From the Paul Walker era to now, these cars are the unsung heroes that defined the Fast & Furious franchise

When people think about Fast & Furious, they mostly think of cars driven by Paul Walker.

And it’s easy to see why, because Walker was an icon, and these cars are wonderful.

The franchise has featured so many cars that it’s basically impossible to list them all.

But we thought we’d name the unsung heroes that perhaps didn’t get as much love as they deserved.

The first Fast & Furious movie was all about street racing

As the first movie in the franchise, The Fast and the Furious was all about street racing, and everything else was basically an ‘excuse’ to showcase some cool cars.

The first film was a festival of icons that, ironically, were pretty cheap to buy back then.

Everyone remembers the 1994 Toyota Supra MK IV that Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) gifts Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) in the end, but the 1995 Volkswagen Jetta, rarely receives the credit it deserves. Both as pictured below

Driven by Chad Lindberg as Jesse, this car was actually significant to the story.

In the film, Jesse loses the car in a race and refuses to hand it over, kicking off the series of events that leads to the climactic scene where Toretto discovers Paul Walker’s Brian is actually an undercover officer.

2 Fast 2 Furious – no Dominic Toretto, but an introduction to characters who would become central to the story

Dominic Toretto’s character didn’t return for 2 Fast 2 Furious, but we got to meet Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris), both of whom appeared in nearly every Fast & Furious movie thereafter.

When it comes to cars, 2 Fast 2 Furious upped the ante with at least three icons we all remember.

First and foremost, the record-breaking 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 driven by Paul Walker’s character, followed by the 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, as well as the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GTS driven by Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson).

All three cars – especially the Lancer Evo and the Eclipse – were so heavily modified they almost look comical right now.

But that tuning style was perfectly in line with the era, and that’s exactly why these cars became so iconic.

There’s another hero whose praises we don’t sing enough: Suki’s (Devon Aoki) 2000 Honda S2000, pictured below.

The vehicle only appears on screen relatively briefly, and it gets damaged just a couple of scenes later, but it looks spectacular.

Also, fun fact, Suki’s S2000 was actually the same physical car used by Johnny Tran in the first movie, just repainted and modified.

And there’s another element we often forget.

Unlike all the aforementioned cars, the Honda S2000 is still relatively attainable.

Tokyo Drift – the underrated cult movie

Tokyo Drift very nearly totaled the franchise.

With a brand-new storyline and none of the original Fast & Furious cast – save for a brief Vin Diesel cameo – it failed to win over critics or moviegoers at the time

But Tokyo Drift has two redeeming features that made it one of the most revered Fast & Furious movies ever made.

Not our words, by the way.

Tokyo Drift consistently ranks in the top three of the best movies in the franchise in surveys and fan polls.

The first redeeming feature was Han.

Introduced in Tokyo Drift and played by Sung Kang, pictured below, Han is one of the most beloved characters in the franchise.

The second thing people loved was the presence of so many great cars.

Tokyo Drift was eye candy for car lovers.

There was no dramatic climax, no unrealistic CGI, no implausible stunt scenes – this movie was all about cars and featured a long list of icons.

There was the Nissan Fairlady Z driven by the baddie, DK, played by Brian Tee, pictured below.

There was the 2001 Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S that the protagonist Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) crashes, and then we had the 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX that Boswell also crashes.

Then we need to mention the 1997 Mazda RX-7 that Han died in – before his surprise return in F9 – and of course, the Nissan-powered 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback that Boswell used to beat DK.

But we also need to talk about the absurd vehicle driven by Twinkie, played by rapper and actor Bow Wow.

Twinkie drove a Hulk-themed VW Touran in the film, pictured below, which looked ridiculous at the time and still looks ridiculous now.

But it’s so ridiculous, you have to love it.

Fast & Furious – the car element begins to fade away

With the fourth movie, simply titled Fast & Furious, the car element began to fade away as production focused more on action sequences and drama.

This movie starred most of the main characters, including Toretto, O’Conner, Dominic’s girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), and O’Conner’s future wife Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster).

It also introduced another character people like – Gisele Yashar, played by Gal Gadot, below.

It saved the franchise, mostly because it did really well at the box office, but it also convinced producers that this – more action, fewer cars – was the way to go.

While the previous movies were mostly a fruit salad of JDM, or Japanese Domestic Market, cars, this one was a bit more muscle car-focused.

Among others, we’ve got a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, a 1987 Buick Grand National, a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS, and a Plymouth Road Runner.

There was also another 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 driven by Paul Walker, which also ended up fetching a fortune at auction years later.

Yet so many forget about the 2003 Acura NSX.

