Turbochargers are quickly becoming ubiquitous today in several categories of cars, and for good reason — though somewhat complicated, turbochargers offer a whole host of advantages. For the most part, we commonly associate them with a certain style of car, usually ones that are fast. After all, we almost involuntarily associate the word “turbo” with speed, like going turbo mode in a video game. Turbochargers are also great at squeezing fuel efficiency out of smaller engines, which is one reason why Ford uses EcoBoost engines in just about everything under the sun.
But these are all typical uses for turbochargers. One would expect to hear the characteristic sounds emanating from, say, a souped-up Japanese tuner or a peppy little Fiesta ST, stuff like that. But there are some cars that simply don’t fit that mold at all — cars you would never expect to pack a turbo, or even multiple turbos under the hood. That could be for a variety of reasons, too; maybe the car is otherwise quite pedestrian and unassuming, or it’s from an era where this technology was uncommon in that body type. Either way, it’s funky and interesting just for existing.
In this article, we’ll narrow down the list based on stuff that truly falls outside the norm. A lot of modern cars come with turbo V6s in place of V8s, or turbo three- or four-cylinder engines for efficiency’s sake. So we’ll eliminate those because it’s essentially expected in this day and age, with naturally-aspirated big engines being the oddballs. In other words, expect plenty of old cars with intriguing stories behind them.
1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire: Turbo-Rocket V8
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General Motors was a hotbed of development in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Corvette introduced fuel injection in 1957, the GTO give rise to the Muscle Era in 1963, the Toronado was a sensational and incredibly advanced car in its own right in 1966, and it was also America’s first ever turbocharged car. Introducing the 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire, a borderline experimental creation even by GM’s standards of the era.
The Jetfire and its turbocharged V8 was one of a host of innovative developments during this time; though not as radical as something like the Chrysler Turbine that debuted a year later, it still represented the beginning of a brand-new era of cars. One which largely went unsung over the noise of big block V8s, not to mention the technology being in its infancy in this application. Make no mistake, despite its historical significance, the Jetfire was loathed at the time for being a finicky, unreliable engine, to the point where hardly any are left in running order today.
Taken in context, the Jetfire was yet another random curiosity of the Jet Age — a car with strange technology for the sake of having strange technology. It was certainly ahead of its time as well, with hardly any auto mechanics equipped with the knowledge to even work on turbochargers in the first place. But its little Turbo-Rocket 215 V8, as it was called, is certainly not something one would expect to find under the hood of what’s otherwise a rather ordinary-looking 1960s hardtop. That goes for any era, too, with people today likely even more stunned to learn that such a car was, in fact, turbocharged well before it was cool.
1992 Bugatti EB 110: Quad-turbo V12
Cast your mind back to 1991, pre-Internet for most of us. Turbochargers were in vogue, to be sure, found in everything from JDM monsters like the Nissan Skyline and Toyota Supra, to exotic European sports cars like the Porsche 911 Turbo. Moreover, a few unexpected cars did show up as well, such as the twin turbo-powered Ferrari F40. What’s so special about this car, then? For Bugatti, it wasn’t necessarily quality, but rather quantity.
Typically a V12 is naturally-aspirated, and most of them certainly were in the 1980s and 1990s. The BMW 750 and 850, the McLaren F1, the early concepts of the Jaguar XJ220, the Lamborghini Countach and later Diablo — all these were naturally-aspirated V12s. Turbochargers were still considered somewhat niche, though regular cars, like the oddball Saab 900 Turbo, did have them. Combining these two into one package, then bumping it up all the way to not just one, but four turbos — that’s something only Bugatti would do. That monstrosity was revealed on September 15, 1991, to a stunned audience witnessing one of the world’s first hypercars making its debut: the EB 110.
The EB 110 was, in a word, extreme, even by 1990s hypercar standards. Considering the era, you can forget about assists, obviously, but you do get a carbon fiber monocoque, AWD, wild styling, and an F1-inspired 3.5-liter V12 happily revving to 8,250 RPM. Again, it has four turbos bolted onto it, easily tipping the engine over the 600 hp mark. While certainly not uncommon today, those were crazy numbers in 1992; bear in mind that the McLaren F1 needed 6.1 naturally-aspirated liters with its V12 to get similar power figures. Oh, it also led to Bugatti’s bankruptcy, another fun fact.
