Top 10: Interesting Variants of Boring Cars

The world's filled with boring, mundane, unremarkable automobiles. For every SVO Mustang, there are 10,000 Camry LE's.  For every Alfa Romeo Guilia Super sedan, there are an untold bazillion Honda Fits.  That's just how it is: mainstream sells.  As it turns out, very few people actually want the diesel, all wheel drive, manual-transmission station wagon that internet car enthusiasts say would sell like hotcakes.

Sometimes, though, some of the most interesting cars out there are born out of some of the most dishwater-dull transportation appliances.  Here's my top ten - as always, feel free to leave a comment telling me what I left out at the bottom!  On we go.

10) Mitsubishi Galant VR-4

Mitsubishi's Galant sedan is... hold on, let me go to Wikipedia, I can't remember.  Seriously. Mitsubishi DOES make a mid-size family sedan, it's just that no one cares or ever really has in the first place.  Hell, they've been making the Galant almost as long as the Mustang (1969 to present, can you believe?) and still not that many people care.

But the Galant (Gallant?) hasn't always been an overweight boring pud of a car.  Witness this: the 6th-generation Galant VR-4.  While normal Galants got by with a wheezing 2.0L and front-wheel drive, the VR-4 packed the drivetrain of an Eclipse GS-X.  As in, the whole thing: Turbo 16v 2.0L 4G63T, all wheel drive, 5-speed manual, the works.  VR-4 stands for "Viscous Real-Time 4WD," meaning the VR-4 used a viscous center coupling (differential) to distribute torque between the front and rear axles for ideal traction.  The engine was the same 4G63 found in Eclipse GS-T/GSX models - an iron block/aluminum head 2.0L with dual overhead cams, 7.8:1 compression, and a Mitsubishi TD05H turbo huffing 11.1psi of boost into the manifold through an air-to-air intercooler.  Total power was 195 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 203lb-ft of torque at 3,000rpm.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvIygJBqARc

Unlike the Evo's that followed it, the VR-4 was more of a high-speed all-weather cruiser than an all-out performance car.  It came fairly loaded, with electric leather seats, power steering, ABS, power locks and windows, cruise and A/C - only options were a CD player/equalizer and an electric sunroof.  Still, it was damn quick for 1992: 0-60 in 6.8, 0-100 in 21.9, and the quarter mile in 15.2 seconds at 89 miles an hour.  Of course, being a 4G63, the sky's the limit for power.

The VR-4 was a very limited-run car here in the US, with 2,000 imported in 1991 and 1,000 in 1992.  I've only ever seen 2 in real life, and one was running - a black 1991.  However, DR1665 over at GearBox Magazine currently has two of them - one for RallyCross and the other as a fun daily driver.  And while 3,000 Japanese sedans sold here 20 years ago seems pretty unimportant, remember this: without the VR-4, it's doubtful there would've been an Evo.  Food for thought.

9) Taurus SHO

Quite possibly Conan O'Brien's SHO.

The original Ford Taurus of 1986 was a ground-breaking car in a lot of ways - it basically brought about the modernization of the modern American family sedan at a time when that term usually referred to cars with wire wheel covers and vinyl roofs - but it wasn't an exciting one.  Precisely 0 people were enthralled by the 3.0L V6 and automatic combination that was top drawer on normal Taurii.

So the SHO Taurus, which debuted in 1989, was a bit unexpected.  It was actually the result of Ford's bad contract-drafting skills.  They had commissioned Japanese firm Yamaha to design a 3.0L 24v V6 that could be mounted transversely in the back of a mid-engined 2-seat sports car to compete with the Pontiac Fiero.  When the Fiero turned out to be a flaming dud (pun intended), Ford cancelled the project when they figured not that many people wanted a low-cost mid-engine 2 seat sports car.  But they were still on the hook for those engines, and decided the best place to put them... was in the Taurus?

