Originally Posted by FRiSson
You need a little perspective Kombatlion. The post WWII period was the golden era for the development of true sports cars. I am not talking about exotic supercars here, but true sports car. A true sports car is a low-slung, compact, and lightweight vehicle that is a precision tool for driving. It does this by communicating information to the driver about the road that helps the driver do his/her job better. A true sports car is far more responsive than ordinary cars to the driver's commands. It brakes better, it steers more responsively and has has an engine that tells you exactly how to get the best out of it. True sports cars include such legendary cars as the Austin-Healey, Triumph, Corvette, Jaguar, Aston, and even, early Ferraris. These cars required sacrifice, their rides were rough and they required a high degree of focus and energy to drive. Typically, these cars weighed from 2,000-3,000 lbs and had engines that delivered between roughly 100 - 200 horsepower. They were also the focus of aerodynamic improvements that made them unusually aesthetic and beautiful to behold. They had fairly powerful motors for their size, but they never competed on horsepower or torque with the big American cruisers or exotics with 6 or 8 cylinder engines. The idea was that they had enough power to be fast, but not enough to do the straightline drag race stuff. That kind of car is the "muscle car" and they very rarely competed with each other.
Roughly 20 years ago, the market for true sports cars, muscle cars and exotics got kind of confused. The market for true sports cars shrunk, and most of the companies went out of business, muscle cars were less popular and the remaining sports car makers decided to pursue the super-wealthy market. In addition, there were very few buyers for cars that did not surround the driver with comfort and space. The result was that the sports car market split into two different arenas. The first was the development of the "sports sedan", a misnomer. Basically it is a comfortable sedan or coupe that has the handling capabilities of a sports car but lacks the true sports car spirit - a machine that requires the driver's full attention to get the best out of it. The other direction the sports car market went was into ever more exotic levels of technology. Today's supercars have astonishing horsepower, grip and handling, but are so complex that the driver is merely sharing some of the driving responsibilities with computers. They are more liked manned earthbound drones than true sports cars. Their buyers are no longer the masochistic sports cars fanatics of the past, but are more likely 90-hour-per-week financiers who want something that looks good to drive to their beach house on Sundays.
In the meantime, the US got back into the muscle car business, and the Japanese invented the "hot hatch". But neither of these should be confused with true sports cars. For the hot hatch is essentially a compact commuter car brilliantly transformed into something sporty, while the muscle car is still designed for drag strip performance, and while capable handlers, are still bulky, heavy machines.
The FR-Z was deliberately built as a throwback, or a return to the true sports car. The emphasis was on a lightweight low slung body, with a demanding, but highly responsive chassis. The FR-Z is a modernized, affordable version of the great sports cars of the past. Engine power is just about right. It is enough to communicate and respond vigorously to the driver, but not enough to let you lazily hit the throttle every time you need to speed up. This is a car that requires you to be engaged, to hear and respond to the gearing, and to listen to what the road and chassis is telling you.
So don't be surprised when FR-Z owners don't care about out-dragging Genesis Coupes, STI's or Mustangs, our bloodline goes back to a much older tradition, the noble and nearly-vanquished heritage of the true sports car.
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