Today's community question: What slow cars have fooled you into thinking they’re fast?

Pedigree, good looks and great marketing are very persuasive tools, something which Ferrari used to great effect when promoting the Mondial.

Neil Winn

30 Mar 2016

Pedigree, good looks and great marketing are very persuasive tools, something which Ferrari used to great effect when promoting the Mondial. Featuring styling by Pininfarina, an innovative mid-engined layout and a clever monocoque chassis, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Mondial was a proper little supercar.

Not so. With only 205bhp being produced from its 3.0-litre Tipo F106B FI V8, the Mondial had a 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds. In other words a current BMW 320d could beat it away from the lights.

But Ferrari isn’t the only company to pull the wool over our eyes, so we want to know: What other slow cars have fooled you into thinking that they’re fast? Let us know!

Comments

diesel m-sport cars

Sorry Burt Reynolds… I love American muscle but late 70’s killed power in these cars. The ‘77 Bandit Trans Am with a 400 cubic inch V8 that had 180 hp went 0-60 in around 8 or 9 seconds. It looked great in the movie but it is really slow in real life.

Thank you! A proper example at last! And not because muscle car but this thing made me think it would spit flames and eat Countaches for breakfast when I was a kid watching films… Oh boy.

Yes you’re right!
The classic muscle cars look badass, beautiful and all, but unfortunately most of them are really slow…

I read some where that in the movies I had å Corvette engine….

Škoda Octavia MKIII. VRS

Civic EG

It could be fast, but the engine dont like me at all so decide to commit suicide.

Got rid of an S2000 for this!!!!

Mustangs

A 1968 Opel GT. Absolutely gorgeous car. Not fast at all though.
http://preview.netcarshow.com/Opel-GT-1968-hd.jpg

R53 Mini JCWs incl. GP, 205 GTI, all Golf GTI Mk 1-6, Golf Mk 4 & 5 R32, Honda CRX, Clio 3 RS (pre-fl), Mazda RX-7 FD and 3+6 MPS, Stock R32, 33, 34 GT-R, all quick but just not fast :-)

What is your definition of fast? Or how fast does a 205 GTI have to be in order to be labeled fast for a 25 year old compact car? I would imagine a 210-220 kmh top speed is plenty for that tiny short wheelbase car. As for the RX-7 and stock skyline things… again, not sure hot wo measure fast any more. Anything capable of topping 230kmh is proper fast considering speed limits everywhere (except ze Germans)