vincent_va
I've always wondered. The actual appearance of a sports car comes from the chassis, but that's just plastic and metal, and not particularly expensive. It's the engine and the performance that costs money and makes sports cars so expensive.
But since people seem to like sports cars, why don't car manufacturers just slap a sports car chassis onto a regular car? It would look like a ferrari or lamborghini or whatever you want, but it's really just a Volvo C30.
It's not like it actually matters whether or not the car can go 300 Km/h or not, since no one ever drives that fast anyway.
Answer
>Why are there no cheap sports cars?
Define cheap ? You can find "sports cars" that start around or even under the $20k mark new (and go way up from there).
>...but that's just plastic and metal, and not particularly expensive...
So, by that logic, wouldn't the engine (and everything else) be cheap too? I mean, it's all pretty much just metal? The chassis IS the car. Developing a chassis that is capable of high performance and then manufacturing it is the majority of the cost of a car. The engine and everything else is often the cheap bits (relatively). The cost of the raw materials has little to do with the cost of the final work (the engineering, custom fabrication, etc. is the cost). You could put a Ferrari engine, brakes, etc in that Volvo C30, and it wouldn't come close to the performance of the Ferrari around a track. Those parts are important, but not as important as the chassis itself (it's balance, rigidity, layout, etc); and in a high end sports car, it's designed to work in concert with the other components.
> just slap a sports car chassis onto a regular car?
Manufacturers have, since the earliest days of car production, copied styling elements from race and sports cars on to other cars (do you really think those Honda Civics need those spoilers? Or those brake ducts that don't actually feed air to the brakes on some cars?). That's not the chassis though... just body panels and styling. But since the form of a car often follows it's function, designing a car that is usable for daily commutes and seats four, is available for a low cost (and therefore using off the shelf, not custom made parts) will compromise what is possible.
>Why are there no cheap sports cars?
Define cheap ? You can find "sports cars" that start around or even under the $20k mark new (and go way up from there).
>...but that's just plastic and metal, and not particularly expensive...
So, by that logic, wouldn't the engine (and everything else) be cheap too? I mean, it's all pretty much just metal? The chassis IS the car. Developing a chassis that is capable of high performance and then manufacturing it is the majority of the cost of a car. The engine and everything else is often the cheap bits (relatively). The cost of the raw materials has little to do with the cost of the final work (the engineering, custom fabrication, etc. is the cost). You could put a Ferrari engine, brakes, etc in that Volvo C30, and it wouldn't come close to the performance of the Ferrari around a track. Those parts are important, but not as important as the chassis itself (it's balance, rigidity, layout, etc); and in a high end sports car, it's designed to work in concert with the other components.
> just slap a sports car chassis onto a regular car?
Manufacturers have, since the earliest days of car production, copied styling elements from race and sports cars on to other cars (do you really think those Honda Civics need those spoilers? Or those brake ducts that don't actually feed air to the brakes on some cars?). That's not the chassis though... just body panels and styling. But since the form of a car often follows it's function, designing a car that is usable for daily commutes and seats four, is available for a low cost (and therefore using off the shelf, not custom made parts) will compromise what is possible.
cheap and reliable sports car?
Speed Rice
so i'm looking for a car to devote all of my time and money into. I am looking into the local racing scene (legal racing, that is) and sooner or later i want to join in some of these races, and possibly make some money. im going for all power here, i'm not looking to pimp out my car. i dont want to end up with something that looks like it came out of need for speed. basically i want something that naturally looks good as is. Problem is, i have a small budget.
I want to find a car used for no more than 4000. I want something that won't be terrible and costly to maintain, either. I would guess that would take any european car out of the equation here, but if there are exceptions to that let me know.
I have thought about the usual "tuner" cars, and though some of them interest me, thats not what im exactly going for. I want something that obviously looks sporty, yet with style.
lastly, please dont give me the insurance talk that i see on every question like this. Im old enough where I don't care about insurance. I have a steady job and nothing major to pay off. And, that aside, the car probably wont even touch the road for a year or 2.
Answer
$4k for a reliable car is hard enough and you want something reliable for racing? Good luck, maybe a Honda or Toyota that is 10-12 yrs old and only needs a few grand to make it a racer might work, but nothing is cheap. And with your budget I would be surprised if you can even take a scraper and make it last a few races let alone be reliable. Racing and speed + reliability starts at $15k depending on how fast and what type of racing you want to do. A 6 point roll cage could cost up to $3k alone, the motor will cost more than you pay for the car, and any euro crap is just that. You need to save up a lot more than $4k if you want to play. An 04 mitsubishi cost us over $12k for a cage and motor/computer/injectors and exhaust. Then there are rims and tires, body and paint, replace the glass, fuel pump and so on. A race car is going to cost a lot more than $4k, that is just a shell, unless you plan on just playing at being a racer and not really stand any chance of actually competing and winning
$4k for a reliable car is hard enough and you want something reliable for racing? Good luck, maybe a Honda or Toyota that is 10-12 yrs old and only needs a few grand to make it a racer might work, but nothing is cheap. And with your budget I would be surprised if you can even take a scraper and make it last a few races let alone be reliable. Racing and speed + reliability starts at $15k depending on how fast and what type of racing you want to do. A 6 point roll cage could cost up to $3k alone, the motor will cost more than you pay for the car, and any euro crap is just that. You need to save up a lot more than $4k if you want to play. An 04 mitsubishi cost us over $12k for a cage and motor/computer/injectors and exhaust. Then there are rims and tires, body and paint, replace the glass, fuel pump and so on. A race car is going to cost a lot more than $4k, that is just a shell, unless you plan on just playing at being a racer and not really stand any chance of actually competing and winning
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