A sports car is often a compact, low vehicle with a powerful engine and two-person seating. Of course, this is a textbook definition, but it gives us an idea of what the public considers a sports car.

The Houghton-Mifflin dictionary defines a sports car as an automobile designed for racing, specifically an aerodynamically constructed one- or two-seater with a low center of gravity with steering and suspension optimized for accurate control at high speeds. However, this dictionary definition does not appear to capture the general public’s conception of a sports car.

The definition of the two-seat rule in Houghton Mifflin appears to be out-of-date. Many sports cars currently have small back seats (sometimes called 2+2 seating). There is a movement to add more seats to models that most car experts have always thought of as sports cars.

black convertible coupe on road

Insurance companies use their classification system to categorize automobiles. The mere presence of two doors often qualifies any vehicle as a sports car. Obviously, this viewpoint is as overly simplistic as the standard dictionary definition of a sports car. Numerous two-door automobiles fall far short of the definition of a Sport vehicle Economy automobiles and even larger two-door vehicles that are not four-doors are designed with a focus on power and performance should not be considered actual sports cars.

black and gray vehicle

Some automobile enthusiasts refer to muscle cars and larger vehicles as sports cars. Others, however, distinguish these vehicles from genuine sports cars. These individuals will assert that a vehicle can be a sports car or sporty without being a genuine sports car. Consequently, conventional automobiles can be equipped with a sports package and/or accessories to make them sportier. Still, they may not strictly qualify as sports cars.

orange sports car on roadway

However, not all auto aficionados have this restricted perspective sports automobiles. Any vehicle is considered a sports car by many people.with superior performance or power compared to more conventional options. This school of thought considers muscle cars and other substantial performance-oriented vehicles to be sports cars.

Others will say that a sports car is different from all other cars because of its suspension and handling. Different suspension setups are the subject of heated technical debates about whether or not they belong on real sports cars.

A major automotive Magazine, Road and Track, A simple observation that encapsulates the sports car definition argument. If you ask five people to define a sports car, you will likely receive five different responses.

There is no definitive definition of what a sports automobile is. The narrow reports of the past seem ill-suited to classify the numerous automobile offers of today, and ordinary usage of the term contradicts the majority of long-standing definitions.

However, almost all perspectives on the meaning of sports automobiles appear to share a common theme. For example, suppose a vehicle is created focusing on high performance or race-like capabilities. In that case, it is likely a sports car. Alternative definitions fall well short of adequately separating sports cars from ordinary production models, which may offend some purists.