The Hot Sports Cars Of 2024

Most people who love driving have dreamed about owning or at least driving a sports car at some point in their lives.  Some sports car greats that come to mind are the Porsche 911, BMW M4, Subaru WRX, Ford Mustang, Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, and even Tesla cars.  We often hear about Toyota leading the new car sales charts, with Australians also loving the Ford Ranger and other great new utes, along with Mazda SUVs.  But what about those of us who love to own and drive a sports car?  What are the more commonly sold new sports cars been recently?  Let’s take a look.

Our focus here is on the common sports cars, not the crazy wild exotics that tend to be reserved for the rich and possibly famous – the sort of things that most of us can only dream about.  We’ll keep things within the bounds of the possible and look at the sports cars that keen Aussie drivers actually purchased.

Helping to shed some light on this question comes from the data that were released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).  What’s on their list?  Of all the sports cars bought new for under AUD $80,000 last year (2023), 1573 Subaru BRZ Coupes were sold.  This made it the number one sports car choice in Australia.  The stylish BRZ just pipped the ever-popular Ford Mustang, with 1475 new Mustangs added to our roads last year.

Third spot went to the lovable BMW 2 Series Coupe, which would have to be my personal pick of the bunch.  BMW enticed 1164 of the sports car buyers of 2023 to own a new 2 Series Coupe.  That’s very impressive for BMW.  Interestingly, the Subaru BRZ also beat out its almost identical twin, the Toyota GR86 Coupe sports car, which managed to attract 1144 sales throughout 2023 and popping the GR86 into fourth spot – this was only 20 units shy of the BMW’s tally.  

After the tightish competition among the top four sellers, there was a bit of a gap between fourth and fifth place, with sales in the triple figures rather than in the thousands.  Surprisingly, at least for me, was that the incredibly popular and stylish Mazda MX-5 had to settle for fifth place getter (653 sales).  Also, the quick and fun-to-drive Nissan Z car came in sixth place, with Nissan being able to shift 449 sales.

It is worth mentioning that Ford does have the next-generation Mustang rolling out onto its showroom floors as we speak.  This may well be the reason why fewer of these cars were sold last year, as those intending to own a new Mustang may have been holding out to purchase the new model.  And who wouldn’t want to spend their money on a new Ford Mustang with all that legendary performance and style?  Check out our review of it here.

Keeping It Cool

As most of us are still driving a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE), and since the cost of motoring has gone up over the last few years, it is good to think about what things we can do as preventative measures to ensure that our ICE vehicles continue to run smoothly, efficiently, and reliably without any major repairs.  An essential part of service maintenance on any ICE vehicle is the need to regularly change the engine’s coolant. 

One of the things I love about ICE vehicles is that they always come standard with a heater that usually works really well to keep you nice and warm inside the vehicle when the temperatures outside are low and cold.  This warm air coming through the heater vents is from the ICE block (not to be confused with an iceblock!), fundamentally from the friction that comes as the mechanical components inside the ICE are whizzing around like clockwork.  Inside the engine block are small tubes and cavities where the water coolant (the stuff you put into the radiator) circulates through in order to take heat from the metal surfaces inside the engine to cool the ICE block down to a sufficient operating temperature.  The added bonus of this is that the warm coolant passes through your cabin heating system, which fans the warm air inside the cabin of the vehicle as much as you want it to, to keep you nice and toasty. 

Now, if you ran your ICE without the coolant (or the correct level of coolant), then the ICE would overheat, and the internal mechanical components inside the engine block would implode with the extremely hot temperatures occurring from all of the friction of the working parts, rendering your vehicle inoperable.  You’d either have to get a whole new vehicle or replace the broken ICE with a new or used one.

