It isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, for sure, but if you can’t look at this Toyota Starlet and at least appreciate the engineering and build that propels this 2,055 pound hatchback, then we’re sorry for you. This is how far you can take a platform that most Americans remember as the Toyota Paseo coupe and Tercel while using the 1.5L 5E-FE four-banger engine out of the Paseo. In stock form, the four would make 100 horsepower and 91 ft/lbs of torque. This Starlet is cranking out well over 400hp at the wheels, courtesy of a Turbonetics turbo and nitrous. Sure, it looks like an extremely angry breath mint and sounds like a competition chainsaw, but the quarter-mile times tell the story: this is a serious little bastard!
