Toyota Caldina // The JDM Wagon Warrior

The Toyota Caldina was a legendary station wagon designed and manufactured by Toyota in Japan. This unique estate wagon helped refine the segment in the early 90s, with the release of the turbocharged GT-T model.
Though it was never sold in select markets, such as the United States. Many automotive circles, like in the US for example, knew of the Caldina name because of the legendary 3SGTE that powered some of its higher-trimmed variants. And the ease of swapping in Caldina’s 3SGTE in a Mr2 along with various other Toyota makes like the Celica or Rav4.
Early on, the introduction of the Caldina was well received, since the all-wheel-drive wagon was released in the early 90s. It effectively replaced the popular Corona and Carina models that Toyota previously manufactured and dominated the category with. Moreover, the name Caldina was reportedly inspired by the Italian adjective “cardinal,” hinting at the car being an essential vehicle to have for everyone.
Released in 1992 in the Japanese market. The Toyota Calinda design was initially developed as a family car for the masses. At the time, the demand for station wagons was ever increasing and the Caldina bridge that gap. An interesting fact is that the first-generation Caldina was offered in both a 5-door wagon and commercial van version. Eventually, the van became treated as a separate line, with emphasis shifting on the passenger-oriented station wagon model instead. This was a direct response to the runaway success of the Subaru Legacy wagon in Japan. Further underscoring the reason why the first model of the Caldina was released with four-wheel-drive. Leaving the door open for further performance upgrades in the future.
In 1997, the second generation of the Caldina was released. At this point, this new generation made a huge leap in advancements by adding a wide range of powertrain options for the various Caldina models and markets. This version of the car was the first to launch a GT model specifically designed for performance.
This included the ZAFE making 114 HP, the 3S-FE which made about 133 to 138 HP, and a diesel version using the 3C-TE, producing 93 HP.
The four-wheel drive models of this generation’s Caldina are coded ST215, and were also offered as GT models with the 3S-GE engine which produced about 188HP. However, the top-of-the-line GT-T came with the factory turbocharged 256HP fourth-generation 3S-GTE engine, and included a four-wheel drive system similar to the Celica GT-Four.
The factory turbocharger on the GT-T model helped increase the torque output of the wagon to around 240 lb-ft of torque. This was made even more impressive when you take into account that the vehicle only weighed around 2,800 lbs.
In the hands of enthusiasts, the Caldina quickly became a project car. This saw a number of modifications done to the standard car, including a bigger turbocharger and an upgraded engine management system.
The Caldina GT-T was an incredibly impressive estate car for Toyota. While the first generation of the vehicle did not do as well as they may have hoped, the second generation in 1997 showed the Japanese manufacturer that there was indeed a market for a sporty family car.
The Caldina GT-T was true to its name and produced some impressive figures when it was released. The rare manual version of the car was assigned a slightly different powertrain to make the most out of the manual gearbox. The automatic version of the car came with a 4-speed gearbox from Toyota and surprisingly delivered more impressive performance figures than the manual version. The manual versions accelerated from 0 to 60 in the matter of 6.4 seconds and the automatic version took this even further with 6.3 seconds. Doesn’t sound like much but it’s significant.
The styling of the Caldina GT-T was sporty from the initial release. The car featured a more aggressive front end, and at the rear there were different taillights and a small rear spoiler that had the brake light attached directly to it.
The styling of the GT was by no means standard. However, car fans from around the world took the Caldina as a project car and introduced some of the most elaborate and sporty kits to make the car their own. This saw the GT grow in popularity and become a common sight in the car community at that time.
One of the core features of the Caldina GT-T was Electronic Stability Control. This piece of dynamic driver software helped introduce the car to modern safety technology that was slowly becoming the norm on the market.
ESC managed to detect a vehicle’s stability and make corrections in real-time to avoid skidding and losing control of the car. This was an essential technology that worked hand-in-hand with other safety technologies, such as ABS braking.