Decline of Sports Cars?

[Shadow277]

Unsure of ref. to second sentence, but my response to what I'm thinking you ask.
Example: individuals buys a nice PP1 or 2 Mustang. They live say north of the DC beltway. All of the cities (DC Baltimore Philadelphia New York I-95 north into New England and you can add in West Coast LA etc..) . The roads are congested to say it mildly, not a place you can do what people call spirited driving. Also if they do then a camera can make a Kodiac Moment real at the mailbox.

Americas populations are centered in the big cities, this is why they control the elections. High concentration population.
Maybe on this forum there are people that have better options, I know I do. I live outside of Myrtle Beach, now Bikeman from Myrtle Beach has same car as I but not those options.

When you look at the average Joe or Jane they could care less about tracking car, stuck in traffic most of the time. When can they enjoy a sports car enough to put up with the short comings of a sports car.

Analogy: woman don't wear tight jeans to garden in.

Seems like Americans are lazy and want fun roads in their back yard while living in the city.

I've been all over the country. There are reasonably fun roads within reasonable distances.

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[Interceptor]

True, but they are not on the comute to work. working class aren't gonna come home from work then go find a road to take out stress.

 

[Helltime]

True, but they are not on the comute to work. working class aren't gonna come home from work then go find a road to take out stress.

I'm working class...I do. If I get caught I get caught. I daily a mustang, before that I dailied a C5 6spd vette, and before that I dailied a C4 corvette (and may other things most would turn their nose up at as a daily). People just aren't into cars like they used to be, which is sad.

 

[Balr14]

Sports cars may never go away entirely, but they will own a very small market segment. Traffic and road conditions make them more and more impractical around here. I used to at least be able to open up my cars on freeway entrance ramps for 5 or 6 seconds. I haven't been able to do that in nearly a year, always a couple SUVS in front of me. Mustang hasn't seen even half throttle in many months. Then there's the roads... I always pick the smallest wheels with the most sidewall I can get for any car. Big wheels have cost me way too much in damaged wheels, tires and suspension. Bottom line, sports and high performance cars are great, but where are you going to use them?

 

[HiTekExec]

True, but they are not on the comute to work. working class aren't gonna come home from work then go find a road to take out stress.

Respectfully disagree with you on that. My commute can be damn entertaining and I enjoy the sprints and curves and other performance car drivers whenever the opportunities present themselves. and Yeah, after a week of long commutes, I've been known to head off to roads less traveled for a bit of fun.

 

[ice445]

Stagnant wages mean "fun" cars, especially as a second car, aren't on most people's radar. Practicality is king these days when you can only afford one vehicle, so trucks and SUV's fill that role much better. Sure, a Mustang is actually practical for the most part, but a lot of people in the US live in a winter climate 6 months of the year and still don't understand that RWD can be tamed with the right tires. I hear from so many uninformed people that "that must be horrible in the winter". Mind you I don't drive mine in the winter (lmao), but I know I could easily do it if I chose to if I just bought a proper set of tires and drove sensibly.

Most other sports cars fall into the same trap of not having AWD or not being absurdly practical in any given situation.

 

[HiTekExec]

Sure, a Mustang is actually practical for the most part, but a lot of people in the US live in a winter climate 6 months of the year...

I can certainly understand that perspective having grown up in the Chicago area, which is why I live in sunny southern California... summer tires all year 'round.
I suppose my point is that fun is what you make of it, enjoy it while you can.

 

[Norm Peterson]

You need to go to the track to be able to enjoy the attributes of a sports car. Few people have a place they can safely hang loose

No, you don't have to hang it all loose to enjoy driving a true sports car or (these days) a sporty car like the Mustang or Camaro at speeds far below their ultimate capabilities.

Basically, it's not always about having to "run the numbers" to prove that you can "measure up" to some standard. What it is about is being involved in the driving of a car that's happy about being driven with a bit of enthusiasm and lets you do that while remaining completely relaxed behind the wheel. Or a lot of enthusiasm, if you're on a track.

Think 'subjective impressions' rather than measured numbers.


Norm

 

[SpeedLu]

True, but they are not on the comute to work. working class aren't gonna come home from work then go find a road to take out stress.

What are you talking about? I work 12 hours a day and still take a 30 minute wind down cruise after I get home from work.

 

[General Geoff]

There is no single root cause. Lots of compounding causes:

The 1950s, 60s and early 70s were an anomalous golden age for the United States because we were the only fully industrialized nation to escape World War II with a completely intact infrastructure, and thus we were the commercial center of the world, allowing our entire population from rich to poor to prosper greatly and have much disposable income that was absolutely unprecedented. This led to the increasing popularity of such relatively expensive yet frivolous things as sports/muscle cars. Since then, wages have stagnated while prices of cars continue to rise with inflation, making fun but less strictly utilitarian cars a less appealing consideration for the majority of folk who can now only afford one newer vehicle.

