Be it a chassis that craves more power, styling that requests more speed, or the absurdity of making something slow go really quickly, some cars just goad you into wanting a performance variant. Think Ford Fiesta ST, Lexus GS F, or Mercedes R63 AMG. However, much to the chagrin of many enthusiasts, not every car gets a performance variant. So, here are a few that deserve a faster version.
Back in the early 2000s, Subaru had a problem: The Forester was beloved by those in snowy climes, but the stock 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated boxer four would run out of puff at high altitudes. This was solved using the only method Subaru knew – by dropping in a turbocharged engine and calling it the Forester 2.5 XT. The results were astounding. Car And Driver tested one with a manual gearbox and found it to run from zero-to-sixty in 5.3 seconds. That’s quicker than a Nissan 350Z and a Honda S2000, and tied with a Jaguar XJR. A most devious four-wheeled embodiment of British aristocracy would merely be side-by-side with a frumpy Japanese crossover that had a dryer vent stuck to its hood. Sensational.
Roughly twenty years later, Subaru isn’t the same company it used to be, but that doesn’t mean that lightning can’t strike twice. All the ingredients are there for a surprisingly zesty crossover, it just requires a bit of courage. See, Subaru already builds the WRX in the same Gunma, Japan plant the new Crosstrek will be made in, and both ride on the same SGP architecture. Everything from engine to gearbox to differentials to front subframes could be carried over from the WRX to create a Crosstrek XT, which would absolutely print money in high-altitude locales. Sure, some revisions would be required, but the bulk of the hard work already exists in Subaru’s parts bin. While a Crosstrek XT won’t embarrass a Nissan Z, it’ll certainly surprise an MX-5 owner or two.
Here’s another performance variant that would require very little effort: Did you know that Volkswagen makes a Tiguan R? Not in America, mind you, but Europe gets a 316-horsepower Tiguan with a torque vectoring rear differential and an available Akrapovic exhaust system. Why is this not here? Well, the European Tiguan rides on a wheelbase 4.3 inches shorter than that of the American model, so a new driveshaft and new side skirts would be required at the minimum. Otherwise, I reckon it’s largely game on. Imagine a vehicle for the family who’s outgrown a Golf R. Maybe they adopted a second labradog or need space for a second pram. Whatever the case, a Tiguan R sounds just about perfect.
While fast crossovers are all well and good, nothing beats a minivan as the ultimate family hauler. Toyota has a hard time building enough Siennas to meet demand, but they’d have an even harder time if they took the Hybrid MAX powertrain from the Grand Highlander, dropped it in the Sienna and gave the van proper sports suspension to create a TRD Sienna. Imagine an all-wheel-drive minivan with 400 lb.-ft. of torque. The children would never be late to school again.
Let’s set the record straight: Street trucks are the shit, have been the shit, and will always be the shit. I will never look at a tastefully-done street truck and not think fuck yeah. Even the Chevrolet S-10 Xtreme with its meager-by-modern-standards output is just cool, and Ford is sitting on a prime opportunity for a Maverick ST. Take the 2.3-liter Ecoboost engine out of the outgoing Lincoln Corsair, pair it to a six-speed manual gearbox from a Focus RS, shove the whole thing in a Maverick and then add the torque-vectoring rear diff from the Maverick Tremor. Boom, now you have a nigh-on 300-horsepower drivetrain that can party.
Next, drop that sucker to the ground on 20-inch wheels, bolt on a Redwood-sized rear anti-roll bar, add a body kit louder than a Joyryde set, bolt in a set of Recaros, paint the whole truck a lurid shade of tangerine, and suddenly you have the ultimate all-in-one Ford. It would haul car parts as well as ass. Long live the fast Ford.
Alright, I supposed I should offer up an actual performance car idea that isn’t a fast crossover or something. Here goes nothing: Infiniti Q50 IPL. It’s no secret that Nissan is planning a hopped-up Nismo version of the new Z, and the shared FM platform means that the powertrain bits will largely bolt into an Infiniti Q50 sedan. Push power north of 400, stick a manual gearbox in the tunnel, use the console from the European-market diesel model to fit the shifter, chuck in a limited-slip diff, throw steer-by-wire in the bin, and sell that sucker for $60,000. I’ll admit, it’s a niche vehicle, but if all the bits exist then why not?
