What's the Best Value Sports Car?

I put out a poll to the community to ask what was the best value sports car, if you excluded the Mazda MX-5, which to be honest would be my go-to choice. You came up with some really good suggestions, so I thought I’d go through each one, giving you their performance stats versus the price. So, imagine you’re given £40,000 ($50,000 USD, €45,000, $73,000 AUD) to get a three year lease on the sports car of your dreams, and anything left over you could blow on what you’d like – a holiday, or another sports car! Which of the following would you get?

#bigcar

[JohnMulhall]

Congratulations on becoming an "influencer". Hope you can cope with all that responsibility.

[jamesengland]

If your daughter dubs you "influencer, " you ARE an influencer. Own it!

[beauthestdane]

Still driving my now 30 year old Miata that I bought new in 1993. Still love driving it.

[johanwejedaldesign]

After having a testdrive of a Tesla Model 3 back in 2020, I have to say, sure it´s fun while overtaking others on the highway, but my little Peugeot 206 Sport is utterly superior fun when the road is twisty. To me the Model 3 felt very heavy and cumbersome in the bends compared to the 206.

[emikomina]

good list, I agree with the top 3, BRZ, MX-5, and the GR86. As I live where Caterham doesn't sell any cars, in my eyes those are the true top 3 best value sports cars.

[nicolasansom]

You definitely "influence" me to sit around watching You Tube, drinking coffee and not painting the the living room! Top vid as always ❤

[MMATT]

Not sure I agree that a Tesla is more fun than a MX5 as being able to drop the top adds a completely different dimension. However the GR86 is a cracking minimalist RWD car and a high revving naturally aspirated engine makes every journey fun.

[Alfster]

I agree with a lot of your commentary but there is no way that a Tesla Model 3 is more fun to drive than a manual MX5. Yes, I’ve spent ample time driving both the latest examples. If you are referring to an automatic MX5, there is a slim chance a Model 3 might shade it as a better drive. The MX5 in manual? It beats the Model 3 for fun by a country mile.

[ridepedallife]

Couldn’t agree more with your findings. Own a Miata NA since 1997 and reassigned it as my daily driver once again. 2 weeks ago picked up a brand new GR86 Premium. Both are true lightweight cornering & momentum cars….. and daily driver’s fun in twisty canyons where I do all my driving….skill instead of horsepower!

[FLssp]

In the US the best value Sports car that routinely outperforms mustnag and supra and all the others is the 6th Generation Camaro SS 1LE. Hands down the best in its class since it went on sale.

[Selkedebbert]

I actually bought the GR86! It's the best decision I ever made!

[lotto]

Quick correction: you can't buy the Alpine new in Australia anymore. Couldn't meet an ADR (Australian Design Rule) by its deadline of November 2021 and was pulled from the market because of it. Same thing happened to the GT-R too.

[CaSuMog]

An old Mx5 NA. Why ? Light, 115 PS, uncomplicated, easy to repair, pieces cheap and plentiful, great looks, gets a smile very often by other people, rising in value…. Get one while you can.

[davidhinkson]

I would say the GR86 and BRZ twins - i hope they stay in production a bit longer. It would be good if Toyota could bring back the Celica and Nissan brought back the Silvia, though I've always loved the Z as well.

[milksheihk]

The previous generation Mustang actually failed minimum crash safety standards for Australia but it got on the market because local police were interested in procuring them but they can only procure local market cars so strings were pulled to get them on the local market, only for them to fail Police proving tests for every state & territory, their automatic transmissions all suffered catastrophic fluid loss, all police vehicles(with maybe the exception of trucks & offroad vehicles) in Aus are required to be automatic.

[reloadfast]

The Z3 was my younger self dream, I still remember riding the tube with a friend making all these plans to buy one. Alas it was not to be... I can still dream about it, though I think I'd go with the MX-5 now...

[SamSayaz]

I was very surprised the Toyota GR yaris wasnt #1 on the list so i went back on the video to hear the criteria to find it was 2 door cars and the yaris is a 3 door

But the GR yaris is definitely a car to consider when looking for sports cars, is a true all rounder!

[peterfritzphoto]

Fantastic video - thank you! I’m still very much in love with my 2013 981 Boxster, but I’ve been missing my ND MX5, lately… Such a sweetheart.

[nadeemchaudhry]

Another amazing video, thanks and Happy New year!!

[skipast]

Love your videos…. But I need to push back on pronunciation of the Nissan Z. Zed is the creep from Pulp Fiction that kept the Gimp in a box. Nissan named the Z (Zee) specifically for the American market because Fairlady wasn’t masculine enough for our market. I know this is a kings English( and Canadian/Aussie) vs American English thing (and the fact the language is named English isn’t lost on me) but we win this one. lol