TUNER FISHING: HOOK A MODDED USED CAR, FROM £22K

NISSAN GT-R Year 2012 Price £77,999 Power 976bhp

According to the description, this heavily uprated GT-R produces a dyno-verified 976bhp on pump fuel. It has been built using parts from Litchfield and Severn Valley Motorsport, two of the UK’S leading GT-R tuners, which suggests the work will have been done to a very high standard. The twin turbos run at a massive two bar of boost and the engine has been completely rebuilt. The carbonfibre bonnet and de-winged bootlid give it a distinctive look.

NISSAN GT-R Year 2008 Price £65,000 Power 1000bhp

Aside from the forged 20in wheels and carbonfibre skirts, this car looks very close to a standard one, unlike like so many other tuned GT-RS. And that’s despite it developing a massive 1000bhp. There is something very cool about a near-stock-looking GT-R with a four-figure power output. It has apparently recorded a 0-100mph time of 5.4sec, making it faster off the line than a Bugatti Veyron. Not bad considering that it’ll cost you about one twentieth of a Veyron’s price.

PORSCHE 911 TURBO (964) Year 1991 Price £135,000 Power 800bhp

This 964-generation 911 Turbo with the Flachbau — or ‘flat nose’ — conversion was built by CTR Developments with receipts totalling £250,000. The engine is a 993-gen GT2 Evo motor with twin Borg Warner K27 turbos and is apparently good for 800bhp — an absurd amount of power for an air-cooled 911. The advert says the car has recorded 212mph but can still be used for long drives in “reasonable comfort”. Chassis upgrades include KW Clubsport coil-overs and “big red” 993 Turbo brakes.

FORD MUSTANG Year Price Power 2011 £48,000 1200bhp

Comfortably the most powerful car we found, this previous-generation Mustang is proudly known as the ‘Widow Maker’. The 5.4-litre V8 has been upgraded with a Whipple supercharger, forged internals, polished and ported heads and full-race cams. The motor has also been balanced and blueprinted. It’s difficult to imagine what the resultant 1200bhp might feel like, especially being deployed through the rear wheels alone, but that ‘Widow Maker’ moniker probably isn’t far from the truth.

MITSUBISHI EVO VII Year 2005 Price £30,000 Power 700bhp

Mitsubishi Evos — along with Subaru Imprezas — were the darlings of the tuning scene for many years, right up until the Nissan GT-R arrived a decade ago. This Evo VII has been tuned by renowned specialist Norris Designs and now develops 700bhp from just 2.0 litres. With so much power coming from a relatively small engine, the delivery will probably be somewhat switch-like. In fact, the classified advert for the car says the turbocharger starts boosting at 4300rpm, which confirms as much.

NISSAN GT-R Year 2013 Price £62,495 Power 720bhp

Not all modified GT-RS are 1000bhp monsters, although this 720bhp one isn’t short of poke. It’s a Litchfield-built car, based on a 2014-model-year Track Pack model. According to the advert, the car cost £86,000 new and a further £10,000 has been spent on the Litchfield stage 4.5 upgrade and £7000 on a rebuilt transmission. On the outside, the car looks completely standard, so you wouldn’t know it was so heavily uprated until it ripped off into the distance.

PORSCHE 911 TURBO (996) Year 2003 Price £54,995 Power 650bhp

It takes a special sort of person to drive any breed of 911 Turbo and conclude that it needs more power. They’re already fantastically quick just as they roll out of the factory. However, this example has been uprated with Nine Excellence’s 9e30 kit, which lifts its power output to well beyond 600bhp. Receipts for the engine work add up to more than £20,000, and the suspension, brake and styling tweaks are “likely to have cost the same”, according to the advert.

AUDI RS6 AVANT Year 2008 Price £22,000 Power 770bhp

The better part of 800bhp for the price of a mid-range Ford Focus looks like very good value indeed. The previous-generation RS6 was never as good to drive as the current model but, at £22,000, you could probably forgive this one its wooden steering and inert handling. Anyway, this car is all about its twin-turbocharged V10 engine, which produces more than 800lb ft to go with its 770bhp. The car also looks completely standard from the outside, making it perfect for baiting Ferrari drivers.

PORSCHE 911 GT2 (997) Year Price Power 2008 £145,000 829bhp

If there’s one thing the 911 GT2 does not need, it’s more power. Nonetheless, the owner of this particular example has spent a huge amount money upgrading the twin-turbocharged flat six engine to lift its power beyond 800bhp, all of which is sent to the rear wheels only, via a manual gearbox. Sounds like it might be a bit of a handful, to put it mildly. The car has recorded a 0-186mph time of just 22.5sec, which is a cool 10sec quicker than a Lamborghini Huracán manages.

FORD FOCUS RS Year 2010 Price £23,999 Power 400bhp

When the second-generation Focus RS was new, way back in 2009, nobody could quite believe that Ford would build a front-wheel-drive car with almost 300bhp. That’s par for the hot hatch course these days, but it was a staggering amount of power eight years ago. This heavily uprated car restores some of that sense of lunacy, its turbocharged five-cylinder engine delivering some 400bhp through the front wheels. Extensive exhaust and intake mods, plus a remap, liberate the additional power.