fair enough um so materials in here are they are very wonderful yeah wall is the only way to go well yeah so is it my is this true that the top trim is not leather it's wool i believe the wall is the above that's not the thing in north america you get no right anything that's not leather is is assumed to be lower quality i think the wall will add to the agelessness of this in 10 years this will look exactly the same that doesn't mean you know despite the fact that toyota doesn't mean it's without its technology right yes we're in the middle of the ocean here and yes everything's in japanese yes so the translate app has become my best friend you have two heated seats there yeah i do i do that and it says boom rear seat and i'm driving so i can turn on the the passengers heated seat what if they just can't be bothered to make sure they're warm and you can move my seat with from here with it to make that that's not gonna make them more comfortable is it well i don't know maybe he's making you more comfortable and speaking of technology yeah press that button that one there oh oh my god what is this this is a shrine to the sti because it doesn't exist anymore because i don't make them anymore does it just i haven't figured out the best use for this i think i'm going to fill it with japanese candy this is so funny why does it rise up i don't because it's a phoenix that's amazing and so yeah so you can get this either with a column mounted shifter like this or a floor mounted shifter which goes here i wouldn't want to lose this where else where am i going to start with the clutch the columns exactly the column mounted chips are freaked me out first but knowing that i get this piece of tech i mean that's worth every penny you know what it's working it's working and it will probably continue to work for another two years toyota yeah this is just i think we got real like aluminum stainless steel trim here yeah a lot of attention's been paid to this everything's about sound insulation your keys that normally jangle if you have a key ring where they jingle jingle jangle or do maybe they do both the noise that they make they they're steering the columns oh did you put this here i put a loonie there what is because it's magnetic to grab all your other keys so that they don't jingle jangle that is amazing it's not all perfect this bit here is a bit like when you drive you can you're a bit aware of this this divider yeah i see and there's no like solid arm rest so we've got the soft headliner here we have this little what the heck is that that's to block the little bit of sunlight that would be coming in that air we have always you know what i i've always said actually why isn't there a thing here to prevent this that is the century the century has the answer oh my god put your hand in the door pockets it's all felt it's all soft okay so this has a tape deck and a cd changer in the glove compartment let me confirm that yes oh you translated okay yeah so i've got this six cd changer here right there yeah that whole deck comes out and you put cds in i don't think it's even six is it it's less than that it might be six it's multi multi multiple more than one yeah this is just really cool isn't it and i assume i'm just going to make an assumption that this is some sort of special wood that makes it take the craftsman years to learn how to sand and yeah probably yeah okay i don't know okay or what if that's the one thing that's not it's just borrowed from like a corrosion they went to the local scrap yard and got some wood but yeah i mean what's in here it goes all the way down what's that yeah well you can release this uh there you go oh i see this one then there's a cup holder ah of course yeah what's that button do uh that is a negative ion thing that's a negative ion emitter yeah which is weird because like i don't see a reason to be negative about anything i'm really a big fan of this oh you've got these buttons here so that opens and closes your shade ah very cool and there are doilies for the seats they're in the trunk is that the official japanese word uh i believe it's a doily son coming up with a new dictionary hey i got all the italian right you did get all the italian right now if it's katakana then that's correct trust me okay yeah i think i just i kind of love it in here no no this is a supremely cool vehicle to to sit in um i would like to drive this now because i have a fairly fresh picture in my head of what it's like to drive a rolls royce well i would love to be a passenger in it okay off you go okay here we go it is still a bit weird being on the right-hand side of the car mate get used to it oh yes i'm not gonna be a passenger much in this car so i'm gonna i'm gonna revel in it well actually now that you say that we are actually going to the montreal grand prix and i think we're gonna drive from toronto in this we'll do a little vlog yeah yeah we're on instagram okay oh that's good the steering is so light and the ratio is so slow yeah you have to really do a lot of input it's so fun uh what are you doing i'm trying to make myself lean a bit oh oh my god you cannot feel the shifts you cannot feel the transmission i know so the you know the six speed is supposed to be an improvement but the four speed is known to be bulletproof so why i don't feel like i'm missing anything and the americans you haven't got a six-speed for another eight years so the engine is not it's not not powerful it doesn't like rip but it's people have done burnouts these are for daisy it's a tribute she's not dead yet but right she's she's she's 15. it's okay oh i love the golden phoenix back here so i open this and i get my tv so this can have a dvd player or a vhs player this one isn't optioned with it but i'm going to get it you're going to get a vhs player i'm going to play pokemon on repeat i kind of had a i kind of want to put fern gully in here i don't know i've got a dragon ball z vhs can i watch that you can i'm gonna i'm gonna put game boy colors in the pockets with so cool i like the idea of the japanese candy as well can we please do japanese candy everywhere pokey's for everyone i've got this remote here you can you can watch japanese tv on here if you're in japan but we can't we can't obviously you can it does you can do a tour of japan where it shows you like pictures of landmarks and stuff by going over the map show a bit a clip of that but yeah that way that goes in and clips up there's so many buttons and like most of it's in japanese like what's on there well these like i've got heated seats back here yeah you can get cooled seats i think i can turn your heated seat on from here right you can yeah the rear seat uh and then i have a massaging seat so i click it on and it starts vibrating are you serious and then if you hold it it gets more intense oh my god that's amazing so it doesn't pulse it vibrates it vibrates but it does have some accessories so it has the original dictophone and cassette that says sentry on it with the original earphones wow so like you could sit back there and do businesses you do business you do business there's a microphone and a volume control i am a japanese businessman um and these mirrors actually are very useful and it's i never thought about this but i don't have to turn my head very far they're not over here they're up there so i just look that's really cool it's good for your bad nick my bad and i do have a bad neck i think that out of all the cars that we've ever tested i've ever driven this almost tops the range of a vehicle that feels like more care and thought went into it than anything else we drive a lot of vehicles and some of them are amazing a lot of them are amazing but they don't all make me want them as instantly as i wanted i don't feel the need to own them so it's cool it is just a cool car well done james don't say that very often well done james so the toyota century a mystery to most a living room to some it is the perfect antithesis in companion to james's mx-5 what it lacks in handling prowess it makes up for with its wafting majestic passenger experience one that is fit quite literally for an emperor oh and did we mention it's absurdly large trunk space and when i say absurdly large i mean it yeah things got out of hand from its wool interior to the little safety pamphlet of a japanese family having a simply terrible time the sentry is just about the most unique and luxurious but plain clothed car we've ever come across this one is a particularly mint example part of a collection autos mantra really for when they bring stuff over but they can be had with a lot more miles and for quite a bit cheaper and all of them should carry that toyota width of reliability and build quality i honestly cannot wait to spend more time in what is quite literally my most surprising purchase of the decade james you had the perfect opportunity to say century oh yeah all right what is quite literally my most surprising purchase now it's too late [Music] thanks for watching

