No they are not fast relative to other cars not to mention sports cars. They may be fast when compared to Minivans, but when many SUV's and many regular sedans can demolish them(especially the Miata), then they can not be considered fast. "Fast" these days, as we know, has been taken up a few notches and I would not consider those cars fast at all.

 

They're not even fast relative to minivans. New Honda Odyssey--240HP.

 

From what I've seen, they do very well at autocross. Are you sure you didn't just see a bad driver? These are seriously fun cars to drive. They are more of a track car than a drag for sure.

Not in the least except for strait line acceleration.

 

Yeah, you go ahead and give me the ole' roll eyes. The Evo is still a really expensive ricer and ugly to boot.

 

You can? When did I ever say they had to be "fast"?

 

I like the traditional path to performance, as evidenced by my .sig. But, I also like twists on the theme, as evidenced by my .sig With that in mind, I really like the new wave of AWD performance cars. FWD just has its limitations that are imposed by physics; the use of AWD is a great way to get around this problem with the use of existing platforms.

And with regard to the whole what-is-a-sports-car and as it relates to four-doors and Miatas, I'll simply say that the last autoX that I did was on a relatively fast and open layout, and I beat the fastest Miata by about 4 seconds on a ~70 second course with my Impala - stick that in your pipe and smoke it, sports-car elitists

 

Where does it say that a sports car has to be bare bones and no room. This whole thing is real fuzzy but I'll be damned if I ever call a miata a "sports car".

 

Posted by Eric Bryant

I'll simply say that the last autoX that I did was on a relatively fast and open layout, and I beat the fastest Miata by about 4 seconds on a ~70 second course with my Impala - stick that in your pipe and smoke it, sports-car elitists


Yeah, but is your four door all wheel drive?

 

That's funny because a Miata is a sports car in the purest definition of the term.

 

Would the Geo metro convertable be a sports car then? it has two doors, convertable roof and is slow just like the miata, so what is the difference?

and I thought this tread was about AWD forced induction cars?

 

Yes. By current (in this thread) definition, the metro IS a sports car.

F bod is NOT a sports car, though.

And I agree these new cars are off target. Taking an entry level econocar and converting into a performance car with an "I'm in highschool" look and a 30K+ pricetag will hardly attract the buyers who are shopping in that pricerange: certainly not teenagers, not wanting to look like teenagers, and dont want an econocar no matter how dressed up. Hell, even if a devout import buyer, I think the G35/350Z would be way more appealing. A refined car with some giddy-up, for about the same price. Seems out of place to me. I also agree, the new SRT NEON will be much more successful, due to it being more in line with pricing for its intended market, even if its not as good of an all around car.

But, those cars will surely up the sales of their low end siblings, and the aftermarket to create a billion look-a-likes.

 

Well, if you are going to call them "sports cars" it helps if you know what a sports car is. The original sports cars were small british roadsters such as those made by Austin Healey, MG, and Triumph. Others later made them bigger, faster and even put roofs on them, but the first sports cars - the real sports cars - were small, two seat convertibles with agile handling. The miata is a modern version of what the small british roadster would be today if the companies that made them hadn't gone out of business.

It makes some sense to expand the term to include high performance cars with two seats and even those with a small back seat. It makes no sense to expand the category to include tall, boxy four door sedans, no matter how fast they are. Otherwise why not include some of the faster trucks, SUVs and wagons?

Why not? Because sports cars are dedicated by design to the art of driving, not regular cars that are hopped up to be faster or handle better.

Where does that leave us:

1) The Miata is a True sports car.
2) Tall Boxy Sedans will never be sports cars.
3) There is a distinction between "sports car" and "performance car" and while all sports cars are "performance cars" not all "performance cars" are sports cars.

 

The Miata is a sports car by definition, 2 seater, front engine, rwd layout. its the best selling sports car because it is also the cheapest in price. i wont get into the whole Evo thing again because different cars for different people and im not exactly a huge fan of souped up economy cars (RWD big motors are my thing )

what i still dont get is how Evos and WRX's are gonna sell well for that kinda price? SRT-4's are around 19 grand but Evos and the STi WRX hit around 30. high schoolers and early college students cant afford that kinda price and mid 20ish people for that kinda money probably arent gonna be going for the boy racer look and take their business elsewhere. o well, maybe i just dont get it

 

2)The metro convertable was a coupe

3) how can a sports car be a performance car if it does 0-60 in 10sec.? I consider the Miata just a convertable, like the Sebring.

all those old those old british cars were sports cars by 40's 50's or 60's standards but the 00's defination of a sports car is a little different.

 

The cobra, how about the cobra? Now thats a sports car. I am not talking about the mustang cobra but the 2 seater ones.

400 cubes, 2500lbs