8 Fast And Cheap Turbo'd Cars You'll Love To Modify

We live in a golden age when some, ahem, pleasantly rapid turbocharged cars can be bought for delightfully piddly sums of cash. Which is absolutely smashing, and something we here at Car Throttle will never tire of celebrating.

But subscribers to the Clarkson School of Thought will always maintain that more power is better. And when more power’s as much of a bargain as the car you're injecting it into – as it so often is with easy-to-tweak turbos – we can’t help but agree with them. So here’s our run-down of some of the best-value, biggest-potential turbo’d cars around, to prove that big power need not be the exclusive domain of the wealthy.

1. Saab 9-5 Aero

Okay, so Saab’s gone down the swanny somewhat, and many people imagine that that makes the remaining cars a bit of a risky buy. But with plenty of expert specialists out there to look after them, and parts readily available through a selection of aftermarket sources, that false perception shouldn’t put you off. Especially as it’s driven prices down to bargain basement levels - early 227bhp cars can now be had for around a grand, though if you can stretch to it, the facelifted 247bhp model feels tighter to drive.

Power? There’s plenty of that. A simple remap from a company like Maptun, combined with an exhaust and air filter, can bring even the 227bhp car up to 275bhp for under £1,000, or for a bit more cash, it’s possible to see even greater gains – think around the 320bhp mark with an uprated turbo. And if you’re still in doubt, remember: Prince William delivered the Duchess of Cambridge to hospital to give birth to our future king in... a 9-5 Aero. We wonder whether it was remapped.

2. B5 Audi S4

Although B5 S4s manage to be both powerful and a little dull in standard form, after a spot of work, they can quite easily see scorching power levels – more than enough to make them exciting. Three grand or thereabouts is enough to get you an early example with reasonable mileage these days – and with a simple remap giving well over 300bhp before you even start doing anything mechanical, it’s easy to see why they’re popular.

A word of warning, though: S4s might be cheap to buy, but they aren’t cheap to run, so make sure you’ve got readies to hand when something goes wrong.

3. Skoda Octavia vRS

Audi a bit risky for you? How’s about this instead? Also hailing from the VW Group, the Octavia vRS has a reasonably potent 177bhp as standard, and can now be had for under £2,000, with a bit of haggling.

Not bad, but the clincher is that an extra 30bhp – or thereabouts – is only a £300-odd remap away. Add an exhaust, filter and a Stage 2 tune, and you can be looking at a very healthy 235bhp – all for around a £700 outlay on top of the car itself. 235bhp for around two-and-a-half g’s sounds pretty good to us!

4. SEAT Leon Cupra

But if it’s still too pricey for you, have a look at the SEAT Leon Cupra. Early cars are pretty bland to look at, but that just means they make exceptionally good sleepers. And as they feature the same 1.8-litre 20v turbo as the Octavia, the same tuning costs apply.

Bearing in mind the fact that a decent early Cupra can be had for £1,500, that means 235bhp on tap for a little over two grand. And as it looks so similar to the stock Leon, nobody would be any the wiser!

5. Subaru Impreza

It’s a fair bet that everyone will expect an Impreza to be pretty pokey. So it might surprise you to learn that early standard UK cars are not all that quick, with only 197bhp in the tank.

However, throw a grand at one of these and you’ll see that figure shoot up to 300bhp or thereabouts. Now, that might sound like a lot to spend on tweaks after the comparatively cheap-to-mod VW Group cars, but when an honest early Impreza can be had for around £1,500, it makes that 300bhp accessible for under £3,000. That’s £10 per horse. Which ain’t a lot in our book. And we haven’t even mentioned the ‘classic boxer warble’, ‘limpet-like grip’, or ‘rally-bred heritage’, to quote from the Motoring Journo’s Book of Cliches, that any mention of an Impreza must surely be followed by. All of which are, nevertheless, bally good reasons to buy one.

6. Subaru Forester Turbo

But of course, the Impreza is a pretty common sight on the roads nowadays, and as we’ve already said, everyone expects one to be quick. The Forester, however, is a juicy Scooby snack reserved only for those in the know. Look at it. It's no oil painting, is it? And that’s the key to its charm. Because behind a face only a mother could love, it hides the same running gear as the Impreza – which means all the performance potential, with a huge wodge of sleeper thrown in to boot.

And the best part is Forester Turbos are usually even cheaper than their Impreza brethren – check out this W-plater for a stonking £1,400 before haggling!

7. Volvo C70 T5

Of course, whether you pick the Forester or the Impreza, the main caveats of Subaru ownership have always been cheap styling and a low-rent interior. For something altogether classier, how’s about this rather handsome... um... Volvo?

Yes, there was once a time when those two words wouldn’t sit well together, but the C70 changed all that. But you still get all that cosseting Swedish-style comfort. So why so cheap? Simple, really: people who want a coupe don’t fancy a Volvo; and those who want a Volvo would rather have an estate. Which leaves the C70 as one of the performance bargains of the moment.

The standard car comes with 237bhp, but with a simple remap from a tuner like Rica, that can be bumped up by a faintly astonishing 69bhp. The cost? Usually somewhere around the £500 mark. Bringing your 306bhp, 2003-model C70 up to a grand total cost of around £1,800. OK, so it’ll be a bit of a handful through the front wheels at low speeds, but then again, does that much power come much cheaper? We don’t think so.

8. Ford Focus

"Wait a minute," you’re thinking. "A Focus isn’t turbo’d unless an RS, which you can’t afford. Or a diesel. And you wouldn’t try to pass off a diesel Focus as a performance car, now, would you?"

Well, don’t worry – no we wouldn’t. But bear with us here, because we've got a left-field suggestion for the DIY modifiers out there. A humdrum family hatch it may be, but the Focus has always been a real pleasure to drive fast – and its commonness means it’s spectacularly cheap. So, bag yourself one with a knackered engine – a 2.0-litre like this one is ideal, though you might prefer to hunt for a three-door – and then get yourself equipped with the turbocharged engine and six-speed, LSD-equipped gearbox from a Mk1 Focus RS.

A combination of the two should set you back around £2,000 and if you’ve the mechanical skill to fit it yourself, you’ll end up with an instant 212bhp sleeper. Spend a further grand on uprated suspension and brakes, and voila, a car with all the talent of a Mk1 Focus RS, for around half the cost. Tasty!