Thankfully, maintaining and servicing the coolant system on an ICE vehicle is not hard and easy to do.  Just don’t forget to get it done regularly.  Usually, standard coolant mixes should be changed every 2 years anyway.  But if the coolant is a long-lasting type (one that lasts up to 5–7 years), then the coolant service can be pushed out to 5 years.  Obviously, if you are doing Star Trek mileages every year (75,000 km), then the long-lasting coolant should be changed every 2 years as a matter of course. 

Why do we need to change the ICE coolant if the level in the system is all ok?  The simple answer is because the coolant (the antifreeze concentrate that is mixed with distilled water) degrades over time and with use.  The antifreeze is very important, not only to stop your engine block cracking in sub-zero temperatures, but also to lubricate the water pump and protect the internal coolant tubing and cavities from corrosion.

Coolant is usually green or red, but can also be blue or yellow.  If it looks rusty, or has bits floating around in it, you should drain out the old coolant from the ICE block and then flush out the coolant system before putting new engine coolant back in. 

As part of the engine coolant service, make sure you check all of the rubber hoses associated with the coolant’s circuit.  If the rubber hoses look cracked, are leaking coolant, or appear bulgy or squishy when squeezed, then they also should be replaced.  Because if you don’t, then Murphey’s law will come back to bite you on the bum and a rubber hose will burst under the pressure of hot coolant circulating around next time you’re out on a road trip.

There you have it – a simple system on your ICE vehicle that helps to keep the engine running all tickety-boo, while also benefiting you and the level of your comfort as you travel about out on the road.

Silly Features That Never Made It

In most modern cars, you can find a selection of neat features to make the task of driving easier and more pleasant.  Some of the ones I particularly like include active cruise control, ambient lighting, steering wheel mounted audio controls, reversing cameras and Bluetooth connectivity so my phone and car talk to each other.  I guess most of us have our favourite driver aids. 

However, over the over 100 years that the car has been around, manufacturers and designers have come up with some features that flopped, mostly because they were plain silly ideas.  We’re not talking about things that have been phased out because they are no longer in high demand, such as cigarette lighters (which have morphed into 12-volt power outlets), or because they were a bit iffy in terms of safety (such as bench seats).  Instead, we’re talking about ideas that were totally nuts.  Here’s the looniest ones that were put forward by designers with a straight face.

In-Car Toilets

In the late 1940s, an inventor named Louie Mattar customized his Cadillac so that he could go on a long-haul trip of around 6000 miles without stopping, even to refuel. While most of us would be more interested on how you manage to get something that goes for that long without refuelling, which wouldn’t be silly, quite a few designers in the 1950s considered installing one of the other things that Mattar put in his customized car: a toilet.  Yes, a toilet that the driver or passenger can use without leaving the car.  However, this proved to be impractical, considering how easy it is to simply pull over at a public loo, or café or garage – or, in remote and rural areas, a handy bush. 

Flamethrowers

Yes, seriously.  In the late 1990s, when violent crime was a real problem in Johannesburg, South Africa, one inventor decided that the best way to protect drivers from carjackings was to install aftermarket flamethrowers that could be activated in self-defence.  This was designed to use gas to create a fireball that didn’t damage the paint.  The laws at the time allowed South Africans to use deadly force in self-defence, and the fireballs sent out by the “BMW Blaster” weren’t lethal; they “merely” blinded the would-be carjackers.  The downsides were that (A) a matching fireball was released from the opposite side of the vehicle, potentially injuring innocent bystanders and (B) flamethrowers have been outlawed by the United Nations.  The invention won the Ig-Nobel Peace prize for 1999 and the rumour is that 25 BMWs received this “upgrade”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/232777.stm

Children’s Partition

Another one from the 1950s, back when rear seatbelts (and possibly seatbelts full stop) weren’t really a thing, and kids who monkeyed around in the back seat while the car was moving were threatened with “Don’t make me stop this car!” Some designers thought that perhaps it would be less distracting (and pleasant) for the driver to ensure that the children were neither seen nor heard, courtesy of a privacy partition of the sort found in very posh limousines.  However, most parents preferred to know if their kids were screaming, fighting or giving each other black eyes in the rear seat, so this idea didn’t catch on.

