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?
Maybe not the least likely, but I’d love a Honda Fit Si. Like the Up GTI, I want it with less power than the Civic Si, however much allows it to retain city car gearing.
Mitsubishi missed the boat by not putting the engine from the last Evo into the Mirage. Don’t bother with the AWD system, torque steer’s part of the fun! Fast, crude and cheap!
Both the Sebring and Solara from the SBSD today would have been great with hotter versions. Same with the SC430, the retro Thunderbird, or anything else with the Personal Luxury tag.
As for modern cars, can we get at least one GM crossover of any brand other than Cadillac that’s engaging? a T-Type Buick? I know SS is taboo right now (if car names in FH6 are any indication – they spell out the words) but a super sport Blazer? Trax? And not just a tape stripe package like the RS, it’s gotta go fast.
I recall the first gen Chrysler Cirrus straight stole the base 4 cylinder and interior of the 96 and up Eagle Talon. I definitely would have liked to see the TSi turbo 4 and AWD setup from that under the Cirrus since it was Chrysler and should have had the best optioned motor and drivetrain in my opinion.
I’ve said this before but a Trax SS, the Trax has a pretty low roof already for a CUV, lower it a couple inches and it is the same height or lower roofline than most sedans. Tighten up the suspension steering and brakes, replace the weak 3 cylinder with something a bit more serious and bam! You have what could be the 2026 version of a sport compact.
Envista GNX
I always like the most absurd stuff packed into the tiniest package. What kind of HP can we pack into a Chevy Spark?
Smart 4two with the gsxr motor in it from the factory.
The Spark EV had 400 ft-lbs of torque. Heard it was pretty wild.
Prius.
I thought that was what the 5th gen Prius was – 60% increase in horsepower and 33% decrease in 0-60 time over the previous generation
Fair point!
Honda Fit. Daily a 2nd gen base and even that’s fun to sling around. An SI version would have been delightful.
I have two
Pacifica Hellcat.
Series I XJ6 with the XJR treatment.
Subaru Crosstrek XT.
The WRX has gotten bloated and (for me) uninteresting. Give the Crosstrek the BRZ 2.4 (even better would be the Outback 2.4t) and a manual. Better suspension, brakes, and all the power-handling parts would be in order, but let it be raw and boisterous. Keep safety and tech to the federally mandated minimum.
I’ve seen 3 suggestions for the Crosstrek (including me), I think we’re the only ones taking this seriously.
I’ll throw my vote on it as well. A hot wagon! What’s not to love??
The Levorg Layback might be getting close to this? The Crosstrek is a hatch.
There’s almost a dozen of us, ALMOST A DOZEN!!!!
I woo would like a WRX/XT Crosstrek. I know Crawford Performance was doing turbo kits for them at one point.
LS Powered Cadillac Caterra. The Myth says GM was about to release this as an Opel Omega Sadly that link has lost all it’s pictures, or at least they are blocked for me, but this was the CTS V before they had the guts to build one.
But a Caterra in Champagne Gold with a six speed and LS3 would be my go to. I’d give it a custom plate too: ZIGGY
I have a different ideas of high performance:
1) Efficiency. I want a car, any car really that throws every known trick in the book to squeeze as much useful work out of the cheapest, most abundant and readily available energy sources possible. EVs are the closest to this so far but adding in a REX just powerful enough to keep that battery charged on long trips with thermal efficiency as close to the theoretical limit set up to always be at that limit and running on the cheapest, most readily available domestic fuel would be a true efficiency performance machine.
2) The above with the absolute minimum NVH while also offering the maximum useful luxury and safety.
3) all the above for the absolute minimum price, both purchase, running and repair costs.
4) longevity. Make it last forever with as little maintainence as possible.
Low 0-60, 1/4 mile, top speed doesn’t matter nearly as much to me, nice to have but not at the expense of efficiency, comfort, safety, cost and longevity.
So I guess my answer would be any Ferrari.
Did you ever see the Loremo?
https://www.evshift.com/451625/does-anyone-remember-the-loremo-ls-low-resistance-mobile/
I had not. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
It reminds me a lot of my grandfather’s Messerschmitt KR200 Kabinenroller. Come to think of it Kabinenroller would be a good name for the Loremo.
Also I’d like to add the Messerschmitt KR200 to my high performance wish list. A Hayabusa swapped Messerschmitt KR200 would be a hell of a thing.
That would be amazing! Bubble cars are wild. Somebody had an Isetta for sale around here this spring, but I didn’t get around to seeing it in person. $25k was too rich for me to seriously consider it. Lol
Absolutely need Ford to stop being lazy and boring and make proper RS versions of the Bronco Sport and Maverick. They could be the Typhoon/Syclone of the 2020s.
