It has come to my attention, primarily via repeated requests from law enforcement officials and clergypersons, that we make an effort to define what a “sports car” is as definitively as possible. There’s just been too many fights, too many families torn asunder because of a collective inability to agree on an acceptable taxonomy of this category of automobile. They’re right. For far too long we’ve been talking about this very important category of car in the most vague and confusing terms, and we need to solve this problem.
I think most people, even people not particularly interested in cars (fools whom I, with Mr.T-like compassion, pity), have some image that pops into their head when they think of the general category of “sports car.” It’s usually something fast, loud, sleek, and often, red. And while all of those can be properties of what we’d consider a sports car, the truth is a lot more nuanced.
Just in case you don’t believe this is a grave issue threatening the foundations of our society, allow me to direct you to this clip from the long-running animated show Family Guy that I happened to see somewhere online and got me thinking about this issue:
Now, this clip, a bit of well-known popular media that has been shared countless times, does manage to encapsulate the basic issue: people seem to have very different ideas of what a “sports car” is. For the record, I think Peter is completely wrong here; a Miata is a sports car, and I’ll outline why soon. I mean, Peter’s an idiot, but we all knew that.
With that in mind, let’s try to get some clarity here. We’ll start with the broad strokes:
An Overarching Definition of a Sports Car
A “sports car” is an automobile designed and intended to provide an engaging on-road driving experience while performing duties of general transportation. A sports car has two-doors and no rear seat, or at most a minimal/occasional back seat. Any drivetrain layout (front, mid, rear, RWD, FWD, AWD, transverse, longitudinal, etc) is acceptable for all sports car subcategories unless otherwise noted.
Overall speed is not necessarily a requirement, but the car must have as its primary purpose to be engaging and pleasurable to drive via some combination of its design and engineering. The type of drivetrain is not relevant, nor is the power source (electric, gasoline, steam, whatever is fine) but the car’s intent must be one that centers the joys of driving for its own sake.
I think that covers the essence of why sports cars exist. They’re not about fast, necessarily, but they are about fun.
That said, there are a number of sub-categories of sports car, and I think the differences in these sub-categories are what have caused the most confusion for people, who are quick to assume that one category defines the entire genre. This is not so. Everything that follows is a type of sports car:
Fundamental:
These are sort of the closest to the platonic ideal of a sports car that most people conjure up when they hear the words. These are, like all sports cars, two-door cars, primarily two-seaters, usually hardtops (but can have a convertible version), may have any engine location, and their size varies, but they’re not too small. They have dramatic styling, usually of a traditional sports car look, sleek and low and with a long hood and a short rear deck. Practicality is not a significant concern, but these can be daily driven without too many compromises.
Examples: Jaguar E-Type, Corvette, Audi TT, Datsun Z, Porsche 911/356/928, Acura NSX, Ferrari 328 GTS, Lotus Esprit
Roadster:
Perhaps the first true category of sports car. Quite small, open-topped (though fixed-roof variants can fit in), power is less important than the overall handling and driving experience, which leverages the small size and light weight to create a very visceral and connected experience. Sometimes the power can be comically low, like how a Bugeye Sprite makes only 43 horsepower.
Examples: 1898 Bollée, Mazda Miata, Toyota MR-2, Porsche Boxster, Speedster, 914, MGB, Austin-Healey Sprite/3000, Triumph Spitfire/TR series, Crosley Hot Shot
Hot Hatch/Hot Mods:
Cars that started as some other category (economy hatchback, family car, etc) or were designed with more practicality/utility but have upgraded performance and a driving enjoyment focus. These are the only category that did not start as a sports car from the initial design stage.
Examples: VW Golf GTI, Dodge Omni GLH, VW Scirocco, Renault R5 Turbo, Hyundai Veloster, Mini Cooper, Chevy Corvair Monza
Muscle Car/Pony Car:
I know some groups make distinctions between Pony and Muscle cars, but I think they’re part of the same basic category. The main focus is on power, large engines (especially V8s but not exclusively), lots of noise and drama, straight-line performance over handling. Almost always RWD, at home peeling out of a Dairy Queen parking lot.
Examples: Camaro, Firebird, Corvette, AMC AMX, GTO, Mustang, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger, Ford Falcon (Aussie)
GT Car (with a Shooting Brake sub-subcategory):
These are fast cars designed primarily for long, high-speed cruising. A GT car is more comfortable and well-appointed than an average sports car, has an actually usable back seat, decent cargo-holding ability, and this category includes Shooting Brakes, those two-door sporty-intended station wagons.
