Movies are generally known for exaggeration but when it comes to pursuits, chases, and stunts they don't tend to skip on the infamous driving scenes. In fact, some of the biggest, most expensive measures were done by cars, like the Matrix Reloaded freeway chase ($2.5 million) and the triple-building jump in Fast and Furious 7 with the Lykan HyperSport, where three real 40-foot tall steel buildings were used, all built in a sound stage for a Porsche-powered replica to drive through.
It wouldn't be fair to put these cars into modern times, so considering their respective movies, we're judging how and why they would actually make incredible getaways and chase vehicles. Far more than horsepower goes into play, and while we won't assume that an Aston Martin DB5 really comes with machine guns in the front, we will consider the whole car when we plan our escape!
10 1969 Dodge Charger: The Dukes of Hazzard
Okay, it is an old muscle car; heavy and not nearly as fast as modern machines, but hear us out. General Lee makes 375 horsepower when the show was made in 1979; according to "horsepower inflation" (made-up term) that's like having a 1,200 horsepower car today! Need we say more? The iconic car is almost more famous than the actual movie! Ignoring the confederate flag joke, this car makes it on our list of getaway cars, considering the era.
The year is 1979. The General is already 10 years old, an unusual and awkward age for most movie cars; not cheap and old, not new and shiny. In this case, it's been around long enough to show how it can outrun the police cruiser driven by Officer Coltrane and Posse: A 1974 AMC Matador. Those have 45 fewer horsepower in the police version which is souped-up from the original 220 bhp. The RWD manual is capable enough to go fast in the dirt, as we see, and ranks among the very fastest sports cars of that decade.
9 Subaru WRX: Baby Driver
Be informed: the WRX actually used to film Baby Driver was a red WRX with the front-wheel-drive disconnected to make stunts easier. We, however, would probably stick with the perceived AWD system as portrayed but never confirmed in the film. A WRX (non-STI) is a small, light, bulletproof-except-for-the-head-gaskets car that the criminally-minded might seriously consider. The 4-cylinder can take boost and mods to a good 100 horsepower or so, but more advantageous is its rally disposition.
The car weighs 3,351 lbs, so not a lot. This and the Subaru Symmetrical AWD that led Collin McRae to so many wins is the backbone of a great handling car in a tight city. Additionally, the car has 5.9" of ground clearance, about 1.5" more than most similar sports cars like the A4 of its time, meaning it can jump curbs and go down very shallow stairs with much fewer consequences.
8 W12 Audi Transporter 2
Caution: do not try to remove a bomb from the bottom of your Audi by jumping the 4,800 lbs car off an angled ramp to flip upside down, using the hook of a crane to snag it off before landing safely and unscathed to watch the shocked communists blow up in your rear-view mirror. This common stunt may seem easy but can actually be a little bit tricky. Despite the heat-seeking missiles going through every room in your house and other convincing CGI, Transporter 1 and 2 did get one thing right: the car!
The 2005 A8 W12 Audi is not just named "W12," but actually has 12 cylinders under the hood in a W formation. This makes an even 500 horsepower and even though it's a big old AWD tank (the biggest of the Audi Sedan lineup), it's still lively! If we planned to get on the highway and run for it, the black-colored, somewhat regular-looking high-horsepower thing would be incredible.
7 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio: 6 Underground
Despite Ryan Renolds the tech-genius billionaire aiming for six team members, the Alfa Romeo only fits five. Four ride inside for the opening scene, well... at first... but the car really showcases its incredibly stiff handling, and on paper, it's not bad at all! In fact, one might compare it to a Porsche Panamera, seeing how the Alfa tops out just 5 mph shy of the Panamera at 191 mph and would lose to 60 by a mere 0.2 seconds.
For a sedan, it really sticks to its Italian roots with great performance and spectacular handling despite a very reasonable price tag of $93,000. In terms of a precise and speed getaway without any hiccups, unlike 6 Underground had, we would choose this any day! In terms of more than a few high-intensity getaways... maybe something more reliable? And definitely something less visible!
6 The Eleanor Mustang: Gone in 60 Seconds
The difference between this Mustang and the one in John Wick is that Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds is a 1973 Ford Mustang SportsRoof and John Wick's is a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. Both are very similar in design, and both are actually different mustangs dressed up for their roles. With that out of the way let's look at the machine that Nicolas Cage coveted for 122 minutes in Gone in 60 Seconds... "Eleanor."
Eleanor is 351-horsepowers of retro speed. Really, the main reason this made the list is style. The car was already 27 years old when the film came out, and next to the likes of the stolen Supra, Ferrari GTB, or Dodge Viper it's no question which will get us free of the law fastest, but with Nicholas Cage's portrayed driving skills and the amount of sheer class offered, we would grab the keys with the pony on it any day of the week!
