What are some underrated obscure sleepers you can find for less than $3,000?

What are some underrated obscure sleepers you can find for less than $3,000?

Looking for something the likes of the Contour SVT and PT Cruiser GT, but a bit more attainable.

Preferably manual.

Mk1 Focus SVT

>less than $3,000
Sentra SE-R

crown vic
Buick regal

...

Your mom

not too much that wont require modding. You can get easy to mod cars that were known as slower stock, like a 94-95 SVT cobra and just beef up the 302 with H/C/I and nitrous. Or maybe Taurus SHO's if you can find em

Someone here told me that you could pull a turbo from an old saab and put it on a cavalier.

Taurus SHO, late 80's Cavalier Z24, BMW E30, if you're willing to look like the recently released from prison you can go for ex-cop Crown Victoria's or if you're autistic enough, the ex-cop Dodge Chargers.

Which regal? The newer generation ones are too new and haven't depreciated that much
The older regals from the 80s are slow unless you got the turbo ones, but those are getting more and more expensive everyday and certainly not within the 3000 dollar range anymore

Lincoln MKVIII

32v 4.6 V8 straight outta the Cobra and all aluminum suspension with IRS and LSD and 4 wheel disks, and an aluminum driveshaft. Auto only, but can be had in decent shape for under 3k.

If you want cheap, you're gonna have to go for late 80's to late 90's Regals. Problem is that they suffer prime GM syndrome of "Same per every fucking brand". The Regal is almost the exact same car as the Cutlass and Grand Prix of the same years, so google whatever performance package GM released for them and you should get 200 if it has the 3800 motor and 240 if it has one with a turbo that hasn't exploded.

A 3 series can be pretty quick, if its a 328 or 330.

saab 9000. 3200lbs car, with a tune and exhaust you can be at 300hp. 9-5 are the same if it has the mitsubishi turbo.

saab 900/9-3 94-2002. Same deal, tune and exhaust. The engine management software went open source, so it is free to download the tuning suite of software. The lightest car will be a 94-98 900 3 door, these will also have the most durable engines.

old audi sport estates
they look completely unremarkable but will thrash most other cars, especially when they can use their awd to their advantage

Focus st170

I was gonna suggest PTGT but they are getting super rare now :/

You should get yourself a 1989 Mitsubishi Colt GT, then you can just drop in a 4G63T. The car weighs 2150lbs, nimble around corners and it looks like a simple hatch back from the early 90's that most people don't even know what it is and mistake it for a civic or imported swift.

older nissan maximas and V6 accords

Crown vic is good but you need to strip out as much weight as possible to make it decently fast. It's heavy as fuck stock

Nice choice. Plus they can be manual swapped rather easily. Things are badass, not to mention they Have the aftermarket of the sn95 and new edge mustangs

Rear interior/trunk gut, ditch the full size spare, lightweight wheels, better driveshaft and you’ve shed 300+lbs. then get better tires and you’ve got a pretty fast car for

This.