Except for a few brief periods, I have always had a sports car -- sometimes as my only car, but in more recent years as a frequent/daily driver in addition to an SUV or truck for work use. I was able to dig up some pictures. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the first new sports car I bought on my own, a 97 Honda Prelude SH, or the 89 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z I had right before that, but here are the rest:
2003 Subaru WRX -- very fun car to drive, never a dull moment:
2005 Honda S2000 -- probably the purest sports care I will ever have owned, and definitely the best manual transmission I've ever experienced:
2008 Honda S2000 -- should have kept this one:
2011 BMW Z4 -- probably the most beautiful car I have ever owned:
2018 BMW 4-series M-sport coupe -- most refined, and very nice comfortable car that I feel lucky to own:
As the years have gotten on, I have gravitated towards more comfortable cars -- a reality of a daily 90-mile work commute over rough roads. The S2000 cars were a delight to drive and I consider them one of the best sports cars of all time, but towards the end the long commute was wearing me out. I got the Z4 which was much more comfortable and easy to live with, although not the pure sports car the S2Ks were. But 7 years later and the Z4 started to wear me out on those long commutes, I was unable to drive my young daughter around due to the lack of a rear seat, and I was getting tired of wrangling my 6'1" body in and out of the car.
So I moved into the 4-series coupe this spring. It's by far the most comfortable sports car I have ever owned, but the tradeoff is that it's a bit too nice and so competent it's borderline boring. It's also the first sports car I have owned without a manual transmission. That was another concession to family use, so that my wife could drive the car in a pinch, but I am starting to regret that decision. The 8-speed ZF automatic is among the best auto transmissions I have experienced, but I miss the involvement of driving a manual, as well as the ability to set my own pace. With the automatic, it's either snooze driving or all-out way-too-fast. There is no in-between. With a manual, I could mash the throttle but shift at a reasonable RPM, or drive around at part throttle low RPMs and have fun with the torque. I miss that a lot. You could have tons of fun at any speed range.
Not sure what my next sports car will be. I sincerely wish I had the money and space to keep some of the old cars around. I for sure would have kept one of the S2Ks, and probably the Z4 (I have yet to find a more beautiful car to look at). The new 4-series coupe is a very competent sports car, probably the best composed of any of the cars I have owned, but it won't be a memorable car. Trouble is, I don't see anything else on the horizon I like for the money. I found the Camaro/Mustang/Challenger to be overpriced with mediocre quality, a Corvette is another wrestling match to get in/out of, and none of the other options have a whole lot of appeal. Maybe my sports car days will be winding down??? Or maybe I need to find an older classic.
