This document discusses several cars that were modified or produced in unusual ways, often making otherwise ordinary cars worse. It describes a Proton Satria Neo that was modified by Lotus and given racing aesthetics but kept the underpowered engine. It also mentions an Irmscher-modified East German Wartburg from 1990 that got performance parts but still looked questionable, and a Mitsuoka-modified Nissan Micra with Jaguar-inspired styling that unexpectedly sold well in Japan. Overall the document critiques various attempts to make performance or luxury versions of inexpensive cars that were unlikely to improve the driving experience.

1. Bad cars made worse
Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus
Racing
It’s no secret that Lotus is owned by Proton, and that the Malaysian car maker occasionally lets the
Norfolk company loose to sort out the handling of its very ordinary hatchbacks.

2. But now Proton has gone one further and produced a Lotus-badged version of its utterly unremarkable
Satria Neo R3. Painted Lotus Racing Green with yellow stripes, it gets all the accoutrements of a naff
special edition: alloy wheels, black bonnet and oodles of air vents. The weedy 1.6-litre engine has just
145bhp at its disposal. Luckily, only 25 examples were ever built.

3. Wartburg Irmscher
Car fans know Irmscher best as a German tuner of Opels. That all changed when the Berlin Wall came
down. In 1990, Irmscher turned its attentions to one of the most notoriously terrible cars of the Eastern
Bloc: the East German Wartburg. Big spoilers, lowered Bilstein suspension, Recaro seats and matt
black mirrors all looked more ‘Carlos Fandango’ than Golf GTI. Buyers were saved by the bell,
however, as in 1991 the whole Wartburg production line was shut down.

4. Mitsuoka Viewt
What is it about the Nissan Micra? This unassuming shopping trolley of a car has attracted the attention
of more Japanese coachbuilders than any other car. Mitsuoka’s Viewt is the most notorious. However,
grafting on comical Jaguar Mk2-style front and rear ends and splashing some fake wood about the
cabin do not make a classic. Inexplicably, the Viewt has been a runaway sales success.

5. Lada GTI
Ladas are functional: they’re for getting you through Moscow winters and transporting crates of vodka
over frozen lakes. They’re absolutely not for hooning around corners discovering the limits of
performance. But in 2008 Lada decided otherwise when it unveiled the 1119 GTI. Based on one of the
world’s worst hatchbacks, Lada added a 161bhp turbocharged 1.6-litre engine. But would you have one
over a VW Polo GTI? Thought not.

6. Yugo 65 Cabriolet
The Yugo 65 owed its technology to the 1970s Fiat 127. Yet it soldiered on into the 1990s, when the
Serbian-made hatchback was still the cheapest car sold in the US. In a last-ditch effort to boost sales,
Yugo unveiled this convertible version, complete with electrically folding soft-top. Almost nobody
bought one. Funny that.

7. DC Tata Nano
Laudable is a word you might use for the Tata Nano, a car whose sub-(£1,800), Rs 1.52 lakh price tag
in its native India is helping to get the population moving. Now arch-tuner Dilip Chhabria comes along
and does this to it. He’s swapped the body panels, uprated the brakes, suspension and interior, and
fitted a 1.6-litre engine. But get this: he’s charging fully (£130,000), Rs 11.4 crores for it!

8. Panther Rio
The Panther Rio deserves its place in our list not because the base car was a sow’s ear – the Triumph
Dolomite ‘donor’ car had plenty of strengths – but because of the price Panther charged for it. In 1975,
a Rio cost (£9,445), Rs 8.2 lakhs when Jaguar’s range-topping XJ12 sold for just (£7,496), Rs 6.3
lakhs . No amount of Connolly leather, burr walnut or deep-pile carpeting could ever justify that.

9. Citroen 2CV Pop
What’s the 2CV all about? Ultra-cheap transport for the masses. So what was Citroen thinking back in
1973, when it created the 2CV Pop? It daubed it with all sorts of dubious antique styling elements, like
a pre-war grille, hood irons and boot-mounted spare wheel. It also ditched the 2CV’s 602cc flat-twin
engine in favour of a four-cylinder unit taken from the GS. Citroen actually contemplated turning this
into a production model before sanity intervened.

10. Trabant Tramp
East Germany’s Trabant remains one of the least desirable cars ever made. The suitably named Tramp
version was conceived as a military jeep. But in 1978 it was magically transformed by the totalitarian
regime to become a ‘feel-good’ buggy by the simple expedient of painting it in gaudy shades like
yellow and pink. Let’s face it, nobody ever felt very good about it.

11. Vanden Plas 1500
The mother of all sows’ ears is unquestionably the Vanden Plas 1500. Taking the lamest car ever made
in Britain, the Austin Allegro, parent company British Leyland attempted to gentrify it. Its upright
grille, leather seats, chrome wheel trims and walnut picnic tables evoked the classics of Empire. Sadly
the Vanden Plas looked and felt like a pig wearing your grandmother’s jewellery.