We’ve all been there, revving at a red light and smirking at the boring, avuncular car standing next to us — until the light goes green and it smokes us, leaving our jaws agape. Sleeper cars tend to have that effect on us. Call them boring, call them duds, or call them goats; these cars may not be the best-looking ones in the market, but their performance can outrun even the sportiest of models. They're fast and pack considerable power under the hood. But their rather ordinary packaging tends to make most buyers pass them over for snazzier models.
The one good thing about these cars is that they come cheaper than their nattily dressed engine cousins. Meaning, if anyone buys a sports car with the same engine specs as these relatively sedate-looking sedans and hatchbacks, they'll have to pay a lot more in MRP as well as maintenance. Also, the cops mostly tend to chase the supercars, bypassing the sedate package revving in the sidelines. No one expects these cars to be able to do anything other than plod along in the slow lane, but the power they hide under their hoods can put even a souped-up car to shame.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and this holds particularly true in the case of cars. Fancy designs and car shells aren’t the start all and end all of choosing a car – what lays under the hood is super important. So, next time, look these boring but powerful sleeper cars carefully before they leave you biting the dust!
20 Chevrolet SS: Super Sport With A Business Casual Look
Consider this as a eulogy to one of the best and most powerful cars to be discontinued: the Chevrolet Super Sport. Powered by an LS3 6.2-liter V8 engine borrowed from Chevrolet Corvette C6, this was considered as the ultimate Chevrolet sedan.
The V8 power under the hood cranked out 415 horsepower and a torque of 415 ft-lb.
Plus, it was loaded with features like auto-park assist, a blind-spot monitoring system, and a lane-departure warning system, and it rode on 19-inch wheels. Despite the overall package, sales weren't high, so 2017 was the final year for The SS.
19 Mazda 6: Zoom Zoom
The Mazda 6 or the Mazda Speed 6 looks like a rather stately mid-size sedan, but once you rev the throttle, there’s nothing remotely well mannered about it. This all-wheel drive has a 2.3-liter MZR DISI in-line-four turbocharged engine mated with a six-speed manual transmission. This package cranks out 274 horsepower and 280 ft-lb torque. It also has Mazda’s Active Torque Split, an all-wheel-drive system, which was more effective than their counterparts because it sends the torque on the wheels that need more power. While this did make the clutch a little jerky and the car was a guzzler – it did run like silk on the roads.
18 Volkswagen Touareg: Turbo-Charged Subtlety
Volkswagen got into a joint venture with Audi and Porsche to develop this one because the end goal was to create a good off-road vehicle that handled like a sports car.
With a turbocharged 4.2-liter engine, The Touareg could go 0-60 mph in just 5.8 seconds – but one had to try it to believe it.
It may have handled like a sports car, but the look was as sedate and boring as that of any other mid-size luxury crossover. It came in 3.2-liter to 6-liter engine variants, but even these never really got the sales figures too high. In 2017, only 3.5k of these vehicles were sold in the domestic market.
17 KIA Stinger GT: Float Like A Butterfly
Honestly, like the name it took, it does look like a desert scorpion – enough to give anyone the shudders. Despite the rather unmistakable looks that don't have many takers, the Kia Stinger is the fastest car from this South Korean auto giant. It can reach 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds flat. A GDI twin-turbo V6 3.3-liter petrol engine cranks out an impressive 365 horsepower and a huge 376 ft-lb of torque. Frankly, this is the kind of car everybody says they’ll buy but somehow don’t because it’s a little too punchy in its looks. Given its power, there should be more takers for this, but the high price is also a dampener.
16 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8: A Sledgehammer Engine
What's special about the Grand Cherokee SRT8? Only that while it may look like just another Jeep Grand Cherokee, which are very popular cars, it packs far more power. The second-generation SRT8 was launched in 2011 and is equipped with a 470-horsepower- churning 6.4 L Hemi V8 engine.
The first generation has 50 less horsepower and could still go 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds.
Obviously, the second generation can go faster and also promises 13% better fuel efficiency. The fuel tank is also larger, meaning you can drive 450-500 miles without a pit stop. So, while the Cherokee in itself isn’t a sleeper car, most don't realize the sheer punch the SRT8 packs.
15 MG Maestro Turbo: Tiny Car, Big Power
This limited-run small family car was powered by a turbocharged 2-liter engine, which produced 150 horsepower and 169 ft-lb of torque. Since it had a smaller size and a lighter weight, the 150 horsepower was enough to make it go 0-60 in just 6.7 seconds. MG Maestro’s power-packed engine generated a maximum speed of 132 mph, which could easily leave behind any other GT car of its era. Though the car was powerful and quicker than many other cars during that period, it lacked visual appeal and was considered small in size. Thus, it had few admirers or takers, and by 1980, the MG factory had gone kaput.