Examples: Jensen Interceptor, Citroën SM, Aston Martin DB series, Buick GNX, Reliant Scimitar GTE, Facel-Vega, Nissan GTR
Supercar:
These are the flashiest prima donnas of the sports car world, and, ironically, are probably the least likely to actually be driven. They have exotic engineering, dramatic styling, are wildly expensive, attention-grabbing, and generally have ridiculous doors that prioritize drama over usability. High power, high status, high visibility, and the lowest day-to-day usability of any sports car.
Examples: Ford GT, most Lamborghinis, most Ferraris, Pagonis, Spykers, Aston Martin Vanquish
Close, But Not Quite
Sporty Car:
That “y” is doing a lot of work here. Sporty cars have much of the look and feel of a sports car, but without the engineering to make them perform in genuine sports car ways. The best-known example of these Sporty Cars may be the Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia; it looked like a sleek little sports car, but was just a Beetle under the skin, which VW played up in ads:
Really, that ad sums this category up pretty well. And it’s not a bad thing! These cars can be delightful and appreciated! They can also be modified to become true sports cars with aftermarket parts or modifications, so I think there is some class mobility possible here.
Examples: Toyota Paseo, VW Eos, VW Karmann-Ghia, Toyota Sera, Nissan Figaro, Mercury Capri (later one), Triumph Stag, Chevy Monza
Track car/Actual Racing car
Because their primary purpose no longer includes basic transportation or on-public-road use, these are not in the sports car category. Once it has enough track-focused modifications (roll cage, stripped interior, race exhaust, etc) these cars become track-only beasts, and are a different category.
Personal Luxury Cars
I mostly included this one because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with Thunderbirds or Toronados and similar cars. They’re not quite driving-pleasure-focused enough to be GT cars, but that’s what they’re closest to, I think. The focus of these cars seems to be comfort and style, so that keeps them out of the sports car category.
Sports Sedans
If it has four doors, I think it needs to be something other than a sports car. So while all those BMW M5s or those Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Class sedans may be as fast and fun to drive and capable as any actual sports car, I think part of the core essence of a sports car is just two doors at most, so these Sports Sedans should be in their own separate category.
Would you like these categories on a chart? I hope so, because I made one:
There! I’m glad we got all that sorted out. I’m sure there are plenty of you out there with different ideas and thoughts on this, and legally I have to leave automotive taxonomies open for public debate for three years before it gets codified into officialdom and carved into marble tablets that will be stored at the Smithsonian, so now’s your time to talk! Have at it!
Personally, I really only count roadsters and supercars
I take a wider view of what’s a sports car and what isn’t. I see it as anything that brings ME driving enjoyment is a sports car.
My rose colored glasses are thick.
So if you have fun driving a golf cart, do you tell people you drove a sports car? I have a feeling you would not.
I have had fun driving a golf cart, but it’s not a car, so I can’t say it’s a sports car.
Which sets up Torch’s next thesis, “What is a car?”
Think about intent; a golf cart’s intent is to move you around a golf course, not provide an engaging driving experience. So, no, not a sports car.
And a VW Golf’s intent is to move people around cheaply, NOT ‘provide enjoyment and competitive driving”. So hot hatches are out.
2 door
Convertible
2+2 seating
Front engine, RWD based
Near 50/50 weight distribution
285 horsepower V6
6600 rpm redline, most of the power comes from 3500 rpm and higher
6 speed manual
Can be optioned extremely basic or loaded up
Huge aftermarket support
A thrill to drive fast
The Jeep Wrangler is a sports car.
You glossed over the fact the Wrangler is a horrible vehicle to drive.
I’m going to be a chaotic evil antagonist right now, so forgive me.
But a Jeep wrangler is a better vehicle to drive in more places than a Corvette Stingray.
Stop and go traffic
Suburban neighborhoods
Any highway with a speed limit under 55
Gravel roads
Beach towns
Actual beaches
Grocery runs
A Corvette on a winding back road or a track is driving nirvana, but what about the other 90 percent of the miles put on it?
All a matter of perspective my friend!
100% agree with what you said. It doesn’t change the fact that the Wrangler is a horrible vehicle… JMHO
Noooooooo, bröther you are mistaken!
We’re talking about a vehicle that has stayed true to its mission for decades. A vehicle that despite changes in culture, political regimes, its parent company changing hands 5 times, the changing tastes in automotive trends, it’s stayed itself the whole time.
Small, rugged, simple. Solid axles, a removable top, removable doors, a fold down windshield. Drain plugs in the floors, a tire hanging off the back. Ready to take anyone wherever they dare to go!
Somehow, it’s never gotten worse at its main job: to have fun!
