4 Reasons Why Indonesia's Car Culture Is Awesome
Hello, CTZens. Before i continue, let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Anggoro Putra, and i joined this wonderful website since 30th of January 2015. Also, i was born and resided in Indonesia. Which, As Mr. CSL Lightweight points out about the car culture, wasn’t that great. And yes, the points that he made were true. But, as R.A Kartini said “After The Dark, Comes The Light”. Amongst the negatives there’s always the positives, and now, let’s dive in to the car culture of Indonesia, shall we?
1. Massiveness
Mr. CSL points out that the major enthusiast of the car scene were in 3 major cities of Indonesia. Which is Jakarta, Bandung, And Surabaya. But actually, there is more than just those cities. Take Yogyakarta for example.
As you can see above, Classic VW’s had a strong following among enthusiast because they appreciate the mechanical simplicity and the timeless design and retro vibe it gives.
And not just in Jogjakarta, there’s going to be a scene in other small cities. Batam Island for example. In my trip there i saw for the first time in my life, an NA Miata, 90’s (GC8?) Subaru Impreza WRX STI, DC5 Integra, DC2 Integra 4-door, Countless Toyota Harriers (Lexus RX) (I swear, they’re more common than Avanza/Xenia). Those cars doesn’t sound like too precious (Except the Subie, of course) but those cars were VERY uncommon in Indonesia.
2. We Work With What We Have
Indonesia is a 3rd world country (in my eyes anyway….). And as such, it reeks with Japanese family cars, anything other than that is uncommon (except 70’s to 90’s European cars). But that doesn’t stop enthusiast to fulfill their need for speed (and street cred).
Or, you don’t want to go Drag racing or Drifting, and instead you want to get low and impress your friends in the parking lot? But you only have a minivan to work with…?
3. There is Still Variety
While Indonesia is littered with econoboxes, there is no denying that other cars make their way to Indonesian grounds. For Example……
There’s also a strong following of tuning houses in Indonesia.
4. The Classics
Talking about classics, the major part of Indonesian Car Culture were classic cars, as mentioned above in Jogja, and also above you just saw an immaculate Benz, RWB Porsche, and Countach. Again, we work with what we have or what is accesible. If you can’t have fun in a used modern car (because as Mr. CSL mentioned, the price can be atrocious..), why not take a classic Corolla or BMW or Benz for a spin?
And that concludes why I think Indonesia’s car scene is awesome. This is my first blog post so, please leave a comment about how i can improve my writing, and thank you for reading my blogpost. Also, if you think i’m missing sonething, please notify me in the comments. Thank You, and Peace Out, CTZens!












Comments
This is great! Much work put into this.
Mantap bro, cuma ricernya banyak juga (cth: angkot) 😂😂
Greetings from the little island up north. Glad to hear our friends from the massive cluster of islands down south are having fun. Your motorcycle scene is pretty sick as well, even though bikes above 250cc were banned until a few years ago.
Hey check out hawknpoke.com the website always featured highly taste modified car from indonesia. Don’t worry about the languange hawknpoke.com always post with english
Great post, its great to see that much enthusiasm on cars all around the world!
Keep it, Indonesians :)
I still can’t find a manual 1st gen copen in Indonesia.
I’ve been to Jogjakarta. I love it. Didn’t know that there’s a CTzen from Jogjakarta. A really nice place. A lot of destinations. Better than Bali? Possibly. Parang Tritis (?), Prabanan, Merapi, and Malioboro are my favourites. Nice post! I might come back to Indonesia someday. Do you have any motor shows there? I would love to go to one.
Yes the classic car scenes in here is absolutely amazing,but the newer cars like Jazz? Meh,not really,most of them still follows the FnF style of customization,and sometimes it can be irritating,one of the reason is because i saw a Tiburon,WITH A TYPE R BADGE ON THE BOOT,EVERYDAY AND IT’S IRRITATING. But i have seen a few nice cars though,once saw a matte black Civic EG with green RPF1s and stanced,probably on air suspension. And about the Indonesian dragsters,Y U NO PUT 1KD INNOVA DRAGSTERS THAT DO 11 SECONDS ON SENTUL STRAIGHT?
Well the car scene in my area is hidden in plain sight. Near my house there’s a guy that has 2 510s and other Datsuns in his house and garage, and farther away in a workshop I spotted a bare shell of a Citroen DS, and I’ve spotted a Honda S800, and there’s some dude who came into my school to pick up his kid in a BMW 2002. Twice. And an Alfa Romeo that I don’t know. I’ve never been or seen any meets though. Indo car culture is amazing, but a bit sedated in the area where I live.
Can someone explain the FWD with the wheelie bar? Too much down force maybe?
Pagination