jginnane

I mentioned in a recent thread the Z felt "skittery" driving 100mph in rain with a 15mph side headwind. Had the opportunity to drive that same stretch on a sunny day, recently ... and it was just bad road, with the curves cambered to the outside of a turn to improve water runoff. The car never slipped, but felt as if it wanted to ... I had no interest in seeing where the particular boundaries of adhesion were, since the Jersey barrier was only 20 feet to the side.

My neighbor who's retired from racing advises you can improve road grip a lot even before springs, etc. by adjusting the alignment: toe-in and camber. This can tend to make the car more of a handful for an inexperienced driver, but is far better for driving at the limits.

OTOH, he also rotates all 4 tires on his daily driver every two weeks, and most of us wouldn't do that (even if we could).

So to answer the question, "Is it a sports car?", I'd answer it definitely is within the limits ... in this price range.

You can spend 10K in improvements and will still be constrained by the fact that it's a V6 RWD in a small frame. You'll never beat a V8 Corvette; you'll never lose to a Miata. If you have to turn the steering wheel on a race course, you'll probably never lose to a Mustang, Camaro or Charger, either.