Automatic Seatbelts

This one’s from the 1970s to the 1990s when more automatic features were becoming popular.  One that didn’t catch on was the automatic seatbelt.  An automatic seatbelt worked by taking the shoulder strap from the back of the seat and fastening itself onto the B-pillar when the engine started or the door closed.  The user had to buckle up a lap belt him/herself.  This idea was very exciting, and in 1977, a law was passed in the US that stated that by 1983 all new cars should either have automatic seatbelts or airbags.  The first commercial vehicle to have these automatic seatbelts was the 1975 Volkswagen Golf, and many other manufacturers had offerings with this safety feature, including Hyundai and Toyota.  However, the downside was that a seatbelt that isn’t permanently fixed to the B-pillar isn’t as secure as one that is, and users still had to clip in the lap belt separately.  They also didn’t play nicely with child seats and were a pain for getting in and out if you were carrying anything.  As someone with long hair that occasionally gets pulled into the slot of ordinary retractable inertia seatbelts, I imagine that these automatic seatbelts would have been a right pig for people with long hair.  So airbags were the safety feature that won out.

If anybody has experience of a vehicle with an automatic seatbelt, let us know in the comments what you thought of them!

Joystick Steering Systems

Although the original horseless carriages of the late 19^th century sometimes used a rudder system rather than a wheel, the steering wheel has become the one we’re all familiar with.  However, during the 1990s, Saab decided to fit its some of its 9000 models with a joystick steering system.  Fortunately, not all Saab 9000s had them and plenty had the ordinary wheel.  The joystick was too easily knocked and wasn’t precise enough.  This was particularly an issue, given that the Saab 9000 was pretty responsive when you put your foot on the accelerator (I used to own one, and I rather miss the way that it could dart into the gaps at the intersections like a hummingbird spotting a tasty new flower…).

Coffee Machines

Although coffee doesn’t originate in Italy, all the words we use at the local coffee shop are Italian (latte is the Italian world for “milk”, for example).  So it’s not surprising that Fiat, in 2012, attempted to include a real working compact espresso machine that sat in the centre console in its 500L models released in Europe.  It was, however, short-lived, probably because it took up the driver’s armrest, and comfort won out over the convenience of coffee on the go, and possibly because hot liquids and sharp corners are not a happy combination.  However, there is still part of me that thinks that this idea isn’t so silly and wouldn’t mind one. 

Engine Oil 101

Most of us are still driving vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE) as the main source of power for propelling our vehicle down the road.  In order for the ICE to run smoothly – in fact, to run at all – the engine needs oil to travel all around the engine’s working parts to lubricate them so that they can move freely within their confines without overheating from too much friction and to prevent the engine from imploding on itself, or exploding, whichever way you like to think of it. 

As well as lubricating the motor, oil helps to keep the ICE cool and retards any corrosion.  Most modern oils also contain a bit of detergent.  The detergent helps to flush any gunk that comes from wear and tear on the engine components and any older oil compounds that have formed through to the oil filter where these unwanted bits will be captured and removed altogether when the old oil filter is changed with a new one come next time the ICE oil gets changed as part of the vehicle’s regular servicing regime.

If you’re new to the world of car ownership, or new to changing your own oil rather than just taking down to the service centre and getting the friendly guys and gals to do it for you, you may be utterly bewildered by the wall of containers that confronts you at your nearest discount automotive supplies store.  What are all those different types and numbers?  Does it matter what sort of oil you get to put in your car? Yes, it does, so here’s what you need to know about the stuff. 

There are various types of ICE oil on the market as well as various brands of motor oil – as you probably noticed.  The various types of ICE oil have been designed for fulfilling a particular role or purpose, and they have also been designed for various ICE types.  It is important to know a bit about the oil additives used in the oil, the oil’s viscosity rating, and the oil’s classification code so that you can match the right oil for your particular vehicle’s ICE.

