Best Sports Coupe
Looks are nothing without the performance to back it up, as these three engaging sports coupes prove.
Sports coupes are automotive emotion in motion, with curves to excite and the power to exhilarate. These auto-Adonises have two jobs: the first is to drive as desirably as they look; and the second is to attract attention to the brand they represent.
Sports coupes are the fast-beating heart of a car company. They may never sell in big numbers – unless the name is Mustang – but they play an important role in convincing buyers that Brand X’s econohatch or seven-seat SUV may just have a dash of the same spirit to make daily driving marginally less banal.
Keen followers of Drive will have twigged that the Best Sports Coupe award was not part of last year’s Drive Car of the Year. This year, we changed how we categorise sports cars. Instead of separating them into groups by price, we aligned them by tribe. So, last year where we had a $30,000 hot hatch competing with an $80,000 sports luxury coupe, this year the coupes and the hot hatches have their own awards.
We believe that somebody looking for a hot hatch that combines five-door practicality with pace is unlikely to consider a two-door coupe with a parcel shelf for a back seat and a briefcase for a boot. Likewise, a sports coupe consumer is not going to be attracted by a hatchback’s shopping trolley visuals, even if it is pumped for maximum attack.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but we reckon this represents the majority. That means there is no carryover champion defending its position, so we’ve got three new cars fighting for the inaugural Drive Car of the Year Best Sports Coupe award. Let’s get into it.
After five days of poking, prodding and driving, this category was the closest when the votes were cast. In fact, the Mustang and Supra both tied on 22 out of a possible 25 votes from five judges. When that happens, the rules state that we tally up each car’s ‘fives’ – the highest score a judge can give – and on that count the Mustang won three to two.
Winner: Ford Mustang V8
- Emotive and potent V8 powertrain
- Handles with more agility than its size would suggest
- Hard to beat for bang for the buck
- V8s aren’t cheap to feed
- Ten-speed auto can be fussy, while the six-speed manual is hefty
The sports coupe buyer wants a car that drives as fast as it looks, and looks damn good sitting in the garage. They want a car that rewards them every time they look at it or turn the key, and they want a car that will remind them of the sheer joy of performance motoring when the houses give way to forests and the road begins to wander.
This year, the Ford Mustang V8 proved that it is the Best Sports Coupe in Australia.
The Ford Mustang V8 we had at DCOTY was the mighty Mach 1, the epitome of the Mustang breed, and the most potent Mustang Ford offers in Australia. It launched in June but buyers had to wait until the back end of the year for delivery, and there’s every chance it’s sold out by now, although Ford still lists it on the website.
The Mustang Mach 1 is based on the Mustang V8, and while it has heightened capabilities, we’ve driven the ‘standard’ Mustang V8 enough to know that the base beneath those add-ons is an eminently capable and competent vehicle. That’s why the Ford Mustang V8 won the Best Sports Coupe category.
Driving a Ford Mustang V8 feels special, it feels like an occasion, even if you’re just tootling down to the shops. Everything from the way it looks in your driveway to the way the 5.0-litre V8 barks hungrily when you fire it up makes the hairs on your arm tingle.
The sensations continue as you move the cue ball gear lever through its gate. Then if you’re lucky enough to have a racetrack like we did at Drive Car of the Year, you’ll get to see what the Mustang V8 can really do.
The Mustang’s biggest trick is disguising its weight; this car does not accelerate or brake or dive into corners like an 1800kg heavyweight. It is a tactile and thunderous sports car that immerses the driver in the action right up to the eyeballs.
That’s the foundation of a great sports coupe, but it takes more than that to win Drive Car of the Year.
Running costs and value are important considerations. The Mustang V8 starts from $64,390 (before on-road costs at the time of testing), which undercuts the Toyota Supra considerably, making the Mustang great value when you take into account that it is bigger and more practical yet has better power-to-weight, and is considerably cheaper to service over the life of its warranty.
