Slow Cars That Fooled Us Into Thinking That They Were Fast
Ferrari Mondial
Released in 1980, the Mondial came with a wheezy 3.0-litre 205bhp V8, giving the car from Maranello a 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds. Top speed was an equally slow 140mph.
Toyota Supra JZA80 2JZ-GE
The Toyota Supra: supercar-baiting performance at an affordable price. Not so with the naturally-aspirated 2JZ-GE 3.0-litre 220bhp inline-six. The base level of Supra was only good for a 0-62mph time of 6.2 seconds and a top speed of 140mph.
Delorean DMC-12
Marty McFly might have fooled us into thinking the DeLorean DMC-12 had some real firepower, but in reality the iconic car only packed a 2.8-litre 130bhp V6 engine. Performance is best described as sedate, with a 0-62mph time of 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 109mph.
Chrysler Crossfire
With woolly steering, an outdated chassis and the aesthetics of a dog relieving itself, this American sports car didn’t have a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even that fast in a straight line. With a 3.2-litre V6 packing a measly 215bhp, the Crossfire had a 0-62mph time of around 6.4 seconds and a top speed of 155mph.
Hyundai Coupe
The Hyundai Coupe had a good chassis, communicative steering, and some journalists even expressed that it looked similar to a Ferrari 456. Shame, then, that the top-spec 2.7-litre V6 only produced 165bhp. 0-62mph came up in 8.1 seconds and a top speed of 137mph stopped it from being the great little sports car that it had the potential for.
Mk1 Mazda MX-5
Sorry Alex, but the Mk1 Mazda MX-5 is one seriously slow machine. With a 1.8-litre, 131bhp four-cylinder motor, 62mph was hit in a laborious 8.3 seconds. Top speed is an equally ponderous 123mph. Thankfully, these cars respond well to boost!
Hyundai Veloster Turbo
With a turbocharged 1.6-litre and 184bhp, the asymmetric Veloster (it has two doors on one side and one door on the other side) would hit 62mph from standing in a pedestrian time of 8.4 seconds, ahead of its 133mph top speed. The Turbo was, then, a pitiful excuse for a hot hatch.
Volkswagen SP2
The Brazil-only Volkswagen SP2 is potentially the sexiest sports car you’ve never heard of. Unfortunately, a 1.7-litre 75bhp four-cylinder engine resulted in a car so slow that the 0-62mph dash was achieved in 16 seconds. As for its top speed, that was only 100mph.
Ferrari 400i
The Ferrari 400i was designed to be the ultimate GT car. With a 4.8-litre V12 producing 340bhp, 0-62mph could be achieved in a not unreasonable 7.2 seconds. Granted, with a top speed of 152mph it certainly wasn’t the quickest car to come out of Maranello, but we’d buy one just for the looks!
Mitsubishi FTO GPX
The standard Mitsubishi FTO (aka FTSlow) was embarrassingly sluggish with a 0-62mph time in the 10-second range. Thankfully, the 2.0-litre 197bhp V6 GPX was a bit quicker, with a 0-62mph time of 7.1 seconds and a top speed of 120mph.
Pontiac Fiero
The first-generation Pontiac Fiero was a disaster for GM. The project ran over budget so the ‘lightweight’ sports car got lumped with a heavy 2.5-litre 92bhp four-cylinder engine. Performance was pedestrian, with a 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds and a top speed of 105mph.
Plymouth Prowler
The Plymouth Prowler was designed to be a hot-rod for the street. Unfortunately, the car didn’t have the firepower to back up its aggressive looks. The 3.5-litre V6 was a lifeless unit packing only 214bhp. 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds and a top speed of 118mph made the Prowler one of the most disappointing ‘performance’ cars of the ‘90s.
Chevrolet Camaro Iroc Z
Stringent emissions laws resulted in a colossal 5.7-litre V8 that produced just 223bhp. A 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 130mph might have been considered impressive, but not when you consider the real potential of that engine.
Porsche 924
Is that the Porsche with the engine from a Volkswagen van? Yes, it is. With a 2.0-litre 110bhp four-cylinder it’s safe to say that the 924 was slower than it looked. With a 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds and a top speed of 124mph it was one of the slowest performance cars of the day. Thankfully, the chassis was truly brilliant.
Honda CRZ
The original CRZ was arguably the world’s first ‘pocket-rocket’. The 2010 CRZ, however, was a bit of a disappointment. With a 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain with 122bhp, the innovative little hatch was an underwhelming steer; a 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds and a top speed of 121mph didn’t help matters.
Opel GT 1900
The Opel GT 1900 featured a 1.9-litre 88bhp four-cylinder, giving the car a slightly embarrassing 0-62mph time of 11 seconds and a top speed of 116mph. But do we care? Not at all, because just look at it!
So guys, which car was the biggest let down? Let us know! You can also find our original community question here.
Comments
But all of these cars there a hope for casual human to have something more interesting :)
I don’t think a 0 to 60 in under 10 seconds is slow at all, my car does in 15 seconds and i already think is decent fast
Not to be rude, but then you haven’t been in a “fast” car. By fast I mean something that does 0-60 in like 6-7 seconds or lower. 15 seconds is very slow indeed. Mine does it in like 10-11 and it’s far from fast.
It’s not that these cars are slow. Indeed, cars like the mondial and Ferrari 412 are quite lively, even by today’s standard. It’s just that the looks were writing better cheques than their engines could cash.
The DeLorean from BTTF had an engine swap. They traded the poor V6 for a Porsche 928 S2 V8 engine, making 320 hp
Nah, why would they make an engine swap in a movie car that is never driven that fast anyway, except for some 0-88mph sprints, which could easily be faked?
That’s why the Supra has to be modified to beat anything
Why Alex why? It doesn’t even look fast, only with fender flares it looks quick.
Honestly, I like all of them.
So wrong list…
that Plymouth though…what were they even thinking? I wonder how that meeting went down..
“-Guys, we need a new car, let’s make a modern day Hot Rod, you know, I love ‘em, big powerful v8’s… Those were the times…
-What a good idea! And put an underpowered v6 in it!
-Yeah let’s do that….”
-Put an underpowered V6 in it!
-Eeeer, wait, what? No, why would you-
-We’re doing that!
-But…
-Shut up.
What about this?
This car is exceptional, this car could go more than 140mph with just N/A boxer 4
My dad had an original Opel GT (one of several Opels our family had, we also had a Manta and a Station Wagon). Yes, it was woefully underpowered and had 12” wheels - but he loved taking corners on two wheels every night coming home from work.
Couldn’t you have found a better photo than the one with the hideous plastic side panels riveted onto the side? They take a beautiful little car and make it look positively stupid.
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