10 Amazing Versions of Average Cars

A little while ago, we took a look at some curious cases of great cars spawning rubbish versions – stuff like the Japan-only version of the Toyota GR Yaris with front-wheel drive, a naturally aspirated engine and a CVT gearbox.

Of course, this can work the other way too, so to put a more positive spin on things, we’ve rounded up 10 instances of cars that took a base product which, at best, wouldn’t get a second glance from an enthusiast and, at worst, is just plain bad, and did great things with it.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is so ubiquitous as its own thing that it’s easy to forget that it’s not strictly a standalone model, but a high-performance version of an existing car – and one that’s as dull as spending a day circling the M25 at that. The non-Evo Lancers we’ve received in Britain have been dependable and affordable but ultimately underwhelming little saloons and hatchbacks, with little to offer over the competition.

It was only the happy fact that the Lancer happened to be roughly the right size and shape to work as Mitsubishi’s new rally car of choice in the early ’90s that led to it becoming the enormously capable, turbocharged all-wheel drive tearaway we knew and loved for 10 iterations and the best part of 25 years – without it, the Lancer would barely register in our consciences at all.

Subaru Impreza WRX STI

You knew this was coming, right? The Evo’s traditional sparring partner, both on the rally stages and on the pages of endless car mags in the ’90s and 2000s, has similarly average origins. Its USP has traditionally been its boxer engine and its all-wheel drive availability, the latter making it popular in chillier parts of the world, but otherwise, it’s always been an utterly average package.

Once again, though, Subaru’s drive for rallying superiority saw it morph into one of the most iconic performance cars of its generation, a wildly capable and unashamedly in-yer-face symphony of big wings, gold wheels and angry flat-four rumble. Like the Evo, say ‘Subaru Impreza’ to almost anyone and you can almost guarantee they’ll picture a WRX STI and not the forgettable standard car.

Lotus Carlton

Hailing from a time when more mass-market brands were still prepared to try and pinch a few business customers from the posh German companies with executive saloons, the standard Vauxhall Carlton was… fine. It was actually quite technologically advanced for its time, but we can’t imagine it got anyone’s blood pumping.

Not to begin with, anyway. Hoping to take on the BMW M5, Vauxhall enlisted the help of Lotus – both were part of GM at the time – and the Norfolk company went completely overboard. Cue a car most commonly driven by regional managers at accounting firms transformed into a twin-turbocharged, 377bhp, 176mph animal, so savagely fast for its era that the Daily Mail campaigned to have it banned, all of which makes it about as cool as a car can get.

Dodge Spirit R/T

Lotus has long had a knack for uncorking brilliance from mediocre origins, though. A year after the Carlton launched, the company was called on by the Chrysler Group (despite it being owned by major rival GM) to help develop a performance version of the Dodge Spirit. The regular Spirit was as unremarkable looking a late ’80s box as it was possible to get, and was based on the infamous K platform, a set of scalable front-wheel drive underpinnings that saved Chrysler from bankruptcy but developed a reputation for spawning dull, cheaply-made and entirely uninspiring cars.

Lotus, though, took Chrysler’s 2.2-litre four-cylinder, which made as little as 93bhp in standard form, and added a turbo and dual overhead cams for a total of 224bhp. In league with a five-speed manual and a series of uprated suspension parts, many sourced from Shelby, the Spirit R/T was said to be the quickest American-built saloon when new, and indeed, its claimed 5.8-second 0-60mph time was three tenths quicker than a contemporary BMW M5.

Buick GNX

There wasn’t a lot for the American car industry to shout about in the 1970s, but there were some rare bright spots. One came in 1978 when Buick first added a turbocharger to the 3.8-litre V6 that powered its otherwise stodgy, unattractive Regal coupe. At first, this produced 165bhp – still a laughably small amount for a 3.8-litre turbocharged engine – but Buick was far from done.

Subsequent and ever-hotter iterations of turbo’d Regals culminated in 1987 with the all-black, limited-run GNX. A new Garrett turbo and less restrictive exhaust helped push power to a quoted 276bhp, although the reality is likely more than 300bhp, and despite still being somewhat hamstrung by a four-speed auto, it was clocked hitting 60mph in as little as 4.7 seconds, making it one of the quickest cars of its day – American or otherwise.