Somehow, through decades of changing times, a changing world, a revolving door of CEOs, the engineers have kept it true to what it is, while simultaneously evolving it into something for everyone. From black steelies, hand crank windows and a stick shift to Leather 20” wheels and Michelins on a plug in hybrid to 37” tires on a fire breathing roller coaster with full coverage insurance, they’ve kept that thing what is is while offering a setup to fit anyone.
You go to a jeep cruise, you’ll see everything from a well-to-do black grandma to a middle class soccer mom to a dirt poor hillbilly kid all hanging out and talking to each other before they all set off on a drive. The thing transcends culture, politics, economic class race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and brings them all together in the glow of a check engine light reflecting off of a rubber duck.
How horrible to drive can it be, if it can do all that!
I know nether Torch or Princess Anne owned a Stag, but it’s got similar performance to a Scimitar and belongs in GT.
I think you put the 928 in fundamental just to make sure we were paying attention.
Yeah, this list is terrible.
The definition of a sports car is defined by how well it responds to sporty driving.
Example: A Honda Odyssey responds poorly to sporty driving and is not a sports car. It likes to waddle and takes a day or two to respond to WOT when coming off the brakes. A Miata is definitely a sports car because it responds perfectly to sporty driving. However due to this definition it also means virtually any car can become a sports car with some or many modifications, so if you see a Honda Odyssey on a race track with coil overs and slicks, that is also a race car. Probably.
As a hot hatch aficionado, I approve of this list.
As a hot hatch aficionado, I don’t. Hot hatches are great fun, I love mine, but it doesn’t drive like a real sports car at all.
But it’s right there in the name: hot hatch. A hatchback that’s been made hotter; not a sports car.
It is a sports car to those of us who want to go fast around corners, but still have to drive it to work. Yes, you can drive a Miata or a Cayman to work, but you’re not throwing a bag of mulch in the back that you needed cause you were one short to finish. I’ll put my Golf R up against any dedicated rwd 2 seater ya want. A sports car is a car you drive for fun IMO, and a hot hatch meets that goal every time.
You can drive a crown vic around a racetrack and probably have a ton of fun, doesn’t make it a sports car. A sports car is a car that is built, from the beginning, for “sport”.
Well, I suppose that is true in a semantic sense. However, the article seems to be more about what meets the spirit of the definition of a sports car, not the letter of the law. Read in “get it right or go to naming jail” you are more correct than my fellow Autopian-dweller.
I agree with most except for hot hatches and pony vs muscle. The hot hatch one, in particular, I find inconsistent with the other categories you’ve defined. If a sports sedan (or sport wagon) isn’t a sports car (I agree), then a hot hatch shouldn’t be either. Like the sport sedan and wagon, they’re not purpose-built to be driver-focused cars, they’re modified versions of family-utility focused cars. To take it a step beyond, not many people would consider a “hot” version of a CUV to be a sports car, but conceptually, there’s not much real difference.
Pony cars are smaller and more nimble than muscle cars and were purpose built for what they were with lesser engines offered to appeal to the larger pool of people who just want a cruiser with the looks, but not the expense of the big engine. Muscle cars were kind of the opposite in that they were badass versions of more mainstream high-volume cars (originally full size engines in intermediate size bodies, but this changed over time so that they became more like pony cars in concept in that they were purpose-built to be badass first, but they’re still larger and more family-utility focused than pony cars, also with lesser engines offered for volume), making them closer conceptually to the hot hatch and sport sedan (or sport wagon).
Sports car vs GT is a moving goal post due to the pervasive spread of convenience and luxury features. What would have been a sports car now would have been considered a GT in the past. I don’t disagree with your definitions, just that it should be noted that the distinction is relative to era.
This is pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Thank you.
Facetious answer, it’s like p*rn, I know it when I see it.
What about speedsters, the Ur-sportscar of the species? Typically a stripped down car to the bare basics – engine and chassis, two seats and a gas tank. Usually no doors. Some of the factory models had a vestigial body. Definitely about the fun!
Examples: Stutz Bearcat, Mercer Raceabout, innumerable Model T conversions.
I’m off the the Speedster rally & reunion this week around El Paso, IL for the 100th anniversary of Route 66. There will be about 30 cars tooling up and down the mother road Thursday and Friday. Should be a hoot!
