The Eternal Question: Your Dream Garage (Part 2)
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of an article I intended to finish a few weeks ago. I got distracted. It happens.
Moving along in the dream garage, we come to an absolutely crucial choice:
6) 1995 Volvo 850 T-5R Estate
The T-5R was the first example of Volvo really, truly letting their hair down. In my eyes, it still stands as the high point of Volvo’s interesting cars, which sadly no longer really exist. The T-5R was a limited edition higher-performance version of the top of the line 850 Turbo. The standard engine in the Turbo was a 2.3L 20v 5-cylinder with a turbo and intercooler; the R version had a remapped ECU that allowed “overboost” (3 extra psi) at WOT in 3rd through 5th gear. Output went up from 222 horsepower to 240, and torque remained at 300 Nm (221 ft-lbs.) With this more powerful engine, the top speed of the T-5R wagon rose from 142 mph to 153 mph. They were available in 3 colors - black (2500 units worldwide), green (500 units worldwide), and cream yellow (2500 units worldwide.) Only a total of 400 T-5R Estates made it to the US, making it an exceedingly rare car. Also, Volvo had the balls to run a T-5R wagon in the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) for two years - and rather successfully, I might add.
I have to admit, I’m rather biased - my last car was a non-turbo 850 sedan, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This car will always be very high on my list of desired cars. They’re really quite quick - 0-60 in the mid six second range from the factory with the automatic and the ridiculous top speed combined with the simple fact that it’s a bright yellow Volvo station wagon lowered over 17″ gunmetal alloys mean it’s right up my alley. I might spring for an Ipd racing ECU tune, but frankly I’d be happy just to have a low-mileage unmolested one in my garage.
7) Lotus Elise with VW 1.8T/K04 swap
I am, and have always been, a HUGE fan of the Lotus Elise. It is a car that is executed exactly to it’s original intention - lightweight, nimble, and entertaining. And it’s achingly gorgeous. What it’s really crying out for is a real engine. This has always been the case. They originally came with rather weak Rover K-series motors, and then switched over to Toyota’s 2ZZ-GE a few years ago (after Rover went under.) While the 2ZZ-GE isn’t a bad engine, it certainly isn’t the best. It has an extremely modest torque output and needs to be revved to death to get any power out of it. While Lotus offers a solution in the form of supercharged models from the factory, what the Elise really needs is a real motor. It needs a VW 1.8 20v Turbo with a Borg-Warner K04/20. This powerhouse of an engine easily makes 270-300bhp with minor modifications and has tons of torque down low thanks to a quick-spooling turbo and a very well-flowing head design. While it would place more mass up high in the chassis, I think the handling wouldn’t suffer too badly, and the added grunt would make the Elise a slightly alarming car when you got on the gas. Which would be perfect. It would probably need wider rear tires to cope with all the low-end torque, though.
8 ) BMW (E30) M3 Sport Evolution
In my (and I’m sure many other’s) eyes, the E30-generation BMW M3 was the ultimate expression of what BMW ///M is really all about. These days, it seems that “M” is more for “Marketing” than “Motorsport,” but this was simply not the case with the first M3. Today’s M3 has an eight-cylinder engine with 414 horsepower, and is a heavy, leather-lined, luxury-laden pseudo sports car. The first M3 was a stripped-out, pared-down race car for the street that focussed more on dynamics and efficiency than the silly horsepower war the Germans have going on now. Differences between the M3 and the standard 3-series road car were significant: the body had beautifully rendered square steel fender flares to fit a wider track and fatter tires. The engine was a 2.3L 16v 4 cylinder that put out 195 horsepower in original trim. In the final Sport Evolution (or Evo III) trim, this was bumped up to 2.5L and with the help of higher compression and more aggressive cam timing, made 238 horsepower. This was good for a 6.2s 0-60 sprint and a 154mph top speed. While these numbers don’t sound especially impressive today (a V6 Altima is faster to sixty), this was a car that was truly about the experience. Telepathic steering, strong brakes, perfect balance and a feeling of the machine being alive and connected to the driver are all sorely lacking into today’s isolation-chamber M-Cars. Plus, it’s breathtakingly gorgeous. The kind of beauty that only comes from a race car that’s had wipers and carpet added to make it road-legal. Real car guys get it. Chicks who love Beetles don’t.
9) Porsche 914/4, Subaru EJ25ET swap
I’ve always had a soft-spot for the Porsche 914. For one thing, it’s quite pretty and weighs next to nothing. It has the engine mounted low down (it’s a flat-four) right in the middle of the chassis for perfect weight distribution and a very low moment of polar inertia. And also, it seems to be the red-headed stepchild of the Porsche community due to the fact that it’s got the engine from a VW Beetle in it.
That’s the weak point, to me. Sure, there are thousands of mail-order hot-rod parts you can buy for an old air-cooled VW engine, but what’s the point? You might break 100 wheel horsepower with a bored-out, high compression, hot-cammed airboxer. Or you could just put in a better engine. I know, this article says it needs a small-block Chevy. Sure, it’d be hoon-tastic. But to really preserve the spirit of the 914 but vastly improve it mechanically, you need to spend a bit more money than an old 350 TPI. You need a Subaru motor.
Subaru motors are perfect to swap into old airboxers because they are arranged the same - horizontally opposed four and six cylinders. Just stuff a new, stock EJ25 from the WRX STI in there, and you’ve got a 300-horsepower motor where there used to be 90. If that’s not enough, it’s not like there isn’t an aftermarket to get ridiculous power out of a Subaru engine already. and you mostly retain the fantastic weight balance as well!
10) Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
Every dream car garage needs a true dream car, a car worthy of a poster on a bedroom wall. For me, it’s Ferrari’s exquisite 599 GTB. The GTB is a front-engine V12-powered 2-seat coupe in the classic Ferrari tradition - a car Enzo would approve of, one that puts the horse BEFORE the carriage. The 599 is one of the rare cars that can simultaneously cossett, delight, and scare the crap out of it’s passengers. It’s a comfortable, and gorgeous, leather-lined Coupe with sharp lines courtesy of Pininfarina. It’s also got a version of the V12 engine from the Enzo supercar with an entirely adequate 620 horsepower and 442 ft-lbs of torque. A “sunday car” for sure. And as cliche as it is, it’s gotta be red.