Sport compact cars are the new evolution of hot rods. They are everything that can be bought at a reasonable price and have the aftermarket support to turn into a car with alot of power. The 80’s have done alot for sport compact cars. That was the time when japanese cars started to bridge the horsepower gap. They built light cars that handled well and didn’t weigh alot. Also the smaller engines that were now required to pass emisions were already in most of their vehicles. The technology was the way for them to make power, not displacement, which domestic cars suffered for. Mazda, Toyota, Nissan and Honda all made their cars into very competitive vehicles. For alot less money than a true exotic car, many of these cars became supercars for a much smaller price tag. The rx-7, 300zx, supra, mr-2, eclipse gsx, 3000gt and nsx were a few cars that ruled through the mid 90’s when most domestic cars became boring. Many other daily driver cars also found a following. The honda civic is a perfect example of a car that would’nt usually be a sports car. Yet today it blisters a quarter mile time that people would’nt have believed a front wheel car could have done.
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The lotus elise is a purist sportscar. This car is a steal at only $40,000. To have a car that performs the same, you would need to drop alot more money to buy a ferarri. This car has been called, possibly the best handling car ever, by many racers and magazines. But then it should be an incredible car, weighing less than 2,000 lbs. (us version) The lotus elise uses the toyota celica engine which is usually 185 horsepower but is tuned to 195 HP. The lotus elise is a mid engine car which gives it a competitive edge over many cars. I don’t think anyone would complain about the 13 second quarter mile times either! If you want a hardcore racing machine and want to turn alot of heads, this would certainly do so! All of this out of a car that can still get 38 mpg cruising down the highway!
The Buick Grand National enjoyed it’s performance success in the middle of the 80’s. The turbocharged V-6 3.8L shined like a diamond in the roughness of emission choked vehicles of the day. Slight modifications to grand nationals would provide great power gains. Emissions choked all but a few other cars. The four most popular grand national years, were all fuel injected cars from 1984-1987. The final two years of the grand national, 86-87 were also intercooled and had a much better flowing exhaust header and crossover setup.
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