There are some cars that will always be family favorites for gear heads - and cars that everyone recognizes to be part of the hall of fame of the automotive world, whether we’re fans of them or not.

Usually, sports cars and supercars feature in this category of legends, such as the Lamborghini Countach, the Mitsubishi Lancer, the Subaru Impreza, the Mazda MX-5, the Ford GT40, and so on: cars which have earned their place in the automotive afterlife for different reasons.

Of them, the Eagle Talon is not a member; but we also like quirky cars here.

Indeed, as well as being inherently interesting considering its combination of ability and provenance, the Talon TSi version had more than just a face a mother couldn’t love.

RELATED:Swapped! Eagle Talon Gets A Turbo LS4 V8 Engine

The Eagle Talon TSi Is A Surprisingly-Good Car That No One Remembers

1990 Eagle Talon Pinterest

If you’re looking for a cheap and fun car, something which might also have a slim possibility of becoming a future classic, you could do worse than an Eagle Talon TSi.

This is because it offered reasonable speed and performance for the working-class man or woman in a cheap and unassuming package from a manufacturer who wanted to be hip and fresh.

In fact, Eagle as you may know, after being formed from a deal involving Chrysler taking over AMC and sifting through the assets barrel, found French automaker Renault and decided to keep making 4-door sedans.

Seeing GM’s Mercury brand and sensing corporate doom, Chrysler knocked on Mitsubishi’s door to solicit some Japanese engines for some sedans under the Eagle brand.

The cheap, economical - and maybe drab - cars that followed notwithstanding, Eagle managed to consider the gear heads who wanted to actually enjoy driving these cars and came up with the Talon TSi version.

Featuring front-wheel-drive that eventually became four-wheel-drive – something nobody could have predicted – and turbocharged-and-inter cooled 2-liter engines making up to 195 hp, the Talon TSi was good.

RELATED: Owner Never Imagined Having His Own Dream Nissan Skyline, Now He's Got A Collection

Eagle’s Talon TSi Was A Skyline For The Everyman

1990_Eagle_Talon TSi Via CarGurus
Via: CarGurus

With a somewhat generic 90s exterior similar to the contemporary Ford Probe that was also doing the rounds; the Talon TSi offered 66% of a Nissan Skyline’s power and 70% of its acceleration for substantially less cash while still providing power to all 4 wheels and featuring pop-up headlights which are always a bonus.

Nowadays, the 1990 first-gen is the one to have, with prices that are surprisingly within the grasp of the thrifty hobbyist.

Although the Talon’s heritage and performance aren’t on the level of JDM greats like the Toyota Supra or Mazda RX-7 - which is what the Talon really seemed to be aiming at – the car is rare, especially in this most interesting form.

A quick search on the internet on various well-known sites brought up only a handful, but luckily for buyers the price is low: they haven’t started to appreciate exponentially thus far.

AutoTrader has a sole 1993 Talon, two-wheel drive, and crucially, not the TSi, advertised at $13,900.

CarGurus have 2 advertised; a newer-shape 1995 TSi model for $10,500 with 66,000 miles, and the one we want, a 1990 Eagle Talon TSi for $11,000 with that great angular body design and two-tone color, in red and black.

That car comes with just over 100,000 miles, not bad for a reliable and hopefully well-maintained Mitsubishi motor.

Another was sold on BringATrailer too for around $11,000, so it looks like this is possibly the average price.

Hagerty, the auction site, claims a $5000 average sell price for the car with $18,000 for a concours-level vehicle; so either way the car is obtainable on a reasonable budget, but with one caveat: you need to be able to actually find one.