5 Buick 90 Series Limited: The Godfather
The portrayed decade is the 1940s. The car: a massive beast of the quickly-growing engines and matching car sizes. The Buick didn't get quite as much action as others, but c'mon! It's the Godfather! We treat it like family! The car holds eight people and while it's not the Lincoln featured in the death scene of Don Corleone, it did get more driving and might actually be a better bet for getting away from coppers in the '40s
The car ran on a 5.2 L inline eight-cylinder engine known as the Fireball Eight Dynaflash or just "Fireball" and though some might think this is a nickname given to a junker, these engines did as fine as any in their time and outperformed the typical Chevy with their inline-six engines. The fixed hard roof was just becoming standard for the time, as was the three-speed manual. Suicide doors led to two bench seats and a two-person bench in the back so all the more people were involved in the whole "getting away" process.
4 1968 Mini Coopers: The Italian Job (1969)
Ignoring the late-'60s British humor which consisted mostly of characters not understanding each other, the Italian Job, featuring Micheal Cane, really made up for it. They destroyed 14 cars to make the video, many tumbling down cliffs in a grand display of littering, five of which were the Minis. By far not the fastest, and certainly included out of a matter of British pride, but actually the exact car we would've chosen.
See, to make their heist work (real stunts, mind you... no CGI) they needed to drive these rally-spec Mini Coopers down very many stairs, on the Fiat rooftop testing track, across a flowing river, and even on top of a stadium building. As the Alfas driven by police piled up, the Minis with their 73 horsepower and 1,3000 lbs curb weight kept chugging along, ending by driving up into a small bus. The tiny agility and rally capability would probably even make these great getaway cars today!
3 Mustang GT: Drive
Ryan Gosling used his own Malibu for most of this film, but we're here to look at the Mustang released and used in 2011. When Ryan Gosling uses his skills as a stunt driver to moonlight as a getaway driver/ deliver man he needs up upgrade his ride for a big job. Ford sent over some new Mustang GT's and didn't tell them how to turn the traction control off. All were automatic except one which was the wrong color, so they had to paint it.
It wasn't until after a day of testing and failing to do any fancy stunts that they looked up how to hold the traction control button for six seconds to turn it off, then they were in business. Quite simply, the Mustang GT is a very capable vehicle that would handle almost all getaway basics for us: city handling, spinning backward to drive in reverse and shoot at our pursuers, and top-speed highway chases at 155, more if we get into the V8 and tinker. The basic nature of the GT means no distractions, lots of speed, and no complications once you turn off that traction control.
2 Aston Martin DB5: James Bond Goldfinger (1964)
This poor car... in the series of James Bond the DB5's have been crashed, driven down steep hills, shot at, and burned. It's beaten Ferrari F 588's and any other "foreign" car the British might have a quippy joke for. Many will see the iconic silver DB5 and declare "James Bond car!" but let's observe its specs... It has machine guns, an ejection seat, and oil slicking from the factory! (Just kidding).
The coupe is a 4.0 L inline-six making a very respectable 325 horsepower, top-of-the-line back then, and came in a 5-speed manual or 3-speed automatic. It was front-engine rear-wheel-drive like the muscle cars across the pond but unlike the heathens in the United States, it has a lot of thought and money spent on then-modern performance such as a live rear axle and magnesium-alloy body. Top speed was a shocking 145 miles per hour, just 7 mph shy of its GT uncle: The DB4 GT which held the record for top speed for four straight years (152 mph).
1 R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R: 2 Fast 2 Furious
First of all, rest in peace Paul Walker (Brian O'Connor). If you don't know, the star passed away in 2013 when he crashed his Porsche Carrera GT. When Ludacris and pals got together on the screen in 2003, the GT-R Skyline driven by Paul Walker took a long step into the limelight. Already an iconic car in Japan, the appearance of a left-hand drive previously only sold in Japan was shocking! Not to mention theoretically illegal, as no cars can be imported from Japan until they're 25 years old, a stupid and antiquated law if you ask us. Paul used one he bought from auction for the on-screen race that included actually jumping the partially open bridge, rupturing an oil pan.
Though the all-wheel steering and all-wheel-drive were turned off for the movie, these are features and even advantages when it comes to the chase. The car wasn't brand-new, but still, it could handle like a dream and keep all four wheels stuck to the ground while guiding the car perfectly around town. The twin-turbo makes the Japanese maximum horsepower of the time: 276 horses, with an impressive 295 ft-lbs of torque... no wonder it got the nickname "Godzilla!"