Sports Sedans Reviews

Several enthusiast magazines feature head-to-head comparison tests for sports sedans. We found well-executed tests that compare four or five competing cars in Car and Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend and Edmunds.com. Experienced editors from each of these organizations evaluate cars based on road testing in normal, everyday driving as well as performance testing, and their expertise shows in the in-depth reporting that they do for both single-vehicle reviews as well as comparisons. High-quality reviews can also be found at Cars.com, the Kelley Blue Book website, ConsumerGuide.com and Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports has less detail in its reviews, but includes important historical and predicted reliability information. Kelley Blue Book has a useful resale value chart for each model it reviews.

Some of the publications feature direct head-to-head reviews of commonly compared rivals, such as the Subaru WRX STI (*est. $24,350 to $38,795) and the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (*est. $32,990 to $38,290). We found four comparisons of these two turbocharged 4-cylinder, all-wheel-drive compacts, and each picked the Mitsubishi Evo as the winner. Another natural rivalry is between the American V-8 muscle sedans, the Dodge Charger R/T (*est. $37,215) versus the new-for-2008 Pontiac G8 GT (*est. $29,310). Again, there were similar results from all three comparisons; the Pontiac is judged better-performing and a better value. Motor Trend writer Arthur St. Antoine comments that the Charger is "starting to feel old-school and overpriced."

The benchmark in sports sedans seems to be the BMW 3-Series, and multiple comparisons include various 3-Series models against their competitors. The results are not always identical, but the impressions of the contenders are generally consistent.

For example, we found a new contender that squarely beat the venerable BMW 5-Series in two prominent comparison tests: the all-new Jaguar XF (*est. $49,200 to $63,700) . The Jaguar XF went on sale in the spring of 2008 as a 2009 model, and has already been included in a luxury sports sedan comparison conducted by Motor Trend against the BMW 550i, Mercedes E550 and Lexus GS460. The Jaguar XF SC (Supercharged) finishes first, the Mercedes second and the BMW third. Edmunds.com also hosts a four-car comparison with the Jaguar XF SC, BMW 550i, Mercedes E550 and Audi A6 4.2. Again, the Jaguar takes the win, beating the second-place BMW. Edmunds.com reports, "there are aspects of the 550i that could use an upgrade, and given that the Jaguar costs less and offers more both on the track and off, the 5-Series couldn't keep up."

Sports sedans are a category that overlaps with family cars and luxury cars. But our focus in selecting the four-door car models for this report is that each is characterized for its sporty nature. Sports sedans generally have a more aggressive look, a more powerful engine, a stiffer suspension and more responsive handling than a typical family sedan. Rear-wheel drive is most popular for sporty cars, although some offer all-wheel drive (AWD), and a few are driven by the front wheels. If you feel that ride comfort is more important than horsepower and handling, take a look at our reports on more expensive luxury sedans and generally less expensive family sedans . See also our report on sports cars if performance is a priority over practicality.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

It's easy to see that the BMW 3-Series tops most reviewers' lists for the best sports sedan. And in most reviews, the Infiniti G35 is noted as a close competitor. The newly redesigned 2008 Cadillac CTS also gets many top picks from reviewers, ranking as the most highly rated American sports sedan. The high-performance Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution fills a unique role as a rally-bred, race-ready sports sedan that consistently beats its direct rival, the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, in tests. While the BMW 5-Series is a highly rated sports sedan, we don't include it in our ConsumerSearch Fast Answers list because its crash-test record is not as strong as others, and it loses to the new Jaguar XF in direct comparison tests.