New Zealand Car Culture.

Ever seen a RWD EG Honda Civic with an NSX engine squeezed into it? Well here's your chance to look... Cody's been working on this absolute weapon over the past 14 years, and while it's obviously not finished yet, it's all pretty much mechanically sorted, to the point where he's been taking it to track events! Paint and bodywork won't be far off from here, and he's even looking at certing it for Kiwi roads! Imagine the world if all Hondas were rwd... No wars, no hunger, no worries 😤 #Honda #Hondacivic #EGcivic #NSX #B18C What do you think - has science gone too far?!?

HUGE car meet & food drive, open to ALL cars at Kumeu Showgrounds incoming! Don't miss out on this massive day! (For USA, JDM, Euro) Last time over 700 cars came together, with Hamilton gathering over 1.1 TONNES of food for the Salvation Army food bank, and we want Auckland to SMASH that. How to attend: It's only $10 entry per CAR, and each driver/spectator attending brings an item of food to donate. Note: We don't charge per person, only per car. Spectating is FREE, just consider bringing a food donation! What to donate? Canned food, dry rice, dry pasta, or any other non perishable food. Snacks/toiletries also work, and some people even bring shopping bags full of food. But every little bit counts. The Salvation Army will be present on the day, taking all food donations directly to their food bank. You will be helping to make a serious difference in somebody's life, by enabling them to eat! Times are tough for some of our fellow Kiwis out there, so this is a hugely effective way to help people directly. It’s ALSO a great way to show NZ that this side of the car community does good for the world. What's on? - Expect upwards of 700+ cars as usual, with an awesome variety of vehicles to look at - Bowden's Own will be sponsoring the automatic entry Show and Shine with $500 worth of prizes. Finalists are chosen after the event through photos, and we host voting on our social media stories to determine the winners - Choose from an array of awesome food trucks to eat from - Browse a range of friendly small Kiwi business stall offerings - Photographers and videographers always go hard at our events, and we love to share their albums after the event, so you might get some snaps if you're lucky! Location/Timing: Kumeu Showgrounds - a venue map will be posted to the event discussion page closer to the date. Date: Sunday 1st March, 2026 Time: 11am to 3pm Car Entry: $10 per CAR for this event, plus a food donation Spectator Entry: Free, but please take part by donating too!

AUCKLAND YOU SMASHED IT! If you came to our Cars and Cans event last Sunday, you're an absolute legend, because you've been a part of the largest singular food donation ever given to this team! With this amount of food (which is about the weight of a Skyline R32 GTR), the Waitakere Salvation Army are going to be able to feed Kiwis in need for at least the next month. You've all managed to help somebody out there going through a seriously tough time - both us and the Salvation Army were blown away by your support. Absolutely incredible stuff guys, thank you all for taking part. Thank you all for behaving amazingly on the whole as well (most people), you left a great impression on the Kumeu Showgrounds team, so thanks for that - it is critical to our next event there! We look forward to repeating this event again next year, and making it a recurring part of our Auckland lineup. There was such a wide variety of crazy cars on the day - from BTCC race cars, to US and Aussie muscle, to hectic rotaries, and all kinds of Euro and JDM beauties. We're looking forward to releasing our official photo album shortly, with HEAPS of images to come. After that, we will plug all of the other talented photographers' albums, as well as videos from the day too. The Bowden's Show and Shine will come shortly as well, so please drop us some photos of cars you think should be finalists, just in case we missed any! Huge thanks to Select FM who provided great music throughout the day, as well as the delicious food trucks that came out. Big thanks to the Kiwi businesses that supported our event with their stands on the day, and thank you guys for supporting them in turn. The Salvation Army's team of volunteers put in a mammoth effort on the day, so a huge thanks goes out to them as well, for helping massively to make entry as easy as possible, and for forming an awesome parking team to direct cars! Lana, Isha, and Solene were also MVPs on the day, so huge thanks to them. THANK YOU SO MUCH if you bought merch or stickers on the day, and we're glad you enjoyed our new shiny logo stickers - this helps us hugely to keep our events sustainable financially, so we really appreciate it.

Bass ain't for everyone! But it seems like these lads enjoyed this crazy setup just as much as I did. I've never felt dizzy because of sound before, not even at concerts - crazy to experience honestly! I'd guess that @rastabass275 probably went easy on us and didn't hit us with the FULL 156dB... But it was so cool to check out another deep dimension of the car scene - everybody enjoys their car differently, and the complexity behind sound-off cars can get as crazy as you want it to. Would love to dive further into NZ sound-off culture tbh! Would you sit in a competition sound system car if you had the chance? #SPL #bass #caraudio #soundsystem

