when did it become commonplace to call the most boring cars on earth 'sporty'?

[ElFenix]

'and the sporty toyota corolla, getting over 40 emm pee gee'
'the fun to drive sentra'
'the sporty civic'

 

[sonoma1993]

not a clue

but i did see a suzki x90 4x4 today. It had a wing on the back and this huge pushbar in the front.

 

[MazerRackham]

But they are fun to drive!

 

[SVT Cobra]

Thank god I'm not the only one.

 

[buzzsaw13]

To fool stupid people into buying it

 

[HamburgerBoy]

People actually call the Civic sporty? Shens. :Q

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy
People actually call the Civic sporty? Shens. :Q

I'm sure Honda would love you to believe that.

 

[MulLa]

They'd cally anything with a spoiler "sporty" to cash in!

 

[Atheus]

Civic type-R is more sporty than most. May not have a lot of power, but nor does a Lotus Elise, and don't tell me that's not a sports car.

 

[BlancoNino]

I have a 2004 Sentra. I wouldn't say it's any more fun to drive than any other regular old economy car.

 

[TomKazansky]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
'and the sporty toyota corolla, getting over 40 emm pee gee'
'the fun to drive sentra'
'the sporty civic'

nothing FWD can be sporty.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Civic type-R is more sporty than most. May not have a lot of power, but nor does a Lotus Elise, and don't tell me that's not a sports car.

Wow are you fvcking kidding me???? ~~~~~Honda fanboy alert~~~~~


Do you even understand how a car works and what goes into making it "fast"? Obviously you don't because you can't compare a Lotus to a Honda Civic, type R or not, just because something like a Lotus Exige has a 4 cylinder doesn't mean it makes it the same as a Honda, not even close, that 4 cylinder is highly tuned and superchared, I'm not even going to go into the things like power/weight, or suspension, etc.


Wow, I thought Honda fanboys are bad, but not this bad.

 

[ed0ggyd0gg]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
To fool stupid people into buying it

:laugh:

 

[EyeMWing]

Sporty Toyota Corolla? hahahahahahahahahahahha

I've driven a Corolla in the rain before (the owner was too wussy), and to be honest, I understand WHY he was so wussy about it. The thing flopped around like a fish during low speed city cornering, had NO traction whatsoever (thanks to the 12" coin-thick tires), and generally made itself the most terrifying thing I've ever fvcking driven.

The old model Focuses have a way of being "sporty", but it's different than the conventional sense. More quirky and fun than anything, really. The real fun bit is when the left rear tire decides it doesn't want to stay in contact with the ground during some intense freeway ramp manuever, and suddenly, you're driving a Tripod. This would, according to conventional wisdom, scare the piss out of you, as half your rear-end grip suddenly dissapears. But it's actually really fun (so long as you keep your boot in the floor, otherwise, you're going to slide WAY wide and end up in some damned guardrail)

Amusingly, the only time I've ever seen those characteristics advertised have been the numerous Top Gear appearances of the Focus line. Probably because the target market for the Focus in this country doesn't have anything to do with young people looking for performance, but instead has everything to do with Crown Vic owners looking to spend less on gas.

 

[Apex]

It's called marketing.

Why do people think Bose is so great?

 

[ta8689]

Originally posted by: Apex
It's called marketing.

Why do people think Bose is so great?

Who SAID bose was great? I didnt read that!

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Civic type-R is more sporty than most. May not have a lot of power, but nor does a Lotus Elise, and don't tell me that's not a sports car.

this was definitely a generic civic

 

[PowerEngineer]

It started along time ago....with the American car companies. The original Mustang wasn't really very "sporty", but came to define the term in this country.

 

[senseamp]

I was on a beautiful open stretch of mountain road today, and got stuck behind a Civic Hybrid doing 10 miles under the speed limit. I don't know if he was watching his battery getting charged or what. Civic just aint sporty, especially hybrid.
Anyways, I just pulled over and waited for a couple minutes to let him get far enough ahead so I could actually enjoy driving.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: ta8689

Originally posted by: Apex
It's called marketing.

Why do people think Bose is so great?

Who SAID bose was great? I didnt read that!

Bose really isn't about performance, but they do market it that way, and people believe it.

http://www.bose.co.jp/images/newfrom/newwave/main_pic.gif

It's marketing folks, all companies, automotive or otherwise, do it.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: ta8689

Originally posted by: Apex
It's called marketing.

Why do people think Bose is so great?

Who SAID bose was great? I didnt read that!

WOOOOOOOSHHHHH....

 

[sonoma1993]

It funny when you see sport edition put onto minivans. Such as the dodge caravan. How is a dodge caravan sporty? all do they is put a spoiler on the back and slap the word sport on it? So what makes that sporty?

 

[marvdmartian]

It's called marketing. It's to help take the sting away a little bit, when you're trading in your 15mpg Mustang for that 35mpg econobox. You know it's a total loss of testosterone on your part, but you console yourself with the thought that you can tell other people that, "it's sporty!" :roll:

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: marvdmartian
It's called marketing. It's to help take the sting away a little bit, when you're trading in your 15mpg Mustang for that 35mpg econobox. You know it's a total loss of testosterone on your part, but you console yourself with the thought that you can tell other people that, "it's sporty!" :roll:

dont forget, you also made a conscious decision to help out the environment too!

 

[Atheus]

Sorry, had to revive this thread...

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor

Originally posted by: Atheus
Civic type-R is more sporty than most. May not have a lot of power, but nor does a Lotus Elise, and don't tell me that's not a sports car.

Wow are you fvcking kidding me???? ~~~~~Honda fanboy alert~~~~~

Woah, psycho. I've never owned a Honda and am definately not a fanboy. I always preferred Toyotas for my jap goodness in fact.

Do you even understand how a car works and what goes into making it "fast"? Obviously you don't because you can't compare a Lotus to a Honda Civic, type R or not, just because something like a Lotus Exige has a 4 cylinder doesn't mean it makes it the same as a Honda, not even close, that 4 cylinder is highly tuned and superchared, I'm not even going to go into the things like power/weight, or suspension, etc.

Well I sure as hell am. The EP Civic type-R produces 212 bhp @ 8000rpm and weighs 1190kg giving 178hp/t. The European Elise with the k-series engine (the most common one) makes 120 bhp @ 5000rpm and weighs 756kg for 158hp/t. The American model Elise (and now also the the Euro one since the demise of Rover) makes 189 bhp @ 6200rpm and weighs 860kg = 219hp/t. So it seems to me the power to weight is very comparable, even if you get the more powerful Lotus.

As for other things, both cars have close ratio manual transmitions and hard track-tuned suspension, although I would concede the Lotus is better tuned, and of course it has the advantage of being RWD mid engine.

I also happen to have a list of Nurburgring lap times here. Unfortunately it does not include a standard Elise of any kind, but, it does include the faster and more expensive Exige and an older Civic type-R.

8:32 --- 144.844 km/h -- Lotus Exige, 192hp (sport auto 08/04)

8:47 --- 140.721 km/h -- Honda Civic Type-R, 200 PS/1246 kg (sport auto 11/01)

Surprised? Even I was. From this I can only conclude that the newest type-r might be equal to, or even beat the stock Elise on a track.

Wow, I thought Honda fanboys are bad, but not this bad.

My statement that the type-r is more sporty than most is not 'bad' or even slightly controversial. So suck on that.