This is, indeed, true. In standard form, the Toyota Starlet Turbo is one of the most discreet machines on the road. Unlike the fast Fords, or its other brother in spirit, the Renault 5 GT Turbo, it looks like something a district nurse might drive. But under the bonnet lurks enough fire-power to make it an extremely rude motor car.
The bad-boy Starlet has been around since 1987, when it was a rather more boxy affair than the car you see here. Encrusted with a body kit which gained no points for subtlety, it packed a 1295cc, single-cam, 12-valve four-pot of unusual violence. Thanks to an intercooled turbocharger, it treated psychotic Tokyo commuters to 111bhp to shift its bantam 790kg weight. You had to wring 6000rpm out of it first, though. Peak torque of 111lb ft arrived much sooner, at just 3600rpm.
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