Call me, Jim Farley. I have ideas!
Put a V10 in a Ford E-series.
*Advisor whispers in my ear*
No, a real performance one. Not an honorary one.
…okay, but seriously, I’d love to see full-size vans with upgraded engines from the factory (not just the Express with the 6.6l L8T making 401 hp/464 lb-ft.). It’d be the same kind of “it’s niche, but we built it anyway” kind of attitude that is common to many of the most awesome and unique vehicles.
I’d want to spice up the small but stabilizing mid-sized sedan market with the following:
Also, stick the 1.6T in the Venue to make it a pocket rocket. Why? Why not?
I once dreamed of an ultimate sleeper: a V42-series Nissan Quest GT-R. If a UK Nissan skunk works team could do that to a Juke, it could be done to a Quest – in brown, of course.
It’s not an original, since there’s one other commenter with the same idea, but I’ll put a vote down for the K-Car.
It’s pretty much the opposite of an enthusiast car (though high school me had a lot of wintery fun in the K-Mart parking lot with McDonald’s trays), so it would be hilarious with some ’80’s style turbo power.
Wasn’t that basically the Omni GLH?
I mean yeah… the Omni GLH/Shelby Charger were FWD Mopars with the turbo-4. But the Omni/Charger/Turismo/Horizon were L-body cars, no K-bodys.
A Kia K4. I’ve come to really like their Blade Runner styling, esp with the weird back end and the it features of the better one big screen interiors.
Offering a reasonable performance version with a real manual might not sell super well, but it might give Kia some real enthusiast street cred. The Stinger was of course amazing, but for the price, there were too many other possibilities; but a cheap-ish K4 could be in a class of its own and maybe enough of winner to make it viable.
Every K4 I see around here is driven like it has a twin turbo LS…
I would buy a K4 wagon if it came with a stick, one with a nice turbocharged engine would be even better. The Euro Pure trim comes with a stick and a turbo but it’s only 1 liter in displacement.
Ford Crown Vic with a real engine. The Marauder was weak shit as well, even for 20 years ago. Ford offered the right drivetrain in the Lightning pickup truck, supercharged, 380hp, automatic. I would have also liked to have seen motor in a Town Car but keep the whitewalls and floaty boat suspension.
Which also brings me to Cadillac not offering a tamer LS v8 in the CTS and bigger CT6. Nobody wanted that v6 turbo bullshit, they sound like ass. And not all of us wanted the mongo supercharged v8 and rock hard suspension either. Or the huge price tag.
A 400hp LS3(corvette base engine) would still get down the road and boogy. Give it a softer suspension, tires with sidewalls, and a competitive price. Kinda like how Dodge did things, several v8 options, not just one 600+hp $100,000 beast, then stick us proles with lame 4 cylinders and garbage v6 nonsense.
Yeah, as cool as it could have been, the Marauder always struck me as properly the gussied up but less potent version of some fire breathing Crown Vic with a supercharged or large displacement V8.
Also a missed opportunity in 2011 while the Panthers were still in production, and the Coyote was just introduced. Would have been a hell of a send off.
I will say, my next door neighbor while I was growing up worked at Ford. He brought test cars home all the time. The Pre-Production Marauder I got to go for a ride in was set up with the Terminator powertrain. I’ll never forget how well that boat of a car cornered.
SRT Pacifica all the way.
Hellcat Pacifica
Dodge Journey? Did they make a performance 2CV?
All the old vans. Dajiban Pacifica SRT? R/T? Aerostar ST! Astro SS! Canival GT-Line! GR Sienna with a supercharger, AWD, and a manual! Bishops’s Odyssey Type-R! The family vacation mobile when I was growing up was a E150 with a 351W and a 3 in the tree when I started driving it I was surprised at the acceleration.
bring back the sti and the evo, maybe actually do a turbo sti version of the BRZ. yes thrown in a factory supercharged miata as well. too bad there aren’t a lot of fun AND cheap options these days.
Mitsubishi Mirage…the shitbox one, not the C-segment sedan. Make that sucker AWD and turbo four-powered, leave the wheels 14” but like twice the width.
AWD (or at least RWD) MazdaSpeed3, first gen (07-09) bodystyle but the new design language. More power is welcome but not required.
Is this a cheat answer to stuff a wishlist ballot in the box? Absolutely, yes, yes it is.
Heck, I’d love to see a current gen (BP) Mazda3 hatch with Focus RS level performance specs. It shouldn’t be hard to do, and at that point drop the powertrain in the sedan too for the ultimate sleeper.
I like where your head’s at though, wanting to see Kodo design cues on a more square-back hatch. The current car sacrifices practicality for style, something I was ok with, but not all buyers are.
Crosstrek