| A lot of cool cars were made in the 1980's and many | | | | supercharged version of the Thunderbird also. Ford |
| can be bought for cheap. Many of these sport cars | | | | also produced the lightening which was a powerful |
| can handle and perform equal or better than many | | | | AWD truck. Dodge/Mitsubishi made a turbocharged |
| new cars for similar or less money. There were | | | | charger and omni which made descent power and |
| impressive import and domestic cars and a | | | | was light. They also produced the turbo eclipse and |
| reasonable variety of each. Lets go through a list of | | | | the TSI. Also they produced the stealth. |
| cars by their manufacturers starting with domestic | | | | Imports finally had a chance to fit into the |
| cars. Unfortunately tightened emission specs limited | | | | performance scene. Most already came with smaller |
| the horsepower potential of the 1980's era cars, so | | | | engines now needed to pass emissions. Many imports |
| some cars will be judged more on their handling | | | | also had turbos which allowed for easy power |
| abilities. One way to beat the stricter emissions | | | | improvements. Nissan had the 300 ZX 240sx and the |
| standards was to use a smaller engine with a turbo | | | | Datsun 240, 260, 280 z and 280zx which were good |
| to increase the horsepower. | | | | starting platforms for performance. Mazda had the |
| GM stayed with it's traditional V8 engine with the | | | | rx7 which was a very light car with a high power |
| Camaro, Trans Am, Monte Carlo, Regal, Cutlass and | | | | rotary engine. The 323gtx was also a fun tunable car. |
| the Corvette. Although none of these cars were | | | | Mazda also came out with the Miata at the end of |
| known for their exceptional power, all could be | | | | the decade. |
| modified to make good power. Buick even produced | | | | Toyota made the Celica and the supra which both |
| a performance version of their regal model called the | | | | performed well and could be heavily modified. Toyota |
| grand national. It used a turbo v6 engine that could | | | | also made the mid engine MR-2 which performed well. |
| make a lot of power. After it's success Pontiac came | | | | Honda made the prelude and the crx which used light |
| out with its own version called TTA which stood for | | | | weight cars to perform. |
| turbo trans am. Pontiac also came out with the Fiero. | | | | European performance cars include the Porsche |
| Ford produced the mustang which generally used a | | | | 911and 944 among almost every model made by |
| v8 engine with exception of the SVO. The SVO like | | | | them. BMW also had many good models such as the |
| the Buick used a turbo to make power out of its | | | | M3. Audi, Volvo, Mercedes all had performance cars |
| four cylinder engine. Ford offered a turbo and | | | | also but were geared more toward luxury. |