GMC Typhoon: 10 Facts That Prove It's A Beast

The GMC Typhoon is widely regarded as the world's first high-performance sport utility vehicle. Small but mighty, boxy and bossy, the turbocharged Typhoon packs a powerful punch. It can out zero to 60 two dozen Lamborghini models and give the slowest modern Ferraris a run for their money at top speed. In the sportscar-speed SUV arena, the Typhoon blazed trails years before the Chevy Trailblazer SS, even though trails were supposed to be off-limits — in fact, a warning sticker literally poo-pooed off-roading, which was weird flex for a monster 4x4 but okay.

This enhanced version of the 1991 GMC S-15 Jimmy is so souped-up, we should show some respect and call him James. Much like the same-name rock stars Hetfield and Brown, the GMC Typhoon commanded attention with a powerful stance. Gone (as in nearly extinct) but not forgotten, let's burn through what made this early '90s brother of the GMC Syclone pickup truck a high-performance animal to remember.

In the early '90s, the GMC Typhoon became one of the fastest-accelerating vehicles in the world. Outfitted with a top 10 great American V6 engine that provides enough early oomph to put the Nissan 300ZX on notice and rival a Corvette LT1 off the line, the Typhoon's acceleration puts the Ford Mustang V8 to shame and outruns much-more-expensive Italian cars of the time. 

By the numbers, Car and Driver clocked the GMC going from zero to 60 miles per hour in 5.3 seconds, zero to 100 mph in 16.2 seconds, and zero to 120 mph in 40 seconds flat. Car and Driver even tested the Typhoon against a Ferrari 348ts and the GMC's 0-60 was faster than the Ferrari's 6.0 seconds, and the GMC passed the quarter-mile in 14.1 seconds while the Ferrari did it in 14.5 seconds. Yep, the $30,000 Typhoon took down a $100,000 mid-engine Ferrari. In addition, the Typhoon's quarter-mile speed is 95 mph and top speed is a governor-limited 124 mph.

Under the hood, the GMC Typhoon boasts a 4.3-liter V-6 engine featuring a Mitsubishi TD06-17C turbocharger with a Garrett water/air intercooler. Borrowing parts from its General Motors cousins such as an altered Hydramatic 4L60 transmission and twin-bore 48mm throttle body — both from the Chevrolet Corvette — plus the tweaked intake and exhaust manifolds of other GM vehicles, the Typhoon rolled out of the shop as one of the most powerful GMC V6 engines ever made. 

The SUV's 280 brute horsepower puts out a maximum 360 lb-feet of torque from a BorgWarner 4472 transfer case (from the Chevy Astro van), sending 35% to the front and 65% to the rear wheels. That's the case on dry pavement, at least. Streets are slippery when wet, and so is the Typhoon — a viscous clutch routes power between the front and rear axles to the wheels best gripping the road at any given time, according to the conditions.

Sport utility vehicles generally look more at home in a supermarket parking lot than a racetrack but the GMC Typhoon was built to move quickly. The two-door (or three-door, if you count the rear) SUV featured a lowered stance with a small front rake and Firestone Firehawk SVX P245/50VR-16 M+S all-season performance tires on signature 16x8 turbine-styled spoke aluminum alloy wheels that let it do its speedster thing. 

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While the Typhoon can't quite corner as well as a sports car due to its higher center of gravity, Road & Track says a few laps behind the wheel will familiarize a driver with when and where to mash the accelerator on this turbo and its 3,822 lb curb weight. As for the pedal to the left, large anti-lock front disc brakes and rear drums provide stopping power capable of bringing the beast from 70 mph to fully stopped in as few as 185 feet.

Sporty as a sports car, the GMC Typhoon's interior leans on luxury: a keyless entry pops the power locks to reveal all-black leather bucket seats with lumbar support, a black leather steering wheel wrap; power steering and tilt steering; and the same gauge setup as the Pontiac Sunbird Turbo, featuring a 120-mph speedometer and a 7,000-rpm tachometer.

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Among the controls are rear defroster, wiper, and window buttons. In the center of the dash sits a Delco AM/FM stereo system with graphic equalizer. Back in the day, a cassette player came standard, and buyers could opt instead for a CD player to fill the SUV's four speakers with sound.

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The exterior color palette for the Typhoons ranged from the most popular Midnight Black with Black trim to a very-90s Bright Teal with Gray. Other options included red on red or gray, blue on blue or gray, Forest Green Metallic with Gray, Frost White with Gray and Frost White with White.

The base price of the GMC Typhoon was $29,530 in 1992. That was a pretty penny in the early '90s — around $67,680 in 2025 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics' Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator. The Typhoon cost twice as much as the popular Chevy S-10 pickup at the time. As such, the Typhoon did not produce the same demand or have nearly as many takers. 