Traffic density has risen almost 300% since 1970. Public roads just aren't as empty as they once were, making it more dangerous and less fun to drive spiritedly on them.

The modern information age and rise of the smart phone has led to a domination of digital communications over meatspace time, making routine physical travel far less necessary than it once was.

Cost of driving has risen considerably as a percentage of the average young person's salary, and cars are not the symbol of freedom that they were in decades past. Now they are just as often seen as financial burdens by cash-strapped, student loan debt-laden young (and even approaching middle age) adults. Cars are still a status symbol, but more "practical" SUVs have largely taken the spotlight from performance cars in that regard for the general population, again because most folks can't afford two new cars and if they can only have one, they want it to be able to handle whatever situation they think they might encounter (not necessarily what they actually will).

Finally, urbanization has shifted the majority of the population from rural/suburban environments to dense, urban areas where there simply isn't enough space for everyone to own multiple cars. When you only have parking space for one car, you gotta make that car a jack of all trades, which the Mustang is not.

None of these trends really apply to car enthusiasts because cars are our passion and thus we will keep buying the cars we like to drive no matter how relatively impractical they may be.

 

[Shadow277]

Stagnant wages mean "fun" cars, especially as a second car, aren't on most people's radar. Practicality is king these days when you can only afford one vehicle, so trucks and SUV's fill that role much better. Sure, a Mustang is actually practical for the most part, but a lot of people in the US live in a winter climate 6 months of the year and still don't understand that RWD can be tamed with the right tires. I hear from so many uninformed people that "that must be horrible in the winter". Mind you I don't drive mine in the winter (lmao), but I know I could easily do it if I chose to if I just bought a proper set of tires and drove sensibly.

Most other sports cars fall into the same trap of not having AWD or not being absurdly practical in any given situation.

Gotta love having that 60k truck that's never been used to tow a load that a Chevy Spark wouldn't break a sweat with.

bUt wHAt iF i MoVe? i n Eed A tRUcK!
Because U-haul doesn't exist, right?

 

[Shadow277]

There is no single root cause. Lots of compounding causes:

The 1950s, 60s and early 70s were an anomalous golden age for the United States because we were the only fully industrialized nation to escape World War II with a completely intact infrastructure, and thus we were the commercial center of the world, allowing our entire population from rich to poor to prosper greatly and have much disposable income that was absolutely unprecedented. This led to the increasing popularity of such relatively expensive yet frivolous things as sports/muscle cars. Since then, wages have stagnated while prices of cars continue to rise with inflation, making fun but less strictly utilitarian cars a less appealing consideration for the majority of folk who can now only afford one newer vehicle.

Traffic density has risen almost 300% since 1970. Public roads just aren't as empty as they once were, making it more dangerous and less fun to drive spiritedly on them.

The modern information age and rise of the smart phone has led to a domination of digital communications over meatspace time, making routine physical travel far less necessary than it once was.

Cost of driving has risen considerably as a percentage of the average young person's salary, and cars are not the symbol of freedom that they were in decades past. Now they are just as often seen as financial burdens by cash-strapped, student loan debt-laden young (and even approaching middle age) adults. Cars are still a status symbol, but more "practical" SUVs have largely taken the spotlight from performance cars in that regard for the general population, again because most folks can't afford two new cars and if they can only have one, they want it to be able to handle whatever situation they think they might encounter (not necessarily what they actually will).

Finally, urbanization has shifted the majority of the population from rural/suburban environments to dense, urban areas where there simply isn't enough space for everyone to own multiple cars. When you only have parking space for one car, you gotta make that car a jack of all trades, which the Mustang is not.

None of these trends really apply to car enthusiasts because cars are our passion and thus we will keep buying the cars we like to drive no matter how relatively impractical they may be.

Wage stagnation is false. Even if it were true, all of our lives are way better compared to even the 70s.

 

[The Demon]

So does anyone here consider the Tesla Model Y Plaid a sports car or a sports sedan or complete garbage? Just wondering as I don't and would not call that car a "sport" anything.

 

[Norm Peterson]

So does anyone here consider the Tesla Model Y Plaid a sports car or a sports sedan or complete garbage? Just wondering as I don't and would not call that car a "sport" anything.

It's a smallish SUV.

In my book, that makes it not-a-car no matter how fast or how good it may be at being an SUV.


Norm

 

[The Demon]

It's a smallish SUV.

In my book, that makes it not-a-car no matter how fast or how good it may be at being an SUV.


Norm

You are correct. Sorry I meant Model Y.

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