All of those elements are taken into account at Drive Car of the Year because as much as we wish every day was a racetrack, it’s not. We drive our sports cars on mundane roads in everyday traffic far more often than we do our favourite country road. So the Best Sports Coupe award has a liveability criterion that must be considered along with all those elements that make a sports coupe great.
Buying now? View new Ford Mustang models in stock
Finalist: Toyota Supra
- Sharp responses on-track, GT composure on the road
- Rev-hungry turbo six is a delight
- Cabin ergonomics not great, lacks storage options
- Low roof line looks good, hard to get under
- Refinement not what you’d expect
Toyota’s new-generation Supra sports coupe was included in last year’s Drive Car of the Year field, up against two hot hatches in the Best Sports Car Under $100K category. Because of this year’s category realignment, we felt it only fair for the Supra to be invited back to compete against cars of a similar ilk.
The Toyota Supra may look the same as the one that launched in 2020, but the 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine received a number of upgrades in early 2021, including a fettled state of tune, which resulted in 35kW more power and a wider torque peak. Chassis and suspension tweaks make the Supra sharper, too, although a price increase tempered any value advantage the power-up brought.
The Supra is the most tightly drawn of our three coupes in every sense of the term. Right-fitted for the driver, right on the road, and even externally compact. It is also the most communicative by far. There’s lots of road feel and heaps of feedback through the steering wheel and suspension.
Sadly, it’s also the least refined, which is not something you’d expect from a Toyota-BMW joint venture. There’s more road noise and more mechanical feedback, although the latter can also be a boon when you’re driving enthusiastically.
The Supra’s interior ergonomics are strange in places, like the cockpit that faces away from the driver, the chonky steering wheel boss, and a driver’s footwell that could do with more room… And let’s not forget the very low roof line that sees even average-size humans bonking their head on entry and exit.
It’s fair to say that Supra shoppers are unlikely to be swayed by the Mustang’s charms – and vice versa. But Drive Car of the Year is not about comparing cars to each other. It’s about deciding which car is the best performing, best value Sports Coupe, and this time around the Supra was beaten by a nose.
Buying now? View new Toyota Supra models in stock
Finalist: Jaguar F-Type
- Seductive styling that cloaks the beast beneath
- Thumping V8 engine can be docile and demonic
- Infotainment system is top-notch
- New V8-only line-up means a $160K entry price
- Suspension not as composed as others on crappy roads
If there’s a more classically beautiful sports coupe on sale in Australia, we haven’t seen it. The Ian Callum-designed successor to the iconic Jaguar E-Type of the 1960s may have been around for eight years now, but the silhouette looks as good today as it did in 2014.
A facelift revealed in late 2019 refreshed the design and added some tech, and a line-up adjustment earlier this year culled four- and six-cylinder variants from the range. Today’s V8-only Jaguar F-Type range starts from $159,900 and tops out at $264,966 for the fire-breathing, supercharged F-Type R.
The F-Type P450 packs a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 churning out 331kW and 580Nm (the latter is more than our two other coupe contenders) and is capable of hitting 100km/h from rest in 4.6 seconds. But numbers on a page don’t do the Jaguar F-Type justice. You have to drive it to understand just how fast – and how fantastic – this ballistic Brit really is.
Somehow, Jaguar’s engineers have developed a vehicle that is both refined and raucous, stately and insane. This car is just as much at home cruising the boulevards as it is laying skids on a racetrack.
Fellow judge Kez Casey summed it up: “Seductive styling wraps a V8 that’s incredibly docile and approachable, but wakes up to become a much more hard-edged machine”.
There are some areas where the Jaguar’s age is starting to show, however, such as the cabin, although the wrinkles of time are balanced by a cutting-edge infotainment display. Also, the suspension tune struggles with composure on some of Australia's poorer suburban roads, and there is the odd creak that comes from the body.
But still, for a buyer with deep pockets, the F-Type offers a lot of coupe for the money, even in the twilight of its existence. And there are few other cars that can match the F-Type’s visceral thrills and theatrical flair.
Buying now? View new Jaguar F-Type models in stock
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