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Guess what car is making the top ten?

Ten All-American Sports Cars
Jim Henry 06.27.07, 12:00 PM ET


Sports cars are different things to different people.

For Don Chaikin, the recently retired automotive editor of Popular Mechanics, if you look up "All-American sports car" in the dictionary, there's a picture of only one set of wheels.

"To me, it's the Corvette," he says. "The classic definition is, it's got to be front-engine, rear-wheel drive. It has to have a V8, and it has to have a true dual exhaust. It has to have two doors and two seats, and it can't be a sports coupe."


Another widely held and passionately defended definition of "sports car" is the tiny, affordable two-seat roadster. Like America the melting pot, this concept is a blend of different nationalities.

Its roots are in the post-World War II boom in tiny, lightweight, mostly British sports cars like MGs and Triumphs. They were finicky to start on a rainy day, not very practical and not even all that powerful. But when they ran, they were, and are, immense fun to drive.

"In the old days, a sports car was thought of as an open two-seater that might not even have a top," says D. Randy Riggs, editor in chief of Vintage Motorsport magazine. "Or else it had a top that you had to spend an hour putting up and down."

High costs and poor quality all but drove the British car industry out of business and into foreign ownership by the 1980s. A Japanese brand revived the British sports car concept in 1989, with the original Mazda Miata, now in a new generation. Compared with other sports cars, it's tiny and unpowered but undeniably fun to drive.

American Adopters

American models, on the other hand, have plenty of muscle. To make our list, a car had to be an American brand and built in North America (the Dodge Challenger will be built across the border in Canada).

Such icons include the Pontiac Solstice, for the 2006 model year. GM added the closely related Saturn Sky for 2007.

The Ford Mustang is another All-American set of wheels, in between the bulked-up Corvette and the stripped-down Miata concept.

But since the Mustang and its competitors have four seats, some purists consider them "sport-y cars," as opposed to sports cars per se. Automotive News, the auto industry trade magazine, lumps most of the cars on our list into the larger category of "sporty cars," which are then subdivided based on price. Consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates has a similar "sporty" category, which includes most of the cars on our list that are on sale. Some of our picks aren't on sale yet, so they're not categorized.

However, Riggs points out that even classic Porsche 911s had folding jump seats for kids, and nobody would think of calling them anything but sports cars.

Bottom line: The freedom of choice, the right to different opinions, and the blending of ideas and cultures from different countries doesn't apply to just the good old U.S.A. It applies to her sports cars as well.


See the 10 top in the posts down below.

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Cadillac XLR-V
$98,300

The XLR-V roadster is posh for a sports car, but it's got machismo, with 93% male owners, according to Strategic Vision (XLR-V and standard XLR combined). That's a higher percentage of males than any other luxury model surveyed, except for the Porsche 911. Guys dig the XLR-V's supercharged, 443-horsepower V8 engine. Beneath the skin, the XLR-V is related to the Chevrolet Corvette.


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Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
$53,415

The Corvette is an American original, in its sixth generation since 1953. The Corvette's cultural-icon status was sealed in the 1960s TV series Route 66. Today's model has a 400-hp, six-liter V8 engine. You can start your own American road trip by taking delivery at the factory in Bowling Green, Ky. Unfortunately, Chevrolet does not offer the 505-hp Corvette Z06 as a convertible.


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Chevrolet Camaro (on sale in 2009)
No pricing yet

General Motors will introduce an all-new Camaro in the first quarter of 2009, reviving the legendary Camaro name after almost a seven-year absence. From 1967 to 2002, GM sold about 4.8 million copies of the Camaro, GM's Ford Mustang fighter. The new Camaro will have the classic front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sport coupe configuration, with independent rear suspension and a choice of V6 or V8 engines.


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Dodge Challenger
No pricing yet, on sale in 2008

Dodge revives the Challenger in early 2008 after almost 35 years. Dodge sold 188,600 Challengers from 1970 to 1974. Like the new Chevrolet Camaro, it will compete with the Ford Mustang in the "retro '60s muscle car" segment of the sports car spectrum. It will be built in Canada, which makes it an "All-(North-)*American sports car." The Challenger will have a 425-hp Hemi V8 engine.


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Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible
No pricing yet, on sale in fall 2007

The 2008 Viper SRT10 gets 90 hp more than the 2006 model it replaces, from a new 8.4-liter V10 engine. The 2008 model is one of only a few production cars with a whopping 600 hp. That kind of power overkill takes you from zero to 60 mph in under four seconds, or 100 mph in just over 12 seconds.


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Ford Shelby GT Convertible
No pricing yet, on sale in August 2007

Ford announced on June 13 that it will add a limited-production convertible (only 2,300 units) based on the Shelby GT Coupe version of the Ford Mustang. The convertible bows in August, for the 2008 model year. At 319 hp, the new model will be less of a muscle car than the 500-hp Shelby GT500 Convertible, but more sporty than the standard 300-hp Mustang GT.


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Panoz Esperante Convertible
$93,256

Panoz is a small builder based in suburban Atlanta. The Esperante first debuted in 2001. Its hand-assembled, 4.6-liter Ford V8 engine produces 305 hp. The Esperante's weight-saving design helps it go from zero to 60 mph in about five seconds. Part of the attraction is that Panoz race cars compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and many other circuits


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Pontiac Solstice GXP
$27,115

The Pontiac Solstice, which debuted in 2005, is GM's belated answer to the Mazda Miata, which resurrected the small, affordable two-seat convertible segment back in 1989. The Solstice GXP has a turbocharged, 2.0-liter, 260-hp four-cylinder engine. For $5,000 less, the base model has a 2.4-liter four that gets 177 hp. Both models have a 50-50 front-rear weight distribution, which contributes to sporty handling.


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Saleen S7
$592,700

The Saleen S7 is the "most extreme All-American." Pricing reflects tiny volumes, high-tech design and hardware, and a lot of hand assembly. Top speed: more than 200 mph; zero-to-60 mph in sub-three seconds. It has a twin-turbo, 750-hp V8 engine. Above 160 mph, the car generates so much aerodynamic down force that, theoretically, it could drive upside down. Saleen is based in Irvine, Calif.


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