Well, ok.  The Mustang would've been the more obvious choice - performance engine in a performance car - but sales probably would've been dismal.  The Yamaha engine was way more expensive than the anvil-simple 302ci Windsor V8, which by then was making 225bhp with fuel injection, and the V6 was short on torque compared to the old-school V8.  Also, it was designed for side-to-side mounting - so using the Taurus lowered development costs.  And it didn't hurt that Ford had a sport sedan that could outrun BMW's costing way more money.

The car itself wasn't all that easily distinguished from a normal Taurus - it had different bumpers, side skirts, wheels, and some fog lights - but it was massively different under the hood.  Whereas a normal Taurus LX wheezed along with a 140bhp pushrod "Vulcan" 3.0L V6, the SHO's fancy heads - dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, long intake runners - enabled an impressive 220bhp and 200lb-ft of torque.  The first generation of SHO's (1989-1991) were only offered with a 5-speed manual borrowed from Mazda.  It's long been rumored that Ford actually de-tuned the Yamaha V6 for SHO duty; apparently the engines would happily spin to 8,500rpm but Ford's ancillaries tended to explode at those RPM's, so the redline was limited to 7,300 for durability purposes.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTM2IwotoWA

These were righteously quick cars by the standard of the day - 0-60 in 6.6 seconds, a quarter mile in 15-15.2 seconds, and a top speed of 143mph put it up there with the 3-series, Audi 200 20v, and other imported performance sedans of the day.  What was really special about the SHO, though, was the sound of that Yamaha V6 at high revs when the secondaries open up - it's just lovely, and seems totally out of place in the car it's in.

The car got a minor revision for the '92-'95 body style (referred to as the second-generation Taurus, even though it was more like a facelift.)  The front end was smoothed out with flush headlights (from the Sable), new wheels, and other minor trim.  An automatic became available for the first time in the SHO, and the engine in the automatic was enlarged to a 3.2L for extra torque - 215lb-ft but the same 220 horsepower.

The new SHO that debuted in 1996 was cool - 3.4L 32v Yamaha V8, new roundy-roundy styling - but with not much more power, no more manual, and more weight it wasn't exactly the enthusiast's secret that the first and second generation SHO's were.  Plus, Conan O'Brien has one.  Very cool.

8) Oldsmobile Achieva SCX W41

The Achieve was a spectacularly awful car.  That's a fairly definitive statement, but it's hard to point a finger at a car that more clearly demonstrates the "ahh, we're GM, our customers will buy anything" attitude that infected GM during the late eighties through the 90's than the "who cares?" Achieve.  It currently is a joint record-holder for most ironically named car (along with the Ford Aspire), prompting questions like "Achieve what?  Mediocrity?  Weird wheel openings?"

The Achieva was the weird-looking Oldsmobile version of the GM corporate N-Body chassis, which shared it's underpinnings with winners like the Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Cutlass, and Chevrolet Malibu.  Normal Achievas were available with powertrains like a 120 2.3L 8v I4 wheezing through a 3-speed automatic, or an optional 160bhp 3.3L 12v V6 wheezing through a 4-speed automatic.  Awesome.  The stuff rental-car dreams are made of.

The SCX was different, though - particular with the W41 performance package.  Intended as the performance model of the Achieva lineup, the star was what was under the hood: Oldsmobile's high-output Quad 4 2.3L Inline-four engine.  This twin-cam 16v screamer made 190 horsepower thanks to the addition of high-lift camshafts, free-flowing exhaust, and a reprogrammed ECU, 10bhp more than other "HO" Quad 4 motors.  Thanks to the new cams the redline was set 200rpm higher, at 7,000rpm.  This, you will note, was 50bhp more than the highly acclaimed Nissan SR20DE, and 20bhp more than the equally loved Honda B18C (Integra GS-R) motor.

Not gonna lie, it's hard to find pictures of the Olds Achieva.

