Definition of a Supercar

[Metman]

I heard it defined some years ago as: zero to 100mph to zero in under 10 seconds.

 

[Mudster]

I heard it defined some years ago as: zero to 100mph to zero in under 10 seconds.

It's not all about power though is it.

Theoretically a Rolls Phantom is a supercar, it's excessive in the extreme and completely unnecessary...I can't for the life me imagine wanting one no matter how much disposable cash I'd ever get...Bentley Arnage for me...oh yes ...Far more subtle...

 

[AndyS]

so you wouldn't count an audi R8 as a supercar? (not supposed to be sarcastic, genuine question).

I would think that a MacMerc SLR would be a supercar, but then some might say it's british

I wouldn't count the R8 personally. I saw it at Gatwick Airport on one of those rip-off competition stands next to a Lamborghini Murcielago and whilst on their own they look amazing it looked almost average next to the Lambo.

The SLR though.. I had forgotten about that - I'll let that one in then!

 

[partsspecialist]

The SLR is a supercar, and british. Built by Mclaren and at +200mph id call it a supercar.

If you want to see a fast accelerating car then search youtube for J10EVO
This monster belongs to the workshop foreman at the last MB dealer i worked for. He brought it in a couple of times to do 4 wheel alignment and bits. Ive never seen a road car shift or sound anything like it!
Lancia delta evo intergrale, massive amounts of mods and stuff, nitrous and allsorts Basically a race car with tax! A regular at santa pod where he won the 0-60 challenge at something like 3.2 sec i think.

 

[Mr E]

Personally I think it's a car that ticks the following boxes:

1. A sports car
2. Is rare / exotic
3. Performs (in terms of speed and acceleration) significantly better than it's contemporaries

So box 1 excludes things like Phantoms and Maybachs...

Box 2 would exclude an R8 (exotic and Audi?)

Box 3 gives a moving window, so allows for supercars of the 60's and 70's to be measured within their own time reference. So in an era where cars capable of 150 - 170 mph are not that uncommon (in unrestricted forms) then I would posit that we'd be looking at 190+ as a top end number and sub 4.5 in the 0-60 stakes.


I displike the term "hypercar". It's not needed in the above criteria and it has a particular meaning within the industry as a vehicle that does something to extremes. So a Veyron may be called a hypercar, but so may be the 100mpg city car.

 

[Rovinghawk]

I heard it defined some years ago as: zero to 100mph to zero in under 10 seconds.

So my motorbike is a supercar?

RH

 

[miro]

Is a Maybach a "supercar"? You tell me.
Its an individuals definition only.
Somebody may very well call a Morris Marina a supercar. But they would have to live in a slum in Albania and earn less than 10p a day.
Would they be wrong?
Then again my definitive supercar is a Ferrari 246 Dino circa 1970.
If a supercar by definition a car you cant afford then Jeremy Clarkson etc....etc.....cannot think of any car as such.
Its a subject that has been pondered often and I have never heard a description that completely defines the term. And probably never will.

If such things were a matter of opinion or a matter of taste then it would mean having one of each car ever made in a book of supercars.

If it comes down to real criteria such as having the design copied by someone else, absurd top speed, ludicrious power and tone then it would seem obvious.

Rather than consulting someone who lives in a cave. We can safely assume it is the type of car a designer of cars would drive if making a bold statement was their intention.

If it comes to elegance and refinement then it moves out of supercar and into the style category. No need to ask Borat !

 

[miro]

So my motorbike is a supercar?

RH

Only if it can stand on its own at 0km/h.

 

[Rovinghawk]

Only if it can stand on its own at 0km/h.

I equate the centrestand with a car's handbrake, so yes it can.

RH

 

[Ted]

I heard it defined some years ago as: zero to 100mph to zero in under 10 seconds.

Probably includes Marc Bolans mini then

 

[manalishi]

Surely any supercar must also cost a fortune to maintain. Which is why the NSX isn't allowed in the supercar club.

 

[Defiant]

These "definitions" are far from definite, and by their very nature are written on water. Things change too quickly. My much-missed Celica Supra had been called a "supercar" at the time ('82) because it would better 140mph. Look at what has happened with the "sports car" definition, and how it was never pinned-down (although everyone in the know realizes it was always and only the Morgan), and how the most pedestrian econobox of today would leave a TR-2 wondering where they'd gone.
It's probably easier to say what "isn't" a supercar, rather than what is.

But if it can't undress in a phone booth, it's not Super.

 

[dougal74]

Supercar = v. competitive in Top Trumps
Hypercar = the ones you always want in your hand in Top Trumps in order to win

So as per the example above, an NSX misses out on such things as too few cylinders, too cheap, lower top speed etc.

 

[popuptoaster]

Cant use 200mph as a benchmark, a mate of my mate has had his Sierra cosworth clocked at over 200mph now, he had to take the mirrors off it and put tape over all the panel gaps and has spent 40 grand on it over the years, but its still a Dagenham taxi, i also have a couple of friends who've bettered 160mph in mk1 escorts at Bruntingthorpe.

 

[fyonn]

Surely any supercar must also cost a fortune to maintain. Which is why the NSX isn't allowed in the supercar club.

I don't think an NSX is that cheap to maintain. for example, I believe that it has a custom set of tyres just designed for the NSX, each one being different.

that said, compared to servicing a lambo, it's probably not so bad...

Supercar = v. competitive in Top Trumps
Hypercar = the ones you always want in your hand in Top Trumps in order to win

So as per the example above, an NSX misses out on such things as too few cylinders, too cheap, lower top speed etc.

ha! best definition so far!

 

[The Boss]

my thoughts

Super car.. defined... hmmm.. tough one.. and more so when you bring hyper cars into the equation.

Super car - An every day car at the far limit
Hyper car - A car beyond the limits that can not be used on your Sainsbury's rounds...

????

 

[Matt32AMG]

Super car.. defined... hmmm.. tough one.. and more so when you bring hyper cars into the equation.

Super car - An every day car at the far limit
Hyper car - A car beyond the limits that can not be used on your Sainsbury's rounds...

????

Now I hate to shatter ideals, but I think I saw on one of the Discovery programs a while back, could've been Top ten Hyper cars or something similar and the Mclaren F1 road car was featured, anyway the owner of the car in question fairly regularly took it to the Supermarket! I guess the point being made was that it was as docile around town as it was extreme at the other end of 240MPH!! And that he has blind faith that a shopping trolly was't going to pose any kind of risk

 

[popuptoaster]

Only car ever driven away from the MIRA 40mph crash test the Mclaren F1, it was crashed head on into a concrete block and the nosecone took all the impact, it didnt effect the rest of teh car at all, thats pretty super.

 

[Matt32AMG]

Only car ever driven away from the MIRA 40mph crash test the Mclaren F1, it was crashed head on into a concrete block and the nosecone took all the impact, it didnt effect the rest of teh car at all, thats pretty super.

All the same you'd still be pretty hacked off that you crashed, and it was gonna cost an arm and a leg in touch up sticks