13 Sports Cars That Were Total Fails
Sports cars provide some of the best thrills and spills in the automotive world. They are fast, powerful, and agile machines, and vehicles such as the Lotus Exige, Honda S2000, and Dodge Viper showcase the segment to perfection.
Sadly, though, the automotive world is full of duds, and the sports car segment is no different. Some sports cars have been slow, ugly, unreliable, and just downright terrible.
This list contains 13 of the absolute worst of those sports cars for the reasons above. Should you ever see one of these on sale, our recommendation is to give them a wide berth.
Covini C6W
One of the most bizarre sports cars ever created is the unusual Covini C6W. Designed by Italian Ferruccio Covini and built by his company Covini Engineering, the C6W took inspiration from the six-wheeled Tyrell P34 F1 car to create a six-wheel sports car for public sale.
Under the hood was a 4.2-liter Audi V8 producing 434-hp and 350lb-ft of torque. From 2004 onwards, however, Covini could only produce around 6-8 a year, and the high asking price plus the unusual design of the car was enough to put many buyers off.
Fisker Karma
Fisker has not had the easiest ride in the automotive world. They made their debut in 2011 with the Fisker Karma, the startup’s first production car. It was an innovative machine, one of the first plug-in hybrid sports cars; however, it was only in production for a single year.
The Karma had a 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec VVT DI LNF inline-four under the hood plus two electric motors, combining a total power output of 402-hp. Sadly, the Karma was massively inefficient and expensive at $100,000. Multiple recalls also impacted its chances of success.
Mazda RX-8
When Mazda launched the RX-8 in 2003, they would have hoped it would capitalize on the success of the RX-7, its predecessor. Sadly, despite promising excellent performance, various issues plagued the RX-8, such as poor fuel consumption and excessive emissions.
ECU flashes were another issue, and ignition coils would fail; however, the engines themselves were in good condition. Mazda would end up discarding many perfectly fine RX-8 engines when all they needed was new coils. Despite the issues, at the heart of it was an excellent sports car, again with a rotary engine and producing up to 237-hp and 159lb-ft of torque.
Jaguar XJ220
In many ways, the Jaguar XJ220 was a brilliant success. The British sports car was a stunning creation, thanks to its sleek, streamlined body and the incredible top speed of well over 200 mph. However, the XJ220’s chances were hurt even before it hit the road.
Jaguar unveiled the concept XJ220 with a 6.2-liter V12 under the hood, producing 500-hp. However, when the production version appeared in 1992, Jaguar instead used a 3.5-liter turbocharged JRV-6 V6 engine, making 542-hp. It had more power, but customers were dismayed at the choice of the V6 over the V12. Jaguar’s hand was forced due to engineering challenges and tightening emissions regulations.
DeLorean DMC-12
It has probably come as a surprise to some that the DeLorean DMC-12 has taken this long to appear on this list. John DeLorean’s DeLorean Motor Company designed the DMC-12, which began production in 1981. The DMC-12 was noted for its gull-wing doors and brushed stainless-steel body panels; however, sadly, it was also known for its awful performance.
Power came from a 2.85-liter Peugeot-Renault-Volvo ZMJ-159 V6 engine, producing just 130-hp and 153lb-ft of torque. The DMC-12 was also unreliable, poorly built, and caught up in the drug scandal surrounding DeLorean himself. Only its starring role in the Back to the Future franchise saved its reputation.
Lamborghini Jalpa
While not exactly a failure, the Lamborghini Jalpa was a sports car designed to fix a problem that, in some ways, didn’t need fixing. The Jalpa was aimed at attracting buyers to Lamborghini who couldn’t afford the Countach, but that is what the problem with the car was. While it was still a fun sports car, the ‘budget’ nature meant it lost a lot of performance compared to the Countach.
Power came from a 3.5-liter V8 engine, producing 250-255-hp and up to 225lb-ft of torque. Sadly, buyers didn’t take to the Jalpa and Lamborghini, which only built 410 units from 1981 to 1988.
