Of course it does, any ratty German car is a sleeper, because it will have exactly the same performance as when was new. A sleeper is basically a car that has it's performance under-estimated by looks alone. If it goes better than it looks/looked when new. It's a sleeper.
1.8t A4 debadged, people will assume is a TDi and TDi itself is underrated as people see diesels and shitty and slow, which automatically makes all TDi's sleepers.
A sleeper is a subtle looking car that's actuall quick and mechanically sound, what's hard to understand that a A4 is a sleeper? They are quick. Quicker than your average saloon car of the same period.
The fact you people seem to see an A4 as an ordinary/mediocre car is EXACTLY the reason why it's a sleeper because it will catch you napping. Hence the term.
Sleeper, people think is to do with what is under your hood, but if you guy burnt by a guy at the lights, you'll never know what's under his hood, hence why anything stock can be a sleeper. If you're not expecting it to be quick, it's a sleeper.
Desperately tried to find the video I seen a few months ago.
Was a skoda meet on an airfield, had some tuned VRs's n stuff, 3 or 4 of them lined up and done a drag race, some octavia estate can be seen for all of the first half a second before it's completely out of shot.
Originally just a 1.8t 4x4 estate, now I think it had the BAM (225bhp) engine and turbo, tuned over 300bhp...looked standard apart from VR's wheels.
why buy so new ?? ive seen alot of older touring 5 serise in prestine condition, with leather interior and bigger engines to boot, if you can class it as commercial its cheaper to tax + insure... worked the diff and... try drive sideways ? ( plus room for bikes tykes and extra alloys... )
any car that looks slower than it actually is could be called a sleeper. I agree with BlueFlame. You don't need a Lamborghini V-12 in a mini for a car to be a sleeper.
What do you call a car that looks like it goes fast but is really not?
I failed to beat a new Audi A4 2.0T in my 944. Dead even up to about 90mph.
Makes me sad to think that I cannot even beat a little A4. At least I get good gas mileage.
Quite. I guess over the years the true meaning of a sleeper has become warped due to the ammount of tuning that's common these days, back in the day you'd be lucky if you could afford a K&N Airfilter and some BBS splits.
If it makes you any happier, your bigger brother (944 turbo) did keep up/beat quite a few nice cars when it was still in my hands... 348tb, s2000, imprezas, 911's, etc. A little A4 would have been the equivalent of a light afternoon snack inbetween those "meals"...