The best sports car for under £10k

BMWZ4MC said:
I agree that handling characteristics, how driving a car makes you feel, and aesthetics are all key components of what defines a sports car, but the boundaries are now blurred by electric cars.
Handling is governed in part by the car's mass and its distribution, as well as the dimensions of the vehicle including its track and wheelbase, and the suspension set up. When compared with my Exige, my wife's Taycan is 120cm longer and 25cm wider and taller; the wheelbase is 60cm longer and the wheel track 20cm wider; it's 2.5x the mass, yet the handling is just as sharp and nimble. It's stable at high speed in a straight line but also readily changes direction - I can take corners without slowing down that would make me nervous in my Lotus. The centre of mass is lower than the wheel centres and in the middle of the floor of the car. The weight distribution of my Lotus is 60% rear-biased and the centre of mass is around 45cm above the ground with a kinematic roll centre 3cm above the ground. The Lotus has double wishbones front and rear, the Porsche has double wishbones at the front and multilink rear combined with active suspension.
Driving my Exige is raw and visceral at all times, but it is at the extreme end of the sportscar spectrum. The Taycan can be a silent, high speed luxury mile-muncher or transform into a stimulating car with a mind-blowing ability to accelerate, brake and change direction without body roll or loss of stability. There is fantastic feedback through the wheel and the car is easy to place in bends. It lacks the olfactory feedback of a car driven hard, and doesn't reward such driving with ever more dramatic sounds, but it also doesn't deafen me or roast me on a hot day. In most ways, it is far from lacking excitement.
If aesthetics are considered, the aspect ratios of both cars are near identical in terms of ratios of height to width, height to length and width to length. The Exige is a mini Group C racer; the Taycan is a wide, low-slung coupe.
However, whilst the Exige is a undoubtedly a sportscar, most would struggle to use that word to describe the Taycan.
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So you have, by your example, described what a sports car is as defined in the OED, that is a low-built car designed for performance at high speed. Back in the day, that is the early 1900's the term first started being used in Britain, to describe a racing car built for touring, think early 3.0L Bentley's, they were designed to be driven to a race track, race and drivin home. As the years have passed, the interpretation may have evolved, but the OED's definition, in my opinion, still stands and has little to do with how much a car weighs.
 
sars said:
So you have, by your example, described what a sports car is as defined in the OED, that is a low-built car designed for performance at high speed. Back in the day, that is the early 1900's the term first started being used in Britain, to describe a racing car built for touring, think early 3.0L Bentley's, they were designed to be driven to a race track, race and drivin home. As the years have passed, the interpretation may have evolved, but the OED's definition, in my opinion, still stands and has little to do with how much a car weighs.
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Weight in isolation is insufficient to define a vehicle's suitability as sportscar - if the Taycan had two doors and made vroom-vroom noises, it would compete with many supercars (whatever one of those might be). It certainly fits the definition of a sportscar by the OED and by almost all other measures (except Pondrew's weighty criteria). However, whilst it's a highly competent machine, it lacks the soul of a sportscar!
 
So..

It’s clear that any car that is a roadster is a sports car ..it’s a design that takes pleasure and form over functional efficiency..🤔🫡

As to what else constitutes a sports car my favourite site lists..😂👀👍

List of sports cars - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
@BMWZ4MC, again, the words low-built is a pre-requisite (thus another argument is how low to qualify), the Taycan stands at 1.378 mm, the Exige is 1,129 mm, the G29 is 1,304 mm and how we started, the e86, is from 1268 mm. In my own view anything with four seats is automatically disqualified, whilst any low-built, two seater convertible is absolutely a sports car, they can also be a grand tourer like the e89 and G29, they bridge both worlds.

For clarity low-built means designed to be low in height, not number of cars produced.

Edit, also for clarity, mass is important by where it is, the position of the C of G of the car, not to the actual mass of the vehicle.
 
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sars said:
@BMWZ4MC, again, the words low-built is a pre-requisite (thus another argument is how low to qualify), the Taycan stands at 1.378 mm, the Exige is 1,129 mm, the G29 is 1,304 mm and how we started, the e86, is from 1268 mm. In my own view anything with four seats is automatically disqualified, whilst any low-built, two seater convertible is absolutely a sports car, they can also be a grand tourer like the e89 and G29, they bridge both worlds.

For clarity low-built means designed to be low in height, not number of cars produced.

Edit, also for clarity, mass is important by where it is, the position of the C of G of the car, not to the actual mass of the vehicle.
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Low as in height from ground to top of roof? Or from ground to bottom of car? Or from ground to seating position?

On weight... the first sports cars had to be light, because there wasn't much in the way of engine or chassis technology to make a heavier car fast or agile. That technology is now abundant, so weight is less important.
 
Most people would say a sports car is a low 2 seat performance car some have small rear seats. Some have specialist drive trains, some use drivetrains from other models, some mix and match drivetrains
 
sars said:
In my own view anything with four seats is automatically disqualified,
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I've always thought an Austin-Healy 3000 was a sports car, but I'm sure I've seen them with rear (albeit tiny) seats. And try telling a Lotus Elan +2 owner that!
 
@Mr Tidy, oh good point, so a 2+2 can be considered a sports car, so long as two adults of average height cannot sit comfortably in the back for two hours :LOL:
 
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sars said:
@Mr Tidy, oh good point, so a 2+2 is a can be considered as a sports car, so long as two adults of average height cannot sit comfortably in the back for two hours :LOL:
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There have been a couple of cars recently that have managed that trick - Mazda RX8 and Toyota GT86. Both unequivocally sports cars, but with very clever packaging. Both were 2-doors, so perhaps 4-door cars are automatically disqualified, rather than 4-seaters.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
Hmmm…is an Audi TT a sports car? Or just a Golf in a pretty dress?!
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It’s got 2 doors, 2 seats , it prioritises form over function, it’s aimed at people who want a sporty car..ergo it’s a sports car..clearly a golf isn’t ‘
 
B21 said:
It’s got 2 doors, 2 seats , it prioritises form over function, it’s aimed at people who want a sporty car..ergo it’s a sports car..clearly a golf isn’t ‘
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I thought it was when I owed one (with 2+2 seats), but the inherent understeer and poor brakes combined with a lack of steering feel make it more of a compromised, 4WD coupe hot hatch than a sports car!
 
Zedebee said:
Mazda RX8
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The RX8 had 4 doors. The rear doors were those cool "suicide" doors. Really clever design. I was very seriously looking at getting an RX8 many years ago as my 2nd car but I was put off bad the bad bubbling corrosion they all seemed to suffer when I would go to see them for sale.
 
Back to the original post. Regardless of what anyone thought of the video it has certainly sparked debate as we are now into the 5th page of this thread and thats got to be a good thing for a YT video :)
 
BMWZ4MC said:
I thought it was when I owed one (with 2+2 seats), but the inherent understeer and poor brakes combined with a lack of steering feel make it more of a compromised, 4WD coupe hot hatch than a sports car!
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Nobody suggested (I think) that a ‘sports car’ would be dynamically, performance, and braking superior to or even equivalent to a comparable ‘box’…

A Frogeye Sprite wouldn’t meet many dynamic or performance criteria but folks then though they were great little sports cars aka roadsters
 
Gebbly said:
The RX8 had 4 doors. The rear doors were those cool "suicide" doors. Really clever design. I was very seriously looking at getting an RX8 many years ago as my 2nd car but I was put off bad the bad bubbling corrosion they all seemed to suffer when I would go to see them for sale.
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I concede that one. I did have a TT and a GT86, but I never had a RX8.
 
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