Definition of Supercar
dieselhead
How are you guys defining "Supercar"? As examples is the Porsche 911 a supercar? The Lotus Exige? The Aston Martin V8 Vantage?
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Reilly Brennan
It's a good question, Dieselhead. My take is that supercars are built in limited numbers, exceed traditional performance limits and have a special X factor that makes them exciting. Given that definition, I think you could make a case for all the cars you listed, although the 911 base model and V8 Vantage might be less super than most. What do you think should be defined as a supercar?
dieselhead
Well, I'm not terribly interested in supercars by the extremist definition that I normally associate with the word. But I am interested in sports and GT cars. There seems to be no forum for that, but there is this one. But if this is for 13 year olds daydreaming about Murcielagos and Enzos, then count me out. I need something different and more real.
"Acceleration is simple: torque divided by weight"
Gordon Murray
Chris Paukert
Indeed, it's a very solid question. Does the term "supercar" equate solely to high-performance, or are high-cost and exclusivity enough to gain entry? (Is the Bentley Brooklands a supercar? How about a Rolls-Royce?) I tend to think not, but I've heard such terms bandied about in that context. As performance goalposts are always changing, I don't think one can ascribe a certain minimum performance standard (e.g. "Must reach 200 mph, must accelerate to 60 mph in under 4.9 seconds"), but there's probably something to that, as well.
The 911 is a tough call. It certainly has a supercar-like performance envelope in most incarnations, and rarer examples like the GT2 and GT3 would qualify in my estimation, but there's a fine line in there somewhere...
Chris Paukert
Editor-In-Chief
Winding Road // NextAutos
dieselhead
Agree the definition is hard, but I think I may have distracted us from my core interest: guys, how 'bout a forum for real -world sports and sporting cars where we aren't worried about some nebulous 'super'ness? Cars that I'm interested in that I think few people will call supercars:
Evo X
STi
Boxster
Cayman
M Coupe
Corvette
Challenger
Camaro
G8
M3
Elise
KTM
There are forums by country, but again, I couldn't care less since I'm not buying a country, I'm buying a car.
"Acceleration is simple: torque divided by weight"
Gordon Murray
Reilly Brennan
Interesting. Essentially, you're looking for a "performance car" forum, not just exclusive supercars?
Tom Martin
Both supercars and performance cars sound good.
dieselhead
Reilly: Yup.
tmartin: Since WW unit sales of true supercars are probably well less than
5000 units per year, and sales of performance cars would be more like
500,000 per year I have a concern that a supercar forum will be a bunch
of folks talking about their imaginations. I'm interested in a place
where we can discuss real cars that real people really drive. I don't
mind if that includes Ferraris, Lambos and Paganis, as long as the
discussion is about reality and not mixed up with childish wonder (which can be in a separate place, I'm not trying to be a tyrant).
"Acceleration is simple: torque divided by weight"
Gordon Murray
Mena
I disagreed with dieselhead at first but after this comment I have to agree. I think a separate (or replacement) thread labeled "sports cars" or something like that would provide more realistic discussion of performance cars. I really don't want to read a wish list everyday either. I'm not advocating banning supercars but they're only one part of the performance car spectrum.
Steve
I'll jump on that ship, too. Performance cars can be something as lowly as a used Si... Certainly not worthy of placement in a "Supercar" forum... but absolutely worth discussing, and perhaps not within the constraints of "Japanese Cars" (for example).
For, I'd imagine, all of us... Traditionally defined "Supercars" aren't a reality in our lives... However, "Performance Cars" very much are.
Plus, I have a hard time disagreeing with a guy that has a Murray quote as his sig. ;-)
hemipanter@hemi...
I believe a supercar to be a sportscar with super performance standard. Personally I would say that the criteria of satisfactory perfomance would be that the car should be able to do the "ring" in less than 7 minutes. It should weight no more than 2200p, with todays technology in mind. Or else, the word "super" stands for other criterias than beeing a fast sports car.
Not many cars left i would guess....
Goran