8 Sexy Sports Cars That Make Great Daily Drivers, Too

If you ask a car lover, “What’s a sports car?” we’d bet money every person would say something different. They might say, “A Porsche 911,” or maybe, “a Lamborghini Revuelto.” While they’re not wrong, it’s important to note the category of “sports car” is more of an umbrella term.

Typically, sports cars are low-built cars designed for performance at high speeds with precise handling, ability to reach top speeds, and to perform at a high level. What is less defined is a sports car’s by shape, price, or even engine size. A turbo isn’t even necessary for some cars.

What it really means is that it’s a car that can go fast and feel good doing it. Lucky for us, that means there are several options to comb through when it comes to sports cars.

Do you want a sporty SUV? A sporty hatchback? All-wheel drive? Rear or front-wheel drive? Cargo space for kids and pets? There’s an option for everyone.

For the best daily driving, the ideal car strikes a balance between comfort, practicality, and reliability while still being fun to drive. For us, here are features you should pay attention to before shopping for your next daily drivable sports car:

• Comfort and convenience: Sports cars have a typically rough ride to handle turns and high speeds. Are there any “comfort” or “normal” drive modes that help soften the suspension for around-town or highway travel? Are the seats comfortable for longer drives?
• Practicality: A perfect daily driver has enough space for daily items, like purses, maybe a lunch box, a coat and umbrella, or grocery hauls. If you have kids or pets, are the seats wide enough for car seats or pet carriers?
• Visibility: While cameras are great, can you see the blind spots, the corners of the hood, or out of the rear window?
• Efficiency: Sports cars aren’t really known for stellar mileage ratings, but we’ve selected those that get the most bang for your buck. For those who don’t care, another list is coming.
• Technology/Features: A car that’s best suited for daily driving has things like Wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, voice command options, heated seats or steering wheels, a decent sound system, cruise control, and intuitive touch screens or buttons.
• Weather Adaptability: We tried to keep the list diverse by including cars that are all-wheel drive, rear and front-wheel drive, but also had drive modes, warming features, or were otherwise adaptive to all four seasons.
• Price: Price doesn’t matter to everyone, but you’re more likely to drive a car daily if it doesn’t make you wince when you’re signing the finance paperwork. Plus, we tried to factor maintenance costs into the cars we listed, too.

All the cars we’ve chosen take all these factors into account, as well as different body styles, price ranges, and space needs.

Unless you’re well-versed in Honda’s history, most wouldn’t associate a Honda Civic as a sports car. Oh, but the Type R is anything but your bestie’s Civic. Aside from the wide body, crazy cool spoiler, tri-port exhaust, and red accent stitching, it separates itself from the standard Honda with a turbocharger.

That means the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine churns up 315 horsepower instead of just under 200 in the standard Civic.

The best part is the Civic doesn’t give up any of the good bits that make it one of the best-selling sedans in the nation. Even with all the added horsepower, styling changes, suspension, and braking upgrades, it still has an incredibly comfortable rear seat, and a large trunk, and is surprisingly efficient. Honda says it’ll get around 22 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway.

So, you could track the Civic Type R after you drop the kids off at school, and be back in time to pick them up and hit the grocery store before heading home. All for $46,690.

If you want all-wheel drive instead of front-wheel drive, check out the Subaru WRX. It has all the great things the Honda does but with a lower starting price of $35,750. It can also be bought in an automatic or a manual, unlike the Type R, which is manual-only.

On Hyundai’s webpage for the Elantra N, it reads, “engineered to be powerful and precise through corners, while being smooth and incredibly fun as a daily driver.” And that’s an incredibly fair summary of the South Korean automaker’s newest sports sedan.

Unlike the Honda Civic Type R, the Elantra is a sports car that can be either automatic or manual. Similar to the Type R, it also comes with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that generates 276 horsepower, making it quite the peppy family hauler.

It also has plenty of cargo space for those with children or pets, with large, comfortable back seats, a large trunk, and ample foot space. For fun, drivers can even adjust the exhaust tone and note from the duel-exhaust setup.

Incredibly, the sleek and remarkably fun-to-drive sedan starts at $34,250 and is estimated to get up to 29 miles to the gallon on the highway, and around 24 in the city. Not bad for something that’s designed to be fun, efficient, sexy, and versatile.

If sedans aren’t your speed, we also recommend the IONIQ 5 N (EV), or even a used Veloster Turbo. They offer the same great features as the Elantra but in a smaller package.

The Audi RS 6 Avant is one hell of a wagon. It’s wide, it has fat, sticky tires, huge brakes, and a massive twin-turbo V8 putting out 621 horsepower. Once you pick your jaw up off the floor, we’ll tell you it can also go from zero to 60 mph in a blistering 2.9 seconds. All for a car that weighs 2,740 pounds.

While it’s most definitely built for speed and performance, it also checks the boxes for a daily driver. Comfortable front driver and passenger seats, comfortable rear seats, car seat latches and anchors, a decent trunk, and respectable visibility.

True to Audi’s brand philosophy, the RS 6 isn’t without its laundry list of creature comforts, standard safety features, and interior styling and quality. However, the high-output engine, tune, and performance orientation make mileage a bit… Cringey. Audi says the wagon achieves an average of 14 mpg in the city and 21 on the highway.

