10 BORING LOOKING CARS WITH MONSTER ENGINES UNDER THE HOOD

For the most part, a vehicle’s design matches its powertrain. For instance, looking at a Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae, one would rightly assume that a massive and powerful engine powers the supercar (it features a 6.5-liter V-12). Similarly, one can deduce from a Toyota Corolla’s styling that it has a small engine (it’s powered by a 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter engine).

However, some cars defy the norm. Their dreary exteriors hide impressive powertrains, sometimes big and powerful enough to feature in supercars. These supposedly ordinary vehicles are known as sleeper cars and are beloved in the car world. Some features in the following collection of 10 boring-looking cars with monster engines.

RELATED: The Best Sleeper Sedans For Under $15,000

Volkswagen Phaeton

Engine 6.0-liter W-12

The Volkswagen Phaeton was designed to be fast, powerful, and luxurious, capable of competing with high-end sedans from manufacturers like Mercedes and BMW. From an engineering standpoint, the Volkswagen Phaeton was a masterpiece. It had to be, considering Volkswagen spent $1.4 billion developing the once-flagship sedan.

Specifications

It shared its underpinnings and platform with the Bentley Flying Spur and came available with several engine options, the most potent being a 6.0-liter W-12. The Phaeton had unremarkable styling - it looked like a bulked-up Volkswagen Passat. However, the 415 horsepower W-12 - essentially two V-6s welded together - made simple work of the vehicle’s 5,436-pound mass, propelling the VW to 60 MPH from zero in 5.5 seconds.

The Phaeton W-12 was an engineering masterpiece - and a catastrophic sales failure. VW’s attempt to carve out a piece of the luxury sedan market failed spectacularly. Besides the vehicle’s remarkable engine, little else could justify the Phaeton W-12’s astronomical price tag.

Chevrolet Impala SS

Engine 5.7-liter V-8

The seventh-generation Chevy Impala SS is considered one of the best sleeper cars ever manufactured. It was introduced as a concept at the 1992 Detroit Auto Show, featuring an 8.2-liter engine. The Impala SS debuted in 1994 with a rather underwhelming 5.7-liter V-8 producing 260 horsepower and 330 pound-feet. The seventh-generation Impala SS wasn’t spectacular to behold, but it was undoubtedly an upgrade from the eyesore 1991 Chevy Caprice.

Specifications

Chevy’s Impala SS was designed as a sporty and functional family sedan. It could hit 60 MPH in seven seconds and wave off a quarter-mile in 15.4 seconds. For a family sedan, those figures were pretty impressive.

The seventh-gen Impala SS gained a cult following due to its highly customizable engine. Callaway demonstrated the mind-boggling potential of the SS’s 5.7-liter V-8, plucked from a fourth-gen Corvette, tuning it to produce 404 ponies and 383 pound-feet. Fitted with the upgraded engine, hitting 60 MPH took under six seconds, and the quarter-mile time fell to 14 seconds.

Mercury Marauder

Engine: 4.6-liter V-8

Mercury, a Ford division tasked with filling the gap between ‘regular’ Fords and Lincolns, introduced the Marauder in the mid-1960s. The manufacturer seemed to have discontinued the model in 1970. However, the Marauder returned in the early 2000s, not with the massive 7.0-liter engine of the previous generation, but with a potent 4.6-liter 302-horsepower engine.

Specifications

The new Marauder wasn’t striking - it shared design cues with the Crown Vic. However, it was way more likely than the police-driven crown vic to catch up with a highway speeder: The unassuming Marauder hit 60 MPH in 7.5 seconds and had a limited top speed of 117 mph. The Marauder had a short-lived revival, with the last one rolling off the production plant in June 2004. Mercury’s over seven-decade run ended in 2011 - Ford shut Mercury down, citing dwindling sales.

RELATED: Top 20 Cheap Cars That Are Really Fast

Buick Roadmaster

Engine 5.7-liter V-8

The eighth-generation Buick Roadmaster did not look like a getaway car. Nothing about the Roadmaster’s styling - the wagon, in particular, had wood grain paneling - would have prepared you for the awesomeness under the vehicle’s hood.

Specifications

The Roadmaster returned to American roads in the early 1990s following an over three-decade hiatus. It initially featured an underwhelming 5.0-liter V-8. In 1994, Buick installed a 5.7-liter V-8 from a C4 Corvette, churning out 260 horsepower.

Despite its unconventional styling, the Buick Roadmaster wagon earned adulation thanks to its body-on-frame construction, excellent towing capabilities, massive interior room, and speed. It didn’t look the part, but the Buick Roadmaster was a potent machine.

