Small Car Big Engine

[Peter C]

The Sunbeam Lotus springs to mind, which hides a twin cam 2.2 litre engine in a three door hatchback shell.

 The Rover R8 had a twin cam 2.0 litre engine, again in a smallish hatchback body.

My father in law once had a mid 2000s shape Clio fitted with a 1.9dCi engine, admittedly in a 5 door shell.

What’s the biggest engine in a small car that you can think of? Modified cars don’t count.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Sunbeam Tiger springs to mind, oh and AC Cobra obviously in big block form with it's 427 cubic inches (a smidgen under 7 litres) of V8 goodness.

 

[Garythesnail]

MGBGTV8  or MGRV8. Both quite compact with 3.5 and 3.9 engines.

[bunglebus]

Ford Capri, only car I can think of available as a  1.3 and a 3.1

 

Plus the Perana

 

[Cooper1]

Renault sport clio V6

[Noel Tidybeard]

chevette 2.3 hs

clito v6

[timolloyd]

V6 Golfs, W12 Passat

[Noel Tidybeard]

a pisswet isnt really smoll now is it ?

[stuboy]

mate had 1 of these in 1.9 diesel guise.. went well for non turbo too

[Zelandeth]

W12 Passat is probably the most ridiculous one I've come across too...not a small car but utterly bonkers engine to shoe horn into it.

So someone who grew up with Metros and such, the 1.5TD in the Corsa B felt pretty special.  A car that size with a turbo (diesel or otherwise) was a bit odd.  Went well once I knocked the restrictor out the air intake too.

[Fabergé Greggs]

A bit obvious but the 1.9 205 Gti & Clio 172/182

[SpareSnare]

147 GTA 3.2

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[SpareSnare]

Nowt likely to beat the ridiculous Aston Cygnet...

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[Fabergé Greggs]

Just now, SpareSnare said:

Nowt likely to beat the ridiculous Aston Cygnet...

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Are you named Spare Snare after the Dundee band Spare snare? 

[motorpunk]

Clio V6.

[SpareSnare]

Are you named Spare Snare after the Dundee band Spare snare? 

Yup!

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[Tadhg Tiogar]

Golf 4R32. 

[Heidel_Kakao]

17 minutes ago, SpareSnare said:

Nowt likely to beat the ridiculous Aston Cygnet...

I would put that into the modified car category as they only made one with a V8 so it's not really a production car.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 minutes ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

I would put that into the modified car category as they only made one so it's not really a production car.

The rest of the production Cygnets were as underwhelming as the iQ they were based on.

[Bradders59]

Chevette HS. I bought one in 1979 when I was 19. Had it for nearly 4 years and nothing Ive had since has come close for pure unadulterated fun.

[rantingYoof]

As fas as I can remember you could buy the Corsa C with the 120hp 1.8 16v from the Astra. Must have gone very well!

[Dannyk]

Yes I'm biased, yes I'm a weirdo but that polos ^^^ hot

Mk3 golf vr6 (2.8 v6)

 

[5speedracer]

Chevette HS. I bought one in 1979 when I was 19. Had it for nearly 4 years and nothing Ive had since has come close for pure unadulterated fun.

A 19year old in an HS 2300, can't believe it lasted 4 years without being written off!

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[Schaefft]

40 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

W12 Passat is probably the most ridiculous one I've come across too...not a small car but utterly bonkers engine to shoe horn into it.

So someone who grew up with Metros and such, the 1.5TD in the Corsa B felt pretty special.  A car that size with a turbo (diesel or otherwise) was a bit odd.  Went well once I knocked the restrictor out the air intake too.

You guys mean the W8 right? The W12 was available in the Phaeton.

Regarding V8s in Passat sized cars: C43 AMG, V8 CLKs, anything Golf sized with a V6 (Alfas).

[warch]

Bmw 325 ti Compact. Still quite fancy one of those.

[bunglebus]

55 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

W12 Passat is probably the most ridiculous one I've come across too...not a small car but utterly bonkers engine to shoe horn into it.

So someone who grew up with Metros and such, the 1.5TD in the Corsa B felt pretty special.  A car that size with a turbo (diesel or otherwise) was a bit odd.  Went well once I knocked the restrictor out the air intake too.

 

56 minutes ago, stuboy said:

mate had 1 of these in 1.9 diesel guise.. went well for non turbo too

Having worked at VW and seen a W12 getting removed and rebuilt, I can confirm it it literally fills the engine bay in every direction. We also had a 9N Polo GT, 1.9 TDI 6 speed, what a great sleeper that was!

[155V6]

Alfa 147 GTA

Just seen it's already been posted ?

Metro 6R4 then ?

[Crackers]

Mk5 Seat Ibiza, 2.0tdi. 

I was seriously considering one for quite a while, I quite fancy having ALL THE TORQUE in a tiny car. A tad smoll for my usage, but still quite tempting.

 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

oh and AC Cobra obviously in big block form with it's 427 cubic inches (a smidgen under 7 litres) of V8 goodness.

One could argue that AC's own Model 70 also belongs in this thread 

given it replaced the very similar Looking Model 67 much like the Cobra replaced the Ace!

with the Model 67 having a 8.5Hp 197cc single cylinder Villiers engine and a top speed of about 45Mph, compared to the Model 70's 20HP 493cc flat twin and a top speed of 82Mph!

if we look at it regarding percentages, it actually matches the Ace vs Cobra quite well, for example both the Cobra and the Model 70 had over twice the amount of power the model they replaced

the Model 70 even had flared wheel arches like the Cobra LOL

Model 67

Model 70

 

its all relative I guess LOL

 

[Six-cylinder]

Triumph Vitesse 6 cylinder, 2.0 Ltr, 104 bhp in 940kg, 3.9 m long, nothing today but in 1968!

And I have a 2.5 132 bhp to fit................