The W41 package included the higher-lift cams as well as a shorter final drive in the Getrag/NVG 282 5-speed manual transmission (a 3.94:1 compared to the regular 3.68:1 FDR in the 5-speed, along with a direct-drive fifth gear), and some other goodies.  Since Oldsmobile raced the Achieva in the IMSA Firehawk Endurance series (a racing series for near-production cars), the W41 homologated some chassis changes to make them legal on the race car.  The rear track was 34mm wider than the normal model, the wheels got wider and smaller (tires were 215/60/VR14 instead of the normal 205/55/16's, as they were grippier and lighter), there was an external oil cooler, and a baffled gas tank to prevent fuel starvation, a stronger clutch, and an electronically adjustable suspension system.

The SCX W41 was a fairly quick car, with Motor Week testing one at 7.8 seconds to sixty and the quarter in 16.0s flat.  Not exactly scary-fast today, but reasonably quick for a compact non-turbo four cylinder back in 1992, and the raw nature of the car was surprising considering it was a GM product of the early 90's, when everything was about cost-cutting and sound insulation.  The Quad 4 had it's share of issues; primarily that it was noisy, vibrating bastard that Oldsmobile customers didn't much appreciate despite it's high specific output, high-rpm capabilities, and racing heritage.  It also had a nasty habit of blowing head gaskets all the time.  Here's one in an Achieva IMSA GTU race car, which was of course a tube-frame RWD "silhoutte" racer.  Still used a Quad 4, though - actually recognizable here despite the individual throttle trumpets and gorgeous tubular header.

7) Dodge Spirit R/T

Oh, man.  The Dodge Spirit.  Not exactly a car that cultivates lust in the hearts of red-blooded American males.  The Spirit was the replacement for the Dodge 600, which was a stretched K-car (Aries/Reliant/Snore), I'm falling asleep.  Typical Dodge Spirits were formal-looking three box sedans with an upright rear window, and your choice of a Chrysler 2.5 (rougher than a blender blending gravel, 100bhp) or a single-cam Mitsubishi GG72 V6 (141bhp, also awful.)  You could get a Spirit with a ChryCo 2.5 Turbo with 150bhp, but most people didn't bother.

So the Spirit R/T was a little unusual.  It uses a variant of Chrysler's 2.2L I4, with a 16v twin-cam head developed by Lotus, and a Garrett turbocharger huffing 11psi of boost through an air-to-air intercooler.  This was Chrysler's first production car powered by a dual-overhead-cam engine, and it used other neat tricks unusual for an American I4 at the time, like individual intake runners, a central spark plug, distributorless ignition, and forged aluminum pistons.  Power was 224bhp@5,800rpm and 217lb-ft of torque with a 6,500rpm redline, which was enough to haul the Spirit R/T to sixty in 5.8 seconds, making it the fastest sedan made in America - quicker than the SHO, and of comparable performance to the BMW M5, of which you could buy a few Spirit R/T's for the price of the Bavarian wunder-machine.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mC9QKZ5F9c

I don't think most Dodge Spirits can do this.

The only transmission choice was a heavy-duty A568 5-speed made by Chrysler's New Process Gear company with a gearset from Getrag.  The R/T got heavy-duty four ventilated wheel discs brakes with optional ABS, a stiffer suspension, and color-keyed 15" alloy wheels to differentiate it from the regular Spirit.  A 14.7 second quarter mile time meant this stodgy-looking Mopar sedan could show tail lights to some "real" performance cars of the time - like Camaro Z/28's, non-turbo Nissan 300ZX's, BMW 325i's, etc.

