Obscure Performance Saloon Spin-offs e.g. Jetta 16v

[Pablo16v]

EnglishTony said:

Sierra Sapphire Cosworth

& going the other way, Imprezza STi 5 door.

Not particularly obscure though as there were loads around.

[Google [bot]]

Motor I think said in the test of the Jetta 16v that if Ford made an Orion RS Turbo and Vauxhall a Belmont SRi 130, maybe the Jetta would have competition.

A friend of mine had a Renault 21 2L Turbo. Lovely looking car, and allegedly 30-odd Bhp more, but the reality was different. It wouldn't see which way the Jetta went, even in a straight line. There is also talk that Jettas were quicker than Golfs, mine certainly felt so as did a friend's. Test results at the time 0-60'were 8 sec for the Golf but the Jetta did a 7.1, probably due to reaching 60 in second. A colleague owned one back in the day and thought it superior. I remember a Cavalier Courtenay Turbo trying to show its dominance and fading in the mirror.

I never had a Golf but heard the Jetta handled better, which does make sense.

I always thought a mk1 Jetta GLi would be an awesome q-car, no four door saloon in those days was so sporty and unassuming, surely.

Ex-Jetta 16V owner in case anyone's in any doubt as to my allegiance.

I can't be arsed checking power to weight ratios but I wouldn't have thought that car would be too far behind my current Mazda 6mps. And sure it had a nicer sound.

[matchmaker]

Google [bot] said:

Motor I think said in the test of the Jetta 16v that if Ford made an Orion RS Turbo and Vauxhall a Belmont SRi 130, maybe the Jetta would have competition.

A friend of mine had a Renault 21 2L Turbo. Lovely looking car, and allegedly 30-odd Bhp more, but the reality was different. It wouldn't see which way the Jetta went, even in a straight line. There is also talk that Jettas were quicker than Golfs, mine certainly felt so as did a friend's. Test results at the time 0-60'were 8 sec for the Golf but the Jetta did a 7.1, probably due to reaching 60 in second. A colleague owned one back in the day and thought it superior. I remember a Cavalier Courtenay Turbo trying to show its dominance and fading in the mirror.

I never had a Golf but heard the Jetta handled better, which does make sense.

I always thought a mk1 Jetta GLi would be an awesome q-car, no four door saloon in those days was so sporty and unassuming, surely.

Ex-Jetta 16V owner in case anyone's in any doubt as to my allegiance.

I can't be arsed checking power to weight ratios but I wouldn't have thought that car would be too far behind my current Mazda 6mps. And sure it had a nicer sound.

Another ex Jetta 16v owner. It shifted. And was better round corners than a Golf I had both.

[Google [bot]]

Also on the subject of better handling, the 6MPS uses the saloon platform, with no hatch variant purely because of the extra rigidity.

[s m]

MonkeyMatt said:

How about the Suzuki Swift 1.6 4x4

That's reminded of a spritely little oddity that doesn't quite fit in here.

The 5 door Applause GLXi had the 103bhp engine ( as in the Charade GSXi 3-door hatch that took over hot hatch duties after the GTti ) and looked a bit like an Orion - wasn't a saloon but fooled a lot of people with the saloon looks - reasonable turn of speed as it was Mk1 Orion sized

Edited by s m on Thursday 7th April 13:37

[Leins]

Another rarity (albeit not an Audi production model), so much so that when I first saw it at a show a few years ago I couldn't quite work out what it was initially:

djdest said:

How about the Cavalier Turbo 4x4, same engine and running gear as the Calibra Turbo.
Everyone knew of the Calibra, but not of the Cavalier.

It was basically a facelift Mk3 Cavalier with prefacelift GSI bumpers and skirts looks wise.

My old one on a photoshoot for Total Vauxhall magazine

I like that a lot, but again never saw one on the road - only GSis

[s m]

Rover 420Gsi Turbo as well

[SirSquidalot]

R33 GTR Saloon anyone?



Not a factory effort but had involvement from NISMO and Autech, there was also a 4 door 400R.

[Meridius]

VW Passat R36



Alfa 164 Q4

[donkmeister]

Google [bot] said:

I remember a Cavalier Courtenay Turbo trying to show its dominance and fading in the mirror.
.

If that was a genuine Courtenay turbo it wasn't trying as hard It's been a long time since I've looked at a Cavalier but wasn't the standard turbo 200bhp and the Courtenay stage 1 about 250bhp, good for about 150-160mph? Quite a weapon in its day.

[s m]

......and the Alfa 155 Q4

[Google [bot]]

You could also argue the case for the Audi 80 Sport. Lovely car, Golf GTi motor but lower geared. Felt much quicker than an 8v GTi.

[S10GTA]

Whilst not performance, they did a C4 saloon

[Google [bot]]

donkmeister said:

If that was a genuine Courtenay turbo it wasn't trying as hard It's been a long time since I've looked at a Cavalier but wasn't the standard turbo 200bhp and the Courtenay stage 1 about 250bhp, good for about 150-160mph? Quite a weapon in its day.

I'm not up on them, but thought similar until my experience and this was pre factory Cavalier Turbo days. It was whooshing and pshttting. I wondered if it was a 1.4 turbo

[NickM450]

Dave_ST220 said:

GroundEffect said:

Gary29 said:

I'm not a fan of 4/5 door performance cars, for me a hot hatch should always be 3 door, like the new Focus RS, only available in 5 door, I obviously know why they make them, but 5 doors is too much of a compromise for me.

I would have thought 5 doors was LESS of a compromise...

So would I, how is having more doors a compromise in any way?

Personal opinion I guess and I agree. 5-door hatches have compromised looks weight and 'street-cred' is there is such a thing.

If I ever want 5 doors it'll be an Estate, I do love a sporty saloon though

[carinaman]

Rover 620Ti

I'm not sure if these cars are obscure as I think they're halo models to add some extra glamour to the cooking models. I suppose the ones not marketed or sold into the UK count as obscure.

[carinaman]

S10GTA said:

Whilst not performance, they did a C4 saloon

I was unaware of those. Possibly not it's best angle? C6 alike rear light clusters?

[Triumph Man]

M1C said:

They did the Jetta with the mk5 Golf Gti 200PS engine, i think...hang on...

Yes the Jetta 2.0 TSI Sport.

Only 6 on Autotrader at present!

EDIT - actually no, only 2! The other 4 are 2.0 petrols but not the TSi

Wasn't the 200 bhp one the TFSI? And did these have GTi suspension setups as well or was it a case of powerful engine, standard Jetta set up?

Edited by Triumph Man on Thursday 7th April 13:34

Edited by Triumph Man on Thursday 7th April 13:47

[Leins]

s m said:

......and the Alfa 155 Q4

Wasn't there something of the Integrale about those?

[Vitorio]

Meridius said:

VW Passat R36

Alfa 164 Q4

Not a real spinoff of another non-saloon though

how about the 146 TI?



While technically sort of a hatchback, it is the 145QV's 5 door brother, and the 146 always struck me as the more practical (and boring) family alternative to a 145, and the 146TI is probably rather rare, considering most performance minded buyers would probably either get a 145QV or switch up to a v6 engined 155/156

The 75 Turbo is supposedly rather rare as well, wouldnt call it obscure though, the 155Q4 fits that bill much better