It is easy to mix up ImportFest, ImportExpo and JDM Expo. They are all major GTA tuner shows, their names sound suspiciously interchangeable, and many of the same cars appear at more than one of them.
But ImportFest sits at the top of the food chain.
Even compared with national touring shows like DRIVEN, ImportFest feels like the main event. That is why organizers call it “Canada’s Biggest & Baddest Car Show,” and for once, the advertising department is not just producing premium-grade exhaust fumes.
ImportFest is Toronto’s only downtown tuner show. The inaugural event was held at the SkyDome in 2001, before moving next door to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Today, the show fills 185,000 square feet with roughly 350 to 400 of the wildest custom cars from Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States.
Getting inside is not simply a matter of buying a ticket and showing up with freshly applied tire shine. Owners must submit detailed photographs of the exterior, interior, wheels, suspension and engine bay. Selection is based heavily on customization rather than originality, which made the Synthwave SVX an obvious candidate. Between its rarity, outrageous graphics and rolling 1990s fever dream aesthetic, subtlety was never part of the application.
Roll-in began Friday morning for Saturday’s show. Entrants were assigned arrival windows at 9:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. to prevent Front Street from becoming a modified-car parking lot.
Inside, organizers attempted to position hundreds of vehicles with military precision. In practice, it was closer to herding cats with air suspension. Vendors erected canopies, polished displays and unpacked enough aftermarket hardware to bankrupt a generation of young enthusiasts.
Several cars had appeared at other shows earlier in the summer, but there was no mistaking the scale of ImportFest. Liberty Walk creations occupied prime real estate. Toyota Gazoo Racing displayed the GR Supra, GR86 and GR Corolla. Nitto Tires brought a vividly coloured FD RX-7 and a retro Acura NSX wearing Coca-Cola racing livery.
Those expensive builds are spectacular, but they can feel more like museum pieces than attainable machines.
The real heart of ImportFest remains the affordable Japanese imports that created the tuner movement 25 years ago. Cars ordinary enthusiasts could buy, modify and, with luck, insure. Toyota Celicas, Honda Civics, Mitsubishi Lancers and old Subarus became blank canvases for body kits, polished wheels, turbochargers and personal expression.
Sometimes that expression takes the form of synthwave stripes. Sometimes it is an entire Sri Lankan Buddhist ceremonial procession marching across the side of a Mitsubishi.
By early afternoon, the Synthwave SVX had been positioned beside a pair of Subaru BRZs. The car was parked, polished and officially part of the show.
Outside, hundreds more modified cars stretched along Front Street, waiting for their turn to enter ImportFest 2026. Roll-in was complete. The biggest and baddest car show of the year was almost ready to open its doors.