ventured over to "car comparisons" part of af

[Broke_as_****]

/\ +1

Thats what I said. The term "sports car" has been dropped down to the level of anything thats not a base model Civic. Thats bull****. And I say we begin a bloody eradication of all who over estimate their POS rides.

[JCCR]

Shit I Know Some People That Called There Civics Sport Cars

[longlivetheZ]

Well put lachean.

3KGT...Lancer...WRX STI...super cars? I dunno, man. "Budget supercars", maybe...but that's a stretch. They're definately sports cars, but they just lack the appeal that I believe is a big part of what makes up a "supercar"...especially the Lancer and STI...so boring looking...most people see them drive by and they don't even double take...you think that would happen with the stereotypical supercar (ferrari, lamborghini, etc)?...I think not. The 3KGT, Z32TT, NSX, Skyline, MKIV Supra, Third Gen RX7...these I could see as "budget supercars"...they are PHENOMENAL CARS...DON'T GET ME WRONG...but I don't think they're on the level of the McLaren F1, Ferrari F50, Lamborghini Murcialago, etc...

Now..."Sports Cars"...200SX?...Eclipse? (you didn't specify, so that includes the slug RS)...180SX?...Kinda stretchin it, man...

[freakonaleash1187]

lachean does give a very good point. i am also tired of all the people throwing the words supercar and sports car around. sports car is a little bit more leniant, but supercar is something that everybody dreams of, and few of us will even get to see one. it is something that is blistering fast in every aspect. the word supercar is reserved for a car that is almost completely perfected.

-Jared

[k3smostwanted]

kinda stretching it!?!?!?!?!....maybe sport compacts but even that i think is stretching it. those cars dont even break into the 15's. my mom's toyota camry is more of a "sports" car then some of those.

i agree with the above. supercars are saved for cars like the mcclaren or lamborghini that 99.999999% of the population would die to even see one, let alone drive. sports cars in my opinion can be squeezed into accomodate more affordable cars.

[Z32TT_maniac]

RX7 is one of the Japanese super cars...all the cars that i've mention before,they are all Japanese super cars...we all know that RX7,Z32TT,GTR,Supra TT etc..are no match for European Exotic super cars like Ferrari,Lambo,Zonda etc...but they are still Japanese high performance super cars

[Hodo]

I think the better term for the RX7, 3000GT, Supra, GTR,
300ZX, Mustangs, Camaros and such are performance cars, not sports cars, not muscle cars, not supercars. They are performance cars, all of them are designed to perform well on track days as well as on the road. The sports car is a small car that is fun to drive, doesnt have to be fast, contrary to popular belief it can be quite slow in the quater mile. But they are sporty and nimble and the key word is SMALL. They are not the most practical of cars, they are not designed to meet or beat any of the performance cars or super cars out there. Just to be a budget minded sporty car. They Mazda MX-5 Miata is a great example of a sports car. Its fun, its small its economical, its nimble and its totally not practical.

The performance car market is a hotly contested market for car manufacturers out there, and its been going strong now for almost 60 years. It has produced some of the greatest cars of all time that the average person, with a little luck and planning can buy. Yes even the Prelude, can be considered a performance car. The performance car can trace its haritage back to the days of the Muscle car, no the Mustang is NOT a muscle car it is a Pony car, or a performance car. If you want a example of a current day muscle car then look at the Mercury Maruader, it is a family car platform that has been reworked to get WAY more power and performance out of it to make a stronger car. But its body never changed. It uses straight muscle to beat its oppenents not performance of the overall design. The Maruader was never engineered to be fast, it was engineered to be a family car for old people and cops.

