Top 7 TINY Cars With an INSANE Engine

Seven small cars fitted with engines that had no business being anywhere near them — from a 993cc Daihatsu that briefly out-specced Ferrari on power per litre, to a one-off Golf carrying a Bentley-derived W12 behind the driver's head. This countdown works through the homologation specials, factory skunkworks projects and outright engineering dares that turned ordinary hatchbacks into something far stranger. Along the way you'll get the context behind each build: why Talbot handed its rear-wheel-drive Sunbeam over to Lotus and won a world title on the way to going bust, how Nissan's Pulsar GTI-R earned the "Baby Godzilla" nickname while its rally programme quietly failed, and why Peugeot's 205 T16 — mid-engined, four-wheel drive, and sharing almost nothing with a road-going 205 — remains one of the smartest exploitations of a rulebook in motorsport history. There's also the Mercedes-AMG A45 S and its record-holding M139 four-cylinder, and both phases of the Renault Clio V6, including exactly what Renault Sport changed in 2003 to make the car less inclined to spit its driver into a hedge. Chapters: 07 – Daihatsu Charade GTti 06 – Talbot Sunbeam Lotus 05 – Nissan Pulsar GTI-R 04 – Mercedes-AMG A45 S 03 – Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 02 – Renault Clio V6 01 – Volkswagen Golf GTI W12-650 Specifications, weights, production numbers and competition history are covered for each entry, along with what these cars are worth now and why several of them have become genuinely collectible. Motor Essence covers the engineering stories behind unusual, overlooked and over-engineered cars. Contact: motoressenceofficial@gmail.com © Motor Essence 2026