It wasn't all peachy, of course.  Even though the new transmission was much improved over the older ChryCo K-shifters, it was still a ropey, notchey affair.  After Shelby's issues with their "it's still in Beta" VNT (Variable Nozzle Technology, also called VGT by some) turbo technology, the R/T went with a regular fixed-geometry turbo, which meant it had a lot of turbo lag.  It still used a live-axle rear suspension and MacPherson Struts up front, so it wasn't exactly a corner carver.  And despite the A568 being developed to include a limited-slip differential (in Shelby vehicles that it never found it's way into), the R/T rode with an open differential, meaning hilarious tire-smoke exiting low speed corners under boost.  There were issues with timing belts snapping way early, engines overheating causing that expensive aluminum Lotus head to warp (go figure; Lotus parts), PCV issues...  Still, it was a freaking Dodge Spirit that would hit sixty faster than your snooty neighbor's 3-series BMW.  So uhh, that's pretty damn cool.  There were only a total of 1,399 built in 1991 and 1992, with only 191 of those being 1992 models, so it was rare enough to see one back then - you hardly ever see these turbo sleepers today.  The same engine was also used in the 1992-1993 Dodge Dayton IROC R/T, which was a K-car based sports coupe, but it's somehow not as cool in a sports coupe as it is stuffed in a Dodge Spirit.  A proto-SRT4, if you will.

6) Lancia Thema 8.32

The Lancia Thema was one of the "Type 4" cars, a common platform developed between Fiat and Saab in the 80's.  It shared some underpinnings with the Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma, and Saab 9000 - although it was undoubtedly the most boring to look at of the bunch.  While it was a reasonably competent luxury sedan for the period - and reasonably quick with the 2.0L 16v Turbocharged engine - there wasn't much to make it really stand out from the rest of the Type 4 cars - especially the bonkers 2.3L Turbo Saab 9000 Aero.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUi8KIU6iY

Ferrari What?

So rather than huff more boost down the throat of the 2.0L 16v engine, Lancia went a decidedly less conventional route - they borrowed an engine from Ferrari. The result was the Lancia Thema 8.32 - which stood for 8 cylinder, 32 valve.  The engine was a reworked version of that found in the back of the Ferrari 308 QV (Quattrovalvole, or "four-valve"), with some major differences - the crank was changed over to a cross-plane design (instead of the flat-plane used in the 308/Mondial/etc), the firing order was different, and it had smaller valves.  Still, it was a Ferrari-by-god-V8 stuffed sideways under the hood of a boring looking Lancia 4-door sedan.  So when you opened the hood, you were greeted by this:

Epic.  Performance was quite good, too.  The 8.32 was available with or without a catalytic converter depending on market - the non-cat version put out 215 horsepower and 210 lb/ft, which was good for a 6.8s 0-100km/h time and a top speed of 240km/h (149mph.)  Catalyzed versions were slightly less powerful (205bhp/194lb-ft) and were only slightly slower - 7.2 to sixty, 235km/h (146mph) flat out.

Sure, there were faster sedans out there during '87-'92 - like the E28 and E34 BMW M5's, the Mercedes 500E, the Lotus Carlton - but you will note, none of them had a Ferrari V8 under the hood.  Just wanted to stress that - Ferrari V8.

5) Renault R5 Turbo

This one is hardly fair.  The R5 Turbo has about as much in common with a regular R5 as a NASCAR does with a Ford Taurus.  It doesn't even have the engine in the same place.  But it's still a Renault R5 body, so I'd say it counts.

The R5 turbo was engineered primarily by Alpine to compete in Group 4 Rallying - the predecessor to Group B.  As such, the limitations for modifications were basically nothing.  So while a normal Renault 5 had it's engine mounted in the front driving the front wheels, the R5 Turbo had it's motor mounted in the back, driving the rear wheels.  The engine itself was a turbocharged version of the 1,397cc Cleon pushrod I4, tuned to produce an impressive 160bhp and 163lb/ft, which meant it was the most powerful French production car at the time.

What's this doing here?

There were a total of 3,576 R5 Turbos put together between 1980-1984.  They were split up into two groups: the first 400 were the much rarer Turbo 1 model, that used many lightweight bespoke alloy components.  All of the competition-spec R5 Turbos were made out of these, the rest (designed Turbo 2) used more off-the-shelf R5 components to lower the cost.  All of them were produced at the Alpine plant in Dieppe, rather than the normal production line.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_jDimU97s

Just judging by the specs (mid-engine, rear drive, short wheelbase, lots of turbo power) the R5 Turbo was a lot more fun to drive than a regular 5.  While production versions made 160bhp, competition versions based on the Turbo 1 had escalating power outputs throughout their competition career, culminating in the 5 Turbo Maxi, which had an alarming 350bhp going to the rear wheels towards the end of Group 4 competition.