Chrysler PT Cruiser GT: 2.4L single turbo inline-4
Among all of the cars that have ever existed, the Chrysler/Plymouth PT Cruiser is certainly one of them. Okay, it doesn’t have many fans — though the fans it does have tend to be quite fervent about it, and it’s somewhat notorious for being underpowered, poor-quality, relatively unreliable, boring to drive, an absolute eyesore to look at, among other subjective and objective criticisms. However, Chrysler did have a few tricks up the PT Cruiser’s sleeve to set it apart — it came as a convertible, for one. It had a manual transmission as standard. And, pertinent to our discussion, the GT package featured a turbocharger.
The Chrysler PT Cruiser GT, more simply known as the Chrysler GT Cruiser, was the rough equivalent of something like the Dodge Neon SRT4 — a performance variant of an otherwise pedestrian car, and the two shared some DNA as well. Introduced in 2003, the GT Cruiser’s engine pushed a respectable 215 horses through the front wheels, upped to 220 in 2004. There was also a detuned 180 hp variant, both of which were available with a choice of a Getrag five-speed manual, or an AutoStick four-speed automatic.
No, the GT Cruiser was never a true sports car, nor did it tout itself as one. But the fact that you could get a 220 hp manual in a PT Cruiser of all things — that’s cool. It doesn’t improve on much of the car’s overall detriments, sure, but that’s missing the point. This car exists solely to win the “weird” category in car shows, something 2000s Chrysler is strangely good at. See the Viper-powered Dodge Ram SRT-10, one of Dodge vehicles with a V10, for example.
Buick Verano: 2.0T EcoTec
It’s tough to get more regular than a Buick Verano. Upon first glance, this car is basically a Chevrolet Cruze in a business suit, which has been Buick’s whole MO since 1988 after the downfall of Darth Vader’s Car, the GNX. Cars like the Regal became shadows of their formerly menacing selves, re-establishing Buick as an exclusively luxury brand. Every once in a while, however, a little fun slips through those well-smoothed cracks. In this case, it came in the shape of the 2013 Buick Verano.
This was no ordinary Verano, though. In fact, Buick didn’t just give customers the option to equip a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, but one fitted with a manual transmission as well. Yeah, really — you could get a Buick sedan with 250 hp and 260 lb-ft with a six-speed manual. This sort of thing became popular in GM’s later sedans — big power and a three-pedal setup in a luxury package, like the Chevrolet SS or Cadillac CT5 Blackwing, the latter of which is sadly discontinued. That being said, all of this on a compact Buick sedan is truly random, making this car a total sleeper.
The actual option you need for this is the Premium package, buried deep in the sales brochure past all the luxury options. The only exterior signs are a small lip spoiler and dual exhaust tips, so blink and you’ll miss it. Even stranger still is that not only is it a Buick, but this car arrived at the very beginning of the modern trends of putting small-displacement turbos in everything and the resurgence of the manual transmission in enthusiast cars, so it was just as novel and unexpected in 2013.
Ford Mustang SVO: 2.3L Turbo Lima inline-4
When you think of a performance Mustang, what comes to mind? Most people would list a small block V8 somewhere in there, if not a big block like in the Boss 429 or Shelby GT500. Then we have modern Mustangs which come with EcoBoost four-cylinders that accept good power, and we’re used to that at this point. But back in the 1980s, when turbocharging was still in its adolescence, it was an uncommon sight.
This was a time marred with choked emissions and underpowered V8s, thanks to the Second Oil Crisis — the Malaise Era. American muscle cars needed to think differently. Enter Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations department, or SVO for short, creating what became the Mustang SVO. On paper, this thing looks positively bizarre. You have a Pinto engine with a turbocharger, how is that good? This was especially pertinent considering it debuted after the controversy that was the Pontiac Turbo Trans Am. It wasn’t even Ford’s first turbo Mustang — that one came in 1979. But these were different times, and Ford needed the power and fuel efficiency that turbos were starting to provide.
Did it work, though? Well, yes and no. In hindsight, critics argue that the Mustang SVO was a pivotal vehicle in the lineup. It not only combined the turbocharged power, but also the handling and balance from the motorsport-hardened SVO team with suspension and brake upgrades, among other add-ons like functional aero. Sadly, they certainly didn’t sell well at the time, but it nonetheless represents the first post-Oil Crisis high-performance Mustang and the birth of Ford’s SVT program — and an unexpected turbo car, to boot.