There's been a lot of PH discussion both on and offline about the future of four-cylinder sports cars after the 718 and F-Type test. It was even deemed important enough to enter the Twittersphere over, though that could have just been a procrastination technique as Frankfurt looms...
Either way, it was made patently clear that four-cylinder sports car can sound good. There were at least three Tweets proving that, so it seemed a good idea to bring them together and share the four-cylinder love.
What is there? An Alfaholics GTA clip from the Nordschleife, the little red coupe honking its way around in a 8min 15sec BTG time. That looks very entertaining. Also at the 'ring is a Best Motoring vid featuring an S2000, the Honda howling its way to 9,000rpm with deft footwork (in loafers, of course) keeping the revs high. Also very nicely done.
Though we want to celebrate road cars here, a racer had to feature at some point. And what better way to do that than with a BDA-powered Escort? This RS1600 is on the circuit rather than the stage too, shrieking and sliding at Jarama in one of the finest onboards we've seen for, ooh, at least 10 days. Thanks Andrew Bayliss. We couldn't leave the K Series out either; here it is doing fine service in a Caterham Seven (and thanks to Grant Hibbert for bringing it to our attention).
Now there's an obvious response to all these. All are old cars to some degree, and cars always sounded better back then - right? Well this GT86, admittedly tuned just a tad, sounds very cool for something that can be purchased in 2017. And if turbos are a concern, the Fensport turbocharged version of that very Toyota sounds rather good to us.
So there is hope for four-cylinder sports cars, it would seem. We've made it all this way and even mentioned the MX-5 either, so that's something. What are your favourite sounding four-cylinder sports cars, be they old or new? We'd love to see (and hear) them!
Alfaholics GTA-R at the 'ring
Honda S2000 Best Motoring
Escort RS1600 at Jarama
K Series Caterham Seven
GT86 road car