Right off the jump, let me say that you’re free to go past-tense with today’s Ask, as in “What car that never had a high-performance do you most wish had been offered as a high-performance version?” Autopian Asks is never into hard-and-fast rules for these things; I see our get-togethers here as the type of conversation you’d have at a dinner party with the guys (and/or gals, I’m hip) who are also into cars and don’t care about how work is going or how your kids are doing. Borrrrring, let’s talk about cars.
Anyway, I’ve always thought properly high-output minivans should be a thing, regardless of how well they’d actually sell. To that end, I wasted my time photochopping a hotted-up Toyota Sienna with a racing stripe for the topshot, which is sadly giving “Starsky and Hutch but they’re soccer coaches” vibes. I wish I had remembered The Bishop’s sweet Odyssey render before he dropped it into Slack:

Bish made that art for Honda Needs To Use NSX Tech To Make A Honda Odyssey Type R, which I’ve hyperlinked in case you missed it. And, I mean, look at that thing; surely any insecure guy who worries what the fellas think of his minivan when he rolls up to the gym will have no such concerns when said minivan is thusly maxxed out.
I just saw Stephen (Walter Gossin) pop up in Slack, I shall copy and paste:
I nominate the LH cars because they were designed to accept either FWD, AWD or RWD. They never got anything other than FWD. The 318 V8 wouldn’t have fit under the cab-forward hoods, but a 3.5L RWD/AWD Eagle Vision would’ve been the heat.
Indeed, such an Eagle would have flown!

Your turn:
What Car That Will Probably Never Get A High Performance Version Would You Most Like To See Get A Performance Version?









Prowler Scat Pack
Wartburg. Ha ha
Rally minivan please.
ooo yeah a GR Sienna would be awesome!
The 2GR V6 that Toyota used in everything was available with an Edelbrock supercharger in the Lotus Evora.Toyota could’ve installed that TRD supercharger on their own cars, including the Sienna.
GR Camry
GR Highlander
GR Crown
GR Avalon
ES-F
RX-F
Chevy Orlando SS (2.0T)
Chevy Cruze SS (2.0T)
Chevy Sonic SS (2.0T)
Chevy Spark SS (1.4T)
Ford Transit Connect ST (same shit as the Focus ST)
Mitsubishi Mirage VR-4 (turbo AWD I3)
GM could easily bring back the Syclone and Typhoon by turbo or supercharging their V6, or perhaps by using a V8.
They’re still too stupid to bring the international Trailblazer at all, but that with a V8 would be an awesome Typhoon. And of course, a V8 Canyon would be good Syclone.
Honda should’ve installed the 250 hp 2.0T from the previous gen Accord into the Civic Si or at least the base Integra by now.
A Hyundai Staria N would be fun too!
Pao-R
You’re on the right track with your first photo . . . Mazda5.
A Mazdaspeed 5 would be fucking awesome 😀
Car and Driver made one themselves:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15391593/return-of-the-boss-wagon-mazdaspeed-5/
1966 Lincoln Continental 2 door hardtop, but make it a safari version.
Scion XB GR.
Mirage, I think it would be hilariously fun with a turbo and some stiffer suspension.
Your wishes were Mitsubishis commands.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/1989-mitsubishi-mirage-turbo-104-69a5bfdf26e0d.jpg
(35 years ago)
Suzuki sort of did that back in the day. The Suzuki Cultus was brought to America as the Suzuki Swift and Chevy Metro. It had a 1L 3 cylinder. In 1987, they had an optional turbo that took the 49 hp engine and made it 80 ish.
Then the second generation one came out in 1987. Every Chevy/ Geo Sprint I saw had the 49 hp 3 cylinder, but the Suzuki Swift almost always came with a 1.3L 4 cylinder with DOHC that was about 100 hp.
They were never fast cars, but they were fun as hell, since the 3 door weighed less than 1500 lbs. With a stick, even the 1L could put a grin on your face.
The 1.3L installed on most US-market Swifts was SOHC and only made 70 hp. Later ones made 79 hp because they have 4 valves/cylinder instead of 2.
Only the Swift GT(i) got the 100 hp DOHC.
Yugo GV in Group B spec. Thinking something along the lines of the MG Metro 6R4. Probably not too competitive, but what a hoot to see at full chat.
For reference:
1985 MG Metro 6R4 Group B Rally Car – Classic Car Performance
Far too late now, but I desperately wanted (and still do) a Honda Fit Si.
A Fit Si would have been a dream come true for a lot of people.
Now I’m thinking of an Element Si though and I like it.
Pacifica Hellcat.
Stellantis US seemed cool putting it in plenty of vehicles, so why not the Pacifica?!
Well the easiest is the Prius, but many of those have been outfitted with big engines already…so instead the other one…the Honda Insight.