14 Volvo 850: Speed Wagon
How fast do you think a station wagon can go? A sedate under-100? Try more than 150 mph, a fact that only a few gearheads knew, which is why they went for the Volvo 850 T-5R and the 850 R.
In 1995, Volvo collaborated with Porsche and brought out the 300-horsepower-generating 850 T-5R and gave it tiny facelifts.
The power under the hood was enough to put sportier cars of that decade to shame, so Volvo enthusiasts have been quietly laughing at the world all this time. While production stopped way back in 1996, the 850 T-5R replacement is the V70, which can go 0-70 in about 10 seconds.
13 Ford Taurus SHO: Not Just For Show
The Ford Taurus SHO was pronounced "the Taurus show,” but the letters stood for "Super High Output." This was a high-performance sedan built between 2010 and 2017 by Ford, with the all-wheel driver sporting a 3.5-liter direct-injected twin-turbo V-6 Ecoboost engine under the hood. This was mated to a six-speed Select-Shift automatic transmission, which produced a massive 365 horsepower with 350 ft-lb of torque. A 2012 Taurus SHO was the official car for the third Men In Black movie. Despite the hype and the fact that the SHO could do 0-60 mph in just 5.1 seconds, it couldn’t find many takers and remains undervalued.
12 GMC Syclone: Storming The Road
When the GMC decided to bring in a small truck, eyebrows were raised. They then named it "Syclone" (an alternative spelling to the storm), and the sniggers began. The fact is, if anyone was standing neck to neck with one at a stop signal, they were liable to be left scratching their heads in amazement, considering the Syclone rode less and flew more. Auto magazines compared its acceleration to a Ferrari because it went from 0-60 mph in about 5 seconds. Back in the '90s, that was immense. This tiny powerhouse had an all-wheel-drive system and a turbocharged V6 that generated 280 horsepower and 350 ft-lb torque.
11 Infiniti Q50 Hybrid: Clean Fun
The hybrid doesn’t look all that different from the gas-powered Q50, but the fact is that even if it did, there may not be too many takers for it. There's no redeeming feature to it, and on top of that, you have to shell out a lot more for a hybrid car than for a diesel or a gas one. So, you buy a car that looks just like any other Q50 but end up paying a lot more to save the environment — hardly seems fair. The only redemption the car offered is that it's powered by a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine combined with a 67-horsepower electric motor to create 360 horsepower and 402 ft-lb of torque and can dash from 0-60 in 5.2 seconds. Design-wise, the Q50 looks snarky!
10 2004 Pontiac GTO: It Can Go
The original Pontiac GTO (remember The Goat?) was a runaway success. So, GM decided to give it a rebirth via a subsidiary, the Australian Holden. In fact, they used a left-handed version of the Holden Monaro to make the chassis and the interior for the revival.
They took Corvette’s LS1 and LS2 engines to give that 400 horsepower on a 6-speed manual transmission with an independent rear.
Yes, the 2004-2006 version of the Pontiac GTO was great to drive. The problem lay with the looks, which looked way tamer than the old classic. Many noticed that it looked like a slightly amped-up Chevy Cavalier, and so they passed. Production thankfully stopped in 2006. But it was still a powerhouse.
9 Volkswagen Passat W8: Powerful But Unreliable
Frankly, if there was ever a car that looked like it was made for just about everyone, the Passat was it. The design tried too hard to be a people pleaser and slipped into the just-another-car mode. Plus, it turned out to have major reliability issues because long drives often involved pit stops to check oil and coolant levels. That said, it was packed under the hood. A 4-liter 8-cylinder W8 engine churned out 275 horsepower and 273 ft-lb of torque and could lug this ride from 0-60 mph in just 6.8 seconds. The W8 trim came with Volkswagen’s trademarked 4-motion 4WD system and made it reach a maximum speed of 155 mph.
8 Buick Regal GS: Not Grandpa's Car
The problem with the Regal GS was that it was just a badge-engineered Opel Insignia in disguise, so people already knew it well. It lacked any wow factor or even newness quotient when it came to the design. As redemption, it carried a 2-liter high-output DOHC inline-four engine that was Ecotec turbocharged.
It churned out 270 horsepower and a torque of 295 ft-lb with a 6-speed manual transmission.
The all-wheel driver had Buick's Interactive Drive Control System and was capable of dashing from 0 to 60 in 6.2 seconds. The robust engine alone wasn’t enough to keep this car in the high-sale category, so sales crawled, though the Regal dashes.
