[ChiragM]

In the thread listing the reasons for low supercar sales in India, you can see how it mainly resolves around practicality, especially for Indian conditions.

With 4-door sedans however, you get both - performance + practicality. While owners can use the massive power from the turbo V8 engine of a BMW M5 or a Mercedes-AMG E63, these cars allow your family also to enjoy the drive. Family dinner? No problem. Long road-trip to Goa? You bet. Drop 3 kids to school? Or an airport run? Can do. As these cars are based on regular sedans, the ground clearance is also superior to sports cars, which means you need not be ultra careful when passing over the nasty speed breakers or taking the car on rough roads. The larger boot space, seating for 5 and "sleeper" looks means these cars can be used for weekend road trips as well as daily commuting. The performance sedans are not flashy and can pass off as a regular 5 Series or E-Class to the untrained eye. If you want even more practicality, check out the Cayenne Turbo S, X5 M or GL AMG SUVs.



With 2-seater sports cars, practicality takes a massive hit. However, there is a certain kick that you get out of 2-door sports cars - they look better, feel better and handle better. These are proper exotics and offer pure, uncompromised driving pleasure to their owners, with a lower centre of gravity too. Anyway, most people who have a sports car already have a luxury sedan in the house for those "practical" runs. Sports cars also offer more exclusivity.



@BHPians, would you buy a performance sedan over a sports car? Practical performance or outright indulgence?

[GTO]

Voted NO. It's a 2-door sports car for me over an M5 or E63.

Buying a high performance sports car is about appealing to all senses, including the aesthetic where a 4-door simply can't match the charisma of a 2-door coupe. These cars are all about how they make you "feel" and a proper sports car is....well, a proper sports car. Due respect to the ///Ms & AMGs. I respect them greatly. But I don't have any shortage of parking space or other such limitations. Hence, I will always prefer to have a 2-door sports car over & above my everyday luxury sedan. That way, both are better at what they do. A regular E350 will always be way more luxurious than an E63.

[2000rpm]

Exactly my thoughts GTO!

A 2 door car is not about practicality but about affordability, which is very low in India. If I can afford and want a 2 door sports car, I will buy one. This is never gonna be anyone's primary car.

[Turbanator]

Why not have both I guess it's all about money at your disposal or more importantly, how do you want to spend/ burn your money.

I got an opportunity to keep an M Car for an extended time and now whenever I am driving my 7, I try to floor the same way and expect the roar, sadly nothing happens. I don't like AMG/ M SUV except for the mighty G-Wagon.

If I have funds, my daily drive will be a Sports Sedan (M5 or whatever) and weekend ride a proper 2 Door Coupe and when it's time to sit in the rear, 7 / S Class wherever roads are great else the LC-200.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. How apt

[Joxster]

Voted No. Assuming that money is no object, I would pick a 2-door car any day! Besides the obvious attention that you get, the sheer joy that you get out of driving a purpose-built machine like that is unmatched by the bigger and bulkier performance sedans or SUVs. It should be said that it is still a hoot to drive the BMW M3's, AMG C63's or even humble Skoda Octavia RS's , but they don't match the experience of driving a lightweight, nimble and fast sports/super car which is built for only one purpose....pleasure!

Cheers

[lamborghini]

My biggest reason for wanting a performance sedan / SUV is the fact that it would be a sleeper of a daily driver, and one that would not require much planning for a drive.
Typically most of my leisure drives are with at least 3 people in the car if not 4, or the odd 5th passenger.
Drives wherein it's just me, or me and my wife are limited - mostly the office to home commute wherein the sleeper would be more private without people trying to get a peek in, or to and fro a dinner / party - often with roadside parking, where again the sleeper has it's benefits.

Whilst, I do have other vehicles for this in the garage, but there is something fun about having everyone in one vehicle and this remains my biggest limitation to buying a proper 2 door.
That being said, almost all the options I have in mind for my next car happen to be coupes & convertibles, so I myself want to see how it plays out

[swissknife]

I prefer a purpose built car over a make over any day! I wouldn't want to carry extra weight (people) in a sports car. At most, it would be a co-driver in a sports car.