Pontiac Grand Prix GXP

Engine 5.3-liter V-8

Pontiac reportedly developed the GXP to compete with BMWs of a similar class. To soar to such lofty heights, the Pontiac needed lots of power. Pontiac obliged, installing a 5.3-liter V-8 engine producing 303 horsepower and 323 pound-feet. With the power box checked, Pontiac engineers set about the much harder job of tuning the Pontiac to handle like a BMW.

Specifications

They were hampered by the vehicle’s front-wheel-drive system, which required them to make compromises to counter common FWD gremlins like torque steer. The GXP’s styling also paled in comparison to the beauty offered by BMWs. Though Pontiac failed to build a vehicle capable of mixing it with BMWs, it created a remarkable sleeper car.

C6 Audi S6

Engine 5.2-liter V-10

Audi’s third-generation C6 was better than the previous generations simply because it had a bigger engine, a 5.2-liter V-10 (its predecessors had 4.2-liter V-8s). The S6 looked like an ordinary sedan until you popped the hood. The V-10 transmitted 429 horsepower and 398 pound-feet through a six-speed automatic transmission to all wheels, with 60% of the juice heading to the rear wheels.

Specifications

Unfortunately, the S6’s bulk hindered its acceleration - it hit 60 MPH in a smidge over 5 seconds. Nevertheless, it was deceptively fast, maxing out at an electronically-limited top speed of 155 MPH. Despite having an impressive V-10 heart, the C6 S6 was overshadowed by the RS6. When designing the next generation, Audi ditched the V-10 for a 4.0-liter V-8.

RELATED: 10 Slow Cars That Look Faster Than They Really Are

Randall 401-XR

Engine 6.6-liter V-8

If you lined up on a drag strip beside a Randall 401-XR, you would likely have started preparing your victory dance. However, the AMC Gremlin Randall 401-XR was astonishingly quick, taking down the quarter mile in around 12 seconds. In the 1970s, muscle car engines were getting more powerful and the cars heavier. Weight limited the performance gained from a more potent engine.

Specifications

AMC counted this problem by fitting a 6.6-liter V-8 onto a 2,600-pound hatchback, creating the Randall 401-XR. The innocuous-looking vehicle sheltered at least 255 horsepower under the hood - dealers had the license to tune the engine to produce more power.

Aston Martin Cygnet

Engine 4.7-liter V-8

Nobody would have blamed you for dismissing the Cygnet as a spoof when it debuted in 2011. It seemed unimaginable that a manufacturer of Aston’s pedigree would produce a vehicle based on the Toyota IQ. However, the Cygnet was real. The ludicrously expensive Cygnet featured styling from Aston Martin and a 1.3-liter Toyota engine.

Specifications

The Cygnet was, unsurprisingly, a failure. However, before burying the Cygnet as deep in the ground as possible, Aston Martin produced a one-off Cygnet, perhaps to remind the world that it was a premier sports car manufacturer. Aston fitted a 4.7-liter V-8 engine inside the tiny car, transforming it into a speed freak. You wouldn’t assume that there’s a V-8 engine under the panels of a Cygnet if you came across it on the road.

Cadillac Eldorado

Engine 8.2-liter V-8

Big engines were ubiquitous in American cars for a significant chunk of the 20th century. However, as the century wound down, American manufacturers started gravitating towards smaller, more fuel-efficient engines. Cadillac missed the memo, installing an 8.2-liter V-8 behemoth in the ninth-gen Cadillac Eldorado.

Specifications

The Eldorado looked a lot like other vehicles of the era. Its secret weapon, a 365-horsepower and 535-pound-feet heart, bellowed under the hood. The 8.2-liter V-8 was exclusive to the Eldorado from 1971 to 1975 when it became standard in all Cadillacs.

RELATED: Top 10 Sleeper Cars Of All Time

Chrysler 300S

Engine 5.7-liter V-8

Featuring bigger wheels and much less chrome, the Chrysler 300S merely looked like a redesigned Chrysler 300. However, placing it under an x-ray machine revealed that the 300S had a massive 5.7-liter V-8 engine and a suspension tuned to track action. Despite sharing a similar design with the 300, the 300S was an entirely different beast.

Specifications

The vehicle’s weight slightly hampered acceleration, with the 300S speeding to 60 MPH in just over 5.6 seconds and completing a quarter-mile in 14.1 seconds. Those willing to look beyond the 300S’s mediocre styling were rewarded with the sound and power of an utterly incredible V-8 monster.

2023-07-21T19:10:56Z dg43tfdfdgfd