MazdaSpeed 6. AWD 6-speed manual almost no one's heard about. Looks unsuspecting to the average Joe.
A major contributing factor to it being unknown is because it was only made for two years. It was, and still remains, well known amongst enthusiasts.
Exactly how I felt about my old Outback XT. Practical, unassuming, but turbo awd with optional 5mt. I ended up swapping mine with a mildly tuned and modded sti short block (~340 HP) and sti 6 speed. Got tired of working on it all the time but man I do miss that car.
You also have to get the engine built. Or it will 100% blow up on you. Ok maybe not 100%. Haven't seen one in years and had a couple of friends who had them. Had them
Oh yeah I have the regular 6 from that time (same engine, just no turbo) and am on my 2nd engine.
Are we talking current or “at the time”?
Either way, I’d say the mustang SVO in the 80’s and the current ecoboost mustang. In both cases they were always looked over for the heavier V8 cars.
Volkswagen Up! This little car can do so many things. I did long-distance trips sitting in the back, hauled a dishwasher in its boot with the back seats down, even used it as a normal car for commute and it's great to drive. Sure, you have to understand the limitations (it is a city car and mine had 60bhp) but for what it is and what it costs to maintain and operate, I loved it so much.
I think the Skoda Citygo is basically the same car but cheaper.
It is, same with the Seat Mii. If you buy the VW, you get the gloss black boot door (which blends with the rear window and look a bigger piece of glass) and possibly some options that are not offered on the Seat and Skoda.
There's a short term rental place here that rents out mostly Up!s, it's not a bad little car. Merging onto the highway can be kind of exciting though.
Being used to driving a Renault Kangoo definitely made it feel like I was driving a clown car though!
I personally find the Up! GTI to be really cute (and sporty) with those GTI wheels. Not in a sarcastic way, really - it's just a very good design overall.
The Buick Regal TourX at least was under advertised and undersold. Wagons don't get enough love in America.
I'll go one step further and say the entire Regal lineup.
There was the regular sedan, a hatchback and a wagon version. Versions of it came with FWD or AWD and there was even a manual option on the hi-po version. It was a great looking family car and could be optioned with some sick wheels on the top trim models.
Totally overlooked vehicle and to a large degree it's because the automotive press is very biased against American brands.
I have the Sportback and not the TourX, but it's still a great car. Got it for a steal too.
I'll assume that this is for the US market. So here I go: the Mitsubishi Mirage.
The Mirage is, well to be frank, very unrefined; but if you want a cheap (cheapest, even) basic transportation that's reliable, fuel efficient, new, and has a warranty, it's hard to beat the Mirage.
In my opinion though, you do need quite a bit of tolerance for bad NVH if you're spoiled by luxury brand cars, since the Mirage's NVH is just plain bad. I rode shotgun with the G4 in Saigon recently, and even at just ~50 km/h you could tell that it's very unrefined in terms of road noise isolation.
I live in mexico and we have some more options around that price point and the mirage sucks for what it is, there are some cars that for the same price have at least some security features.
F22 228i and 230i. The M2 and M235i and M240i got a lot of deserved praise but that twin-scroll 4 cylinder was awesome. 200+ pounds lighter than the six cylinder models and was a ton of fun.
Volvo s80 v8
Engine made or at least tuned by Yamaha so the exhaust note is one of the best of all time
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