When your hear “sports car,” your brain may jump to childhood bedroom poster cars like Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins and Lamborghinis — cars that are unobtainable when new and don’t get much more affordable as they age. But you don’t need to fork over your child’s college fund to obtain a fun and engaging driving experience. There are many excellent and affordable sports cars out there — albeit not quite as affordable as they once were. And several of them have recently been overhauled.
If you can commit to paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 — much less than the price of an average new car right now — you can still score a quality driver’s car with a manual transmission, impressive handling and optimal power output for having fun on public roads. We know because we’ve spent ample time driving nearly all of them — for science.
Here are the best cheap sports cars you can buy in 2023.
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Tyler Duffy- Powertrain: 2.0-liter I-4; 6-speed manual (6-speed auto); RWD
- Horsepower: 181
- Torque: 151 lb-ft
- 0-60 MPH: 5.7 sec
- Fuel Economy: 26 mpg city, 35 mpg highway
- Starting Price: $28,050
The MX-5 Miata is Mazda’s classic two-door, lightweight, rear-wheel-drive roadster. It’s the purest iteration of Mazda’s Jinba Ittai philosophy of oneness between horse and rider. We’d also accept classic British roadster, but better and more reliable.