Today, R5 Turbos are not a frequent site - they were rare when new, and you have to imagine a lot of them were stuffed into Armco's, or overboosted to the point of catastrophic melt-down.  But this hardcore French Hatch was good enough to earn a Top 10 spot on Sports Car International's Top Ten 80's Sports Cars list, along with heavyweights like the Porsche 959 and Ferrari 288 GTO.

4)  Volkswagen Passat W8

Lookin' all normal and stuff.

Unlike almost all the other cars on this list, the Passat W8 wasn't based on a boring/unpleasant car itself.  The B5/B5.5 Passat was actually quite a nice car, which made sense considering it shared most of it's mechanical bits with the B5-B7 Audi A4's.  Pop the hood of a Passat next to an A4 (especially if they've both got a 1.8T, or a 2.8/3.0 V6) and the similarities are remarkable.  Motor mounts, battery tray, strut towers - there are lots of common parts.  The Passat was a little more plain, a little less ornate, and not available with as many powertrain choices (good look finding a Passat 1.8T 4Motion with a stick!), but it was really good at making the A4 seem overpriced.

So this commonality with the A4 makes the Passat W8 all the more unusual.  While Audi went with a 4.2L V8 from the A6 and A8 for the performance S4 model, Volkswagen did something entirely different: a 4.0L W8.

Whoa.

The concept of a W8 is a little hard to wrap one's head around.  If you're familiar with VW's VR6 motor, it'll make more sense. The VR6 was a cross between a V6 and an Inline 6, in that the cylinders were staggered (by only 15°, but still staggered) but it only had one cylinder head, one intake manifold, and one exhaust manifold.  This made it a lot narrower than a usual V6 (normally set in a 60° or 90° V-angle), and also a lot shorter than a straight six.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNtl5h3MSW8

Now, for a W8, imagine a VR6 with two cylinders lopped off.  Then take another of those, and attach it to the other one at the crank.  Does your head hurt yet?  The W8 was developed to fit inside the regular B5.5 engine bay without severe modifications, and the Passat was the only car that VW ever put this engine in.  It was pretty powerful for a smallish 4.0L: 275 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 273lb-ft of torque at 2,750rpm.  What's interesting is that while the W8 offered a lot more power than the V6 (85 more; 190 vs 275), it was only 44lbs heavier than the Audi-sourced motor.

VW only sold the W8 in the facelifted B5.5 Passat (2001-2004) - all W8's came with 4Motion (think Torsen Quattro) standard, initially only with a 5-speed Tiptronic Automatic, but later with an extremely rare 6-speed manual as an option.  You could order a W8 in Sedan or Variant (wagon) versions, and I remember seeing a W8 Variant 6-speed new at a dealer around 2002 and not realizing at the time just how rare of a car it really was.  Of course, with a base MSRP of around $38,000 for a sedan in 2001 before options, it remained a rare car - VW only sold about 5,000 of them a year in the US.

What the hell?

My interest in the W8 Passat is a personal thing - a friend's mother had one for a short while, and I got the opportunity to drive it.  It was very strange; felt just like a Passat only a good bit heavier (the W8 pushed 4,000lbs with the bigger engine, standard 4WD, and every conceivable option) and with the smoothest, strangest-sounding engine under the hood.  It wasn't Lancer Evo fast, of course - way too low of a power to weight ratio for that - but the torque curve was flatter than Kansas, and the Tiptronic 5-speed auto would blur out manual shifts totally seamlessly.  You would find yourself speeding, sometimes by an alarming amount, without even realizing it.

Passat W8 Sport Variant.  Ever seen one?  They are real.

