Five Super Subtle ‘Sleepers’ – and the Powerflex Parts You Should Fit to Them
There’s a time and a place for out and out sports and supercars, the kind of cars which do little to disguise their performance potential and often exist to cultivate admiring glances from passersby. These cars are all well and good, but what if you fancy something that mixes speed with a certain degree of subtlety? Well, then you need something a little more subdued, an under the radar ‘Q car,’ or as they’re more commonly known nowadays, ‘sleepers.’
Sleepers can take many forms and can be had for varying forms, taking in subtle hot hatches at one end of the scale, right up to mighty, V8 powered ‘uber saloons’ with genuine supercar humbling potential. With this in mind, we thought it high time we take another dive into the classifieds to see what’s out there in terms of sleeper content, plus a Powerflex product we’ve found works well with the car in question.
1 – BMW 335d
There’s a lot to be said for going down the used BMW diesel route, all the more so if you’re able to unearth a 335d. There have been a number of generations of Munich’s mega coal burner over the years but we’d be tempted to hunt out an E9* 3-Series, if only as its striking good looks have aged very well indeed – you’d never guess it was the best part of a decade old at this point in time! The 335d dates from a time which feels like a lifetime ago in automotive terms, an era devoid of diesel-based snark and long before VW’s infamous ‘diesel-gate.’
Overlook the 3-Series’ oil burning power plant, however, and you’ll be treated to a brutal, capable performance car, one with enough torque (424 lb./ft) to spin the earth and a handy 265bhp, all thanks to a six-pot engine. It might not win you any friends over at Greenpeace, but it’s hard to deny the 335d’s appeal.
The E9* 3-Series is very well catered to by the Powerflex range so you can’t really go wrong, though we’d be tempted to go for this Front Control Arm to Chassis Bush kit, particularly if your car is getting on in miles – https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/product-details/Front+Control+Arm+To+Chassis+Bush/1875.html
2 – Mazda 3 MPS
Mazda isn’t exactly known for its hot hatch offerings in any shape or form, which is probably why the performance version of the 3, the MPS, is so frequently overlooked, and all this despite it being a staggeringly capable car. It can’t have helped that the MPS was front-wheel drive and looked positively demure compared to many of its more high profile rivals, the likes of the Focus ST (a car it shares its chassis with) and Astra VXR being but two examples or that received little publicity at launch.
The points outlined above make the MPS a no-brainer for inclusion on this list, all the more so if you’re put off by the brasher, more obvious offerings from the hot hatch ‘usual suspects.’ More to the point the MPS is a highly capable bit of kit, with 256bhp from its 2.3 Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engine, all routed through a mechanical LSD and with Mazda’s trick steering-angle-sensitive throttle damping system, making it a fun thing to chuck about. What’s not to love?
Click through to see what we can supply for the MPS, including the all-important Anti-Roll Bar bushes, known to give up the ghost on long-legged cars – https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/Mazda+3+BK+%282004-2009%29-2669/1.html
3 – VW Passat/Bora V6 4Motion
The very definition of a sleeper, both the Passat and the Bora could be had in 4Motion forms, which as you’ve probably already guessed meant they left the line with all-wheel drive, certainly a handy thing to have in any performance-focused car (even if the performance element is very, very well disguised). Having all four wheels driven is only part of the appeal, however, the other being power, in this case from the VW Group 24v V6, a characterful, great sounding motor with plenty of torque and buckets of old-school charm. It all adds up to a highly appealing package, albeit one best left for those not too fussed about MPG of fuel economy.
Click through to check out the full range of Powerflex bushes for the all-wheel-drive Wolfsburg sleeper – https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/Bora+4+Motion+%281999-2005%29-3071/1.html
4 – Jaguar XJR 4.2 V8
Big, comfy and will unmatched ‘waft’ potential, there really is little to top a powerful Jaaaaaag. OK, so no Jag could really be called a sleeper, they tend to command too much attention for that, but few would guess the full performance potential for the 4.2 V8-powered XJR, complete with an utterly addictive supercharger thrown in for good measure. The result is a stupidly comfy saloon with a full 400bhp at its beck and call, all wrapped up a beautifully styled, all aluminium body shell, which makes for a very tempting proposition indeed.
The XJR might have been lightweight affairs by Jaguar standards, but that’s not saying very much, not on a car of this size! This (and the poke of that V8) means that there’s every chance that its bushes will need some TLC, those for the lower arms in particular – https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/products/XJ%2C+XJ8+-+X350+-+X358+%282003-2009%29-3024/1.html
5 – Volvo V70 T5
We couldn’t put together a list of subtle performance cars without including something Swedish, and it came to a toss between a Volvo or a Saab. We plumped for the former as it can be hard in archetypal V70 estate form, adding a further cloak of normality to what is an impressively potent (if hugely unassuming) kit of kit. The reason the T5 variant of the V70 is so pokey is its engine, a 2.4L five-pot, so it’s just an exhaust swap away from sounding ever so slightly like a classic Audi Quattro, which should be all the incentive you need.
The T5 can call upon 260bhp, all sent through the front wheels and the front wheels alone, so don’t go expecting MX5 levels of cornering poise, but then that’s beside the point – plus an MX5 can’t carry five folk and a boot full of ‘stuff!’
The OEM Rear Subframe Bushes are known to corrode and eventually fail, so upgrading yours to Powerflex equivalents makes a great deal of sense – https://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-series/product-details/Rear+Subframe+Front+Bush+Inserts/12356.html
