What defines a sports car? What defines a luxury car?

[deevergote]

I want to leave this open for discussion before I chime in. I'm curious to see how people define each. There is no right or wrong, which is the beauty of it.

[h22sparkle]

In my honest opinion with a sportscar you have some luxuries that most economy cars don't have based on more power. The suspension is more fine tuned on a spirited driving level to compete and enjoy speed and handling with a significant amount of bells and whistles.

But the economy cars have changed around a bit since the competition for economy cars are there to a point they have a fine amount of luxury options which have become standard by default unless you opt not to have one which would be slightly cheaper but not by that much.

As for the luxury cars they have pretty much a majority of all the bells and whistles with a sleek amount of style and give off the visual perception and feel that a person is financially well off especially when people get into that kind of car you enter that feel of being on a whole next level of status and comfort without having to worry about the person next to you because you basically brought what that car has to offer.

With luxury you basically brought comfort,style,power at ease on demand, all the trigonometry which the developers have made for that car to show. With performance on the other hand you have brought mainly speed,handling looks,the status when it comes down to other tuners. All about the money mostly the more you have the more you get its all on the market of what the people want. For example the hellcat and the demon on dodge notice how noone ever really spoke much about the Trackhawk $$$.

[CyborgGT]

My opinion doesn't seem to agree with modern society's idea that luxury is measured by counting up the features and technology. "The seats are flat and rock hard, but hey it's leather!" To me, sportiness and luxury both boil down to suspension and can be related to the human body... in an older, more traditional sense. Bear with me.

A "sporty" car, like an athletic human, is simply designed to be more agile. A "luxury" car is like how in some parts of the world, being fat is still a sign of status or wealth. It's all about physical, bodily comfort and laziness - if we imagine for a moment that obesity isn't hard on your body, but is as happy as in the cartoons! The god Bacchus that's always laying around eating grapes and drinking wine comes to mind when I think of luxury.

Despite the current horsepower wars in luxury and performance car segments these days, I think power is almost irrelevant in either case. It usually improves the experience, but isn't really needed. Power can probably be tacked up with creature comforts, really. Your Miata is slow as hell, but it's inarguably one of the greatest pure sports cars of all time because of how well it corners and communicates the road and the tires to the driver. Meanwhile, the American land-yachts of the 1970s were slow but you may as well be driving a nice sofa down the road.

Only in some of the real high-end cars with adjustable suspension have the two identities come close to coexisting within the same car.

[AccordWarrior]

Oh man, I could write a novel on this.

I remember way back when Car and Driver quoting the old school commonly accepted definition was (and I'm paraphrasing since I don't remember exactly) a small, lightweight 2-seat car that can be raced in a pinch.

My personal definition is a bit broader, but probably still on the narrow side. There are so many sub-genres of cars, muscle cars, pony cars, sport coupes, sport compacts, etc, so here we go.

In my opinion there are very, very few pure sports cars still left. I view a sports car as a 2-door car purpose built for driving enjoyment at it's core. I don't necessarily think it needs to be a 2-seater, but it can't be a traditional coupe either (ie M3). I don't view a performance model of an existing car line a sports car. It's either a sport coupe or something else. We live in an era where even the slowest cars are fast by all standards.

Case in point the Infiniti Q60 versus the Nissan 370Z. Yes, they are platform mates, which complicate things, but I view the 370Z as a sports car and the Q60 as a sporty coupe. The 370Z isn't designed to move people comfortably, it's designed to give an immersive driving experience. The Q60 is designed to move you, your passengers and some amount of cargo to another location quickly and enjoyable. It's not small, lightweight or designed to involve the driver (you can't even get 3-pedals in it!).

I'd argue the Mustang hasn't been an honest sports car up until maybe the most recent model. It's always been a pony car (especially pre-IRS), a powerful motor in a more plebian chassis that has it's roots elsewhere. You could make a fast Mustang that handles well, but there was always a pedestrian version available, one made cheap, comfortable and could haul stuff. With the addition of the more powerful models with upgraded handling packages, etc, etc...you're getting closer.

I'd argue the majority of so-called performance cars wouldn't fit the sports car definition, not because they're not great, but because they are something else. The Focus RS is phenomenal, but it's a hot hatch, not a sports car. My old STi wasn't a sports car, it was an economy sedan with a big motor.

I'm sure people will disagree with me, but I'd argue that Honda only made 4 sports cars during it's entire run (S600, S800, S2000 and NSX), GM made 1 (the Corvette), Ford made 2 (the GT40 and GT), Chrysler made 1 (the Viper), BMW made 2 (the 507 and M1), so on and so on.

Maybe I'm a bit of a purist, I dunno. I don't know if I'd even classify the mighty R32/R33/R34 cars as sports cars, or sport coupes.

[sonikaccord]

A luxury car should be designed to completely isolate the driver from the road and have effortless power. The power part provides a sense of "quality" to the driver and passenger. The feeling you get when a jet takes off comes to mind. There should be no abrupt changes in its delivery (gear shifts) and it should eat all but the most ruthless of roads. A luxury vehicle does not necessarily have to have all the gadgets and tech in the world, but the technology that it does have should be relevant and should make the occupants life easier such as the ability to order Starbucks from the rear seat using their voice ordering features.

A luxury car should also have road presence. It should be almost to the point of being intimidating. Onlookers should have the mentality "What the hell is that??? I should move out its way!"

A sports car should be very athletic, transparent almost telepathic in its control. It has to have some sort of comfort to it because it is not a race car, but it will transfer much more of its status to you through vibration and noises without breaking you down and fatiguing you. It should be minimalist with not many features to distract you from the road ahead. All of its design features should be focused on maximizing the performance of the vehicle. The question is, what is vehicle performance? IMO, simply acceleration, braking, cornering ability, and control. The body does not matter. It could be a wagon, SUV, 2, 3, 4 or 5 door. As long as it satisfies the above criteria, its a sports car.

[oni_cb7]

I'm confused. Where does my Luxury Sports Sedan fit in? lol 03 is300

[sonikaccord]

The is300 felt more sport than luxury when I test drove it, although it was modified so that may skew things a bit. My biggest pet peeve about the one I drove was the plasticky controls and console. They felt corolla ish.

[wed3k]

The is300 felt more sport than luxury when I test drove it, although it was modified so that may skew things a bit. My biggest pet peeve about the one I drove was the plasticky controls and console. They felt corolla ish.

its a lexus, theres no sporty to it...

[CyborgGT]

LFA isn't sporty?

*ED. - had to add extra text just to keep the letters of "LFA" from de-capitalizing, wtf.

[sonikaccord]

its a lexus, theres no sporty to it...

Explain...

[AccordWarrior]

LFA isn't sporty?

*ED. - had to add extra text just to keep the letters of "LFA" from de-capitalizing, wtf.

The LFA is the only sports car Lexus has ever made, IMO.