Best car no-one has heard of?
 

Just wondered what you'd put on a list of under-rated or unknown (by the majority) cars.. Performance and handling as the main criteria, with price (lower the better - giant killers!) as a secondary requirement.

Over to you!

De-Tomaso Pantera

although not cheap!

Cheap rocket powered rollerskate:

Daihatsu Cuore Avantzato TR-XX

:D

Lotus 340r


Everyone keeps asking me what it is !

guy at work has one Wish :)

Honda NSX

When people see the old man's NSX they ask what it is. I just say its a Honda civic - if they accept it then it proves they know nothing about cars :D

Some people honestly know nothing about cars :rolleyes: but thats up to them.

Me I'd have an Ultima, not sure which one I don't really care:D

Darren

My Westfield! :D
S2000 ;) Had MANY people ask me what it was. Mind you I had it a coupla years ago when there were almost none on the road.
Venturi (french ferrari like thingy)
Mistu Evo
Holdens
Maserati 4 door saloons
All those track cars (Radical, Wesfield Xtr2/4, Ariel Atom etc.)
Light Car Co Rocket
Ultima
Bristol
Invicta
Marcos
Renault Alpine
Koenigsegg

OK, many of them not cheap or stealth like but most relatively unknown to the general public. If you drove any of them, you'd be certainly asked 'what is your car mate' when you stop/fill up etc.

at the moment i'm driving a 996 C2 with GT3 kit and i had a bloke in the garage last week come upto me and say what's that is it a ferrari. i would have thought it must be one of the most well known body shapes ever

JDM Civic Type R - Very few really know anything of them. 1.6, lightweight, awesome handling, lovely engine, sweet gearbox.

There was also a Nissan Pulser (2.0 or 1.6) (not the GTI-R) with some Variable Valve technology, very quick (Almera in the UK)

Check out the Bristol Fighter peeps. Awesome and you can get 20mpg :)

Dont laugh, but I have a Rover 200 BRM,(orange front) not a supercar but, MGF engine, close ratio box ,Torsen diff, handles and goes really well , had it for six weeks now still grinning!!!

... I was just going to say the Rover 200Vi with the same engine. I found one for the parents 3 years ago and when I get to drive it, it's still fun, even after the 'better' cars I've owned and driven myself.

Other Q Cars for me:-
Legacy Turbo - Montego Looks, Impreza pace
Octavia 4x4/vrs estate - minicab sir ? Hehehe.

My uncle has the BRM and really rates it, he also has a Jowett Javelin and a Jowett Jupiter which I reckon you wont have heard of, ahead of their time these cars and they had a 4 cylinder boxer engine !

Go on do a search for it.

Citroen Visa Gti ~ ... a 5 door 205 with proper rear suspension and the wrong badge

Lada Riva ~ a MK2 Escort equivilent with better suspension as standard and for a fraction of the price

don't know about best but how about a cizetta v16 or the yank supercar vector w8, w12 or the m12

mike:D

Don't forget the Lotus Carlton. It looks like a normal Vauxhall with a couple of small vents in the bonnet. Underneath it's got a Lotus tuned 3.6l V6 with twin turbos! 377bhp at 5200rpm and 419lb ft at 4200rpm, 0-60 in 5.1 secs.

As Autocar have said in the past; it's the Guv'nr!

Subaru-Very rare to see one on the road :)

A few more
 

Thought of a few of my own:

Grinnal (SP?) Scorpion - 3 wheel thing (2 at front, one at back) with a bike engine IIRC.. Saw one in Headington, Oxford and only me and my mate from Uni knew what it was. Do they do a 4 wheel version now? Thought I saw what looked like a couple of these on a trailer near Woking...

Citroen ZX Volcane - 306 xsi without the badge. Had one of these, nice car - liftoff oversteer when wanted (and sometime not!!)

My old TVR got asked a fair few times if it was a ferrari ..... lol

How about a Gilbern genie?
IIRC it had a fraud V6 but made of fibreglass (the car not the engine;)) so weighed pretty much nothing. I just remember having such a laugh in this car.
Dont know if it qualifies as 'best' but still a lot of fun and nobody knew what it was.

Mazda 323 Turbo, the one from a few years back.

sunbeam talbot :D

Renault 5 turbo. Known to be quick, but some can be seriously quick;) Still, most cars mentioned are hardly incognito beasts!
Misti Starion,very quick and the Nissan Primara (Sp!!) very good drivers car and nippy.
Kam

the old renault 25 v6 turbo was great fun
my brother had one and shocked quite a few big boys in it ;)
they are getting old now but if you do see one for sale they are pennies:)

DJ Firecat:)

Lotus Sunbeam
Lancia Dedra Intergrale

If we're mentioning Lancia's - what about the Lancia Thema 8.32? Fitted with modified V8 from a Ferrari 308 QV :)

Chris

My old renault GTA used to get some looks , ugly big beast was the usual comment , quite rapid though...

Corsa GSi :cool:

rare car with a cracking engine (C16XE). 150bhp available for about a grand. Loads of spring/damper combos available and Vectra V6 brakes to make it handle and stop properly.

our Westfield.