They’d be sports cars, though that precedes the term, I believe. I just posted about this in regards to GT being a moving goal post, which means sports car is also. A Mercer Raceabout wasn’t particularly stripped down relative to the standards of its day. As all cars have gotten more laden with convenience and luxury features over the decades, what was once a GT would be considered a sports car today and a modern sports car a GT in the past. Go back to the 1910s and the standards were so basic that you’d have to call it something different entirely by today’s standards, so that’s why I think the labels should be applied in reference to their contemporaries. A modern day equivalent of those early sports cars would be something like an Ariel Atom, which seems far too basic to be called a sports car today, sharing space with vehicles that can still be daily driven. I’m not sure what that category is/should be called now, elemental sports car or just elemental maybe?
there’s a lot missing.
EVO, STI, M3 (sedan) to name a few.
and I’m sorry, if a hot hatch can be considered a variant of a sports car, then why are you frowning on sports sedans?
I feel almost like that was a bit of rage bait?
Not every discussion is meant to provoke rage. Just thought and discussion!
“driving engagement by posting hot takes”
also, what’s the problem with getting people thinking and engaging? That’s why we do this! It’s fun!
This is fun! Disagreement doesn’t have to lead to rage. It can lead to understanding and appreciation. Obviously that rarely happens on the Internet, but with the community The Autopian has, I’m hopeful.
what if it’s an sti? Has a big wing, loud exhaust, turnbo, but is a sedan and can fit baby seats. lol
Did “sleek” as an adjective for sporty-looking cars start in the UK, specifically Car magazine, back in the ’70s? If so, I want to apologise on behalf of my countrymen.
My trusty 1984 imprint of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary:
sleek a. (of hair or skin etc.) smooth and glossy; looking well-fed and comfortable; ingratiating.
Maybe that’s true of many Porsches or the Bugatti Veyron, but it’s not a universal attribute of sports cars. I have seen “sleek” used to describe cars like the Lotus Esprit or late models of the Countach. “…smooth”? “…well-fed”?
An Italian friend, a well-known car designer, recently described a sports coupe as “…muscular and svelte at the time”, which I thought was perfect.
Oxford Dictionary: “svelte a. slender, lissom, graceful.”
Dang spoiled rotten kids! Today’s average car out corners, accelerates, and brakes, what was the classic definition of a sports car. Which was purpose built to be competitive. “Simplify, then add lightness” is as good of a definition you likely can find.
I do agree that driver engagement is paramount for a sports car.
When my daughter got her one of my hand-me-down Miatas, after having it for a few months ( a 91 British Racing Green 5 speed), I asked her how she liked driving it. She said:
“ Dad, you don’t drive a Miata. You wear it!”
Never has a father been so proud 🙂 yes it’s a sports car.
Fwiw hard no to muscle cars as sports cars. They’re muscle cars. Heavy, can’t turn, but they eat up the pavement and make lots of smoke and glorious noise,
But they are built to satisfy a very specific kind of driving enjoyment! And they’re good for drag racing. They’re part of the spectrum.
Well I guess muscle cars, in the right application, can fall into the best definition of sports I know of. From Earnest Hemmingway…
“Motor racing, bull fighting and mountaineering are sports. Everything else is just games”
and the corollary that’s written on the back of my track-day t-shirt:
“If it can’t kill ya’, it ain’t a sport!“
So, a ChangLi with its batteries half ripped open by a chainsaw is a sports car?
COTD right there 🙂
Here’s a hot take: Hemingway is overrated. Mountaineering is definitely not a sport; it’s an activity. And reading Hemmingway can bore you to death, but it’s not a sport.
This is the “horses for courses” principle. Muscle cars are built for the quarter-mile, not Monte Carlo.
Oh this would make a great documentary, similar to the (what is) Yacht Rock. Just don’t ask Donald Fagan.
The guy who came up with the term “yacht rock” has the definition wrong. Music can’t be limited to geography. Grunge isn’t just Seattle. Yacht rock isn’t just SoCal. Steely Dan is yacht rock. Also to stay on automotive topic, I’m sure some songs by the Cars are probably at least yacht rock adjacent.
A sports car is 2 door, 2 seat, RWD, and has a hard top.
the 911 has a rear seat, if only just, are you willing to say that a 911 is not a sports car? by your definition, you’d have to.
and I would submit, you also can’t just ignore open top sports cars, not convertible, but open top.
Lotus 7 should be the prime example of a sports car, and there is no roof, but you’d say that it doesn’t fit in the category of sports car. I’d say a sports car doesn’t get much more pure than that.
911 is a GT
Lotus 7 is a roadster.
Fun cars but not sports cars.
Nissan 350/370Z has entered the chat.
*or open body.
Now yes. Perfect.
That’s right there’s a Shooting Brake sub category! We might be out of production but we will not be forgotten!!!
