Think of the prestige. The history. The racing heritage. The accolades. The awards and trophies and prizes and checkered flags.

Now, how would you rank the brands?

We've been chatting about the Most Prestigious Brands. How about ranking the Most Performance-Defining Brand?

Lambo, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati, Lotus, BMW, Audi, McClaren, Bugatti, Toyota ?

Rank your Top 5, and give reasons why.

Discuss.

 

1. ferrari
2. porsche
3. lambo
4. bmw
5. audi?
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xxx. Toyota

edit: sorry forgot to put reasons. so first thing come to my mind is ferrari. i dont know why. ferrari = speed, race!! 2nd porsche..maybe coz porsche only has 2 seater cars? and their cars are race-inspired. 3rd lambo..same reason as ferrari..but to a lesser extent. 4.bmw = i pick this in comparison with mercedez,audi,lexus?. bmw excels in speed, handling and it is a driver's car. mercedez n lexus lean more towards luxury. as for audi..hmm..50-50. so bmw wins!!

last but not least..toyota..lol..

 

1. ferrari- well because its italian
2. maserati- well because its italian, has a ferrari motor and well, because it even sounds cool
3. porsche- the 911 is a legend and because of that, no matter what porsche does, they will always be considered a sports car company
4. lotus- some of their cars may not be the most powerful cars ever, but the handling in their cars is almost second to none
5. aston martin- i have to pick em over lambo, just because of their history and such, even though lambo also has a rich history and is italian, i like aston more. i mean HAVEN'T YOU SEEN THE DB7 IN JAMES BOND!? lol

there were a few cars such as the supra and nsx, but as a whole i dont think of acura or toyota as a sports brand. some of my reasons might be a bit lame, but they work fdor me

 

1) Ferrari- It's probably the best engineered brand in the world when it comes to performance with a rich Italian heritage to back it.

2) Lamborghini- Awesome engineering as well but doesn't have so much of a heritage like Ferrari.

3) Aston Martin- James Bond help create the niche for Aston Martin and they have always built beautiful cars.

3)(Tied) Porsche- Has a rich history and has always been one of my favorites.

4) Maserati- In my opinion, has always trailed Ferrari and wasn't as popular here in the States until recently but does make beautiful, well built cars.

5) Lotus - When thinking back over the years, Lotus does conjure up sport when I think about the brand itself even though there isn't a large market for them.

As far as BMW and Audi is concerned, that's a whole different ball park but I would say that BMW is probably a more sportier brand than Audi while Bugatti and McClaren are in their own section because of their rarity and limited access. Just because of their rarity I wouldn't say that they are marques that define sport brands.

 

1) Ferrari
2) Lamborghini
3) Porsche
4) Lotus

Nissan GT-R, Audi R8, Corvette Z06 are however very respectable sports
cars...

 

Mustang FTW, lol.

 

If we are talking about racing heritage, Lambo or Bugatti does not belong with Ferrari, Porsche etc. Great looking cars for sure, but they really have no racing heritage to speak of.

 

First, Ferrari, because they have never, to my knowledge done ANYTHING but sports/exotic cars....I've never seen a Ferrari 4-door, unlike the Porsche Cayenne.

Second, Lamborghini, for pretty much the same reasons.

Third, Porsche. Though their pure "sport" image is tainted by the Cayenne, they probably sell more expensive sports cars than any other company in the world.

Fourth, BMW. Though they do sedans, wagons, and coupes, they are not called the "Ultimate Driving Machine" for nothing. Even their non-sports models are all a hoot to drive, with superb steering feel.

Fifth, Lotus. Colin Chapman's original obsession of building the absolute lightest vehicle possible for the max in accceleration, handling, and breaking still holds true today in everything they build. The base-model Elise, for example, can do 0-60 in under 5 seconds, 1G-plus cornering, and eye-popping braking distances....all with a 190 HP Toyota 4-cylinder.

 

Yeah, Toyota has a lot more racing heritage than those two

 

1. Ferrari
2. Porsche
3. BMW
4. Nissan
5. Mazda

 

That is very true... In the back of my mind I kind of thought I ranked Lambo
too high

Ferrari is without a doubt the undisputed king. If you go by racing heritage
then Mercedes and Renault should also be considered...

 

1. Ferrari
2. Porsche
3. BMW
4. Lamborghini
5. Lotus
Honorable Mention-McLaren, Mazda

Ferrari from the GTO to the Scuderia has it covered, THE exotic/sports car company. They are the standard all others are measured. Their F1 dominance today is incredible. Their E-diff makes AWD seem unnecessary and irrelevant.

F40....who didn't have that poster on their wall...

Ferrari doesn't see themselves as having competitors.

2. Porsche. No brand has MORE RACING WINS than Porsche. No one. From Dakar to GT2, they are just a force of nature. The 911 defies everything with a rear engine car. The GT3 maybe the purist car today. The 959 defied logic. Lets not even get into racing cars, the 906 for instance. They set trends, from big wings to big red brakes. Rarely do they lose a Comparo in ANY mag. The CGT proved they could make a V-10 exotic.

3. BMW-the reason they score high on my list is b/c you don't have to pay $200,000 for a car to have fun. 2002 created the sports sedan. Experience with turbos before and today. M cars dominate their field. They also compete in F1 and GT racing. BMW is the sports standard in the luxury field.

4. Lamborghini-true to their roots of being outrageous and sporty. Now with AWD to harness all that power. Can you say Countach, maybe THE exotic car of all time. What hurts them to me is they have had a limited lineup and they did build a SUV, in comparison look at how many cars Ferrari has produced. I would almost include Pagani here as a distant relative.

5. Lotus. Espirit kept them alive, got a V-8 that turned it into a beast. Like the 911, lasted over 30 years. Elise/Exige are simply the most fun you can have considering their minimalistic approach. They also sell a Europa we don't get here. Their next generation will only get better as the are focused.

HR-McLaren. The F1 is simply the greatest road car ever built, cars today have trouble meeting/beating it. There was a visionary focus on this car that most companies don't allow. McLaren also somehow made a 4500lbs luxury SLR into a beast that can hang with lower weight exotics.

-Mazda, the Miata/MX-5 made fun motoring again and made it cheap. The RX-7 and RX-8 are very sporty cars. First the Protege dominated b/c of its sport in its class, not the 3 does the same and the Mazdaspeed 3 is a cult classic. The 6 is getting better and the Mazdaspeed 6 is a blast. Even their SUV drive sportier than most.

 

Interesting, Mike. You and I came up with exactly the same 5 brands, in almost the same order. (see post #8)

In fact, seems like almost everyone came up with Ferrari and Porsche...and several with Lamborghini.

 

Oh, your list is solid, we just differ slightly on BMW/Lambo.

I actually had your same list, but what swayed me was BMW is just in a lot more peoples hands and they race. Lambo is very limited and does not race.

 

i'm surprised to see MB not up there, Mercedes Benz has a great racing heritage starting from 1914 when MB won the French Grand Prix...