Of course, when the new Passat debuted for 2006, it moved from the A4 chassis (longitudinal engine) to a stretched MKV Golf chassis (transverse engine), so all the engineering work done on the W8 was thrown away.  The engine that replaced it - the 3.6L VR6 - made slightly more power, but I have to admit it's not half as interesting as a 32v W8 under the hood.  Because among all production cars in the world, only one's got a W8.

3) Pontiac Grand Prix ASC/MacLaren Turbo

I'm a creative guy, but I can't find a lot of nice things to say about the '88-'94 Pontiac (W-body) Grand Prix.  It's a car.  It's got seats, a steering wheel, an engine, and it'll get you where you're going most of the time.  It did manage to pull Pontiac up to the number 3 brand sales slot after 15 years of sinking sales, but then again there weren't a lot of great cars for sale in 1988.  (900 Turbo excluded.)

So it's a little hard to understand quite why GM felt the world needed a turbocharged, intercooled V6 Grand Prix.  And why they didn't bother to build it themselves.  Still, it's a pretty fascinating car by the standards of the time.

The TGP (as it's called for short) was built by ASC/McLaren in limited numbers.  This was the same ASC/McLaren that turned "regular" Regal Grand Nationals into Regal GNX's, so they know a thing or two about turbocharging GM engines.  Where the normal Grand Prix V6 used a 2.8L (and later 3.1L) 60° pushrod V6 that made 140 horsepower, the TGP was a bit more powerful.

You'd think that the conversion from N/A to turbo was relatively simple, but it was pretty in depth - the whole motor was built to handle the extra 65 horsepower the Turbo gave.  The TGP used a unique block cast with higher nickel and tin content for robustness, forged steel rods topped with lower-compression dished Mahle pistons, a heavy-duty crank with a unique torque dampener, a higher flow oil and water pump, oil feed and return lines integrated into the sump, ported high-flow cylinder heads, an intake manifold with "3.1 Intercooled Turbo" cast into it, a Corvette fuel pump- oh, and a Garrett TB025 turbocharger blowing at 8psi, a rear turbo manifold with crossover pipe, true dual exhaust, a heavy duty 4T60 4-speed automatic, a reinforced differential, an air-to-air intercooler, and a million other small things.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuwt3K_A6Nw

Power output was 205 horsepower at 4,800 rpms, and 220 lb-ft of torque at 3,200rpm.  This allowed the 3,450lb Turbo Grand Prix to hit 60 in 7 seconds (more than 2s faster than an normal V6 Grand Prix), 100 in 20.6, and the quarter mile in 15.3 seconds at 90mph.  This put the Grand Prix Turbo on par with performance imports of the time like the BMW 325i, Audi 200 20v Turbo, and Nissan Maxima.

They also produced a 4-door version with the same powertrain called the STE Turbo for the 1990 model year only, before the W-body switched over to the 3.4L DOHC 24v V6 in 1991 for performance models.  While it offered more power (215bhp), the uniqueness factor and the turbo torque wasn't there.  In all, Pontiac/ASC built a total of 5,465 Turbo Grand Prixs, with 1,000 of them being the STE Turbo sedan, which was the same powertrain but in the four-door Grand Prix body.

2) Nissan Sunny (Pulsar) GTi-R

Ahh, the Nissan Sunny.  Nissan's small, Golf-sized hatchback from the early 90's.  Once referred to as "the worst car in the world" on two seperate occasions by Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and later Richard Hammond.  Not much to like about a Sunny.  If you wanted a compact hatchback, you could get a Sunny - or a million other more attractive options.

So when Nissan decided they wanted to enter WRC Group A rally, the car they chose was... the Nissan Sunny.  Go figure.  The homologation rules for Group A dictate that 5,000 road-going examples of the race car had to be made for public consumption, so Nissan did.  Built on the basic B14 Sentra/Sunny/Pulsar architecture, the GTi-R was about as opposite from a regular Sunny as you could get, without stuffing a turbo engine where the rear seats go and making it RWD (Renault!)

