Tuners often retrofit Mini vehicles with all sorts of weird engines, notably including those from the Honda VTEC series. Dan, from Great Britain, has managed to push his own ride to neatly 370 horsepower while keeping its exterior stock.
The 1.8-liter Civic VTi mill (B18C4) received a single Precision 5431 turbocharger and ascended from 169 hp (126 kW) to 369 hp (275 kW). Boosted like this, the compact car sprints 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 5.38 seconds, yielding only to the top-end Mini JCW GP in terms of sheer acceleration speed. Its power-to-weight ratio is no less impressive at 500 hp per metric ton.
This isn’t the first time Mini receives similar treatment, but Dan’s project still stands out in several interesting ways. For instance, one of the earlier tuning projects fitted the car with a Honda VTEC B16 engine and a Garrett GT3076R turbine – but the setup proved too bulky to fit under the hood. In the end, the car had to be converted into a hot rod. In another project, the Mini received a Honda Accord V6 unit, but its owner found it quite lackluster in terms of dynamics.