While some cars never got the engines they always deserved, there are also plenty of examples when the exact opposite is true. Imagine a front-wheel-drive car that ended up with way more power than it could safely handle and is still unmatched six decades later. Or a mundane luxury sedan with supercar power under the hood that no one saw coming.The six cars on this list somehow ended up with engines that are so hilariously overpowered and inappropriate that it’s impossible not to talk about them. To make matters more interesting, several of them remain largely forgotten and overlooked, making them perfect conversation starters, too. Saab 9-7X Aero Power: 390 HP MecumSaabs deserve more love. This wild and endearingly unique Swedish company used to produce aircraft and fighter jets before trying its hand at cars after WWII, and its aerospace history definitely shows in its car designs, such as its badass fighter-jet style dashboards. That being said, the last thing you’d expect to see in a Saab is a Corvette V8, and yet that’s exactly what the brand’s first-ever SUV ended up with in 2008.Mecum Saab has its parent company, GM, to thank for this Frankenstein creation. It’s an unhinged badge-engineering experiment based on the Chevy TrailBlazer SS – GM’s most powerful SUV at the time. Like the TrailBlazer SS, the 9-7X Aero was fitted with a 6.0-liter LS2 V8 – the base engine in a '05-'06 C6 Corvette – slightly downtuned to 395 horsepower and 400 pound-feet and fitted with Saab's cold air intake, pushing power to all four wheels. As a result, it will grip its way to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds.Not only is the 9-7X Aero based on the Trailblazer SS, but it has more pizzazz, too, featuring more premium leather upholstery and wood trim on the dash, doors, and shifter. Saab’s signature fighter-jet ignition still lives between the seats, though. Back in the 2000s, it was hard to imagine a cooler American SUV than the Trailblazer SS, but the 9-7X Aero arguably tops it. It’s rare too – only around 553 examples have been built in total between 2008 and 2009. Oldsmobile Toronado W-34 Power: 400 HP MecumIn the mid-60s, the Toronado was the car you’d buy if you wanted the absolute biggest and comfiest land yacht Oldsmobile had to offer – not if you wanted a muscle car. First-gen models tipped the scales at around 4,500 lbs and sent power only to the front wheels to maximize drivability and space for passengers in the center seats. The car already made 385 horsepower when it hit the streets in 1966, but in 1968, Oldsmobile had the wild idea to drop the mighty W-34 package as an option, too. The package added a new high-performance 455 Rocket V8 with a new camshaft and larger intake valves.Mecum Rated at a preposterous 400 horsepower and 500 pound-feet, these 455-equipped W-34 Toronados had more power than a Mustang Boss 429 and more torque than a 426 Hemi (at least on paper). It was a ridiculous torque-steering, front-tire shredding gas guzzler, but that’s what made it so cool. Proving just how crazy and over-the-top the Toronado W-34 was in 1968 is the fact that it remains the most powerful FWD car anyone has ever dared to build, almost six decades later. If you were wondering, you can easily tell a W-34 Toronado from a regular one by the large dual exhaust tips that poke through special cutouts in the rear chrome bumper. Chevrolet Impala L72 Power: 425 HP MecumIn 1966, the Chevrolet Corvette received the mighty L72 427 big block V8 rated at a staggering 425 horsepower and 460 pound-feet, although Chevy initially advertised it at 450 horsepower. However, the most powerful Corvette engine up to that point was also made available in every full-size Chevy that year, including Chevy’s most popular sedan – the Impala. This means that, between 1966 and 1969, anyone could technically walk into a Chevy dealership and get a 425 (450) horsepower family sedan and smoke full-blown muscle cars at the stoplight.Via: Mecum Auctions The L72 package would cost you a reasonable $312 on top of the Impala’s $2,783 in 1966. Getting what’s essentially the ultimate ‘60s sleeper sedan for 15% more seems like a no-brainer today, but apparently, only 1,856 buyers ticked that box in 1966. Of course, they’re a bit more expensive today, but not as pricey as you may think, considering the rarity and massive power. Examples on the more expensive end of the spectrum can be worth close to six figures, but nice ones regularly trade hands between $50,000 and $70,000, such as this 64k-mile Impala coupe that sold for $61,600 in 2024. Other B-body Chevies with the L72 option, such as the Biscayne L72 and the