I still stand by what I say about sleepers though. IMO...you can't buy a sleeper off the shelf. The nastiest sleeper is thought out and put together in a dark, evil garage. Some dude in an S6 that beats up on a (insert random car here) does not need to be proud. The car is marketed that way. Who cares about heated seats and luxury items?
Just lost a whole lotta points with me DJ..... friggin' Audi's??? Yuk.
Surprised that no one mentioned the '04 - '06 GTO's. Yeah, I'm a bit biased, but for the money, you get V8 grunt, and euro quality interior. It's the styling (or lack there of) that makes it a sleeper in my mind. De-badge it, take the spoiler off, and it looks similar to a cavalier..... until you hit the loud pedal.
5.7L 350hp LS1 in the '04's gets you 0-60 in 5.3, 6.0L 400hp LS2 gets 0-60 in 4.9. Drivetrain aftermarket is huge and affordable. $1,000 in mods would get you into the 500hp range quickly.
'04's can be had for under $20K, '05's for around $22,500, and still plenty of '06's on dealer lots.
It's got a cop motor: a 440 cubic inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is this the new Bluesmobile, or what?
Ummm, no. That's a bad ass pro/super stocker without the fancy paint job.
Come awn, that thing would announce it's arrival from blocks away and the 4-link and slicks are a dead giveaway. A true sleeper is a wolf in sheep's clothing - quiet and very stock looking.
It seems to me that you have a definite taste for the eorpean cars. A often overlooked alternative to a 5 series BMW, E-class Mercedes, A/S6 Audi is the Licoln LS. If you need horsepower you want a V8 model. From 2000 - 2003 they had 252 hp 2004 -2006 280 hp. The have a look that is very similar to a late 90's Bimmer. Most people don't really know what it is, and the cops kind of ignore it. The only bummer is that they are electronically limited to 132mph top speed. Not really worth a damn in the snow either. But if you want a sleeper it fits the bill. Fits four really comfortably and has enough luxury features to keep everbody happy. Go for a test drive and be surprised. Thats what happened to my buddy. Just another option for you though.
I'd say an early 90s Buick LeSabre. Had one of those that I was seriously considering turning into a sleeper, simply for the fact that its way more powerful than one would expect, and that one only had the 3.8 liter v6 in it. I hear tell there was a supercharged one made, I have no idea. But I DO know I could sit inside the engine bay when I was tinkering around with it, there was so much room, and it really doesn't look like much. In fact, my buick was so well-used (193k when I bought it) my friends lovingly referred to it as the 'hoopty.' (I have no idea whether I'm spelling that right or not.)
gee, I just saw the posts about cherokees. so I gues I should throw my wet dream in for my XJ. stroker her out to 4.8 and slap on a supercharger, with a 50lb dry shot of NOS. it'd require beefing the hell out of your drivetrain though, as you're looking at lots and lots of power all of a sudden. An option would be to further bore out the cylinders and drop in titanium sleeving in order to help the block last more than one, maybe two good takeoffs.
How about a buick? They look like they have a big engine bay for who knows, http://videos.streetfire.net/video/24e471f0-7dc0-4cd4-a366-985c00b72594.htm
My ultimate sleeper would have to be what almost all of us drive, i would love to see a LS1 in an xj, sure itd take a bit of work and you'd have to make sure that the body doesnt twist up but still.
This is kinda a sleeper not really but still cool. it has 37" swampers and Runs a 12.609 @101 mph on 1/4 mile. here is the link to other pics. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v11/fuzz401/?
not exactly a sleeper, but would you ever really expect it to keep up with a corvette? the world would be a much happier place if everyone had one for themselves
a guy up here in alaska has got an older suby wagon as in like the late 80s boxy body style thats turbod and has been hevaly moded low 12sec 1/4 mile car ..i need to try to find some old pics i have of it but he had a sticker on the back that said (you just got beat by a wagon)lol