There's no doubt that the 1980s was a fantastic era for cars. For the most part, anyway. As a result of the oil crisis slowly backing away from its crusade during the 70s, awesome performance cars started appearing once again, some of those reaching insane values and being universally loved by enthusiasts the world over.
As a side effect of these cars shooting up in popularity and value, some sports cars from the 80s never even got a second glance. For one reason or another, no one seems to really care about them, leaving them severely underrated. That's unfortunate, because not only are most of these cars pretty affordable, but they're great too.
9 Fiat X1/9
While the 124 Spider is a great car, Fiat used to be a little bit more serious about making sports cars 20 or 30 years ago. The Coupe is one of the darlings of European car enthusiasts, and the X1/9 from the 1980s really is a special car.
Time and time again, we hear someone describe a car as a "mini Ferrari," and the X1/9 is one car where that analogy works perfectly. The proportions, mid-engine layout, and general styling definitely make it look like a Ferrari that shrunk in the washing machine. The X1/9 may have not been nearly as powerful, with the highest output being 84 hp, but it made up for it with its handling prowess.
8 Nissan 300ZX (Z31)
When it comes to Nissan's Z cars, everyone fawns over the 240Z, the Z32 300ZX or the 350Z, and pretty soon, the upcoming 400Z as well. The Z31, sold from 1983 to 1989, never seems to get mentioned. That seems bizarre, as the 300ZX is still a great sports car, regardless of how many people love it or mention it.
The design is unmistakably 80s, with sharp lines and a borderline wedge shape. It was simple and clean, but it worked very well. Under the hood, the 300ZX was the first Z car to be adorned with a V6 (save for the Japan-only 200ZR), and the most powerful iteration made around 165 hp. Of course, being a sports car from the 80s, the 300ZX was also available with T-tops, and they're still very affordable on the used market.
7 Renault Alpine GTA
Enthusiasts all over North America are still upset that the new and brilliant A110 isn't sold here. No reason to fret, because one look at Alpine's rich history shows there are some compelling, legal-to-import offers on the used market, like the Alpine GTA.
It was sold from 1984 to 1991, meaning that every model year of this underdog sports car is legal to import in the United States. The later Turbo models are the most sought after however. A 2.5 liter turbocharged V6 was found in the rear, sending 200 hp to the rear wheels through a mandatory 5-speed manual transmission. This was a great car, and it almost reached US shores, until Renault withdrew from the market in 1987, leaving just 12 barely federalized GTAs in the country.
6 TVR Tasmin (Or Any TVR Wedge)
TVR's story as an automaker is certainly an interesting one. Their cars were burning down seemingly daily, they changed hands dozens of times, their cars were horribly unsafe to drive, and so on. Even though things are looking up with the new Griffith, the wedge-shaped TVRs never seem to get any attention.
If you ask any enthusiast to name a TVR, they might mention the Sagaris or Griffith, maybe even the Cerbera. The wedge-shaped TVRs are never really talked about, even though they're awesome. The Tasmin was the first of the TVR Wedges, available as a coupe or convertible, manual or automatic, and the legendary 2.8-liter Cologne V6 borrowed from Ford. While fit and finish weren't great, it was incredibly charming and great to drive.
5 Mazda RX-7 (FC)
Mazda's rotary-powered sports cars are the stuff of legend in the automotive world, and fans are still clamoring for the Japanese automaker to bring this unique powertrain back to power a brand new RX sports car. They already have, it's just not a sports car that's using it.
Until that happens, and indeed, if that happens, the FC RX7 is definitely worth a second look. Everyone is huddling all over the FD RX7 and prices are going wild, leaving the FC relatively affordable for most people. The boxier design of the FC is definitely very cool, and it's a great handling sports car in general. It was also pretty powerful, with the Turbo II model putting down a healthy 182 hp.
4 Ford Escort RS Turbo
For those who don't have enough to splurge on a full-fat Escort Cosworth, the more affordable RS Turbo should be right up your alley. While it wasn't exactly beloved when it first came out, the engineering and the specialty of the Escort RS Turbo make it a very interesting automobile.
The 1.6-liter turbocharged four-banger under the hood made 132 hp. That may not sound like much, but the RS Turbo was devoid of just about every mod cons you can think of. It didn't even have a tachometer. Instead, most of the additions came underneath the skin, including stuff like a limited-slip differential. Only around 5,000 were made, and they were all white. Except for one black version, which was built to order for Princess Diana.
3 Nissan Skyline (R31)
It's slowly time to face the truth about the Nissan Skyline GTR; it is hugely overrated. Just about every enthusiast out there wants to own some generation of the iconic sports car, and they all are waiting eagerly for the R34 GTR to become legal to import in North America.
Due to the huge rise in popularity of the R32, R33, and R34, no one seems to bat an eye at the Skyline models that came before. Before the R32 came along, there was the R31 Skyline, which was a great car that no one seems to care about. Those who know about the R31 are after the GTS-R, which was the ultimate performance iteration. The homologation special delivered 207 hp to the rear wheels, and it gave the R31 plenty of shove.
2 Lotus Excel
If James May hadn't stuck a bodged aircraft fuselage with a bed and a compact stove on the roof of it, many might not have known about the Lotus Excel's existence. Sold from 1982 to 1992, while it was based on the previous Éclat, it featured various and very welcome improvements.
For one thing, the Excel was built during a time when Toyota was a major shareholder in Lotus, which meant that Lotus could use some infinitely more reliable parts to build the Excel, like the W58 5-speed manual transmission and many others. It was also, in true Lotus fashion, pretty lightweight for a 2+2 coupe, and it made a pretty decent 165 hp.
1 Audi S2
Before the brilliant, revolutionary RS2 Avant arrived in the mid-90s, Audi was toying away with sticking their legendary 2.2-liter turbo I5 under the hood of a variety of their models and creating performance cars. The first Audi S car in history was the S2, and it was built upon that formula.
Using the Audi 80 as a base, the S2 adorned a rather cool coupe body style, and it used the aforementioned Audi I5. The engine made up to 227 hp, which was sent to all four wheels through the Quattro AWD system. 0-60 took 5.8 seconds, and the S2 would burble its way to 155 mph, which is impressive even by today's standards.