Oil additives

Oil additives help prevent corrosion of the metal parts inside the internal engine.  Oil additives also help cut down the friction of the moving parts and work to dissolve any impurities and sludge that may form over time.  The additives also prevent the oil from foaming up at high temperatures, as well as helping the oil pour better when the weather is colder and temperatures are lower. 

Consumer testing has reported no real difference in engine wear between vehicles that use synthetic oils and vehicles that use mineral oils.  The key is to change the oil according to the vehicle’s manufacture’s guidelines.  Some people even like to change the ICE oil before the guideline period.  If this is the case, there is no harm done to the engine at all; it’s just that servicing costs will be higher over time, but with the likely benefit of increasing the life of the ICE. 

Obviously synthetic oils have an even more controlled level of additives included in the oil’s make-up.  Some ICE designs are more prone to forming oil sludge over time, and there are those who like to use synthetic oils in order to ensure against any sludge building up inside their vehicle’s engine.  There are also some people who suggest that synthetic oils are better in cold climates because these oils don’t have as many waxy compounds to congest the oil when temperatures are cold.  An idea of viscosity helps us understand this better.

Viscosity

As soon as the ICE ignites into life, the engine’s parts are moving before the oil has the time to reach every single part of the internal working parts’ surfaces.  It’s when the engine is started cold that the most internal wear occurs.  Now, all ICE oil has a viscosity rating.  Viscosity determines the oil’s ability to flow in cold weather/temperatures and thus during cold starts.  The quicker the oil can get around the whole engine, the less wear and tear occurs.  In cold weather, oil thickens and becomes less able to flow through the engine.  It is also true that in hot weather, oil thins out.  Yes – when the weather is hot the oil thins out and pours quickly, it may become so thin that it can’t prevent friction.  It’s a bit of a Goldilocks situation – the oil can’t be too hot or too cold but just right.

There are two types of oil sold on the market.  One is known as single viscosity oil and the other multi-viscosity oil.  For many years now, almost every vehicle has been designed to run on multi-viscosity oil.  Vehicle manufacturers say what type of oil should be used for their vehicles, which is determined by the oil’s viscosity according to the temperature range that the vehicle is expected to function in the working period before the oil is changed (i.e., when the engine is due for its service).  The lower the number, the thinner the oil and more easily it flows.  An example of the numbers you’ll see on an oil container at your local automotive parts store is 10W-40.  The two numbers mean that it is a multi-viscosity oil that is effective over a range of temperatures.  The 10 refers to how the oil flows at low temperatures.  The 40 refers to how it flows at high temperatures.  The W means that the oil can be used in winter. 

The oil industry’s American Petroleum Institute (API) has an assigned symbol to certify that an oil meets the latest industry requirements, as well as a code for how well the oil protects the ICE against wear, corrosion, deposits, and oxidation.  The API symbol looks like a donut, and you should see this on any reputable brand’s oil container that you can buy from your local automotive parts store.  The donut symbol is used for both petrol and diesel ICEs and should be located on the outside of the oil container. 

The classification codes for vehicles with petrol engines started with SA in the early 1960s.  As the engines became more modern and demanding with their higher performance and fuel efficiency, the oil had also to get more refined and better able to lubricate at higher temperatures and within finer mechanical margins.  Thus, the codes progressed alphabetically from SB onwards.  At present, any oil coded SJ is no longer considered current, but you can use oils coded SM along with later codes in a vehicle of any age to make the engine run more smoothly and better overall.

So to recap: the lower the number after the W, the better the oil will work in cold weather; the higher the number after the W, the better the oil works in hot weather.  So 0W-20 oil will be great for a vehicle used in a place like Canada through its harsh winters, but it won’t be good for a vehicle located in central Outback Australia during the heat of summer.  A 30W-50 oil will be more suitable for hot Australian conditions.