Anyway, I’m just spitballing ideas here. What I really want to know is what vehicle you think deserves a performance variant. Do you wish Mercedes-AMG would build an E63 Coupe Black Series? Do you dream of a really fast Mitsubishi Mirage? Are you tickled pink by the thought of an inappropriately zesty Toyota Prius? Whatever the case, I want to hear from you.
(Photo credits: Subaru, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, Infiniti)
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It really doesn’t matter because even most modern performance variants are only offered with CVT(s) or auto transmissions (and no, CVT(s) are not faster because they shift faster, they’re faster because they have more aggressive gearing). They could just offer their normal bland offerings with a proper manual transmission and a factory backed performance tune and add more smile per mile that any wild drivetrain swap from a sibling model. Once again, this will never happen.
Since SUVs aren’t going anywhere, I do like the idea of the “hot small crossover” like the Forester XT was. The Tiguan “R” is a cool idea. So would a CR-V Si. Or at least a successor to the old RAV4 V6. Throw the “Hybrid Max” in there. Or just use the Camry’s V6 for one last time.
Apologies, but the following anecdote is missing some car details so I don’t blow a confidentiality contract.
Back when designing internal combustion engines was a career with a future I had a job designing a supercharger install for a company’s largish car. As usual I’d loaded all the engine bay crap in to the CAD to make sure we had dynamic and assembly clearance to everything, but as a side project I also loaded the engine bay crap from a smaller car too. With a few tweaks that cost nothing other than a bit of thinking time I got a solution that ticked all the boxes for the big car, but would also fit in the small car.
This wasn’t part of the brief, no one was asking for that engine with that supercharger to go in to that car, but because some of us OEM types really love cars I made it possible, and a couple of years later it went in to production.
I can’t help but think Toyota is keeping a close eye on the market for a Sienna with a form of the Hybrid Max powertrain. They’re starting to drip that powertrain name into the market with the Tundra, Sequoia, now Crown, soon Grand Highlander.
The other side of it is if the Sienna has the space underhood for the extra plumbing. But they’re not having trouble moving the Siennas they can make now, so I don’t think they’re in any rush, and better to test the powertrain in other models before potentially sullying their reputation in the segment where all the competition is also naturally aspirated. Even if not a full beans >300hp version like the Crown and Grand Highlander, a turbocharged Sienna Hybrid Max variant would put performance back on par (or better) than the competitors.
For Subaru – I know we’re wishful thinking, but I think we also know that without a doubt adding the turbo motor is still going to pair with a CVT. That said, both a Crosstrek XT and a new Forester XT seem like they’d make sense since Mazda has had the 2.5T in the CX-5 and CX-30, and add to that the new CX-50. Perhaps when they roll out some more hybridized models, they will also follow Toyota and Honda’s more recent approach and have a bit more sport to it.
Okay here me out, it’s pretty farfetched but a Nissan Versa Nismo. Take the 5 speed manual and beef it up a little bit, take the Nissan Rogues turbo 3 cylinder and tune it to about 200hp parts bin share the interior of the kick’s SR or maybe Nismo Recaros as an option, Some suspension tuning here and there and voila! A low budget Civic Si competitor!
Not to mention the base model versa with the manual tips the scales at 2600 ish pounds or 1179kg!! Let alone a turbo 3 with intercooler etc and lighter brakes and wheels it would be a credible budget performer.
Pacifica Hellcat!!! Now, I know that’s not really feasible for mass production, but would a hotted-up motor of some sort with an AWD hybrid drivetrain be out of the question? It doesn’t suit current requirements as my people hauler needs to be a large BOF 3-row SUV due to off-road and towing usage; but me 15 or 20 years ago with a young and growing family would have been all over it.
GR Prius!!! 220-250 horsepower with a properly tuned suspension, a mild body kit, and garish colors would be loads of fun. I might actually buy that if I needed to replace my Fiesta ST and Toyota dealers could be persuaded not to mark up the prices.
