Every motoring enthusiast knows what true sports cars should look like. When people see a car with a low roofline, big wheels, a spoiler, and lots of scoops and sharp edges in the bodywork, they expect it to be super fast. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes automakers produce cars that look fast but don't have enough power under the hood to live up to the expectations.
This problem has gotten even worse in the last few decades, as almost every automaker has a sports car in its lineup. In most cases, it's the small, little-known automakers that produce slow-performance cars. However, even respected marques like Porsche and Ferrari have done it several times, as you'll find out below. Let's explore ten slow cars that everyone thinks are fast.
10 Chrysler Crossfire
There have been many amazing Chrysler models produced since the turn of the century, but the Crossfire is not one of them. Everything about what was supposed to be Chrysler's flagship sports car of the 2000s was terrible - from the uninspired design to the poor handling, cheap interior, and bad driving dynamics.
The biggest mistake Chrysler made when developing the Crossfire was choosing an outdated Mercedes-Benz R170 platform as the base. The car felt old and boring, which is why it ended up being a huge commercial failure. What a waste of one of the best model names ever.
9 Alfa Romeo 4C
If there's one thing that Alfa Romeo has perfected, it's building gorgeous cars. The Italian marque has sold some of the most beautiful cars over the years, including the Tipo 33 Stradale, the SC Competizione, and the Giulia, to name a few. Unveiled in 2013, the 4C is another exquisite Alfa Romeo that turns heads wherever it goes.
Sadly, the only exciting thing about the 4C is its design. Everything else was satisfactory at best, starting with the 1.75-liter turbocharged four-cylinder motor with just 240 hp on tap.
8 DeLorean DMC-12
Every gearhead has at least heard of the iconic DeLorean, particularly those who were around in the '80s. When it came out in 1981, it immediately captured everyone's attention with its sleek wedge-shaped design and Gullwing doors. It was also a Hollywood icon, starring in the Back to the Future films.
Everything about the DeLorean seemed fast and futuristic except one thing — the engine. It came with a 2.8-liter V6 cranking out 130 horsepower, enough to give it a top speed of 109 mph. This was just too slow, especially considering that buyers had to pay $25,000 for it back then.
7 Porsche 914
Porsche rarely gets it wrong with its sports cars. Look at how good the 911 has been over the years, the 918 Spyder, and even more recently, the Taycan. However, every automaker has its flaws, and Porsche's came in 1969 when it introduced the awful 914.
There's a lot of things gearheads hate about the 914. For starters, it's one of the ugliest Porsches of all time and looks nothing like the other models Porsche was building at the time. Then there's the weak engine — since it was the entry-level Porsche, the most powerful engine buyers could have was a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with just 110 hp.
6 Ferrari Mondial
Ferrari is another automaker that gearheads wouldn't expect to find on a list such as this. However, the Mondial was so bad that we just couldn't leave it out. The Mondial was large, heavy, and had a boring awkward-looking four-seater design everyone hated.
The worst thing about the Mondial was that it was equipped with the smallest Ferrari engine at the time — a mid-mounted 3.0-liter V8 cranking out 224 horsepower. The Mondial needed almost 10 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph, which is too slow for a Ferrari. Despite being such a terrible sports car, the Mondial is still one of Ferrari's best-selling models ever.
5 BMW M1
In the late '70s, BMW hatched a plan to build a sports car to take on Italian rivals from Ferrari and Lamborghini. BMW didn't have a lot of experience making sports cars, so it hired the iconic Giorgetto Giugiaro to design the car. The result was the M1; a wedge-shaped masterpiece loved for its low height, folding headlights, and flat kidney grille.
The M1 looked like a promising BMW flagship sports car, but there was one problem. Unlike the Ferraris and Lamborghinis it was trying to compete with, the M1 had a small 3.5-liter six-cylinder engine under the hood with 273 hp on tap.
4 Fisker Karma
Tesla is the first name that pops into everyone's head when electric vehicles are mentioned today, but back in 2012, Fisker was the king of the EV world. Fisker's first production car, the 2012 Karma, was the talk of the town as it was one of the first cars to show that EVs had the potential to take over.
Unfortunately, despite having sporty looks, the Karma was extremely slow. A top speed of just 125 mph was hardly enough to justify the Karma's $100,000 price tag, which is one of the reasons why the company went out of business in 2013.
3 1980 Chevrolet Corvette California 305
The American auto industry was in shambles during the '70s to '80s era. To deal with oil shortages and environmental pollution, the government introduced strict emission regulations, forcing automakers to ditch the massive, powerful engines that dominated the '60s. The restrictions were even more stringent in California.
The 1980 Corvette was already terrible compared to the C2 Corvettes produced more than a decade earlier, but the special California 305 version was even worse. It had a 180-hp small-block V8 under the hood, making it pretty slow.
2 Toyota GT86
In 2012, Toyota presented the GT86 and its identical twin brother - the Subaru BRZ. Both cars drew a lot of attention from gearheads and automotive journalists for their sporty looks, low weight, excellent handling, and raw driving dynamics. However, after driving the cars, everyone was in consensus that they were just too slow.
The GT86 had a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine sending 200 horsepower to the rear wheels. It needed eight seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph, which was utterly disappointing to Toyota enthusiasts. It's no wonder why sales were poor.
1 Mazda RX8
If there's one Japanese automaker who has perfected the art of making amazing sports cars, it's Mazda. The company has given us icons like the RX-7 and the best-selling two-seater sports car ever, the Miata MX-5. However, despite being awesome, Mazda sports cars typically have one thing in common; they're underpowered, and the RX8 is no exception.
The RX8 has a 1.3-liter naturally-aspirated Wankel engine producing up to 237 horsepower. Going from 0-60 mph takes around 7 seconds, which is much slower than its turbocharged predecessor, the RX-7.