When looking at performance vehicles perhaps the two most common types are the hot hatches and sports cars. The hot hatches started life in the early eighties with such classics as the escort cosworth. The newer versions which seem to be enjoying a revival are far quicker and more powerful yet do they have enough grunt to challenge a true sports car.
Sports cars have been around for years perhaps starting with the classic Porsche 911. Nowadays there are hundreds of varieties of sports car from the Lotus Elise to the Ferrari Spyder. These cars are more aimed at a slightly older market, more mature market partly down to cost, and partly down to looks. These cars are definitely less practical than a hot hatch providing very little luggage space, just about enough for a long weekend away.
Performance wise hot hatches nowadays come with incredibly powerful engine's, the latest Focus RS offers a turbo charged 3 litre engine. 50% more displacement than the orginal cosworth but is it enough to keep up with a modern Lotus. Sadly, or happily depending upon which side you are on, this is not the case. An Elise might have a slightly unfair reputation of being slow, which might be the case of top speed, is certainly not true of acceleration. The Elise can launch you from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, from a 1.8 litre engine. Compare this to the Focus RS which hits 60 in 5.7 seconds and the two are barely comparable. At this stage it does seem there is a clear winner. But this is not necessarily the case. Start with a rolling start of say 30mph and the Focus RS might just pull into the lead. Once you are already moving the light weight cars advantage will begin to diminish whereas the sheer grunt of the 3 litre will keep pulling to much higher speeds.
Moving onto handling and the differences are immense. From a driver's point of view, if you have not had any advanced training then a front wheel drive car is far easier, more practical and safer. Sports cars tend to be rear wheel drive which can make it easier to lose the car on a bend especially in the wet. So why have rear wheel drive then? With some advanced driving skills rear wheel drive comes into its own and then becomes a far better driving experience and really puts the fun back into driving.
Author Resource:-
Matthew Smith is a car enthusiast and experienced driver. He has raced vehicles with success at a number of tracks all across Europe. Set your desktop to the car of your choice at http://www.car-wallpapers.co.uk
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