Driven by Mia Toretto, the NSX only appears on screen very briefly, but still deserves a mention because this can actually be more valuable than all other models we’ve mentioned here, perhaps with the exception of the 2002 Skyline.

Fast Five – the transition to the action and heist theme is complete

Fast Five introduced another main character, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), and clearly prioritized the action element over cars.

Still, Fast Five also had some bangers.

We’ve got the inevitable Skyline, but this time it’s the GT-R R35 model, the omnipresent 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, and a 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R ‘Hakosuka’ driven by Paul Walker in Brazil, which was pretty cool.

Then there were two 2010 Koenigsegg CCXR hypercars that both Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) bought after successfully stealing over $100 million from the bad guy.

But the unsung hero was the Lexus LFA driven by Han, pictured below.

It’s possibly one of the coolest scenes in the Fast & Furious saga, and definitely one of the best-sounding cars ever.

Fast & Furious 6

Fast & Furious 6 picked up where Fast Five left off with more drama, more CGI, more stunts, and more action.

It introduced a new antagonist, Luke Evans as Owen Shaw, and more importantly, it introduced his brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who’d later become a staple in the franchise.

Fast and Furious 6 was pretty dry when it came to cars, but it still featured a couple of interesting rides.

We’ve got a Ford Escort MK 1 and a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.

But the real unsung hero is the Jensen Interceptor, driven by Letty Ortiz in a high-speed pursuit through London, as seen below. Fun fact: that entire scene was filmed in the city at night.

Furious 7 – a tribute to Paul Walker

Furious 7 turned into a heartfelt tribute to Paul Walker, who passed away during production.

Following a brief hiatus, the production team moved forward by using CGI to seamlessly superimpose Paul’s likeness onto his brothers, Cody and Caleb, who stepped in to help complete his final scenes.

Unlike its predecessor, Furious 7 featured a lot of cool cars.

We’ve got a few muscle car icons from the 1970s, some modern supercars, including a 2011 Bugatti Veyron, and even the Lykan HyperSport that starred in what is possibly one of the most visually striking stunts in the franchise, jumping between the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

But, for some reason, the mint 1995 Toyota Supra MK IV driven by Brian O’Conner, which actually belonged to Walker, didn’t get enough credit.

The Fate of the Furious

The Fate of the Furious was the first post-Walker Fast & Furious movie as the character is retired in the franchise.

Just like Furious 7, it cost a fortune to make.

But, just like Furious 7, it made well over $1 billion at the box office.

The movie introduces a new nemesis, Cipher (Charlize Theron), and stars several beautiful cars from the 1966 Chevrolet Corvette C2 Stingray to the usual array of iconic Chargers from the 1960s and 1970s.

But the real hero here is the 1949 Chevrolet Fleetline, pictured above, that Toretto drives in Cuba in the opening scene.

You have to love a 1949 Chevy covered in rust.

F9 – a new direction is needed

F9 was the first of two movies (the other one is the sequel, Fast X) that convinced everyone that the cards needed shuffling again.

This movie cost a fortune but wasn’t quite as profitable as the production team had hoped.

In terms of the storyline and the characters, F9 is mainly noteworthy for introducing Dom’s estranged brother Jakob Toretto, played by John Cena, below.

The silver lining is that F9, despite having a much stronger focus on action, still featured some pretty cool vehicles, from the 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 to the 2020 Toyota Supra driven by Han.

But people often forget about the wonderful armored vehicle known as The Marauder, pictured below.

Built in South Africa, The Marauder is a military-grade truck that also exists in civilian form.

Driving one is basically the same as using a hammer to crack an egg.

Fast X – what’s next for the Fast & Furious saga?

Fast X will likely remain unfinished business.

It ended with a cliffhanger because it was supposed to be part one of a two-part finale for the franchise.

But the problem is that it underperformed significantly, and it led to a decision to put everything on hold.

To this day, we still don’t have a release date for the 11th film, and there’s a very strong chance the production team will essentially ignore everything we saw in Fast X and create the next and final movie as an (almost) standalone entry to the franchise.

Fast X is still notable for the baddie, Dante (Jason Momoa), and his Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Concept, below.

We also need to mention the 1966 Ford Fairlane involved in the bridge chase, the 1967 Chevy El Camino – with rocket launchers – driven by Jakob Toretto, and the McLaren Senna driven by Deckard Shaw.

The real hero? It has to be the 1975 Datsun 240Z driven by Isabel Neves, below.

While there’s a lot we don’t know about the next chapter of the franchise, there’s one thing we can count on.

The next Fast and Furious movie is that it will ‘go back to basics’ – and possibly mark the return of Brian O’Conner – as confirmed by Vin Diesel, which means we’ll hopefully see some great cars.