I’m a little surprised there isn’t a performance Pacifica already. Not the least of which it would allow Chrysler to claim it makes 4 models, up from the current 3.(yes, it counts the hybrid as a separate model)
Changli!!!!
The Toyta 86 needs to be renamed Celica and they need a turbo 4 to make it a Celica GT, same wirh The BRZ, need and STI variant
Well played. I always thought the Scion Tc was really a Celica at heart and wished it made the jump when Scion got (deservedly) axed. But I like your idea even better, a throwback to the original Celica.
It really is more like an alternate timeline Celica where it never went FWD. And they could bring back the old dragon badge for it, too.
No no you all got it wrong it a GR sienna with a V6 with 400 horsepower and AWD and a 6 speed manual transmission. My mother would love it. Or a Honda Odyssey type R?
Too bad they don’t make a Mirage VR-4
Outlander VR4, Eclipse Cross VR-4 GS-T
Too bad they never made a Spark, Sonic, or Cruze SS. They could use the same 2.0T that they put in so many cars.
Accord Type R with the CTR’s engine. In fact, a detuned 250-hp version of it was available in the previous Accord. Also, that 250 hp 2.0T should go in the Civic Si.
Bring back the Sentra SE-R and also expand it to the Versa and Altima
And for a non-US car, Renaultsport Kwid 😀
A Cruze SS always seemed like a no-brainer coming off of the 2.0T-powered Cobalt SS, and GM even put the 2.0T in the Verano.
Probably wouldn’t be quite Type R level or worth that effort, but arguably with a few extra parts like an LSD, a 2.0T Accord Si would have been neat.
Also, Toyota should expand their GR Lineup, especially since they have an engine called GR 😛
Also, that GR engine is available with an Edelbrock supercharger from the factory in the Lotus Evora and whatever they replaced the Evora with.
GR Camry All-Trac, with the supercharged V6 and AWD
GR Avalon
GR Rav4
GR Sienna
GR Highlander
Lexus ES-F
I agree with making a performance Maverick but differently than you are suggesting.
I’d put one of Ford’s 3 cylinders in there with at least a 6 speed manual. Just doing that alone would save a good deal of weight.
That would be the base model. For the high end performance model replace all the body panels, the hood, and the tailgate with carbon fiber ones. I bet you can shed over 1000lbs with that alone, and that’s without breathing on the engine.
Personally I want a Maverick with the Naturally aspirated 1.0L 3 cylinder (it’s sadly a European market engine only) and a 6 speed manual. Yeah it would be slow, but without the turbocharging the engine should be much longer lived and a bit lighter.
It seems like everyone’s solution to factory performance cars nowadays is just putting as much horsepower under the hood as possible and in doing so increasing the curb weight, worsen the MPG, which limits how many you can make while complying with CAFE regs.
Also Ford needs to stop artificially limiting the number of performance cars/editions they make. It’s hard to break even on certifying a new drivetrain in a car when you artificially limit the amount of cars you make. A lightweight Ford Fox or Dragon 3 cylinder with a 6 speed manual in a stock Maverick pickup would likely exceed the 2.0 Ecoboost MPG while being just as fast if not faster.
In addition to a Maverick ST and RS for the street, may I propose a Maverick Raptor for rally racing? Not off-roading, rally racing. Like a WRX STI with a bed.
This truck has so much potential for so many different fun things…
I would say the Maverick ST would be the Rally model. I’m all for a Maverick Raptor but the Raptors are not rally vehicles, they’re Prerunner type vehicles with long travel suspension.
I’d gladly buy a Manual Transmission or non PHEV Maverick Hybrid if it had long travel suspension.
*ST or RS depending on whether you want FWD or AWD
Instead of picking one of the usual suggested sleds i will suggest an Isuzu Vehicross. From 97 -2001 a 250hp motor, borg warner 4wd system, style that looks modern even today, how about a car way ahead of its time that without help competes against cars 20 years newer. But no lets go with the same old humps.
They hold their value ok, too! I’ve yet to find a Vehicross for the prices that I pay for cars unless it has a half million miles or isn’t running at all.
