Originally Posted by BLM

I'm not going to argue with you man. If you think price is what determines a pure sports car that's fine. Anyone taking any car on a track that doesn't come standard with drilled/slotted rotors is still going to upgrade the lines, fluids, and cooling system. And even still, with pads, stainless lines, and an oil cooler, you're tacking a grand total of $1000 onto the price of the car. Why didn't Nissan add an OEM oil cooler to the Z? I really don't know. All I do know is that I bought my car from the largest volume Nissan dealer in PA and even they had trouble locating a hard-top, manual model for me. Why? Because they were getting flooded with people (lots of women) looking for automatic convertible models, and that's what the factory was pumping out. I have yet to see a female in a 370Z, but that's what they were telling me. So if you're never pushing the car and just using it as a cheap roadster, you can get away without an oil cooler. Why the Nismo didn't have one, that I can't explain at all. It should have at least been available as a dealer option.

I do agree that all the cars you mentioned are pure sports cars. But I also think this has taken such a ridiculous turn in terms of semantics. The 370Z is a sports car. The Lotus elise is certainly more "pure" in the sense that it is stripped down and has no real interior. So is the GT2/GT3/RS models.

Oh and Red Zed...you say the s2k is more of a pure sports car? Why would anyone build a "sports car" with the only model being a convertible. You're automatically weaking the chassis by doing that, and if you choose to add chassis re-inforcement under the car, you're adding weight. So, just because the s2k is small, light, and makes 120 hp/liter, I would contest that the fact it is only offered as a convertible kind of kills it as a pure sports car.

Cars like the Porsche 918 and Audi R8 spyder's have extra chassis re-inforcement but it adds weight. They can obviously make up for the power:weight ratio by offering well over 500 bhp. And if a pure sports car belongs on a track, why then would it be a convertible (more drag, less chassis rigidity, less safety). Of course adding a roll cage makes this a moot point, but last time I checked the s2k doesn't come with a cage as a factory option. And the aforementioned supercar sypders were actually designed in wind tunnels to incorporate the structure into the aerodynamics. I just don't know who would want to have the wind whipping around them going 140 mph.