The engine was Nissan's SR20DET, a 2.0L iron-block aluminum-head 16v I4 also found in the 180SX/Silvia.  In the Sunny, it's turned sideways and was fitted with a larger Garrett T28 turbocharger (compared to the T25 that came on S13-chassis 180SX's).  Chain-driven dual overhead cams spun 16 valves, and a top-mounted air-to-air intercooler allowed the GTi-R's 2.0L to crank out an impressive 230bhp.

Nissan's ATTESSA-ETS AWD system was employed to put all that power to the ground, with a viscous center differential and a limited-slip rear differential. There were a few variations of the GTi-R produced -RHD models were called the Pulsar GTi-R, and were produced in Japan from 1990-1994.  LHD models were far more rare; these were called the Sunny GTi-R, and less than 1,000 were built between 1992-1995 and retailed through German Nissan dealers.  Further breaking up the group, there were two variants of the basic car itself - the GTi-RA and GTi-RB.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxMzjmH_xGk

The GTi-RA was oriented for street driving.  It was more luxurious than the RB, featuring mod-cons like A/C, power windows and mirrors, anti-lock brakes, etc.  The RB was intended for competition purposes, and these were what the factory used to create their works race cars.  They didn't have all the goodies (no A/C, PS, PW, or ABS) as well as featuring shorter gearing more suited for rallying purposes, and a limited-slip differential in the front, versus the RA's open differential.

No matter which version of the GTi-R you were in, it was a seriously quick car.  Nissan quoted the GTi-R's 0-60 time at 5.4 seconds to sixty, and 13.9 seconds in the quarter mile with a top speed of 144mph for the RA model.  The RB's, with their shorter gearing, took 5.2 to sixty and would do low-to-mid 13's in the quarter mile according to Best Motoring tests in the 90's, although the top speed was shorter thanks the sprint gearing in the 'box.

Externally, it wasn't hard to tell a GTi-R from a normal Sunny/Pulsar.  For one thing, there was the big wing stuck to the top of the hatchback.  But most noticeable was the ventilated bulge in the hood that fed fresh air to the intercooler, sprouting like a tumor from the sheetmetal.  The GTi-R wasn't crazy looking like the Escort Cosworths of the same time period, but it was certainly noticeable.  A total of somewhere south of 15,000 GTi-R's were produced between 1990-1995 (some estimates say 11,500, some 13,800).  None were ever imported to the US, so don't bother, but they are possible to find in mainland Europe as well as the UK.  From "world's worst car" to turbo, AWD, rally homologation rocket - I'd say this fits pretty well.

1) Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (Opel Lotus Omega)

This was bound to be the winner.  Never has so dull of a car birthed such an outrageous, unbelievable vehicle.  The Vauxhall Carlton (and it's left-hand drive twin, the Opel Omega) were GM of Europe's large sedan in the 80's and early 90's, a very traditional - and traditionally styled - 3 box sedan.  The underpinnings were classic large sedan stuff - a choice of four cylinders (ranging 1.8L/ 82bhp to 2.4L/ 123bhp), some diesels, and some straight sixes (from 2.6L 150bhp to 3.0L 24v 201bhp) mounted up front, driven wheels at the rear, and room to seat five comfortably.  It looked like this:

Snore.

Now, to be fair, the 3.0L 24v Carlton GSI was a reasonably quick car; 0-60 in the mid 7's with a five speed.  They were popular with police forces as they had plenty of room for gear, were cheap to fix, and more than quick enough to catch baddies trying to escape in a Corsa.  But still, blech.  Boring.  The Omega was the yin to the sorta crazy-looking Ford Sierra's yang.

Now, during this same time period, General Motors had acquire the Lotus brand in whole.  They set Lotus to work making a sports version of the Carlton/Omega, with the intention of making a competitive sports saloon out of a sow's ear, much as Lotus had done two decade and change prior with the Ford Lotus Cortina.  What they got back was more than competitive; it set the industry standard for exactly how bad-ass a sports sedan could be.

