This is... sort of the opposite of that. It looks like a sports car, it's mid-engined like a sport car... and it's slow like a base-model economy car. Fun to drive? On the right road, maybe.
It is a sports car, it's slow in a straight line like an economy car in 2014, but it weighs less than 2000 pounds and handles well. It was also from the 70's, for comparison the Corolla of the time had either 73hp or 103hp engines, the Ford Maverick of the time was a 105hp base model, base I4 in the Nova was ~105hp, and the Pinto's base I4 was 75hp.
It's a mid engined sports car that was similarly powered to economy cars at the time and substantially lighter. I don't know what your criteria for sports car is, if it's going fast in a straight line then perhaps you've missed the point of a sports car. I love muscle cars as much as the next guy but if you can't see how a sub 2000 pound mid engined 2 seater convertible would be fun to drive then I don't know what to tell you.
A "slow" Porsche 914 will give it a good run for its money, a slow Fiero will probably be a bit faster, and an MR2 or the hot versions of either of the other two will laugh in its face - and this car never had a hot version with which to respond.
Comparison to the 914 is fair (if we're not considering what they cost), but then you compared it to the Fiero and the MR2. Both cars which are 10 years newer than the 1972 debut of this car. Of course the Fiero and MR2 are faster, they were 12 years newer. They all lose to a V6 Camry. Clearly a V6 Camry is a better sports car than an MR2 or Fiero, right?
but we'll see who's laughing when your fancy import struggles to shake a Camaro ZL1 costing 1/3 as much.
If we want to make ridiculous comparisons without context, pull up next to a V6 Camry in a '77 Camaro Z28, a '75 Corvette, or a V6 F-Body and see how it goes. Or a '77 Z28 next to a Fiat 500 Abarth. What's that, the big 350ci V8 muscle car can't keep up with a fashionable cutesy little 1.6L Italian car? Clearly 1.6T>350ci V8.
@XS And I'm about to pollute the system with a sacrilegious
Meh or
Uncool vote. You see, one of the reasons I like muscle cars is that they "punch above their badge": "Chevrolet" may not be a name frequently spoken in boardrooms and fashion districts
I'm not sure exactly where your idea that Fiat is a snooty fashionable brand is coming from. The car made its name off the original 500, an everyman's car that's become an icon. Fiat has never been a high class or "fashion district" make. People buy them in Italy like they buy Chevrolets in America. I'll grant you that the new 500 is marketed as a fashionable car but the Sonic and Dart have been marketed the same way. They market pickup trucks to farmers and dads and market city cars to young fashion conscious people in cities because
that's who will buy them.
The reason you think foreign makes are more fancy or snobby is that it doesn't usually make sense to import cheap cars. There's no sense importing an economy car when the cost of importing it will mean it costs tons more than the equivalent Chevrolet, and it won't be any nicer. Nobody will pay extra to buy a Fiat Bravo over a Ford Focus, but they'll pay extra to buy a Fiat 500 over a Sonic.
Fiat makes regular cars too, but you don't see them in North America. They don't import the Panda, Punto, Bravo, etc because there's no sense in bringing them here. They import the 500 because it's manufactured in Mexico, and it's a more high end car to begin with so it won't be cross shopped with a Sonic. It's not like everyone in Europe drives a BMW or some luxury car, but they don't import the economy cars to North America.