Lexus LBX Morizo RR

The Lexus LBX is a car you can buy in Britain right now, and yet we highly doubt you’ve ever given it more than a nanosecond’s thought. That’s because in the only form you can buy it here, it’s a small, posh hybrid crossover of the sort that flies out of showrooms these days but is about as appealing to enthusiasts as reaching your destination via pogo stick.

How different things are in Japan, though, where you can also buy a version called the Morizo RR. Named for Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda’s racing pseudonym, it swaps out the standard hybrid powertrain and CVT gearbox for the running gear of a JDM-spec GR Yaris, replete with 296bhp turbocharged G16 three-cylinder, torque-shuffling all-wheel drive and standard-fit manual gearbox (or optional auto). Car manufacturers: if you want to get enthusiasts interested in small crossovers, this is the way to do it.

Jaguar S-Type R

The Jaguar S-Type wasn’t a terrible car, but it’s never going to be remembered as Jag’s finest hour, especially because its deliberately retro tea-and-crumpets styling felt like a big miss from a company that’s always been at its best when looking to the future. 

The high-performance R version, though, was a whole different story, thanks in no small part to the addition of a supercharger to Jag’s 4.2-litre V8. This made for 389bhp, allowing a properly sorted chassis to be exploited, while a subtle but effective suite of visual tweaks made it by far the most attractive S-Type. Despite the lack of manual gearbox, it was a serious challenger to the E39 BMW M5 in the performance and handling department, but still didn’t sacrifice the base car’s supple ride, making it a seriously appealing all-rounder.

Ford Escort RS Cosworth

The fifth generation Ford Escort is regarded as a low point for Ford. Bland styling, an even blander driving experience, a range of ancient engines and an interior about as appealing to sit in as a third-class Victorian train carriage all came together to create one of the worst cars from a company that could – and should – have done better.

Like it did for the Impreza and Lancer around the same time, though, rallying proved to be the car’s saving grace. What made the Escort Cosworth brilliant was the fact that it wasn’t really an Escort at all – shoehorned under Escort bodywork was the chassis and powertrain of the outgoing Sierra Cosworth 4x4, its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine now making 227bhp and helping transform the Mk5 Escort from a complete miss into a smash hit. Oh yeah, and it had that rear wing.

Lancia Delta HF Integrale

As if any more proof was needed that early ’90s rallying could turn the mundane into the magnificent, here it is. So elevated is the status of the Integrale versions that we wouldn’t blame you for forgetting that the standard Lancia Delta, an unerringly practical and boxy hatchback, even existed – never mind that it was already a nine-year-old platform by the time the original 8-valve Integrale arrived in 1988.

From that point onwards, though, the Delta Integrale was an instant legend, helped on by the string of six consecutive WRC titles it would win and the succession of ever more extreme, amped-up road cars that followed – the 16-valve, then the Evoluzione, and finally 1993’s Evo II. Amid all this, the regular, more pedestrian Delta mooched on until 1992, but let’s face it – nobody remembers it now.

MG Maestro Turbo

1982’s Austin Maestro and its four-door counterpart, the Montego, were the final cars to be launched under the ailing Austin brand, and like pretty much everything developed by British Leyland in the 1970s and ’80s, they were victims of respectable ambition finding itself at odds with poor management, industrial strife and a good old-fashioned lack of money. The result was a car that struggled against competitors and only succeeded at all out of the dogged loyalty of British buyers. 

At the same time, though, BL – soon to become the Rover Group – was hoping to reassert MG’s reputation as a sporting brand, so it was under that badge that several sporty versions were released, culminating in 1989’s Maestro Turbo. By then, the Maestro was already ancient in car years, but while it had little chance of outhandling a Golf GTI or Peugeot 309 GTi, it could certainly outpace them – with 150bhp from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot and a 0-60mph time of 6.7 seconds, it was not only one of the quickest hot hatches of its day, but quicker than several bona fide sports cars too.