Lotus started with the top-range Carlton, the GSi.  The 3.0L C30SE 24v was stroked out considerably (85mm vs 69.8mm stroke) to yield a total displacement of 3615cc vs the GSi's 2969cc.  However, an extra .6L was not enough, and on top of that Lotus added twin Garrett T25 turbochargers, and an air-to-water intercooler.  The compression ratio was dropped from 10.0:1 to 8.2:1 to sustain all the boost, the bottom end of the block itself was reinforced to not blow to bits, and additional oil and coolant passages were included to keep it from boiling over.  The Lotus engine utilized forged Mahle pistons, stronger connecting rods, and a new crankshaft with 12 counterweights to balance out the long-stroke six.  The LC made a lot of power, even by today's jaded standards: 377bhp at 5,200rpm, and an "are you serious?" 419lb-ft of torque at 4,200rpm.  Also of note- over 300lb-ft of torque was on tap by only 2,000rpm, meaning this was not a peaky twin turbo six like Nissan's RB26.  During testing, the only manual transmission capable of dealing with all that power was the Corvette ZR-1's (also a Lotus project under GM ownership) 6-speed manual, sourced from the German ZF company.  The rear differential was from Holden, and a 3-piece propshaft sent power from the transmission to the reinforced differential.

Being a Lotus project, there was more to it than a massive engine upgrade.  The body received wildly flared arches to accommodate a huge wheel/tire package - 17" Ronal alloys all around, 8.5" up front with specially designed 235/45 Goodyears, and 9.5" at back with meaty 265/40's.  Under the pretty alloys was one of the most impressive braking setups around - AP Racing 4-piston calipers with 330mm ventilated discs up front, 300mm twin-piston vented discs in the rear.

The suspension was gone over as well, with a focus on minimizing camber change under load for stability.  Lotus redesigned the MacPherson struts up front, while the rear suspension got an extra link on the trailing arms and an automatic ride leveling function.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_7E5LjSUIU

Performance was alarming.  The Lotus Carlton took 5.2 seconds of your time to hit 60 from a standstill (some publications saw as low as 4.8!) and 11.5 seconds to 100mph.  Lotus also claimed the LC would do 50-70 in 3rd gear (a standard test of engine flexibility) in 2.8 seconds as well.  But beyond the spirited acceleration, what really earned the Lotus Carlton a place in history books was the top speed.  At a time when even the Germans were saying "gee, guys, we probably ought to limit our cars to 155mph so less bankers kill themselves," Lotus limited the Carlton's top speed to... well, however fast the twin-turbo six could push it.  Which turned out to be 177mph.  The British press thought this was roughly the equivalent of kicking a hundred puppies in a row with steel-toed boots, and decried it as antisocial and dangerous.  Never mind that a Ferrari Testarossa or a Lamborghini Countach could do this (sort of); the thought of a 5-passenger luxury sedan travelling at those speeds seemed particularly egregious.

The Lotus Carlton wasn't much of a sales success.  The plan was originally to make 1,100 of them split between LHD (Opel) and RHD (Vauxhall); the final number was only 950, 320 of which were Carltons and 630 were Omegas, all of them painted a color called "Imperial Green," which really looked black in anything but direct sunlight.  What with the anti-social stigma surrounding the car, plus the £48,000 price tag in 1990 during the middle of a particularly nasty economic reception, not many people wanted a slice of Lotus' twin-turbo hooligan pie.

Still, the Lotus Carlton served as the benchmark for exactly how badass a sedan could be for quite some time, holding the record for fastest production sedan for quite some time.  Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Note: after finishing this article, I realized it had stretched to more than 5,400 words, and there are still about a gajillion cars I'd love to include.  If this is a topic you'd like to read more on, drop a comment below!  And if there's something that's NOT on the list you think should be, make a case in the comments - or shoot me an email at james@carthrottle.com.