How To Choose The Best Sports Car For You
Sports cars focus less on practicality and instead focus on convenience and driving performance, with sleek styling, impressive acceleration and unmatched cornering prowess.
The class includes everything from affordable sports cars like the Audi TT and Toyota GT86 to high-end models like the BMW M4 and Porsche 911.
But to be ranked by us as one of the best sports cars, a car needs more than just looks or outright speed.
Comfort, safety, driving experience and emissions will affect the quality of a car. Test result. We have found sports cars that produce too much emissions in our tough tests, as well as models that are too unsafe to recommend.
You'll find our top recommendations for the best new and used sports cars in the tables below, as revealed by our rigorous laboratory and road tests. Also, we reveal some models that are not worth your money.
The best sports cars
Sports cars certainly have the looks, but the quality differences can be huge when you actually go out there and drive them. Our expert tests ensure that you buy a model you can trust and avoid making a costly mistake.
Just which one? Members can log in to see the sports cars we recommend in the tables below. If you are not a member yet, join Which? To unlock our best buys and not buy.
Best used sports cars
Buying used can be the route to getting the car of your dreams. There are many great models to choose from, plus many failures to avoid. Make sure your sports car delivers what you expect by selecting one of the models below.
Didn't find the car for you? Browse all of our sports car reviews.
And sports cars to avoid
We put more emphasis on attractiveness and driving performance when we test sports cars. But that doesn't mean that a sports car can get away with sky-high emissions and useless fuel economy.
Some sports cars we've tested emit more than enough CO2 to put them firmly in the highest tax bracket, meaning a £ 2,000 bill in their first year, on top of the high price you paid for the car.
The economy isn't anyone's first concern when buying a sports car, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it. You could get some great, fast, and beautiful sports cars that get over 40 miles per gallon, while others just barely exceed 20.
The worst sin of all is a sports car that is not fun to drive. Even small issues - like a little too stiff suspension or too lazy handling - are enough to spoil the enjoyment. When you spend over £ 50,000, you expect the unit to be practically perfect.
We drive every car we test for 500 miles, analyzing every facet of how it feels and drives. When we warn you to get out of a car because of how boring it is to drive, we are speaking from experience.
These are the sports cars that failed to impress on the road and in our lab.
Convertible or coupe?
Many sports cars are offered in two different body styles:
closed roof coupe
open top convertible
Which one you choose is obviously a matter of taste. But sun seekers should keep in mind that vehicle safety is generally not that great and that refinement (like cabin noise level) and handling can be compromised a bit in a car with a cloth roof.
If you want to drive with the roof down, a solution might be to choose a sports car with a retractable solid metal roof, such as the Mercedes-Benz SLC, Mazda MX-5 RF, or earlier versions of the BMW Z4.
However, trunk space is typically drastically reduced when the roof is down, which can force you to choose between carrying luggage or having the wind in your hair.
Will a sports car fit your lifestyle?
This is a crucial question. If you ever need to use your car to haul more than your weekly grocery store, or to haul more than two people, a sports car almost certainly won't fit your needs.
Although four-seater coupes and convertibles exist, they typically don't offer the same kind of legroom, headroom, and rear boot as a conventional hatchback or saloon. Even if you are buying a second or maybe a third car for your home as a supplement to a daily routine, consider all the nuts and bolts of owning a sports car before you take the plunge. In addition to the boot space, getting in and out, the interior space, the visibility, the driving position and the seating comfort can be very, very different from what you are used to.
The power and performance of some sports cars may also require some acclimatization, and many are much wider than a normal car. They're often noisy beasts too, so make sure you, and your neighbors, can live with anything on the extreme side before you buy.
The best sports cars for performance
Bottom line: sports cars are all about speed and the thrill of driving. For maximum adrenaline, you will need to look at models at the higher end of the price spectrum.
In addition to high-end exotics like the Audi R8, Mercedes-Benz AMG GT, Porsche 911, and Nissan GT-R, take a look at the Audi TT, BMW 2 Series Coupe, and Porsche Boxster. If you want to experience the ultimate in driver engagement and excitement, look for cars that have received five-star ratings in our sports car reviews for both performance and handling.
Are sports cars fragile?
The best sports cars feel like thoroughbred racehorses but, unfortunately, some seem to be just as edgy and fragile.
Every year we ask tens of thousands of drivers, including sports car owners, to tell us about their vehicle. Thanks to our comprehensive annual reliability survey, we know which models are most likely to fail and which ones will go the distance.
Best budget sports cars
Not all sports cars are expensive and there is a model to fit most budgets.
If you're looking to maximize your fun but minimize your outlay, the Mazda MX-5 starts from less than £ 20,000 new. The low-driving, driver-focused Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ cost less than £ 30,000.
If you buy used, you can get great deals on hatchback-based performance models like the Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster.
Improve your driving skills
To get the most out of your new sports car, it's worth brushing up on your driving skills.
Most high-end sports car makers will offer additional cost license plates to new buyers. This can help them overcome any intimidation they may feel about driving a powerful car and help them get the most out of their new engine.
Manufacturers such as Porsche and Mercedes offer driving courses to the general public, so that you can familiarize yourself with a fast car in a safe environment, before you decide to buy.
Front or rear wheel drive?
Most specially designed sports cars have rear wheel drive, as this is usually the best setting to maximize handling and agility.
However, driving a car with rear wheel drive requires more skill to drive with enthusiasm than one with front wheel drive. You are more likely to encounter oversteer, where the rear of the car begins to turn at the grip limit, which requires experience to correct.
Driving in slippery and snowy weather is also more difficult. The sophisticated electronic stability control (ESC) systems and traction control in most modern sports cars mean you don't need to worry too much about this unless you're expecting to deal with some very extreme conditions.
Front-wheel drive sports cars tend to be high-performance versions of normal hatchbacks, like the VW Scirroco. There are also four-wheel drive options, including quattro versions of Audi models and even the Porsche 911.
We test cars more thoroughly than anyone
Our tests go beyond those carried out by other organizations, and why. Which one? It is independent and does not accept advertising or gifts, you can trust our car reviews to give you the full, honest and unbiased truth about every car we test.
Every car we review undergoes over 100 individual tests in a lab, on a test track, and on real roads, and we actually log the miles, driving around 500 miles in every car we test.
Testing under controlled laboratory conditions means that the results we collect are directly comparable between different cars, helping us determine exactly which models are better and why, and helping you find the perfect car for your needs.
And so you know which cars are likely to prove reliable in the years to come, we also collect feedback from thousands of UK car owners via Which? Car Survey, using it to generate detailed reliability ratings for the cars we test.
To take the guesswork out of choosing your next car, And you'll get access to all of our expert reviews and tips.
0 Comments