The Japanese are the newcomers to this performance car market their "recent" entries have been the 350Z, RX8 and the Acura RSX-R or S what ever letter they are giving it now days. But Nissan and Mazda have been doing this the longest out of the Japanese manufactures Nissan can date back to the 70s with the 240Z and Mazda can do the same with the RX100. (which was more of a sports car than a performance car) Toyota used to be a front runner in this market for Japan but they did a restructuring of their ideals and decided to go more family oriented with their cars. They made some feeble attempts in the late 90s and early 2000s with the new Celica and the MR-S but niether has meet up to their sales expectations so they are being ended this year. Sad really. They maybe starting a new design of the Supra but it will not be a Toyota, it will be badged as a Scion, but that is just a urban legend so far with no hard facts to prove it yet. But Toyota is still making attempts at makeing performance cars in their other lines like Lexus, with the SC400 and such. But they are making the same mistakes they made in the past, they asking way to much for to little in return.

Enough of my lecturing hopefully some of you will learn from this and I know others of you will gripe about it and inject your own P.O.V.s but for the most part I have stated the trueth about so many things. The sports car is a little car that is a fun drive and is spirited but light wieght, and for the most part designed from the begining to be just those things, the performance car is the next step up, in being designed to be at peak performance on the road as a daily driver or on the track as a weekend racer. The Supercar/exotic car is designed to be more at home on the track than on the road.

[DeleriousZ]

word word and wooorrddd nice post hodo

[1viadrft]

Sorry guys... GTR, Z, GTO/3000GT,RX7,EVO,STI are not sports cars in the true since!


But I heard once these words of wisdom: "If you love it, can get that adrenaline rush out of it... it's a 'sports-car' in that since!"

[MR2Driver]

Why are they "super cars"? You cant just attatch a title to something and by attatchment you leave out justification.

When I hear supercar I think of a purpose built car for the road. Try to think of it this way. We have you, an olympic runner and Clark Kent.

Which of these are normal, exceptional (sporty) and super?

A sports car is an athlete, either fast or nimble. A supercar is outclassing, and definately NOT COMMON.

Im sure you WANT the Z to be considered a "super car" because it is a good car, but running w/ the F1's just isnt happening.

There has never been a full production supercar that anyone out of the top 2% could afford. They're made by the hundreds if that and very few people ever even see them.

---------------------

I'd like to refer to the Top Gear - Pagani Zonda episode when he says, and I quote:

"The word supercar has been somewhat abused these days. They think you can stick a big V8 into any old sports car and earn the title. Im sorry, but you CANT...

... This is a Super Car, a car with agressive outlandish looks, a car with exquisite design and detailing, a car with something better than a garden variety V8, a V12...

In this case a 7 liter, 550HP Mercedes V12 tuned by AMG. Then you want an exotic sounding name, like Pagani Zonda, and a rediculous price tag like 298 thousand pounds."

[DeleriousZ]

top gear is by far my favorite show like that out there... if anyone hasn't seen it yet, what the hell are you thinking.. go download an episode!!!

[longlivetheZ]

It isn't even a matter of us wanting to call the Z a supercar...I think some people are just a little misguided. The Z, MKIV Supra, RX7, etc are supercars in a sense, but not the most absolute sense as the McLaren F1, Pagani Zonda, Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F50/F40/Enzo, etc. They are supercars in the sense that they, just as with the true "supercars", will/can lay waste to damn near anything on the road...be it in stock form or not. They are kinda sorta in between the true "supercars" and the basic, plain, regular old "sportscars" segment. Supercars in the sense that they truely are AMAZING CARS.

Motor Trend, March, 1990, regarding the Z32 - "Dollar for dollar, the best damn sports car in the world." Top of the sports car heap...bottom of the supercar heap...kinda in the middle.

[k3smostwanted]

[DeleriousZ]

i knew it.. the z's a bastard, it's got identity issues... oh get this.. was watching 'pimp my ride' yesterday (had nothing better on) and they did a datsun nissan maxima (really old one.. late 70's maybe? 80's perhaps) and they were like.. is it a datsun or a nissan?? it don't kno whut it is y0!! i'm like it's the same company!! i wish people that did those sort of things actually knew something about cars...

[1viadrft]

datsun maxima? '70's? It was probably a mid-80's Max... so how did it turn out?