5 Best SUV Sports Cars in USA:  Everyone knows what an SUV or a luxury sedan is, but defining a sports car is surprisingly difficult. Even the experts can’t agree on what constitutes a proper sports car, but generally speaking, it’s a small vehicle designed for performance. Maybe it’s a two-seater, but definitely, it will only seat two adults somewhat comfortably. It used to be that sports cars didn’t have fixed roofs, but now they can cage in the driver.

Maybe the easiest way to categorize a sports car is by defining what it is not. Sports cars are not work vehicles, family rides, or even basic transportation. They aren’t designed for cargo space, fuel efficiency, or affordability. Simply put, sports cars serve no practical purpose other than pure driving enjoyment. A sports car is a toy for people who want the thrill of ripping through the twists and turns of winding country roads. It’s a vehicle that’s all about experience over function.

European automakers are known, especially the British, Germans, and Italians, for making great sports cars, while Americans are historically the producers of big luxury vehicles, muscle cars, and trucks. The thing is however, the U.S. has been in on the sports car scene from the beginning and has made some of the greatest examples. People probably think of MGs, Porsches, and Ferraris when it comes to sports cars, but America too has made some of the best high-performance, pure enjoyment rides ever, and here are some of the best sports cars that fit that narrative.

Early 1900s American cars like the Stutz Bearcat and the Mercer Type 35 Raceabout were considered sports cars but were massive vehicles that didn’t have the kind of performance associated with the class, and this list is more about modern sport.

Also, while the Ford GT, the Hennessey Venom GT, and the SCG 004 are technically American-made sports cars, they are more realistically supercars that were produced in limited numbers, and this list will focus on mass-produced relatively affordable rides anyone could have purchased. All of the performance stats were sourced from the Automobile Catalog.

10Pontiac Fiero

Literally A Hot Car

Produced from 1984 to 1989, the Pontiac Fiero was a cool little two-seater that kind of looked like a Ferrari that got hit with a shrink ray. It unfortunately had a shrunken version of Ferrari performance with low-horsepower I-4 and V-6 engine options. Engineers had hoped to drop a small block V-8 into them, but GM didn’t want a two-seat competitor for the Chevrolet Corvette.

Power and Performance (1985 Fiero SE Coupe)

(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)

Instead of being marketed as a performance car, the Fiero hit dealerships as a fuel-efficient lightweight “commuter car,” which thankfully never became a real vehicle class. The other issue with Fieros was that they tended to catch fire, with one out of fifty bursting into flames. Despite the issues with the Fiero, it has gained a cult following with modders beefing them up with power, making them the sports cars they should have been all along.

9AMC AMX

American A-Lister

Many consider the AMC AMX a muscle car or even a pony car, but with only two seats and performance from bumper to bumper, it’s a sports car all the way. As a more compact version of AMC’s popular Javelin model, the AMX was made for three years from 1968 to 1970 and offered an affordable high-powered sporty ride. With a base price of under $3,500, it was easily a thousand bucks cheaper than a Corvette and just as fast.

Power and Performance (1968 AMX Go-Package)

(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)

Despite having a serious 390ci V-8 under the hood, sporty styling, and affordability, the AMX never really caught on with the public, selling less than 20,000 units in three years. Like many cars that weren’t fully appreciated in their day, the AMX has gained a following and, according to Hemmings, collectors are, “now snapping them up left and right.”

8Buick Reatta

Slept-On Sport

There are sleeper cars that are unassuming rides with hidden power and then there are slept-on cars like the Buick Reatta that could blow doors off if anyone bothered to buy one. Buick intended for the Reatta to be its “halo car,” meaning a flagship model that would bring attention and prestige to the brand, but it was a flop.

Power and Performance (1991 Reatta)

(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)

The Reatta was slated for a production of 20,000 cars per year but ended up only moving a total of 21,751 in four years. It’s a shame it never caught on because it was a great two-seat sports car. Not only was it sharp looking and peppy, it was loaded with features including a touchscreen command module that controlled interior functions and provided vehicle diagnostics, which was wild at the time.

7Dodge Stealth

Stealth Bomber

The Dodge Stealth is another American sports car that deserved more love than it got. The joint venture between Mitsubishi and Dodge produced not only one of the coolest-looking rides of the 1990s but also a high-performance sports car that was years ahead of its time. Things like anti-lock breaks and all-wheel drive are commonplace now, but in 1990 they were radical standard equipment on the Stealth.

Power and Performance (1992 Stealth R/T Turbo)

(Performance specs sourced from Automobile Catalog)

The Stealth wasn’t just an awesome-looking car with cool features, it was a legitimate performer with a 300-horsepower twin-turbo V-6. This was the kind of power Detroit hadn’t produced since the classic muscle car era, and it was available in an early 90s sports car. The Stealth led TopSpeed’s Cheap Sports Cars Anyone Can Afford list because the beauties are still underappreciated and there are some killer low-mileage deals out there.

6Studebaker Avanti

Proto-Pony

The name Studebaker sounds like a fuddy-duddy brand, but the truth is, the now-defunct automaker has been on the cutting edge and ahead of the curve since the beginning. They made an all-electric car in 1902 and were cranking out muscle cars in the 1950s. Then, in 1962, they came out with a radical space-age speedster the Avanti, which was also a proto-pony car before the Mustang.

Power and Performance (1962 Avanti R2)

 

 

Classic Motorsports tells us that the Avanti was marketed as “America’s fastest production car,” and backed that claim up by recording 29 new stock car speed records. Only around 5,800 were ever produced, but it wasn’t a case of the car bombing. The Avanti had a 129-piece fiberglass body that took forever to assemble and fit. The Avanti was discontinued in 1963 but has been revived by other companies until as recently as 1999.

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