Just six pre-production Typhoons were made in 1991. For the 1992 model year, only 2,497 Typhoons were manufactured. Fewer yet came out in 1993, when 2,200 were built for that model year. When all was said and done, a total of 4,697 Typhoons were produced during the SUV's short, two-year production run. By comparison, more than 10 million Chevy S-10 and GMC S-15 trucks have been produced since the early 1980s and can still be found on the used market today.

Where did this Typhoon first form? Don't look at GM -– they didn't create these Typhoons. A Troy, Michigan-based company called Production Automotive Services did the honors for General Motors. It all started with the GM owned Buick Grand National, which was phased out in 1987. 

As the story goes, a few Buick engineers tried to keep the Grand National's spirit and 3.8-liter V6 engine alive by bolting it into a Chevy S-10 and shopping it to GM and Chevrolet. Both of them declined. Apparently GMC did like the concept of a turbo truck, though, and made one out of the 4.3L LB4 V6 of the S-series trucks –- with modified head gaskets and pistons as well as the aforementioned Mitsubishi turbocharger, Garrett intercooler, and L98 Corvette throttle body. Thus, the GMC Syclone was born,  first unveiled to a surprised crowd at the 1989 North American International Auto Show.

Chevy made the S-10 compact pickup truck and the GMC version was called the S-15, which would be renamed the Sonoma in 1991 — the same year the GMC Syclone debuted. The Syclone was a Sonoma-based pickup with plenty of pick-me-up, and it flew so the Typhoon could soar. 

The story behind the classic high-performance truck includes the same all-wheel drive, all-wheel anti-lock brakes, and turbocharged 4.3-liter V6 as the Typhoon, producing 280 horsepower and 360 lb-feet of torque. The Syclone was among the fastest production vehicles of 1991, and because it weighed less than the Typhoon it was capable of zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds according to car-magazine tests cited by Driving Line.

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Production was limited to just 2,998 units. There were 2,995 Syclones produced in 1991, priced at $25,970 (the equivalent of $61,290 in 2025). The pickup struggled against the $15,445 1991 Camaro Z/28, and wasn't much of a truck in the sense that it couldn't carry much weight in the bed. Still, the Syclone paved the way for the likes of the Ford F150 Lightning, and begat the Typhoon.

Placards on the Syclone literally warned against carrying more than 500 pounds in the back. Even though it was a truck and had a pickup bed, it did not have truck tires or ground clearance. The Typhoon had a cautionary message stamped on it, too. In fact, a warning sticker on the always-in-four-wheel-drive animal read: "Off-road operation could result in severe damage to chassis and drivetrain.” 

No other '90s truck or SUV had such a thing, as the Typhoon's low profile hugged the ground with an air-operated self-leveling rear suspension. Translation? This is a street truck, and there is not enough space below the underside to go off-roading. So it was written -– right on the Typhoon's sun visor, where the driver couldn't miss it. Additionally, Typhoon owners were told not to engage in another common SUV-related activity: towing. The Typhoon's maximum towing capacity is 0 lbs.

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." That's what Hunter S. Thompson wrote in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" about his friend Oscar Acosta, and the same could be said about the GMC Typhoon by those who know the legendary creation. It was ahead of its time, and quickly fell out of favor.

So just how rare is the GMC Typhoon and what does one cost today? Fewer than 4,700 Typhoons rolled off the assembly line across 1992 and 1993 but its world-class performance will help it live on in the garages of those who know how special it is. Classic.com, which keeps records of desirable vehicle sales and publishes the results, puts the GMC Typhoon's benchmark value at $34,388. In February 2025, five Typhoons were listed for sale by the site, and their average price was $34,184.

So why do these trucks command so much interest today? It's not that Typhoons have had staying power — after all, they all but disappeared for decades — it's that they're finally being recognized for pioneering the high-performance SUV segment years before it became a thing. Remember in "Back to the Future" when Marty McFly belted out "Johnny B. Goode" at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance but the crowd just stared at him like he was growing a second head? "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet," he said. Now you know how GMC execs felt about the Typhoon in 1993. Over 30 years later, it seems like the auto world is finally ready. 

In January 2025, a GMC Typhoon was sold at auction by Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale for $40,700. The top sale of a GMC Typhoon listed at Classic.com occurred in 2022, when a buyer purchased a 1993 GMC Typhoon with just 272 miles on it for a whopping $175,000. Check out its Bring a Trailer auction listing, and understand that any existing Typhoon is sure to command attention at auction as one of the hottest collector cars today.