Although, let’s be honest: if you’re buying a $126,000 Audi, regular visits to the pumps likely won’t bother you.

BMW has been working hard to refine its SUV selection, and its efforts show vibrantly through the newest X3 M50 xDrive. For 2025, the X3 comes standard with all-wheel drive, and the exterior and interior have been refreshed to showcase the automaker’s newer, “younger” design language, too.

The new 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 is a “mild hybrid,” that when combined with the electric motors, generates a collective 393 horsepower. The updated suspension, tuned engine, wide stance, and large tires make it ready to handle any bout of spirited driving, but the large rear seats, large trunk, and creature comforts make it suitable for daily driving.

The refreshed SUV starts at $64,100 for the M50 xDrive, which is just $1,600 more than last year’s model—which isn’t much when considering the safety and convenience features that come standard. Additionally, the base model X3 xDrive is still great and starts at $49,500.

So far, all the sports cars we’ve mentioned take into account that you may have kids or pets to fit inside with you. But, what if you don’t? What if you’re the ultimate girl boss who doesn’t need rear seats or tons of cargo space for kids and pets?

That’s why we’ve named the Nissan Z Nismo. It’s a two-door sports car that doesn’t break the bank, has a surprising amount of space under the hatch for grocery runs, has a shockingly roomy and user-friendly interior, a great sound system, plenty of creature comforts and safety features, and plenty of power under the pedal.

The Z Nismo isn’t a GT-R, but it’s definitely inspired by one with the inclusion of a twin-turbo V6 that inspires 420 horses to stampede at the slightest press of the accelerator. Putting the Z into “Sport +” mode optimizes the nine-speed transmission to get the most from every pony, making it a blast on the mountain roads of Central Oregon.

However, around town, “Normal” mode softened up the suspension and kept the RPMs low, making it more efficient and comfortable to drive around town. To boot, even while racing through the hills and doing grocery runs, I was averaging 19 miles to the gallon. Not bad for a powerful sports car.

Best of all, the top-of-the-line Z comes at just over $65,000 MSRP. Meaning you won’t go broke enjoying the splendors of Nissan’s semi-unknown sports car.

Porsche has always been on the podium for the best sports cars, especially the 911 or Cayman. But, if you need a little bit more space and don’t care much for the pricing of the Panamera, the Macan S is a fantastic alternative.

The standard Macan is great, but the “S” version comes with a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 that produces 375 horsepower. Porsche says the wide-body SUV can go from zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds, making it one of the fastest sports SUVs on the market.

Aside from being fast, it’s also practical. It has five drive modes to check all the boxes we listed above: Normal, sport, sport +, individual (custom), and WET. Wet is fairly self-explanatory: it’s great for the rain or otherwise slick conditions.

Also, the Macan is all-wheel drive with a transfer case, making it both all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive—making it ideal for trips to the ski resort, remote cabin, or campsite. Its wide tires give the Macan a larger footprint, enhancing grip when paired with the right tires.

The best part is the price. The Macan S comes with all that and a bag of chips with a starting price of $74,500. Which, when considering it’s a Porsche that can be driven every day (not just during fair weather conditions), it’s quite the bargain.

Lexus makes more than just off-road-ready SUVs and small, efficient commuters. Toyota’s luxury division also makes an incredibly unique, well-rounded, sleek, and sexy daily drivable sports car in the form of the RC F sedan.

From the outside, it may not look like it has a 5.0-liter V8 that generates 472 horsepower, but it does—and the tuned automatic transmission puts every one of those ponies into the palm of your hand through the comfortable leather steering wheel.

Like the others listed, the RC F is as practical as it is quick. The rear seats aren’t as cozy as, say, the Macan S or the Honda Civic Type R, but they’re there. However, a purse, a small dog, or some gear would be more comfortable than a child.

A third girlfriend would have to squeeze back there before you head to wine tasting, but even then, the rear seats aren’t bad. The trunk is sizable, making it great for luggage, gear, or groceries, too.

However, price may be an issue for some. Especially since it’s being discontinued after the 2025 model year. If you’re hankering for the Final Edition, it starts at $94,000. If you’re not against buying one used, a 2024 model can be found for around $50,000.

Alright, let’s just get this out of the way: we know it’s basically a rebadged BMW. But, that might be the best thing about it. The GR Supra was meant to speak to the nostalgia felt by those who adored the turbo-six that could be modified to have over 1,000 horsepower without breaking, and while it shares the same name, it feels… Different.

The 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six may be from BMW, but that means it’s a great powerplant. The Germans built it to generate 382 horsepower either from a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic, both from BMW. After all, BMW didn’t earn the nickname of the “ultimate driver’s car” for nothing.

Unlike the Lexus, the GR Supra doesn’t have rear seats at all, bringing it closer to the Nissan Z Nismo—a car the Supra directly competes against—so you can’t put a baby in it, but with its long list of safety features and creature comforts and sizable trunk, it’s a great daily for someone without kids.

It’s also more affordable than the Z, too. It starts at $56,250 with a max price of $60,495, making it a more budget-friendly choice over the Z. Though, it has less horsepower, too. So, it just depends on how important speed is to you.

While shopping for your daily driving sports car, we hope this list helped steer you in the right direction. Again, this list helps prove just how diverse the sports car category is—so stay tuned for more performance-oriented buying guides.