Is weight no longer an issue in sports cars?
 

Someone please enlighten me. I feel like I'm missing something here.

I'm following latest sports cars releases and aside from very few exceptions (Alpine A110) almost none of the sports cars coming to market today seem to even bother about weight at all.

It's startling me that the latest release of 911 992 is a pretty heavy car yet almost no one is even mentioning this in the reviews at all, it's like being a heavy sports car is no problem in today's world.

I'm in the school of thought of lighter sports car is better. I can certainly feel the difference between 1450 kg (3196 lbs) sports car and a 1250 kg (2755 lbs) sports car. Now sports cars are more like 1600 kg (3527 lbs)! That's the weight of small SUV!

So honestly am I missing something here? am I the only one who thinks like this? what's up?

I totally agree. Part of it has had to do with all the crash standards and stuff, being more things on the car and the way cars are constructed for impact. I think it also has to do with cars just getting bigger as companies want to make cars have more space due to consumer demand.

In part, people just don’t really have an interest in small cars anymore :/ or they at least aren’t buying a whole lot of them new




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I totally agree. Small cars that feel more like toys are so awesome


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Things change and the evaluation of a car should be done in the context of its generation. Weight is as important as ever but it's just a means to an end. Feel is usually what matters and weight helps but other things improve feel too.

I went from a 73 911s to a 996 Twin Turbo and was blown away at the difference in feel with the added weight. I think power is more popular than lightness these days which is unfortunate. I love my 86 and would only replace it with an Alpha 4c. At some point

Because consumers want, air, PS, no noise, and every other creature comfort known to man, they want the image of a sports car with the luxury and refinement of a luxo barge.

Most people who buy a sports car do it for the image.

In my "sports car world" the standard twins are porky.

Sports cars to me should be RWD, a convertible or coupe, 2 doors, manual transmission and light, under 1200kg at least, with a great power to weight ratio.

Lotus Elise light.

Alfa 4C light.

MX5 light.

Every thing seems to be evolving into fat GT cars.

And everyone is calling fat GT cars sports cars.

The term "sports cars" is thrown around at everything now, so much so it's lossing its true meaning.

Hell, I've heard people call Honda Civics and Golf GTI's sports cars.

The world has gone insane....... https://youtu.be/0wRmD5W5gqY

I miss my ap1.

but which one would you say you enjoyed more if I may ask? the 73? or the 996?

What puzzles me here is the Alpine A110

It does not have cramped interior or anything and it does comply with modern safety and amenities and it's even lighter than the twins!

Granted of course that I do fully approve of the twins (I happily own one now) but some might argue the BRZ is a small car with small power and mechanicals and breaks and all that. To that argument you can point at the Alpine A110 which is a fast car by modern standards so what's the excuse now for everyone else building a sports car?

Today, all I can think of is the Twins, Alpine A110, Mazda MX-5, some light hot hatches such as the Ford Fiesta ST, Lotus Elise, and that Alpha 4c or something rather. It's a short list of cars.

Other than this, everything out there now is SUV weight territory.

Yeah haha. The small enthusiast sports cars are really far and few between nowadays


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Man that’s a tough one. 2 different animals. The sound of the 73S was just incredible I never turned the radio on. The TT was a great GT car with gobs of power but somewhat disconnected. If I could have 1 back it would be the ‘73 hands down.

My lotus is about 1950 lbs., My '77 911s Targa about 2450 lbs., Twin at about 2800. All that tech and safety adds weight.

We're like minded

I just feel that fun cars should be very mechanical and analogue. I'll save the SUVs for general commuting when I'm not in the mood to drive.

A big part of it is price. They could build the 86 with half the weight but then it would be a $100,000 car and nobody could afford it. The really lightweight cars are expensive for a reason and comparing them to an entry level coupe is not apples to apples.
As said the modern equipment which either people demand or the government requires unfortunately adds weight. The manufacturers try to make every car (even the SUVs and pickup trucks) as light as possible to meet their emissions and mileage requirements. Then another department requires even more stringent safety devices which add weight. On top of both of those they still have to meet a price point which keeps the vehicle competitive which in turn restricts the materials they can use. It is a balancing act that they struggle with on all vehicles all the time. Our engineers are tasked by our customers to shave as much weight as possible off our rotors each time we quote and it is truly amazing the ways they can come up with to cut a few ounces but maintain or even improve function with each upgrade. If we didn't have the tech we have now modern cars would be even heavier than they are!