Excelsior

Issue date: 11/23/09 Section: Columns

Media Credit: google images The Sports Car : With the high price tag that comes with sports car look alikes you might as well buy the real thing.

These days, a lot of words get thrown around so much that they start to lose some of their meaning. I remember a time when the word "epic" was only used on things that were monumental in scale, majestic even. I was on the train the other day and I actually heard a girl turn to her friend and say, "Have you heard the new Lady Gaga song? It's totally epic." Volcanoes are epic. Tsunamis are epic. The Iliad was an epic. Hell, Quentin Tarantino's movie-making career could be considered epic. Your Lady Gaga song isn't the least bit epic.

The automotive world has its own word that falls into the "epic" category; "sports car."

The most recent example of the misuse of the word I can think of comes in the form of the advertisements for the new Nissan Maxima. The ads laud the car, its handling and power and deem it a "four-door sports car." Yeah, right. When you think of a sports car, do you think of a four-door family sedan not even making 290 horsepower and weighing in at a whopping 3,600 lbs? I didn't think so. Sports car sure sounds nice, though, and it's sure to get some uninformed buyers into the showrooms.

You also see the word used on cars that look the part but don't play the part. I'll concede, the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Hyundai Tiburon are pretty cool looking cars. Beyond their looks, however, lie mild-mannered front-wheel drive coupes that aren't that fast and don't handle well. They're like the sheep in wolf's clothing, talking the talk but not walking the walk.



Tated to false advertisements and false classifications put forth by manufacturers, people have a habit of calling cars "sports cars" when they definitely aren't. I completely understand if you think your car is special (even though it was mass-produced on an assembly line along with thousands of other examples), but let's not get crazy here. Your Toyota Corolla with a body kit and 24" wheels is not a sports car. Even though it might be supercharged, your Buick Regal is not a sports car. Your bright orange Honda Accord with a four-foot spoiler and racing stripes is not a sports car. Could these examples be turned into sports cars? Possibly, but with all that money being spent on the engine, suspension and bodywork, you'd be better off buying a real sports car.

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