Sportscar Vs Supercar Vs Hypercar?

If you want to start a row in auto-land, you can have 2 key questions to choose from:

What is the difference between a Sportscar, a Supercar and a Hypercar?

I believe in very simple definitions, even if they are controversial, so here it is:

Sportscar = A mass production performance vehicle with 2 seats, under about £100,000 and goes very fast, but under 175mph. Let’s face it, that’s fast enough really when the national speed limit is 70!

Supercar = This can be a mass or low volume production car. Again, it has 2 seats but is much faster, up to 200mph and much classier.  This has got cutting edge looks and a price tag to match.

Hypercar = These are hardly cars anymore. They are limited edition rockets with very sexy body shells.  They have a price tag higher than most peoples’ houses and are custom made.  Their speed is over 200mph.

In reality, the term ‘hypercar’ did not exist 15 years ago. It snuck into the automotive dictionary at about the same time as the McLaren F1 (about 1992).  When the F1 arrived with its 246mph top speed, people almost wet themselves.  Of course Bugatti and Koenigsegg have made mincemeat of those speeds since.  Yet back then, it was a way of splitting out the ultra-performance cars from those which are just very fast.

By 1999, the term ‘hypercar’ was in common use for anything very expensive and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fast. Here is where it gets a bit blurry, though.  If the whole car world had listened to me, then we wouldn’t have the argument because those on-high in Carland have added extra criteria for a car being a Hypercar – but they don’t actually agree on the whole list.

1. It has to be come from a genuine high-performance car company, not a modification, so the Bugatti Veyron would qualify but the Hennessey Venom would not. (Tough call but I get their point.  The major effort was done by Bugatti so they should get all the credit!)
2. It must be more expensive than at least 98% of the other cars manufactured in the same year.  This is an easy one for the manufacturers to manipulate. However, the Ariel Atom for example, is getting closer and closer to the speed requirements that would qualify it as a Hypercar, but as it can be acquired for £120k it is very cheap.
3. Finally, some enthusiasts believe that proper Hypercars can’t be based on the body of lesser models and must be built on a dedicated platform.

My top 5 Hypercars are:

Koenigsegg One:1

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse

Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Porsche 918 Spyder

McLaren P1

My top 5 Supercars are:

Ferrari 488 GTB

Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4

Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing

Nissan GTR

Aston Martin V12 Vantage Coupe

My top 5 Sportscars are:

Porsche Cayman

Lotus Elise

Jaguar F Type

BMW Z4

Alpha Romeo 4C

So there you have it! Not only a cast iron definition, but also some prime examples of stunning sports/super/hyper cars to google.

I was going to ask ‘What’s the difference between a vintage car, a classic car and an old banger‘. However, if you click on the link, you will see that someone has already done a great job of answering that conundrum.