Ooh, this is spicy. I’m usually pretty open with definitions, but I think this is actually way too broad. GT cars are borderline for inclusion; hot hatches are a hard no, equivalent to sport sedans. As others have said, I think it’s about the original intent behind the basic design. A VW GTI is a Golf, usually one that’s been very nicely upgraded, but the basic design is a Golf, which was created as a sensible family car. Muscle cars were generally based on boring intermediate-size two-door sedans. Etc., etc.
And Torch, please, please get your Corvair nomenclature right. What you’re after is the Monza Spyder/Corsa, which were the (usually) turbocharged, specifically high-performance-ish trim levels. A non-Spyder Monza is just a features/appearance package that could dress up a Corvair with any of the basic naturally-aspirated powertrains, more often than not with a Powerglide automatic as part of the mix. And even the turbo models would make more sense ranked as “sport sedans” than anything else, a category that can/should encompass two- and four-door cars of reasonable passenger capacity, as the car that defined the genus, the BMW 2002, was a small two-door sedan.
the original intent behind the basic design means nothing.
the original BMW CSL started out life as a regular old E9, nothing sporty about that other than it was designed to have an I6.
And still isn’t a sportscar.
I am a frequent driver of a Corvair Monza and a BMW 2002. Both were engineered to be frugal but sporty and started life with weak economy-focused engines before being upgraded with more displacement and turbochargers. Both are engaging and fun and, I would argue, proto versions of the sport sedan category. IMO, neither are sports cars.
Tangential -the Jeep Wrangler is a sports truck.
Apocryphally, Enzo Ferrari called the Jeep “America’s only true sports car.”
Original a sports car was something that could be used for competitive sporting purposes, ie racing or rallying.
In the early to mid 70’s my dad had a 1970 MGB that he used to club race in. He quit in 1978, after the car got crashed really bad after he had to park it midrace, on the side of the track, after some sort of mechanical issue (he was not in the car when the impact occur, a few laps later; no one got hurt).
Fast forward to my teenage years in the mid 80s: while helping him work on his white Chevy Citation 2-door V6 Hatchback (I had to forgive his car choices in the 80s – he did race an MG in the 70s after all), I actually asked him once “what is a sports car?”
H aenswered that, traditionally, a sports car is a car you can do sports with. Usually, it would be a smaller car with very few options, nimble, with good enough power, and good enough stopping. Since weight was the enemy of “sporting”, sports car were available in low/no option trims, with no carpets, no A/C, no power steering, no radio, and very little creature comforts – no luxury items (although you could have cases where higher trim levels existed, with the usual comforts).
Sports cars where street legal, but you could drive them from your house to the track/event site, race/”sport” them, then drive back home, without having to tow them to the track/event site (and hopefully, not towed back home, either).
I then pointed out that, at the time, I could not think of any car that fit what he was talking about. He looked wistfully at me, and said “No one builds sports cars anymore.”
(A side of me agrees.)
Fast forward to my 2000-2015 AutoX years: I had conversations with folks on this subject (and many more), and had folks claim my NA Miata was not a sports car (“It’s a roadster”, whatever the fuck that means), while claiming a Porsche 996 was. I had Porsche owners claim the 996 was really a Grand Touring car, and that the 911 had stopped being a sports car sometime in the 70s. I had folks claim the Chevy Syclone was a sports car, but not TR6s or MG (“those are roadsters!”, after all.)
And. So. On.
After all this time, I decided it does not really matter what is a sports car. A car is a car. A truck is a truck, A minivan is a minivan. Ford’s upcoming cool EVs are “El Caminos”. It really does not matter.
I just let folks define their cars (and themselves, really) as whatever they want to define them (and themselves). Since I don’t autocross anymore, my Miata is now my limousine. My Protege5 is my daily driver hatchback (not a wagon). And my minivan is my Grand Tourer. Although when driving with the family, and the kids and my wife are not really watching, I turn the minivan into my Sports Car, if only for a few seconds, to try to impress them a bit.
And every now and then, I feed beer to my car friends, and debate about car things.
Your ideas are intriguing…
I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.
I talk too much…
I think part of what makes it so hard to classify things is that actual sports cars are so rare and uncommon these days that most of the driving public have not driven a small and light two seater. So, anything with some competent handling and a bit more pep is a “sports car.” I remain in the camp that sports cars are built primarily for driving pleasure. Once you start adding cargo space, doors, real back seats you’ve declared that the design is not purely focused on driving pleasure. I have a Mustang and it’s a lot of fun….but a sports car it is most definitely not. It’s ok, a car can be lots of fun and not be a sports car.
My dad said that anything with a heater or roll up windows was not a sports car.