'Lightweight', 'simple', 'different': here's what TG readers want from a performance car

Simple really: make 'em... simple. We asked you lot how you'd build your perfect performance car, and the answers didn't disappoint.

Starting with the most upvoted comment of the week, here’s Peterson: “A performance car is whatever you want it to be as long as it makes you smile after the journey. Saloon or coupe? Doesn’t matter, as long as it's not tall. Engine? Doesn't matter, as long as it's sonorous. Gearbox? Doesn't matter, as long as it's snappy and quick to respond. Suspension should be stiff but comfortable, handling should be reactive but still a little vague down the centre.

“Styling must be subdued, with a little bit of flare here and there but nothing too fancy. I don't mind driving aids, but I do not see adaptive dampers and other chassis control tech as necessary. They add weight. There's a reason why the debate around the best performance car contains hot hatches as well as supercars. And the simplest, easiest-to-understand machines always come out on top. What a coincidence, huh?”

Next up is Jay Kay: “I believe in Colin Chapman's ethos: simplify and add lightness. In that regard, I look long and hard at the Ariel Atom 500 V8. So 750kg max wet weight and 750bhp. The power is delivered from a version of the quad-rotor ‘R26B’ screamer out of the Mazda 787B.”

An Atom with a 787B engine? Sheesh. Teabag Towers is next: “Gordon Murray showed what a great performance car should be with the T50. Every performance car these days is pushing two tonnes; the T33 is 1.1. It comes with the same screaming V12 with over 600hp that you find in the T50 with slightly less controversial looks (the fan) and a manual gearbox.

“Seems to me that being able to make a lightweight performance car is a dying art in the automotive world. Most cars these days have to rely on all sorts of fancy electronics and stupid amounts of power to achieve what a lighter car could achieve in the first place.”

Here's Lachlan's idea: “I feel all performance cars are getting too complicated, with all the computers, assists and so on. We need a back-to-basics performance car, so: a low price of around £45k-£60k. Naturally aspirated 3.0 or 4.0-litre V6 that sounds like an AMG GT, with 400bhp, 0-62 in four seconds and a top speed of 170mph. Rear-wheel drive with limited slip differential. None of that torque vectoring tomfoolery, it should only oversteer when you want it to, otherwise friendly understeer.”

Arvin Adilaksono provided several engine swap ideas, and we’ve plucked three of our favourites: “1) Take the Alfa Romeo 4C’s carbon fibre chassis and put the V6 from a Giulia Quadrifoglio to make it the ‘4C QV’. 2) Take the BMW i8, ditch the three-cylinder and replace it with the six from the M4 GTS to create an M1 regen. 3) Take the Renault Clio RS, ditch its drivetrain and put the twin-turbo V6 from a Nissan GT-R Nismo where the back seat used to be, pairing it with a manual transmission, carbon brakes, coilover suspension and Michelin Pilot sport Cup 2 Rs. Result? The new Clio V6.”

Moving on to our final highlight of the week, here’s Andrew Robinson’s take: “Being prescriptive about weight, engine type, power, torque, acceleration and top speed figures isn't going to guarantee you a great performance car unless you've got Ferrari levels of technical nous. In a world where you can walk into a Kia dealer and pick up a family hatchback packing 577hp for £62k, spec sheets no longer mean much, but standing out from the crowd of conformist SUVs means everything. So I propose one simple rule for performance car greatness: do something different.

“Stick the engine in the wrong place: Porsche 911. Turn the engine 90 degrees from everyone else: Lamborghini Miura. Limit the footprint to that of a ‘60s F1 car: McMurtry Spéirling. Copy a toy: Tamiya Wild One Max. Apply race tech to an off-roader: Ariel Nomad. Stick a motorbike engine in a 60-year-old body: Caterham 7 170. That's a list of wildly different great performance cars with wildly different weights, powertrains and design philosophies, but they all share one thing: in a world of conformity they dare to be different.”