Caprice L72, are in that ballpark, too. That’s some serious bang for the buck. Dodge Magnum SRT-8 Power: 425 HP Bring a TrailerDodge’s first modern Hemi muscle car was not a Charger or a Challenger, but an all-out family sleeper wagon most people don’t remember today. In fact, the two nameplates were still on their hiatus that lasted since the ‘80s when Dodge decided to pack the Magnum R/T with a 5.7-liter V8 in 2004. Then, for 2006, Dodge bored out the Hemi to 6.1 liters and stuffed it with a forged crank and reinforced rods. Featuring in the new SRT-8 Magnums, the engine sent a massive 425 hp and 420 lb-ft to the rear wheels, turning this wagon into a boxy, 4,000-lb burnout machine.Bring a Trailer That kind of power is still impressive today and had absolutely no business hiding under the hood of an oversized wagon with 71.6 cubic feet of cargo space. To handle that massive power differential while still carrying the groceries, the Magnum SRT-8 also got a special sports-tuned suspension with stiffer springs, Bilstein shocks, and larger sway bars. Flat out, it reaches 60 mph in 5.1 seconds and covers the 1/4 mile in 13.6 seconds. Not that you’d be able to tell. The only real giveaways are the subtle SRT badging, a meshed grille, and a badass-looking hood scoop. You could even have it with fancy features such as navigation, sunroof, and leather upholstery. And yet, fewer than 4,000 people ever decided to buy one before Dodge put an end to all the sleeper wagon fun in 2008. Mercedes-Benz R63 AMG Power: 500 HP Bring a TrailerThe R63 AMG is proof that Mercedes-Benz is willing to AMG-ify just about anything. Produced between 2006 and 2013, the R-Class was the brand’s flagship midsize crossover that looked suspiciously like a minivan. The first year of its production, however, Mercedes-Benz unironically offered it with a naturally aspirated M156 6.2-liter V8 producing 503 horsepower. That’s the same engine that powered most of the brand’s flagship performance cars in the mid-2000s, including the C63, E63, and SL63 AMG.Bring a Trailer Of course, this loud, high-revving V8 couldn’t have been more out of place under the hood of a 2.5-ton three-row luxury minivan. That’s kind of like if Chrysler put the 485-hp 6.4-liter Hemi V8 into a Pacifica and sold it to families – but worse. With power going to all four wheels, this ridiculous minivan was quicker than most 2000s sports cars, sprinting to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. It looked virtually identical to the standard model inside and out too, apart only from the hulking quad exhausts poking out at the rear.Why Mercedes thought anyone would ever buy this thing over any other AMG is beyond us, but almost no one did. The R63 AMG managed to stay in production for one full year, with around 200 examples made before Mercedes pulled the plug in 2007. Of course, looking back at it, the R63 is low-key a real potential future classic. It’s an extremely rare, fast, and undeniably quirky piece of car history that collectors may soon be willing to pay a lot to secure. 2009 Cadillac CTS-V Power: 556 HP Bring a TrailerThe second-generation Cadillac CTS-V was the definition of overkill when it hit the streets in 2009. No one considered Cadillac a performance brand back then, and both the STS-V and the XLR-V failed to hit it off with buyers. It’s safe to say the second-gen CTS-V completely revamped that image.Via: Bring a Trailer To make it happen, Cadillac stuffed a detuned version of the same supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that powered the first Corvette to exceed 200 mph – the C6 ZR1 – but with a smaller 1.9-liter supercharger and just one intercooler. The result was 556 horsepower being sent to the rear wheels, a massive 156-hp bump over its predecessor. The headline figure was the 551 lb-ft of torque, which was absolutely outrageous for a luxury sedan in the late 2000s. For some context, Mercedes-Benz's flagship AMGs made do with about 465 pound-feet of twist, the Jaguar XFR 461 pound-feet, and the E60 BMW M5 made just 383 pound-feet.Cadillac didn’t just stop at the ludicrous engine. The CTS-V got a standard MagneRide suspension and Brembos on all four corners, along with an optional short-throw Tremec manual transmission. As a result, it became the fastest production sedan around the Nürburgring in 2009, lapping the notoriously twisty track in just 7 minutes and 59 seconds.Cadillac offered these cars as sedans, coupes, and, as of 2011, wagons – all featuring the same 556-hp LSA V8s. The latter are by far the rarest, with just 1764 units ever leaving the factory.Sources: Hagerty, Classic.com, Car and Driver.