Quote:
Originally Posted by MazdaMatt
2-seater cars generally are for the rich, and generally contain engines that are far from economical.
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Depends on your definition of "rich". True, they've generally been marketed to people who have enough disposable income to pay higher prices for the kind of car they want to drive. Think about that for a minute, though. Unless you believe that the rich really are different from you and me, doesn't that indicate that there are probably a lot of people out there who'd like to be driving a small, agile two-seater, but who can't afford the prices of the current upscale models?
So if you're an intelligent automaker, you build a two-seater to capture part of this market segment. Perhaps you save money by sharing some basic components with your other cars, and do some work on performance, handling, and so on. And you have the Honda CRX, Mazda Miata, and similar models that sold quite well.
As for economy, that was never really the primary consideration in this market, but moving a 1500-pound vehicle with a small cross-section and lower-than-passenger-car Cd is fundamentally more efficient than moving a vehicle several times the size & weight.