Sabre

The difference between a Sports car, and a Sport-y car.

Saki GT

I have a hard time believing that two extra "seats" as are found in many sports cars changes the whole deinition of the car.

So a Porsche 911 is not a sports car? Do people at SCCA really say a 2+2 300ZX is not a sports car?

I have a hard time with this one too. Practicality and convenience suffer as a result of making a car more sporting, but removing these things doesn't make a car a sports car. According to this logic, if I take a Yugo and remove tha back seats and power windows, you have a sports car!

no_really

Attempting to draw hard and fast rules for what is and is not a "sports car" only serves to demonstrate how silly that exercise is.

Once could argue that a "sports car" is any car designed from the start as a sporting automobile. One could certainly suggest that since rear doors are nothing but a compromise benefiting only the passengers, they don't belong on a sports car, and any car so equipped is not, by rule of exclusion, a "sports car," despite any other similarities. I think the main defining rule is a "sports car" is geared towards driving and driver. Back seats and a passenger side door are merely the trappings of a street car, if you will, similar to license plates and bumpers. You can't expect to sell a car these days without them, so there they are. Some "sports cars" may be more stripped than others, but none have a pick-up bed and four or more doors, with third-row seating.

I'd always argue that sedans are never "sports cars," no matter how fast they might be. But not all 2 seat coupes are sports cars, or we'd be calling pick-ups "sports cars." There is no need for a car to be uncomfortable or obnoxious in order to be a "sports car," no matter how many inthe past happened to be that way.

Clayman

You may have a point, but do you think the inverse is also true? Say I add a host of luxo-amenities to the S2000, does that make it a luxury car? I don't think it does. The article was aiming in the right direction with the description of a sports car. For the most part, you DO sacrifice comfort and convenience to drive a sports car. The S2000 gives up a lot of things to be as fun as it is.

Saki GT

No, its just too hard to define, so there's not really any point in trying. Wikipedia is good for the general idea, but look at the revision history of Wikipedia definitions - its like this thread on a whole new level.

Don't look to hard at it, and the definition is simple. Btw, the S2000 doesn't give things up, it just doesn't have them included!

aklucsarits

[QUOTE=Saki GT,May 16 2006, 10:01 AM]
I have a hard time believing that two extra "seats" as are found in many sports cars changes the whole deinition of the car.

So a Porsche 911 is not a sports car?

Chris Stack

I like Road and Track's definition:

"It should be as graceful as a beautiful women, lithe as a panther, slick
as a gigolo's hair, flexible as a broken runner, accelerate like a rocket,
be painted like a cockatoo, and sing like a bird at speed." "What is a
Sports Car" June 1948

Obviously, "accelerate like a rocket" is subjective, especially considering the time period it was written, but the rest seems pretty good to me.

Christople

I wish defining a sports car was as easy as picking out a sports bike.

Saki GT

You should put that in the Wikipedia entry.

Chris Stack

I didn't write it. Otherwise I would.