Hot Tuner 2016: The Contenders

Meet the motley crew assembled for Hot Tuner 2016.

Hot Tuner 2016 is brought to you by Valvoline SynPower

As ever it's a diverse field, with some fresh faces courtesy of the arrival of the new Ford Mustang, which has already established itself as a firm favourite with the country's tuners.

Among this quartet of supercharged rear-drive V8s, trio of all-paw turbo hot hatches, boosted MX-5 and mighty powerful GT-R is the 2016 Hot Tuner champion. Place your bets.

Hennessey Streetfighter ’Stang

From a fancied Adelaide stable comes the latest Streetfighter-tagged hottie, complete with input from Hennessey in the US.

Herrod Performance Mustang

The other Mustang to sidle up to Hot Tuner this year. If anybody knows more about tweaking Fords than Rob Herrod, we haven’t met them.

Hi-Torque HSV Senator

Heads of state love cars like the big, black HSV Senator. If Daniel Ricciardo was a head of state (and we’d like to see that), this car is what might happen.

Harding Performance S1

Don’t be fooled by the cutesy looks; the already hard-edged S1 has been further hardened by an extensive under-bonnet make-over.

VCM Performance C63 AMG

Forget that new turbocharged thing. This is the old C63, where the badge almost matches the capacity. Oh, and with a locally developed blower!

BWA Auto Golf R

Another rip-snorter of a Golf R. Makes you wonder how much headroom this package has. Or how fast you can make these things go.

HI-Torque Nissan GT-R

Just imagine Godzilla had a meaner, grumpier, feistier brother. This would be that monster. Does 800 horsepower mean anything to you? It should after this.

Harding Performance Golf R

Just as you know any new Coen Brothers film will be gold even before you’ve seen it, any Harding-modded Golf R will be sure to get the juices flowing. Spoiler alert.

Tunehouse MX-5

The Tunehouse treatment is relatively subtle (by Hot Tuner standards), but the question is whether the basic package needed more power. Of course it did, idiot!