7 VW Phaeton: Strong, But Not Well Thought Out
The Phaeton, an F-segment luxury sedan, was introduced at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show. It was the first Volkswagen car to have features like radar-adaptive cruise control and auto distance regulator. Plus, it was loaded with other features like VW's trademarked 4-motion 4WD, adaptive air suspension with continuous damping control and power-massaging seats. However, the car tried so hard to show itself as a luxury ride that it failed to make a dent in the market rules of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. In 2016, Volkswagen stopped the production despite a sturdy 3.6-liter engine churning out a respectable 225 horsepower and 339 ft-lb torque. The poor acceleration might also have had something to do with it.
6 The Ultimate Sleeper Car: Mercury Marauder
If an auto giant begins to do fleet sales on a particular vehicle, that’s the easiest way to get the vehicle a sleeper-car tag. Think of the Mercury Marauder that first came out in the '60s – those were the good days for it. Its early 2000s arrival after being taken over by Ford turned it into a sister car of the Crown Victoria, which is the quintessential cop car.
Fast forward, and by 2004, the Marauder had failed.
This despite the 300-horsepower-generating V8 engine from the Mustang Mach 1. Other mechanical components came from the Victoria police interceptor, but even that failed to generate any interest. No one really expects a cop car to be actually able, right?
5 Tesla P85D: Not Just Another Family Sedan
The Tesla P85D looks like a sedate family car – perfectly at home when being washed on Sunday mornings with the family getting ready for church. But once you sit inside and press the accelerator, it's more of holy smoke! The front wheels are powered with a 221-horsepower motor, which is then overshadowed by a rear-wheel electric motor that cranks out 470 horsepower! Together, that makes a whopping 691 horsepower along with an insane torque of 686 ft-lb – enough to leave your neighbor’s Audi in the dust. Speed-wise, it goes 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. Now, does it look like just another sedan?
4 GMC Yukon Denali 4WD: Big, Bold, And Brawny
If the GMC Syclone was small and unassuming, the GMC Yukon Denali 4WD SUV is a monster on the road. It's big and lumbering and reminds you of a muscled bison. But don’t make the mistake of assuming that the bigger they are, the slower they are, for the GMC Yukon Denali can not only keep up with the fastest but can overtake them, too. A 6.2-liter V8 engine churns out 420 horsepower and is mated with a 10-speed transmission, meaning this over-5000-pound 7-seater can actually dash 0-60 in a little over 8 seconds. That’s like asking a bulldozer to take part in Nascar, but it is what it is.
3 Audi S8 Plus: Looks Good, Goes Better
The Audi S8 has been in the market for a while – remember the car chases in Ronin and then in Transporter? We're used to seeing this luxury car, so it doesn’t catch eyes as much as a new-fangled Ferrari or Lambo does. It’s meant for those with plenty of moolah and subtle taste. Even those signature daytime LEDs have now been copied by every car on the market. If we underestimate an Audi S8, we would probably not give the S8+ a second look either. Big mistake, for the S8+ packs a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that can generate 605 horsepower! That's enough to go from here to there in a blink of an eye!
2 Saab 9-2X Aero: The Badge-Engineered Sleeper
As brash as the Subaru WRX is, the badge-engineered Saab 9-2X was a design opposite. You expected good performance from the Subaru but not from the “Saabaru,” as it later came to be known as. It was a subtly designed car that worked on a 2.5-liter EJ253 engine generating 165 horsepower and 166 ft-lb torque or the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine producing 227 horsepower and 217 ft-lb torque. You could opt for a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic transmission for the AWD trim.
While initially, sales were low, they began to pick up.
Sadly, the Saab 9-2X Aero was discontinued within two years due to buybacks and mergers within the parent companies.
1 COPO Camaro: An Even More Powerful Beast
The '69 Chevy Camaro is one rare and coveted classic on its own. But if you ever get a Camaro that sounds like it’s about to take off, you’ve managed to get the COPO (Central Office Production Order) Camaro. The thing is, unlike the COPO Camaro of now, the '69 version didn't look different and came with zero options, save the 7-liter V8 Chevy used in the Can-Am. The only way you would get to know that it was the COPO Camaro was if you turned the key and revved this beast. Other Camaros usually came in a more sedate engine version of 2.4 to 5.7 liters — not to say that a Camaro wasn't stylish. But when it was a COPO Camaro, they should've made it look different to make it easier for us to spot the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Sources: Jalopnik.com, RoadandTrack.com, CarandDriver.com