Every single compact hatchback on the market needs to be powered by a 1-liter 11,000 rpm Suzuki screamer sitting behind the driver and powering the rear wheels. This is the truest fact in the universe, and I will not hear any argument to the contrary. This Citroën is the purest and most audible example of the term ‘hot hatch’ that has ever existed. This is what peak performance looks like. And ‘nyoooooom’ is what it sounds like.
Bike engines in small cars is about as cool as it can possibly get. Where this Citroën C2 would have originally been powered by a 60-horsepower 1.1-liter gasoline engine, or a 67-horsepower 1.4-liter diesel, it now hauls all kinds of ass with a Suzuki motorcycle engine pumping out 200 horsepower. This car was obviously built for track events, hill climbs, and autocross-style slalom events, but wouldn’t it be great as a daily driver?
Okay, maybe not all stripped out and caged and everything, but a high-strung 200 horsepower engine in a compact hatch would be exceptional. This particular car has had anything of any weight jettisoned from its shell, meaning it weighs in at just around 1370 pounds. Yeah, alright, that’s not a realistic daily driver weight. And it’s probably too loud. And it probably would annoy your neighbors or any passengers you might want to bring along for the ride. Then again, sacrificing comforts to go fast and look cool is pretty much my mantra, so I definitely would.
I daily drove a 2009 Mazda3 for a while, and I would have killed for it to have been powered by a GSX-R 1000 motor! Motorcycle engines are compact, lightweight, quicker to rev, produce more power, and are usually more efficient than a comparable car engine. I mean, sure you give up a lot in the torque department, but even with only about 80 lb-ft in stock guise, this bike motor has more torque than the stock 1.1-liter C2 did.
In the video below, from one of my favorite YouTube channels Hill Climb Monsters, you can see the C2 Suzuki Proto owned by Davor and Luka Fabijancic absolutely dominate the Nagrada Skradin event in Croatia. Truly impressive driving from something that would have been altogether unimpressive in stock guise.