Is the Term "Supercar" Overused?

"CAR_IS_MI" (car-is-mi)
09/11/2013 at 12:49 • Filed to: None

What is the real definition for a "supercar"? Is it super fast? or super luxurious? What super things does a car need to do to become a supercar?

Recently I have seen this term thrown around a bit to much. Yahoo is running an article right now about a new BMW supercar; the i8. And while the i8 has the potential to be an interesting and exciting sport coupe, I would not go as far as to call it a supercar.

The show "How its Made" recently ran a series special on high end cars, where they covered Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, and other exotic type manufacturers. The one show where they used the term "supercar" was when they were covering the rolls Royce Phantom. Sure, it is super luxurious, and it does perform well for its size, but supercar???

To me, a supercar is something that was built to break limits (not just the bank)... The Jaguar XJ220, for example, was once the holder of the worlds fastest production vehicle. It did this with a V6 engine; that's pretty super to me. On the other hand, the 458 Italia, which achieves massive amounts of down force without the use of a traditional wing type spoiler, is still just a high end sports car. Impressive, but nothing overly super about it.

Where do we draw the line?

DISCUSSION (11)

ddavidn > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 12:55

Yes.

GhostZ > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 12:55

"sports car" or "performance car" is something I attribute to a car that handles well or has some amount of performance over a normal car, but at the compromise of something else. For example, a Jaguar F-Type. It's definitely a sports car, but there are cars in its market that do many other things better than it. These cars are high-volume and generally sell over 1000 per year.

"supercar" to me is something that does everything about driving rather well. A 458 is both beautiful, and luxurious, and fun, and fast, and powerful, and good handling, and prestigious. These cars are produced in the 100s per year at most.

Whereas a "hypercar" is the limit-breaking type of machine like the Koegnisegg Agera R. These cars sell in the 10s per year.

The problem is that before the Ferrari F40, a high-end sports car or mid-engined Italian Stallion would often hold records and be considered the top of the sports car genre. Then the F40 came, and blew everyones minds with a car that was mind-blowingly fast, and only mind-blowingly fast. The XJ220, F1, EB110, etc. all followed suit. So a new term was needed to describe these cars, and we have one: Hypercar. I think Top Gear really coined it in the last decade or so.

HammerheadFistpunch > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 12:56

Didnt we just have this discussion on the fp? I feel like it wasnt that long ago.

Osiris - I can haz Euro spec? > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 12:56

While I agree with you, I think the term "Supercar" is all up to the person using it. Me personally, I think the GT-R is a supercar. Something probably most of you would disagree with. It's just how I differentiate it from other unobtainable high end sports cars. Good article by the way!

Anon > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 12:59

Anything past the $120,000 mark base that's performance oriented and is either a 2 seater or a 2+2 grand tourer.

Chairman Kaga > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 13:02

My definition for supercar has two parts.

A)Performance MUST be its primary intent.

B)It must be capable of exceeding 200MPH.

I don't think cost should factor into the equation, because a Corvette ZR1 is undoubtedly a supercar. So is a Veyron. Cost differential is inconsequential to the designation of supercar.

jovimon7 > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 13:22

A "supercar" must be a limited production exotic that raises the performance bar to a new high mark. Only then will it go down in history as a true supercar.

CAR_IS_MI > Chairman Kaga
09/11/2013 at 13:29

While I agree with you for the most part, what about past cars that were "supercars" for their time. I mean there was a point when making 150mph was a huge deal. even though they may not be super by today's standards, they once were. Should these still be considered supercars? Or can we make a new category of "classic supercar"?

CAR_IS_MI > Anon
09/11/2013 at 13:31

Rather an open category, by those standards I could take a 911 C2 (sub 120k) and option it out over 120k, therefore taking it from non super, to super by your standard.

Chairman Kaga > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 13:34

To my recollection, the term Supercar was coined around the time of the 959 and F40, which is why the 200MPH requirement, at least for me, remains essential. So the benchmark was established in 1987. I don't see why we can't grandfather in some classics though.

In its day, the E-Type could have been a supercar (although the claims about its top speed were basically bunk). But the original Merc SL? Absolutely. Maserati birdcage? Yep. Ferrari 275? Without a doubt.

Mikeado > CAR_IS_MI
09/11/2013 at 14:32

I like a straightforward hierarchy. To me a Ferrari 458 and all its rivals are supercars. Anything moving into Pagani or Koenigsegg territory is a hypercar, but I'm not particularly sticky on using that term.

There are a couple of cars that are hard to place, though. The Porsche 911, for instance, depends on the version. The Carrera models are sports cars. The GT3 is a more hardcore sports car. The GT2 is a supercar. The Turbo? That occupies the same difficult territory as a Nissan GT-R. They both go as fast as supercars, but are they supercars themselves or just supercar killers from the sports GT category?

The i8 is not in a high enough performance bracket to be a supercar. It's a hybrid sports car, and a very cool one.

Supercars to me are almost always mid-engined. There are one or two exceptions, like the Aston Martin One-77 (although that's probably a hypercar with its stratospheric price, very limited production run and money-no-object engineering). I'd be tempted to say the Ferrari F12, but that's mostly because it's a Ferrari. It's more like a very sharp GT car IMO.

Anyway, to actually answer your question, yes. The term supercar is overused. If you go to a charity event or one of those drive-your-dream experience days then they stretch the term "supercar" out to basically mean anything fast or expensive. I've done a supercar event at the TopGear track where people turned up in everything from a Jaguar XK150 to a Rolls-Royce Phantom, with lots of actual supercars and some sports and muscle cars in between. But hey, it's for charity...