Quote:
Originally Posted by iveexcaped3
just because its a coupe and has a manual trans doesnt make it a sports car. some thing that can perform lay down impressive numbers and can hold up to its looks is a sports car, only number thats impressive is the asking price that toyota thought they could get for this car. its like giving someone a 180sx and pop the hood and its has a ka24e. if im spending 30k on a car thats claimed as a sports car and im paying premium insurance for better be worth it. this car sold out before people found out how bad it fell on its face. sure you can get turbos in there and beef it up but at what cost? since they went with a box 4 on this they should have went turbo on it. the motor has to be practically maxed out seeing how the compression ratio is at 12.5:1 the only thing you can do is turbo this if you want more out of it
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Your digging yourself a deep hole in the world of the inexperienced here with your statement above. In fact your statement would have eliminated a lot of real sports that were produced in the 50's and 60's including the likes of early Porsches which really did not have incredible power .
By your statement one could negate a Lotus Exige to the non sports car bin because its powered by a NA Toyota dual cam engine.
Forgot about MG"s Trumph's Morgans, Alfa's , Opal GT's, Fiat 124's, Hell by your statement a 240z barely makes it in the door.
So really what does make a car a Sports car vs a non sports car. Well the purists might say it needs to be open cockpit ah but those are roadsters and they are a distinctive type of sports car signified by a lack of regular hardtop roof. Then you Coupe and Fastback. Then you even have 2 door and 4 door sports sedan a place BMW knows real well.
Now those are the types lets look at what defines them. First off they usually handle well and this is one of the big determining factors as ordinary cars are not usually typified by exclamatory handling. Fact is FRS/BRZ actually do handle quite well. Seems like they have that category nailed.
Second off the feel of the car tends to feel sporty. This Is something NIssan is quite good at i.e. making there cars feel sporty. Again Toyota/Suburu have actually achieved this.
Now lets talk about engines because that seems to be where you are solely focused.
Remember those British cars I mentioned and the early Porsches? Well they were pretty horribly underpowered. Yet they handled well for their time looked the part and were fun to drive. Hmm last ingredient of all this that cements a Sports cars identity is do they take them racing. Oh and they did in hordes in fact you go to SCCA races today you will still see some out there in certain classes still producing mediocre power ( more than stock) in relation to todays engines and whatnot.
Now disclaimer here FWD and RWD big argument most purists insist on a proper Sports car being RWD but FWD and AWD have actually creeped into the equation reeking havoc in the racing world in class definition. You know see FWD cars competing against RWD cars. Are they true sports cars? Some say yes some say no. A lot believe while they are not true Sports cars in the purist sense they are sporty cars.
General public is a bit clueless in this department. Give it a peppy engine and decent sporty looks and the manufacture convinces the public they are buying what they think is a Sports car.
Now again the FRS/BRZ ticks the box of purism in it being RWD .
Now about these engines Fact is a 1972 240Z scaled out at 2750LBs with a 150 hp engine. Again by your statement above about 240sx's with KA's it would have ruled the Z. Yet the 240sx with the KA pretty much hit the same power to weight ratio. Oh do not start down the road of the KA being a truck engine. That is the most popular myth of the import world. Fact is Nissan was sticking the engine in cars before they started sticking it in trucks.
Oh and since we have gone there you do realize that the beloved Corvette's LSX engine is in all kinds of trucks Chevy sells. Does that automatically make it a truck engine? No.
Also on the subject of engines, lots of different types. Some are high revving others are low revving . Usually lower revving engines have more torque and higher revving engines tend to favor HP. Ideally manufacturers try to strike a balance but in the end for a street driven car Now on a race car torque is not as important as the car is rolling around the track constantly in momentum. Here HP is crucial as it keeps the car rolling torque not as much.
So in the case of street cars Sports or not torque tends to be something you the driver will notice more. Its really what rockets your car off the line at a traffic light. Its really what give you that seat of your pants feeling.
In that case the KA was not a completely terrible choice for Nissan . It definitely has more torque than a stock SR. Stock SR's are anemic in the torque department.
So lets get back to the FRS/BRZ hmmm 2800lbs 200HP seems to fall right into both numbers that the 240sx Fastback/180sx ticked. Both cars were considered entry level Sports cars.
Oh and guess what the FRS/BRZ is a sporty looking fastback .
So really WTF the FRS/BRZ not sports cars? If you believe that you are smoking something good.
They are just not sports cars that get you or you like. But.... unfortunately for your sake they do qualify completely for the moniker of "ENTRY LEVEL SPORTS CAR".