#mysleeperbuild - Have I gone too far?!?

I think the ultimate starting point for a sleeper is a car that petrolheads associate with slowness. A car designed for efficiency and utilitarianism with not a drop of emotion. A car driven by environmentalists who want to show that they’re “saving the planet”. Yes, I will be building a Toyota Prius.

Now, the first thing I need to do is throw out the hybrid system because it adds weight. While I’m at it, I’ll remove that puny 1.8-litre Atkinson-cycle engine as well because it’s no better. Out go as much of the rear seats as possible (only leaving the top bit that would be seen from the outside). You said four doors, but nothing about four seats! I’ll throw out everything that can’t be seen from the outside, and I’ll add in plenty of carbon-fibre strengthening hidden from view.

They say that when doing engine swaps, you should “keep it within the family”. So of course I’m using an engine from Toyota’s group. Cue the 1LR-GUE.

That probably doesn’t mean much to you, so I’ll just leave this picture here:

Yep, I’m using a Lexus LFA engine. 552 horsepower and a limiter of 9,500 RPM. I’ll stick it in the front. But that isn’t nearly enough. I’m taking a SECOND LFA ENGINE and hiding it where the rear seats were. Both get some tuning to allow them to rev even higher and make ridiculous power. I’ll convert them to E85 for more power and to make the Prius live up to its green image.

Let’s also add the Dodge Demon’s transmission and trans-brake system, driving the rears. With this much weight transfer going on, I don’t think all-wheel-drive would do much.

Now here comes the real party-piece. I take a small battery pack from Rimac and add an electric compressor to the front engine. Plenty of boost without turbo-lag or anything harming the orgasmic engine note. All that boost will probably lower the redline a little, so it’s connected to the N/A rear engine with some gearing differences to make sure they both hit peak power at the same time.

The drivetrain and suspension get serious beefing up, and the rear tyres are swapped out for extra-sticky ones that look the same.

SPECS:

• Layout: Front-and-mid-engined rear-wheel-drive
• Front engine: 4.8 litre electric-supercharged V10 with 1200hp @ 7,800 RPM (these are just guesswork)
• Mid-engine: 4.8-litre naturally-aspirated V10 with 650hp @ 9,500 RPM
• Total wheel horsepower: 1550hp allowing for transmission losses
• 0-60mph: 2.2 seconds (remember these tyres are still skinny to look stock)
• 0-120mph: 4.8 seconds
• Top speed: 270mph+