The Early 80's-Mid 90's Performance Car Club

[Boffin]

Aye, but they put it in the boot and had 50% more capacity...



Preaching to the choir, but I don't necessarily think point-to-pointing is the same as performance.

We'll call it usable performance. I have an inkling that that attributes to cool factor. Since this club is uniting people who think the cars are cool (in one way or another), you'll find that we'e ended up back at the start.

And as this is mostly a tribute to the fizzy 4-pots, most of them are all about real world usable performance.

 

[homeforsummer]

Or essentially, the concept of having great fun in a car costing very little...

Actually on that note, and given that someone mentioned the AW11 MR2...

They made them until 1989, so it counts Only 85bhp but only 900kg so sixty in less than ten seconds and over 100mph. Effortless cool. The MR2 and Fiero are just imposters...

Not as quick as another Fiat of the same time though...

The Uno Turbo. Quick, rattly, fun and slightly more likely to blow up than the Renault 5 Turbo...

 

[Jondot]

You CANNOT simply just mention these two absolute legends. They are terribly deserving of shots.

Mi16

*snip*

205GTI

*snip*

Was going to get one of those, unitll it turned out the uni I was going to was a 5 hour drive, and I'd rather something much bigger for it.

Don't be a wimp - I do the 5 and a half hour drive to my uni in the tiddler visible to the left of this post I'd kill for a nice comfy 405

 

[Jim Prower]

...the Ferrari 355 was an amazingly balanced car....

I dunno. Every period review I read said that it had a scary tendency to swap ends.

 

[Keef]

For me, the appeal of your car would be knowing that my engine was so vastly different to virtually everything else on the road...

There's that too, but then Mazda has had rotaries in production for quite a long time. They slapped a turbo on it, which had never been done before besides race cars, and found out substantial power could be made quite easily. But then it blows up.

 

[kingcars]

We need some more American steel in here . And at the time, RWD cars were getting better as well..

1987 Motor Trend Car of the Year:

190hp 2.3L 4cyl. Not bad for '87. Around the same time, V8s were finally getting their grunt back. Mustangs were finally back to running mid-low 14 1/4 mile times stock and the turbo 6cyl Buick Gran National was also making a splash.

 

[McLaren]

Hmmmm - we'll try to keep it to a minimum of posts then.

*snip*

A bit surprised you didn't bring up the M1, Viper, NSX, or the Countach (even though it was born in the early 70's).

 

[Jetboy.]

I have one. It's not a:



Edit: Okay, two and one of them might be. But as stock they just aren't "performance" cars. 135hp, 115lbft, 0-60mph in 8ish, 135mph or so... not really "performance" figures. Though to be honest the same could be said - almost literally exactly the same - for the 205 1.9 GTi. Unless we're not having a minimum standard, but even then it seems incongruous to put them in the same bracket as the Lotus Carlton and Sierra XR4i...

I put this car up with you in mind.

Still, a V6 in a car the size of a supermini?... Worked for Renault...

He's got the idea. To me this was positively mental to make a 1.8 V6 and stuff it in such a tiny car. Sure the numbers weren't earth shattering, but it was a generally quick car in a time when 80hp Chryslers were the norm.

We'll call it usable performance. I have an inkling that that attributes to cool factor. Since this club is uniting people who think the cars are cool (in one way or another), you'll find that we'e ended up back at the start.

And as this is mostly a tribute to the fizzy 4-pots, most of them are all about real world usable performance.

He's got it also. It's an enthusiasts tribute club for all the crazy cars that came out way back when.


And Keef, thanks for those bits also. 👍


Cheers.
Jetboy

 

[Eric.]

The best of the bunch live on in today's Toyota Camry, and nobody really cares where it came from until a rare, two-decade old sports car pulls into the lot and only one headlight folds down.

I lol'd. But so true...

 

[Boffin]

A bit surprised you didn't bring up the M1, Viper, NSX, or the Countach (even though it was born in the early 70's).

Viper and NSX, your right.

The others not so much - go ahead. Post them yourself.

 

[hemisport15]

This needs more Volkswagen.
VW Scirocco

Volkswagen Golf (one rallye and a GTI)

Volkswagen Corrado

and for the non VW fans.
Nissan 240

I have more pics of the Nissan, let me know if you want them.

 

[Jetboy.]

That Corrado=epic.

 

[mafia_boy]

Already beat you with the Nissan 180SX/240SX, fifth pic down!!

 

[Jetboy.]

Want to see something really, really good? It's not a performance car, but it's certainly more sporting than the base model.

Pontiac Firefly

Yeah. That's a Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift. With a factory 1.0l turbo 3-cylinder. They really did put turbos on everything..

 

[homeforsummer]

There are some crazy videos on Youtube of turbocharged Suzuki Swifts. The sort of ones where the speedometer needle is zipping around as quickly as the tachometer...

 

[a112]

For me

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

is that 126P? nice.

Nissan March Super Turbo. Not as crazy as the Golf G60 Rallye Limited, but they tried..

 

[a112]

No,that's a Zastava 101 that's stronger and faster than a Yugo.

 

[speed junkie]

These things came in 4wd ?!?!

 

[mafia_boy]

Yep. The JDM version was powered with the same drivetrain as found in the Pulsar GTi-R. SR20DET giving around 150Kw (it doesn't have the quad throttle bodies of the GTi-R) & ATTESA 4WD system.

That was the later model too, they also came out in the U12 shape with a CA18DET & ATTESA, I'll get a pic.

 

[Cano]

ah, ok, I can die now. someone already mentioned the Grand National. I'll add its brethren, the Trans Am turbo of the late 80s, same engine, better chasis:

and yes, this: