Sports cars are for Fun

Sports cars - Sports cars are low and lightweight - and should be two-seaters. They are designed to provide drivers with fun - especially when driving round twisty roads.

Sports cars have been made for 100 years, and most early racing cars were really sports cars. Today, some sports cars have fixed roofs, and even room for two small people in the back.

Here, we concentrate only on sports cars, giving you the best information and guidance on choosing one. If you need advice, just ask. But how do we define sports cars?

Sports cars are usually two-seater convertibles. The best aren't shortened sedans which have two seats, but are built on their own short special-purpose underbodies or frames. The BMW Z4, Honda S-2000, Lotus Elise, Mercedes-Benz SLK and Porsche Boxster are good examples of modern sports cars.

Sports cars have been an important part of the motoring scene for a century. Famous makers of sports cars include Aston Martin, Ferrari and Jaguar - now in the supercar class - and Porsche. Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz has also made a number of fabulous sports cars over the years..

Some of these sports cars are produced by very small firms, and in some cases you have to do some of the assembly work yourself. Lotus is a small company that has produced some brilliant sports cars in the past, including the Seven, Eleven, Elan, Elite and Europa - and it still does so. There are many other small companies, especially in Britain, producing small numbers of sports cars and kit cars.

Among these British sports cars are the Caterhams, which are modernised versions of the Lotus Seven, and Morgans and Westfields. Like Caterham and Westfield, Elfin in Australia and Donkervoort in The Netherlands make high-performance sports cars of the classic type with exposed wheels.

What sets sports cars apart is their low centre of gravity, light weight and small size. These features give them the acceleration you expect in a sports car, and good cornering, handling and braking. They are usually fairly inexpensive compared with supercars. In fact, some like the Caterham CSR provide supercar performance - but no frills, just plain thrills. Completing a long journey in one of these cars is exciting and demanding. At the end, you have a real sense of achievement.

Unlike a supercar, a sports car can have quite modest performance so long as it is a two-seater - or two plus two children - and is fun to drive. Engines can be from 1.0 to 5 litres - bigger than that, if the car is any good it will be a supercar. Acceleration of a sports car should be better than a sedan, but these cars score mostly in cornering, braking and handling.

The Mazda Miata (MX-5 in Europe, Eunos Roadster in Japan) is a small sports car that is fun to drive, as is the more spartan Lotus Elise, which is a good deal faster and handles better, the Honda S-2000 and the Porsche Boxster. In fact, any car on this site is a real sports car, and will be fun to drive. If you're looking for a fast, fun car, consider a sports car and start here.