[vj123]

Voted no.

Given a choice i would pick a 2 door sports vehicle dedicated for its purpose. It would be a second or third vehicle in the household and wouldnt make much sense to buy another hatch, sedan or SUV. But it would be a tough call if E63S or RS6 Avant is under consideration.

[theredliner]

As long as I can own only one of them I'd pick a performance sedan without a doubt.

Give me this and I wouldn't want anything else:


But it must be with this option (no longer available sadly and it never was with RHD):



Image source

[raystriker]

We are at a stage where SUVs and sedans are able to pull more than 1G in the corners and are able to reach 60mph in 3 seconds thanks to loads of power and semi-slick road legal tires. "Sporty" indeed. But what these metrics don't tell us, is how heavy they are. Take any of the SUVs and super-sedans mentioned in this thread, and I promise you none of these will last more than a few laps on a track (if driven at speed) or spirited driving in the canyons before suffering from things like break fade and extraordinary tire wear. There is no really way to mask a vehicle's weight. Which is why there will always be a 1000 usd civic with a turbokit pulling car lengths on you in your M5.
Unfortunately due to modern regulation in safety equipment, cars are getting heavier. And larger on the outside (while not increasing interior space linearly to the exterior). If BMW can make an M5 that weighs 2800lbs and not 4400+, I'd take it over a Corvette C7 GS. But it'd be too costly.

On a side-note, there are enough car enthusiast millionaires to warrant a light-weight performance sedan made with LMP-derived technologies, something I'm surprised isn't a reality yet.

[Santoshbhat]

I prefer a sleeper since it doesn't attract as much attention as a proper 2-door sports car. Not saying that an M5 won't attract eye balls in India!

The practicality of everyday usability is an important aspect of an automobile for me. We don't have a proper race track in Bangalore and even if we did, I'd rather just rent a sports car and drive around the track whenever I felt like it. If I have to make the capital investment to buy one of these, then I'd definitely go for a performance sedan or a hot hatch be it 2 doors or 4

[landcruiser123]

Haven't driven any of the performance cars. But this is why find sedans appealing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rRY2ICT4k

In India, having a super car means having a flat bed truck on call. You can drive a BMW 530d M-Sport or Lancer Evo on Bangalore-Goa trips.

[greenhorn]

as the owner of a performance sedan, I'm obviously biased
However, if i had two car garage, and the means to pay and maintain for two premium cars, then an SUV for the wife + family, and a nice 2 door for me!

[GeeTee TSI]

Voted Yes, but implied Sedans and not SUVs

My preference is understated performance than ostentatious, which performance sedans deliver. The unique engineering hardware in performance sedans more than compensate for the physical similarity to their plain vanilla counterparts

[Jeroen]

I guess the biggest argument has already been mentioned, practicality.

But practicality is of course very much in the eye of the beholder. If you do not need to worry about karting people and kids around, do not need a big boot, there are plenty of 2 door sports cars that can be considered even as your daily runabout.

When all is said and done, I would love to own the latest Renault Alpine A110. Always loved the original A110 and the latest version is a real looker with stunning performance and few if any electronic trickery. This is a proper drivers car.

I had the pleasure of driving one some weeks ago across some little Dutch rural roads. But equally fine driving it through town in bumper to bumper traffic.

The one thing not mentioned yet about practicality is how easy it is to get in and out of a car. Not a huge thing for many of our esteemed members. But I am on the wrong side of 60. Although I would like to consider myself pretty fit, old age means you stiffen up, no matter what.

Shoe horning yourself backwards through the door of some low slung car into a bucket seat becomes more difficult. Lets not even talk about how to get out of such a car.

Anybody over thirty is unlikely to climb out, looking even remotely graceful. It will be a struggle. It is only Olympian gymnast who can do so in one fluent, seemingly effortless motion.

Jeroen