Pontiac Fiero
What looked like a promising sports car from Pontiac quickly became an absolute disaster. The Fiero, on paper, was a great sports car, but it was prone to sudden fires, with things reaching a nadir in 1990. General Motors was forced to recall 244,000 four-cylinder versions of the Fiero thanks to its horrendous tendency to self-combust.
Pontiac only launched the Fiero in 1983, but four years later, it removed it from its lineup due to how bad things had become. The fires took away from what was in some ways a great sports car, although performance was described as ‘mild’ by some.
Ferrari F50
We will stress that the Ferrari F50 was a great success as an actual, standalone sports car. It packed an almighty punch thanks to its 4.7-liter Tipo F130B V12 engine, developed from the 3.5-liter V12 used in the 1990 Ferrari 641 F1 car. This meant the F50 produced 512-hp and 347 lb-ft of torque. Speeds were also incredible, with a top speed of 202 mph and a 1/4 mile time of just 12 seconds.
Sadly, the F50 couldn’t escape the shadow of its predecessor, the F40. Yet it would become much rarer, with Ferrari building just 349 F50s compared to the 1,311 F40s they produced.
Vector M12
At first glance, there is a lot to love about the Vector M12. The American sports car was based on the Lamborghini Diablo and was the first car built by Vector after Megatech’s hostile takeover of the company from founder Jerry Weigert. However, this would be the least of the car’s problems.
The M12 might have had a 5.7-liter Lamborghini V12 under the hood, producing 492-hp and 425lb-ft of torque. But sales were slow, forcing Vector to make just 17 examples. Plus, by 1999, Vector couldn’t pay Lamborghini for the engines, so production would cease that year.
Saturn Sky
In the late 2000s, General Motors was trying hard to revive the fortunes of some of its brands. One of them was Saturn, which had been under the GM umbrella since the 1980s. However, by 2005, Saturn was in a sharp decline, so its fortunes needed reversing and fast.
GM and Saturn came up with the Sky; however, in reality, this ‘new’ sports car was a reclothed and updated version of the Pontiac Solstice. The Sky even shared the same platform as the Pontiac. The Sky was also badged as the Opel GT in Europe, and while it was punchy with its 2.0-liter 260-hp turbo inline-four, the Sky couldn’t save Saturn from going under in 2010.
Third-Generation Chevrolet Camaro
By the early 1980s, the oil crises of the previous decade had really begun to bite into the performance car world. Despite this, Chevrolet launched the third-generation Camaro with high hopes, but those hopes were quickly dashed.
Consumers were dismayed to learn that the base third-generation Camaro, thanks to its 2.5-liter inline-four, would have just 90-hp and 132lb-ft of torque. Even the addition of the Iron Duke engine could only bump the power output to over 100.
Mitsuoka Orochi
Of all the sports cars on this list, the horrifying Mitsuoka Orochi might be the one least qualified to carry the sports car moniker. Japanese manufacturer Mitsuoka took the Honda NSX platform to create Orochi. However, that was where the similarities with the acclaimed Honda would end.
Under the hood, the Orochi only had a 3.3-liter Toyota 3MZ-FE V6, producing just 231 horsepower. This, plus the car’s horrible design, led to extreme criticism at its launch. The Orochi is regularly labeled as one of the ugliest cars ever made in automotive history.
Ford Mustang II
The Ford Mustang II is quite a polarizing muscle car. Some viewed it as a natural successor to the first-generation Mustang. Others, and indeed most people, were repulsed by it and believed it went against everything the muscle car philosophy stood for.
Sadly, the Mustang II was based on the Ford Pinto’s platform, and this extended to the performance as well. The most powerful V8 available produced just 140-hp and 250lb-ft of torque. Even more alarming was that when the car first launched, Ford didn’t even make it available with a V8 engine