I see a retrospective coming… 🙂
I saw a yellow one in the Sun Valley PYP about 3 years ago. Still upset.
Definitely with you on the Maverick and the Sienna. I’d also like to see any mid-size pickup offer a street performance variant. Off-road pickups are too common.
Also, I’d like to see the Santa Cruz N or RS.
The Mazda Miata needs a variant with greatly more power, somewhere around 300-400 horses. Maybe keep the same engine, but turbocharge it. Then change the gearing to accommodate the higher top speed increased power will bring. The Miata could become a car that does 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds and tops out at 180-ish mph, if keeping the stock body. Although streamlining the crap out of the body would be a nice addition too. Do this, and keep the price nice and cheap.
I’d also like to see a Tesla Model 3 PLAID edition. Have the Model S PLAID’s horsepower, with the Model 3’s mass, and watch hilarity ensue.
The WRX needs a performance version.
Right? That would be cool. They could call it an STI or something….a man can dream
If Buick had a little more foresight in the ’60s or GM had kept Opel long enough to give the late Regal a mid-cycle refresh with teeth, a GS-Tate Wagon (be it a 455 or a Wildekatze 2.0) would have been a hot and probably unsaleable ride.
The Buick Regal GNX-tour maybe?
And there’d be like 1 person here who’d own one, and about 10 who were actively searching…
I’ve always been surprised by the lack of performance minivans considering the glut of performance CUVs. I guess the packaging constraints and lower sales figures mean that there isn’t much return on investment for engineering an entirely different powertrain, but Europe got fun things like the S-Max with the FoST’s 2.5L Volvo turbo-5!
I want them to put the GR Corolla drivetrain in a Sienna… At least the suspension and AWD system, with some adequately powerful engine for fun. That or a Honda Odyssey Type R.
The V6 in my 2020 Sienna is already just as powerful as the GR Corolla, I think you’d need something with a bit more juice to stand out.
Yeah V6 minivans are not fast but also not slow, and in my experience traction limited. An AWD max hybrid would be neat or just an AWD Pacifica with a turbo…
I’m still salty there was never a Mazdaspeed 5.
Car and Driver cobbled one together once.
I like the idea of a high performance minivan, but it would difficult to build a sporty van that didn’t make the driver look ridiculous. I once saw a lowered Dodge Caravan with fancy rims, low profile high performance tires, a fart cannon exhaust, and racing stripes. The doofus behind the wheel looked like he was going through a very poorly executed midlife crisis. A van that focused on performance but had only subtle exterior changes would be cool, though.
Supercharged performance minded regular cab shortbed f150 4×4. I love performance cars but I really need a 4×4 truck. The lightning and 454 ss were awesome back in the day.
The EcoBoost 3.5 w/ a little (raptor) tune is pretty spicy. I have a bog standard Max Tow super crew and it’s pretty quick (my other car is a 335is). It doesn’t make pretty noises like the Bimmer, though.
If it has to be currently available, it’s gotta be the Mitsubishi Mirage.
Mitsubishi needs SOMETHING other than mostly being known for being sold at places that primarily sell used vehicles.
If it can be something relatively recent, Ford Fusion. Such a handsome design, it was actually available with a manual for years, and Ford even teased us with a “sport” model at the end of everything that turned out to be not really.
An Fusion ST would have been wonderful, the second coming of the SVT Contour.
Yay came here for the Mirage VR-4 😀
A turbocharged Mirage with a helical limited-slip diff sounds like proper old-school hot hatch fun. If memory serves correctly, 4B4 from the Eclipse Cross and the 3A9 in the Mirage are both unrelated development of the 4A9 engine, but I want to believe that with some heavy massaging, the 1.5-liter turbo lump might just fit under that tiny hood.