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 1,905,026

Keywords: Toyota century v12 review, toyota century review, toyota century interior, toyota century pov, toyota century exhaust, toyota century sound, toyota v12, toyota crown, crown vs century, toyota century vs rolls royce, toyota century gr, toyota century 2022, toyota century vs lexus ls, lexus vs toyota, toyota jdm, best jdm car, jdm build, jdm toyota, toyota import, toyota century 1997, toyota century royal, japanese v12, 1gz fe, 1gz fe sound, 1 gz fe turbo, best v12

Id: 1uqgHZxBE8A

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Sun May 29 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Nariek]

What a machine, as someone who grew up in 80s and 90s toyotas(and owns one of each respective generation) I love picking out the various switchgear in the car, much of the driver controls are shared the LS400/celsior, including the middle sun visor above the mirror WHICH IS THE BEST FEATURE EVER FITTED TO A CAR. Good choice /u/Jamesthrottlehouse

[u/Jamesthrottlehouse]

I’m not sure if it’s of interest, and I’m not going to make a whole “I bought a _____” post, but I’m here and happy to answer some questions about this purchase if people have any.

It has been such a lovely first week with it and my fiancé is tired of listening to me go on about it. But maybe you lot aren’t.

^{I hope}

Edit: this Toyota Century promo from 14 years ago is a fun annex of warmth to our video

[u/Michelanvalo]

I wonder how the Prime Minister's Century stacks up against the President's Cadillac.

Maybe someone should drag race them.

[u/Stanglover3]

Such an amazing and unique car. Loved watching it. Congratulations James. The fact that it was made by Toyota makes it even better. How hard will it be to get the parts for this car? Will the Lexus or Toyota here support the maintenance?

[u/gazorpaglop]

“I told my parents and they’re so confused”

This is how you know you made a great car purchase

Enjoy your anti-Miata

[u/Chi-Guy86]

Living that best Yakuza life

[u/gogojack]

This is why I love Throttle House.

Well...one of the reasons. Other car YouTube channels are filled with people who buy exotic sports cars so their garage looks like a 14 year old's poster wall, but /u/Jamesthrottlehouse?

A true baller. Congrats on the 2m subs. You deserve this.

[u/sharktoucher]

I hope the car comes to love you as much as you love it.

[u/derpioauditore]

Dear /u/throttlehouseth and /u/Jamesthrottlehouse, please never take off the "get in helmet" bit from the intro.