Fast and Furious

...continued.

Other Cars Not To Mess With

In the history of the automobile there has been a plethora of vehicles that possessed the looks of a sportscar, but the heart of an average family saloon. These all show and no go cars are the butt of many an automotive joke.

At the other end of the spectrum are the "sleepers", completely bland workaday type cars that have the soul of the devil within them. They are the type of car you might try to take on at the traffic lights, having been fooled by their benign design, only to find yourself eating dust along with humble pie.

You know what they say: still waters run deep. In some cases, they run fast, like these cars:

Jaguar XJR
Given Jaguar's sporting history, fast cars from the marque should be no surprise. From the XK120 to the E-type to the XJ220, Jags have been among the fastest cars of their respective eras. But in 1997 was born a limousine with such subtlety to it that apart from small bonnet vents, and the deletion of chrome trimming, there was little to suggest that it could blow the doors off most cars on the road.

The Jaguar XJR, all 326bhp of it, could hit the magic hundred in six seconds, and max out at an electronically limited 250km/h. Aided by a mechanical supercharger, the straight-six engine dealt a lethal blow to all the 7 Series and S-class variants of the time, including the V12s. Some complained that it needed stronger brakes.

Emissions and economic requirements eventually killed the straight-six, but Jaguar responded by blowing their new V8, also by means of mechanical supercharging, and this time round, the XJR has 370bhp to call its own, delivered with a peak torque of 525N m. The brakes, you'll be glad to know, have been beefed up.

Lotus Cortina
Arguably, the Lotus Cortina was the first of the sleeper cars.

The result of a marriage between a standard family car in the shape of a 1963 Ford Cortina and Lotus founder Colin Chapman's expertise, the Lotus Cortina is without doubt a collector's item today.

The car came fitted with a Lotus-developed twin-cam 1500cc engine, making, by today's standards, a modest 105bhp. Still, that was nearly double the standard car's output, and combined with the suspension modifications, lightweight panels, and racing seats, the Lotus Cortina proved something of a revelation at the time.

Externally the Lotus-modified Cortina differed from the standard car with its white paintwork with a green stripe, and alloy wheels, and was hardly ostentatious. Like many sleeper cars, the style has often been copied, so whether you're taking on the real thing or a copy is never a surety, but thanks to Colin Chapman, this Jekyll car certainly has HydeÕs soul.

BMW M5
When BMW's motorsport division, otherwise known as M GmbH, tackles a standard BMW saloon, the results can often be outrageous. The recently released M3, for instance, elevates the 3 Series' capabilities to that of Porsche-beater, but the current crop of M cars looks too muscular to truly be considered sleepers.

The last M5, the E34 series, was supremely discreet. But probably the most conservative-looking of the true M cars was the E28 M5 which first hit the roads in 1985. This standard-looking 5 Series car featured some serious tweaks to its 3.5-litre straight-six engine, as well as suspension modifications to keep the extra power under control.

Enough power, it turned out, to get the M5 to a top speed of over 240km/h. At the time, a Ferrari 328 was barely 18km/h faster, and the Ferrari couldnÕt swallow four adults and all their luggage. Next time you take-on an old 5 Series at the traffic lights, be aware that at least one E28 M5 made its way to Singapore. You have been warned.

Bentley Mulsanne
Turbo Back in 1982 Bentley and Rolls-Royce were almost indistinguishable. Both made large, heavy, opulent boulevard cruisers. The cars might have been equipped with massive 6.75-litre V8 engines, but because of the bulk they carried, the performance was at best adequate.

Until Bentley introduced the Mulsanne Turbo in 1982.

The Mulsanne Turbo is possibly the ultimate sleeper car. The only external differences between the Turbo and a standard car was a body-coloured grille and some discreet badges, but the turbo had 50% more horsepower than its non-turbo namesake.

With the help of the turbocharger, the big Bentley managed to reach 100km/h from rest in less than eight seconds, making it the fastest automatic car in production at the time, and giving it the potential to scare many a performance car.

Only 495 Mulsanne Turbos were produced in its three-year production run, but it was the car that set Bentley forward on a performance path that sees the brand outselling Rolls-Royce today.

Lancia Thema 8.32
It would be difficult to imagine a vehicle more anonymous looking than the Lancia Thema, but with the Thema 8.32 introduced in 1986, motoring enthusiasts were in for a bit of a surprise.

The floorplan had been engineered in conjunction with Alfa Romeo and Saab, becoming the Alfa 164 and Saab 9000 respectively, and in all incarnations the car was a standard looking family sedan.

But under the bonnet of the Thema 8.32, things were a little different. The model designation gives away the game; it is a 32-valve 3-litre V8, borrowed from Ferrari.

The 8.32 Thema managed the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.2 seconds, accompanied surely, by one of the worlds most tuneful mechanical symphonies. Ultimately the 8.32 was not the fastest Thema. There was a faster, turbocharged 2-litre version, but not many drivers can lay claim to having a Ferrari V8 under the hood.

Maserati Quattroporte
Wood, leather, and a gold clock on the dash. Silk purse? Sadly, no. Maserati's Quattroporte cost a bomb when new, and continued to do so when run. Desperate unreliability not only killed them, it almost killed Maserati.

At least the Quattroporte went like stink. Two turbochargers hooked up to its 2.8-litre V6 gave it enough stomp to get to a hundred in around six seconds, and onto a top speed of over 255km/h. With 284bhp to call upon, it had the kind of performance one would never expect from an innocuous-looking wedge with four doors. The name, too, gave little away - "Quattroporte" simply means "four door" in Italian.

Although it spawned a mad 2-litre turbo and a 3.2-litre V8, the Quattroporte was unloved by the buying public, who had V8 Mercs and BMWs to turn to for the same money. Maserati is finally pulling the plug on the car that nearly ruined the company, after seven years. Revenge must be sweet.

Saab 9000 2.3T Turbo
Saab is synonymous with turbocharging today, and has always been happy to call on these snail-shaped devices to give their cars a boost. Sudden death power delivery marked out their early efforts with blown 900s. The turbo lag was such that, one moment you were crawling, the next it was like being shot out of a cannon.

But advancements in turbo technology enabled Saab to tame their later engines, making them feel less schizophrenic, and allowing their use in large executive cars like the 9000. Forget the Ecopower variants; they were swift, but the 2.3Ts swoooshed. 200bhp gave a sprint time to 100km/h in the mid-sevens and a 237km/h top speed. This Swedish meatball looked lardy, but there was hot sauce inside.

Volvo 850 turbos
Okay, so wicked alloys and a boot-mounted wing gave the game away somewhat, but the limited-edition 240bhp 850 T-5R was what Volvo came up with in case someone was looking for a fast Volvo. In the 850, Volvo had their best handling model at the time, and in 2.3T guise, it was already quick enough to put anything in peril in seven seconds, despite the brick house innocence of its styling.

Tweaking the recipe to include the abovementioned addenda turned the public on to the idea of fast Volvos, and the 250bhp 850 R was the eventual result. It wasn't supercar fast, but the angry stomp from its 2.3-litre turbo made for amazing overtaking ability. At certain speeds it could gather pace at a rate that would have given a Ferrari a scare.