The Term “Sleeper” Is Thrown Around Too Much

[gutbucket]

I am a big Sleeper car fan and sometimes write about them on my car blog - I even have a Sleeper G+page devoted to them.


After trawling the net for Sleeper-related articles and lists, I noticed how the true sense of the word "Sleeper" is starting to get both lost and confused. The likes of the M, AMG and RS badges are creeping into the lists, cars obviously built for speed. I wrote a Sleeper car piece on the points I thought made a true Sleeper car.


What are your favourite Sleeper cars?

[Birdman]

Have to admit there was a time when I thought the M, AMG and RS had the sleeper credentials down pat. Case in point M5s up to the E39 seemed to hold this with a single M badge on the rear and look not too dissimilar to the mainstream models. Those that came later seem to have to have an M badge on every side.

As for favourites: Volvo V50 T5 AWD as well as the S/V60 Polestar( as long as it's not in Polestar blue), Nissan Stagea and obviously the E39 M5.

[roosterjuicer]

The best sleeper I've ever known was a friend of mines mid 90's Oldsmobile Achieva.

This was during the late 90's/early 2000's which history will refer to as "around when The Fast and The Furious came out and everyone with a Honda Civic thought they had a race car."

The Achieva had the 3800 V6 and seems to have been geared relatively aggressively for what the car was. It was a world beater (and by world I mean my high school). To this day that car has never lost to a Honda. There is no greater joy in life than seeing a relatively spoiled upper middle class kid who has spent many thousands on mufflers and "clear corners" get destroyed by a bone stock, dust covered, Oldsmobile.

[Ferrer]

Have to admit there was a time when I thought the M, AMG and RS had the sleeper credentials down pat. Case in point M5s up to the E39 seemed to hold this with a single M badge on the rear and look not too dissimilar to the mainstream models. Those that came later seem to have to have an M badge on every side.

Indeed, and not only badges, but multitude of exhausts and chintzy bodykits. They are, on most occasions, just ghastly.

On the other hand, these days, they are not that different from top end regular versions in terms of actual mechanicals.

[NSXType-R]

My favorite sleeper is the Subaru WRX wagon and the previous Legacy 2.5 GT. Both will modify easily and be very fast.

[jcp123]

Agreed on Volvo wagons - bad dudes in dowdy clothing! For me it's the quintessential sleeper.

[speedy_2]

I LOVE sleepers and agree with the OP. What I would consider a sleeper, most people give it no thought. Even when they do find out it has something potent under the hood. More people now want show than go. And, it seems like manufacturers are offering it more and more now. You can get a lower performing car, with all the showy stuff. Which is kinda the opposite of sleepers I guess?

Remember the Neon SRT-Design? lol

[Trailbreaker]

It's better to have a plain jane automobile that has the ability to be fast. That way it doesn't draw as much attention from the cops.

[AutoTransporter]

The term does get thrown around too much. When I imagine a sleeper I think of a car that looks like the lower end vehicle. Nowadays the low end Mustang for example looks like the the 5.0. But before you would see the one with the small wheels, no wing, no ground effects and automatically think it was the "cheap and slow" one. But under the hood it's another story. That is my idea of a sleeper.