Awesome underrated autos?

[MontuckyFried]

I miss my old 81 200SX sometimes. RWD, 2 liter hemi with 2 spark plugs per cylinder, 4.56 rear, stripped interior and a high pressure coca cola/used oil squirter on the back of the car to make people stop tailgating. Fast, 35mpg and handled like it was on rails.

Oh yeah! Buddy had one in high school, and man that car was an absolute blast. It was really sad to see how Nissan took the 200SX from a truly enjoyable RWD platform to the econobox FWD pos that it ended up being in its last form.

Come to think of it, it truly is a shame that kids today don't have as much of easy access to as many fun, cheap cars as we had. I went to high school in the late 90s and I had a mid 80s Supra, my brother had an RX-7 (I got one a little after high school), among my friends there was a Corolla GT-S (AE86), a Celica GT-S, a 280Z, a 300Z, a 240SX, the above mentioned 200SX turbo, a couple Preludes, a few Camaros/Firebirds/TAs, a couple Subaru XTs, one buddy was blessed with an SVX, and there are few more I'm probably forgetting at the moment. I did not go to a rich school at all either. Very working class. Most of us worked crap jobs in order to buy these cars, but back then you could pick up just about any of these cars for only a couple grand. Anywhere from 1k-5k at the most. Plus they were cheap to work on. That's probably why most of us didn't have German cars, except for a couple friends with a VW Thing, and another with a Vanagon (both super fun for high school kids). With only a few exceptions like the Preludes and Subies, what we all wanted (and was easy to get back then) was rear wheel drive, stick shift, and good handling. Although our friends with the Camarobirds were faster than us in a straight line, we'd absolutely school them on twisty roads. Most of our cars were NOT fast by today's standards, but damn were they fun. The 80s/90s sure were the heyday of the Japanese auto makers. While most of us drove 80s Jap sports cars, we all dreamed of 3000GT VR-4s, 300ZX TTs, Supra TTs, RX-7s, and NSXs. Those were the days... /Get off my lawn rant

[MontuckyFried]

What about the 87 Isuzu Impulse Turbo? Fast, well balanced with a Lotus suspension and it got great mpg.

Now THAT is what I believe this thread should be all about. Before Isuzu was only about trucks and crap, they made the Impulse which rocked (before they made the last one that was essentially a Geo Storm). I used to think that car was SO cool when I was a kid. OP wanted to discuss "awesome underrated autos"? This is definitely one of them.

Read this: http://jalopnik.com/5971583/forgotte...urbo-hatchback

[iceman]

Kinda depends on your definition of aesome I guess, but after the kids beating on this for the past 4 years, now that they're in college I've gotten it all the way back to cherry. Lots of body work, complete new suspension and compressor, new engine mounts, new headlight unit (fuck that was expensive), yadda yadda. Bought new in '04, 130K on it.Runs like a champ, thing's a tank.

[guroo270]

My ex-in-laws had one of those all roads. Suuuper fun when the turbos hit you in the face and push your head back. If you want to describe turbo lag to anyone, that's the vehicle to do it in.

They sold it because it needed new headlights. Those fuckers ARE expensive.

[Conundrum]

My take wasn't value exotics, was great cars that didn't get the recognition they deserve and are therefore affordable now.

I'll throw the Lexus LX450 in this realm. It's the exact same front solid axle as a Landcruiser except for the badging but can be found $2-3k less because it's not a "Landcruiser". So you are buying what was originally a $60k car for $5k, putting an $900 suspension on it and easily wheeling with any current day Rubicons for about $25-30k less.