How good does this supercharged AE86 sound? Matt from @garagedori_nz is an old school Corolla fanatic who's been in the scene since the early 2000s. He’s the proud owner of this 4A-GZE-powered AE86, which he’s had since day one after picking it up while living in Japan. Matt loves getting it out on the drag strip, drifting, hitting car shows, and even competed in D1NZ back in the day. He’s run all sorts of motor setups over the years. Turbo, NA, and now he’s on the supercharger setup, with plans to twin-charge it down the line. Cheers for showing us your 86 mate! Keen as to see it twin-charged in the near future 🤙 #AE86 #4AGE #4AGZE #AE85

Are P10 Primeras underrated? We think so! The first is running a serious SR20VE setup with the high-revving NEO VVL head conversion. The second is also SR20-powered with heaps of Nismo old-goodies inside and out including the sleek set of LMGT2s! 📸: Deven Solanki (@deven.s ) Tag the owner! . . #P10 #Nissan #Primera #SR20 #SR20VE

Do R33 GT-R wheels look good on every car except the R33 GT-R itself? They sure look damn good on this two-tone S13. Rocking the factory aero and what looks to be an R32 GT-R wing out back, very clean! 📸: Deven Solanki (@deven.s ) Tag the owner! . . #S13 #Silvia #PS13 #SR20 #SR20DET

As you can see from the first photo, our last event was packed with rotaries, left, right and centre. Among them were a few 808 wagons, including this one sporting the ever-popular RX-3 front-end conversion. A pretty common swap here in NZ, and it never gets old. 📸: @deven.s Tag the owner! . . #RX3 #Mazda #Rotary

You see Mazda RX-7s and RX-3s, but barely any RX-4s! We take a closer look at Teresa’s RX-4 cruiser, which she has owned for over 16 years. It’s had a full nut-and-bolt restoration inside and out, and has only passed between a couple of owners. The factory 13B was eventually bridgeported and later swapped for a 13B PP, which sounds great at idle and gives enough power to have fun! Cheers for showing us your RX-4 Teresa, can’t wait to check out your mad 808! What’s your favourite old-school RX?

WATER SPOTS - they suck, so here are a couple tips to help prevent them. 1. Use the “sheet” wash technique - instead of using your hose on spray mode, which leaves hundreds of tiny water droplets, take the end off and rinse it like that instead. Nice and close, on a shallow angle, with minimal splashing works best, and the closer to a laminar flow you get out of your hose, the better the result will be. We’re not exactly scientists but it likely has something to do with the surface tension of the water - the water basically joins together and ends up dragging the rest of the water with it, off the car. You’ll end up with way, way less water on your car using this method. 2. Wash your car in the SHADE! This is a classic way to prevent water spots, since they typically come from the water evaporating off your paint or glass. If the car is in the shade, or the sun isn’t too high yet, this is a great way to reduce the impact of water spots. 3. Use a drying towel right after you finish your wash! This makes a massive difference, and ensures that all the effort you put into washing your car doesn’t go to waste because of those ugly water spots. The @bowdensown_nz Twisted Pro Sucker drying towel that we used is an absolute BEAST for drying - during filming we actually dried the whole car twice since it rained on us, so that 4L water capacity really does wonders. You don’t have to squeeze it out all the time like a chamois, and it’s just satisfying to watch it dry the way it does. Just make sure that you keep it clean, and don’t let it touch the ground. You’d also usually be best to avoid using it on your wheels as well, and save it for your paint/glass. If you do get it dirty, it’s washable in your washing machine, and there’s even a special detergent for it that Bowden’s have developed if you want. To dry it, just hang it up in your garage to dry like a normal towel; give it a day or two and it’ll be all ready to go again. All in all, it’s a great tool to have in your car cleaning arsenal, and makes a big difference to how shiny your pride and joy ends up looking; so keep an eye out for one at your local Repco or Supercheap - they’re built to last!

Super RARE Mazda Familia GT-Ae (BFMR) - only a handful made! A love story that started at drags in the 2000s... This isn’t something you see every day. A 1987 Mazda Familia GT-Ae, the lightweight, homologated rally version of the BFMR, powered by a 1.6L turbocharged four-cylinder and full-time 4WD. Owned by Brendon Thornton, who grabbed it as a fix-up project, it’s set to be brought back close to stock form, with a resto-mod twist. The GT-Ae models are Group A rally icons - with wind-up windows, no spoilers or side skirts, and an unmistakable front bumper. It's part of the same Familia/323 family that our very own kiwi legend Rod Millen was piloting in the late 80s. Production numbers for the GT-Ae are tricky - some say 197, others 300, but either way, these are incredibly rare. And it looks like this one is in the right hands! Cheers for the yarn, Brendon! Keen to see it when it’s finished. Follow @rotationals for more NZ car culture content! #Mazda #MazdaFamilia #GroupARally #Mazda323 #BFMR What's your favourite JDM hot hatch?

Rotational’s event bring the heat with this Toyota Supra. . . . #jdm #toyota #supra