This is the ultimate sleeper in my book.
Too bad it’s out of the OP’s and my price range.
It’s basically a 'Vette engine with a body disguised as a rental car.
In the video it beat a BMW M5 on the track.
That’s why trucks are banned at most of the autoX events I have been to.
It’s only really a sleeper if you mod it to be fast IMO. Everyone knows how the SS sedan comes out of the factory, but no one expects your buick lesabre to hit 12 seconds on the strip.
Of course one can make any car faster with enough mods. I like my sleepers to be comfortable everyday drivers, but when you stomp the Go! pedal it will scare the hell outta you with speed and have the good handling not to kill you.
I guess you didn’t see the part of the video where pro race driver Randy Pobst was flogging it around Willow Springs race track. It seemed fast and fun enough for him.
BTW: It’s not a LeSabre. It’s an Australian Holden with the same chassis as the Camaro and Pontiac GTO. But much improved handling (better than the Camaro) and a sick engine.
I wasn’t saying the SS wasn’t fast or fun, it totally is. It just isn’t a sleeper. It’s understated and tasteful, but the expectation is that it’s fast.
I know, I was just using a Lesabre as a nonsequitur example of something that might be a sleeper in my view. Doesn’t need to be a shitbox, but the speed needs to be a suprise. I guess I could’ve phrased the sentence better though haha
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Okay.
You know that and I know that, but 95% of the people that are brain dead about cars will have no idea what it is. Hell… where I live most people think my WRX is a Toyota Corolla.
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Fair enough, I think we agree on the concept but just draw our line for the definition in different places.
I don’t think a Lancer EVO, an SS, or an M5 are sleepers.
I think it’s fair and arguable that they might be, I just don’t consider them sleepers. That’s why I phrased my opinions as opinions.
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Not a huge fan of the WRX but that’s pretty sweet looking! I’d take one if I could but everyone (selling online at least) think their WRX with 150k miles is worth anything over $10k. I understand a car could run much further than that but my 10 grand would probably better spent towards new one.
Now I’d like to see that!
It’s shaping up to be easier than you’d think.
I could imagine crown vics can support lots of mods given they were cop cars for the longest time. They’re already suited for big engines etc!
My buddy also just sold his Lancer trading it in on a new WRX… Wish I would have posted here sooner, They only gave him 5k for it which I would have gladly payed considering it only had 55k miles on it… Oh well.
Having the issue now of everyone thinking that a used vehicle with 100k+ mileage is worth more than 10k when realistically I’ll be dropping a new motor in it within a year.
The biggest problem with used WRX’s is finding a stock one. Or one that hasn’t been “rode hard and put away wet.” They are so easy to mod that most idiots don’t realize that slamming the ride height, increasing the boost and sticking fat rims on it reduces the resale value.
I got mine at 3 years old for $16K. It’s mostly stock. Because I race I don’t want to be in the same class with people that have 500HP motors. It has been super reliable. I had to install a clutch but that’s normal for a car with 130,000 miles.
Gotcha! That’s exactly the issue I’m seeing, not many of them look like they were taken care of very well, same goes for lancers. Funny enough I’ve seen lots of Honda S2000’s that look like they are in extremely good shape while not being ridiculously expensive.
It helps that my grandfather has a factory analog hybrid ECU editor, which means my range of models becomes much wider.
tragic
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The fact he took 5k for it was the real tragic part…
yeah dude, that whole situation is messed up. Since you know the guy he can give you free support on the mod history, too.
It seems to be a car that kids played in Grand Turismo and then they drive it like that.
I met a guy that liked my car and said he built one into a 500 HP beast (he was an adult mechanic). The car scared the hell out of him so he sold it 2 months after he built it. The kid he sold it to totaled it within a week.
The good news is that Subaru built it so strong to win rallies that most people walk away from seemingly fatal wrecks. They lost money for years selling an overbuilt race car.
It was a stock GTS from '09 I believe, would have been pretty solid for mods I’d imagine.
absolutely. That’s a definite “one that got away” contender