10 Performance Cars Of The 1990s That Could Humble Supercars

I need to go on record as saying this wasn’t an easy article to write – finding a range of “common” cars with the chops to run alongside supercars was easy, and as I browsed through recent automotive history I knew right away that the 1990s would be the key decade to talk about. The hard part was realising that the Japanese performance revolution from this era is a major reason why even average family sedans these days can go from 0-60 in six seconds. I know this is an apples-to-oranges comparison, but that’s fast enough to beat a Ferrari 308 and hang surprisingly close to a Lamborghini Countach.

It’s not that I hate Japanese performance. For crying out loud my garage at the moment is nothing but Japanese performance. But I’m a self-proclaimed muscle car fanboy from America, so compiling this fun little piece gave me a new appreciation for how Japanese automakers aggressively pushed the performance envelope forward. Yeah, I have a few cars from America and Germany on this list, but for this period of automotive evolution, I can only agree with our man Darren when he said this was the golden age for JDM performance.

Now about this list. Before you go bananas in the comments read this part twice. When I say humble that doesn’t necessarily mean faster. When you have a $150,000 supercar and you can barely inch away from a small four-door sedan, you’re technically winning but it’s still a humbling experience. And I’m not counting top speed this time around – I think we’ll all agree that supercars generally win that battle. But for the other 99 per cent of the time on the street, these 1990s superheroes had enough stones to either stick surprisingly close with the six-figure supercars of the day, or outright beat them.

In 1991 Car And Driver magazine held a rather infamous quarter-mile test between the new GMC Syclone and a new Ferrari 348. The Ferrari eventually pulled ahead of the small pickup, but not until after it lost the quarter-mile race.

BMW’s M cars were already exquisite performers, but the 1999 E39 M5 is arguably the car that elevated the 5-series to legendary performer status. With 400bhp and a six-speed manual, it could keep all four of its doors within reach of most late 20th century supercars.

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