Slow Cars That Fooled Us Into Thinking That They Were Fast

Some cars look slow, but stamp on the throttle and the earth's rotation slows! Then, there are the cars that look fast but have nothing under the hood to back up the looks. Here are a few of those cars as suggested by you...

Neil Winn

30 Mar 2016

Slow Cars That Fooled Us Into Thinking That They Were Fast

Ferrari Mondial

Released in 1980, the Mondial came with a wheezy 3.0-litre 205bhp V8, giving the car from Maranello a 0-62mph time of 8.2 seconds. Top speed was an equally slow 140mph.

Toyota Supra JZA80 2JZ-GE

The Toyota Supra: supercar-baiting performance at an affordable price. Not so with the naturally-aspirated 2JZ-GE 3.0-litre 220bhp inline-six. The base level of Supra was only good for a 0-62mph time of 6.2 seconds and a top speed of 140mph.

Delorean DMC-12

Marty McFly might have fooled us into thinking the DeLorean DMC-12 had some real firepower, but in reality the iconic car only packed a 2.8-litre 130bhp V6 engine. Performance is best described as sedate, with a 0-62mph time of 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 109mph.

Chrysler Crossfire

With woolly steering, an outdated chassis and the aesthetics of a dog relieving itself, this American sports car didn’t have a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even that fast in a straight line. With a 3.2-litre V6 packing a measly 215bhp, the Crossfire had a 0-62mph time of around 6.4 seconds and a top speed of 155mph.

Hyundai Coupe

The Hyundai Coupe had a good chassis, communicative steering, and some journalists even expressed that it looked similar to a Ferrari 456. Shame, then, that the top-spec 2.7-litre V6 only produced 165bhp. 0-62mph came up in 8.1 seconds and a top speed of 137mph stopped it from being the great little sports car that it had the potential for.

Mk1 Mazda MX-5

Sorry Alex, but the Mk1 Mazda MX-5 is one seriously slow machine. With a 1.8-litre, 131bhp four-cylinder motor, 62mph was hit in a laborious 8.3 seconds. Top speed is an equally ponderous 123mph. Thankfully, these cars respond well to boost!

Hyundai Veloster Turbo

With a turbocharged 1.6-litre and 184bhp, the asymmetric Veloster (it has two doors on one side and one door on the other side) would hit 62mph from standing in a pedestrian time of 8.4 seconds, ahead of its 133mph top speed. The Turbo was, then, a pitiful excuse for a hot hatch.

Volkswagen SP2

The Brazil-only Volkswagen SP2 is potentially the sexiest sports car you’ve never heard of. Unfortunately, a 1.7-litre 75bhp four-cylinder engine resulted in a car so slow that the 0-62mph dash was achieved in 16 seconds. As for its top speed, that was only 100mph.

Ferrari 400i

The Ferrari 400i was designed to be the ultimate GT car. With a 4.8-litre V12 producing 340bhp, 0-62mph could be achieved in a not unreasonable 7.2 seconds. Granted, with a top speed of 152mph it certainly wasn’t the quickest car to come out of Maranello, but we’d buy one just for the looks!

Mitsubishi FTO GPX

The standard Mitsubishi FTO (aka FTSlow) was embarrassingly sluggish with a 0-62mph time in the 10-second range. Thankfully, the 2.0-litre 197bhp V6 GPX was a bit quicker, with a 0-62mph time of 7.1 seconds and a top speed of 120mph.

Pontiac Fiero

The first-generation Pontiac Fiero was a disaster for GM. The project ran over budget so the ‘lightweight’ sports car got lumped with a heavy 2.5-litre 92bhp four-cylinder engine. Performance was pedestrian, with a 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds and a top speed of 105mph.

Plymouth Prowler

The Plymouth Prowler was designed to be a hot-rod for the street. Unfortunately, the car didn’t have the firepower to back up its aggressive looks. The 3.5-litre V6 was a lifeless unit packing only 214bhp. 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds and a top speed of 118mph made the Prowler one of the most disappointing ‘performance’ cars of the ‘90s.

Chevrolet Camaro Iroc Z

Stringent emissions laws resulted in a colossal 5.7-litre V8 that produced just 223bhp. A 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 130mph might have been considered impressive, but not when you consider the real potential of that engine.

Porsche 924

Is that the Porsche with the engine from a Volkswagen van? Yes, it is. With a 2.0-litre 110bhp four-cylinder it’s safe to say that the 924 was slower than it looked. With a 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds and a top speed of 124mph it was one of the slowest performance cars of the day. Thankfully, the chassis was truly brilliant.

Honda CRZ

The original CRZ was arguably the world’s first ‘pocket-rocket’. The 2010 CRZ, however, was a bit of a disappointment. With a 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain with 122bhp, the innovative little hatch was an underwhelming steer; a 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds and a top speed of 121mph didn’t help matters.

Opel GT 1900

The Opel GT 1900 featured a 1.9-litre 88bhp four-cylinder, giving the car a slightly embarrassing 0-62mph time of 11 seconds and a top speed of 116mph. But do we care? Not at all, because just look at it!

So guys, which car was the biggest let down? Let us know! You can also find our original community question here.

Comments

Does the 944 have the engine out of a vw van

No. It effectively has a half a 928 engine developed by Porsche. The 924 was originally going to be a VW, but sold so well it ended up saving Porsche.

The difference between only and “measly” is .1 second and about 30,000 fanboys… hmmm.

I don’t think the IROC was a letdown. I’m a bit biased, but I have driven one and its steering feel was superb, and they were engineered to be the handling to the Fox body Mustangs straight line speed. The third gen Camaro was touted as a well-balanced and neutral track toy; Car and Driver finding it not wanting for power on the road course as it behaved so well in the corners. The Mustang, by comparison, while significantly lighter was unpredictable and hard to catch and not all that much faster than a Z28 or IROC in a straight line.

The more you know