The best part would be they’d still be comparatively light. That plus good power and it being a Mitsubishi from way past the marque’s glory days (i.e. under the radar and purchased by no one) = an instant future holy grail that Mercedes’ future daughter Porschia will be doing an autopian 2.0 piece on in 25 or so years.
it would be GR Corolla VS Mirage Evo
Unfortunately, the Mirage is no longer compliant with side impact safety design rules in Europe and Oceania. And it’s replacement may well be quite a different proposition from the Mirage of old. Especially since it may not be a Mitsubishi to begin with…
Mitsubishi Kwid 😀
I still can’t believe that Subaru just refuses to make a Crosstrek XT. I guess when you sell everything you make, there isn’t a lot of incentive for adding excitement to the line.
Except WRXs it seems. My local Subaru dealer has like 3 sitting out front, and they’ve been sitting there. Pretty sure I searched the other day and saw WRXs with discounts listed at other dealers.
In a car market where just about anything flies off the lot, it is saying a lot. Subaru screwed that one up.
Now give me a wagon with that ugly cladding and a bit more ground clearance, and I might be interested. Hell, the Impreza wagon (with no cladding) would be great too.
and they will sell half a dozen on them. Look at the last generation forester XTs. Barely see any on the road, and when you see them it’s usually an old lady that probably walked in the dealership and asked for the most expensive one. Also, they offered a manual on the forester that was gone in 2015MY because no one bought it.
I bet the same would be with the Crosstrek, since it’s the same car as the forester and WRX (without some minor bracing and aluminum suspension bits) below the window sills.
I have yet to see any new Legacy or Outback XTs in the wild too.
Forester offered a manual up until 2018 – I think deletion of that (on top of the market as a whole deleting manuals) was more so they could make Eyesight standard, which they haven’t paired with a manual (at least here), and get the points for the standard assist systems – both marketing and IIHS. If you really wanted a manual Subaru over the last few years I’m sure they’d argue “get a Crosstrek”, and that actually held on to a manual longer than a lot of other cars did including its Honda competitor did (HR-V). They also offered a manual Outback in Canada in the 6th gen (2015MY) while U.S. was CVT-only.
I’m more surprised Subaru still sells the Legacy here period. I’ve seen Outback XTs around. It’s still somewhat expected to have a powertrain option with that range of output available for that midsize sort of SUV segment.
It would also seem to have made sense to bring their 1.8T over in the Forester that they offer elsewhere and/or drop that in the Crosstrek Sport, but seems like they’re set with what they’ve got.
Ford Transit Connect
That thing is roomy as hell (especially the LWB version) yet compact on the outside. If they give it 250+bhp and Lexus-ify the interior I will own the hell out of it.
I didn’t buy out the lease because the engine is just too anemic, and the amenities wanting.
Ford coulda called it the Transit Connect SV (b/c supervan) even.
Hear me out, the Lexus LS.
It can’t just be me who looks at those 15 year old S65 AMGs listed at 1/10th MSRP and says “why not roll the dice?” until reality slaps me upside the head.
Now, a big, comfortable sedan with a lot of power and that I might expect to last 300,000 miles…
Rumor was there was going to be an LS-F but got shot down with covid production woes
Can you imagine if Toyota put the 1LR V-10 in an LS (or LC500 for that matter)?
As you might guess, that would be my kind of car.
I was thinking, take a Toyota Prius, remove the rear seats, turn it into a 2-door, and give it the mid-engine, rear-drive Renault Clio V6 treatment, but with a 1LR V-10. It would be bonkers crazy to drive, and still return excellent fuel economy.
Sensational answer. I’d adore an LS with more shove to really back up the current model’s aggressive looks.
Subaru I’m sure sells enough suburban utility vehicles to build a real serious WRX but they’ll never do it.
Yugo GT Type R, the official car of Autopia.
There is already a performance Yugo- the GVX. It had a 5 speed manual, a sporty “custom ground effects package,” and a bigger engine that produced a tire-smoking 61 horsepower (to be fair, I think Yugos had a tendency to catch fire, to technically the engine could smoke the tires). How could a Yugo GT Type R improve on that?
Also, I recall there was a semiserious plan to reintroduce Yugos to the US under the name Zastava Motor Works, or ZMW. I think a performance model (maybe with a turbo?) was discussed. How cool would it be to tell people you drove a ZMW turbo? Ya know, since a regular ZMW (make sure to say ZMW fast or at least annunciate poorly) just isn’t sport enough.