What exactly makes a sports car?

A sports car is a road-legal car with a center of gravity within 24" of the ground.

In reply to chaparral:

I have a pretty wide personal definition of a sports car, for me its anything that has the brakes and handling to match or best its power.

Sportscars...

BlueInGreen44 wrote: In reply to Nick_Comstock: Good. I'm actually interested in hearing a counter-argument for the fwd Italians.

There is no counter-argument to me made. Sports-cars first and foremost are an emotional incarnation. My mind says that any vehicle that is pulled by the front wheels is an appliance. Same for 4 wheel drive.

I salivated for years waiting for the lotus Elan to be released,(Looooonnngggg gestation period that one) and then GM turned it into a FWD grocery cart and Mazda came out with the Miata. The market spoke loud and clear on this matter of FWD sports-cars and the silence was deafening in the GM/Lotus showroom. Not a rational argument to be made, but factual none-the less.

Six pages and I don't think anyone has agreed on much except that a sports car has two doors, two seats (that fit people that actually have legs - rear seats you can only put groceries on don't count) and are fun.

No agreement on whether a sports car with a fixed roof is a different (GT) kind of car (I'd have to say that my MGA coupe is just an MGA that doesn't mess up your hair, and that I'm not sure why the fact that GM took advantage of type approval to avoid having to jump through hoops to certify the Solstice coupe by giving it a removable targa panel instead of welding it on, should make my Solstice coupe technically a sports car not a GT car).

I DO know that I've been through this many times and in many for a before and there will never be any consensus about a meaningful definition that you can reliably apply to any car. I think it is like your Supreme Court, one of the members of which opined that he declined to define obscenity, but he knew it when he saw it. I think I'll opt for that measure. I know a sports car when I see one.

NOHOME wrote:

BlueInGreen44 wrote: In reply to Nick_Comstock: Good. I'm actually interested in hearing a counter-argument for the fwd Italians.

There is no counter-argument to me made. Sports-cars first and foremost are an emotional incarnation. My mind says that any vehicle that is pulled by the front wheels is an appliance. Same for 4 wheel drive. I salivated for years waiting for the lotus Elan to be released,(Looooonnngggg gestation period that one) and then GM turned it into a FWD grocery cart and Mazda came out with the Miata. The market spoke loud and clear on this matter of FWD sports-cars and the silence was deafening in the GM/Lotus showroom. Not a rational argument to be made, but factual none-the less.

FWD is a compromise which elevates economy (in this case, of production cost) over driving experience. While all sportscars are compromised to some extent, this (FWD) is too far.

I still think the Wikipedia definitions I posted last page are the best. Simple, covers the situations where some would bicker over curb weight or power or roofs.

Here's the question I want answered: "Who cares whether a car is a pedantically-defined sports car or not?"

scardeal wrote: Here's the question I want answered: "Who cares whether a car is a pedantically-defined sports car or not?"

Dont be such a Dork...We is having fun here! Of COURSE we care. Deeply.

Kinda.

Or we just like arguing about whose official definition is the worst.