Quote:
Originally Posted by Deslock
I get where you're coming from: the FT86 feels noticeably heavier than my NB Miata did (~2300 pounds).
But it's relative. By today's standards (cars currently in production), the FT86 is lightweight, especially for a reasonably priced, RWD, 4 seat daily driver. Also, it's lighter or as light as some classic Japanese sports cars from long ago (RX7, 2nd gen MR2, etc).
The FT86 makes compromises to be livable and doesn't quite have the raw, singularity of purpose that some old traditional sports cars had (and the Ariel Atom and Cateram still have). But IMO, it has enough emphasis on low weight, low CoG, and driver involvement (shifter, steering, pedal location, road feel, tossability, responsiveness) to be called a sports car.
And semantics aside, we're on the same page. The FT86 is small and raw enough to turn off most people, and large enough to turn off some purists. Such is the challenge for the jack-of-all-trades daily-driver sports car.
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I absolutely agree its a drivers car, the low cog makes the car do amazing thing considering its heft. It does look like a sports car. But its heavier than any MR-S, and I always considered all but the MR-S a GT.
Those that say the early Miata and Elise aren't comparable just my opinion but their traits are what makes sports cars not comfort and horsepower. The Elise is probably the last true half-way affordable sport car we will ever see. But it had hidden cost with the carbon shell, other than that it posses about all the features and discomforts of a genuine sports car.
Everything is a compromise and I think the GT-86 got it right, but I'm still calling it a light GT not a sports car. And that's why most everyone wants more power. If she weighed 2300 lbs and was smaller the clamoring for a turbo would be small.