Informative

What is a Supercar?

Kristian Caushaj, Staff Reporter • October 2, 2024

An image of three cars, a Ferrari, VW, and an Acura mixed together as one car. The image prompts the question, what even is a Supercar? https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/ef9300ac22f8773651c7e7eea63823ee.jpg

What is a Supercar?

Everyone’s heard of the word supercar before, but what is it that actually classifies a car as a supercar? That’s what this article will cover.

This image shows three different cars next to each other. The image sparks the question, what distinguishes these three cars, and which of them are considered supercars? https://static0.carbuzzimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/gallery-images/original/1195000/800/1195828.jpg

Most people would define a supercar as just being a fast and/or expensive car, which is correct, but these vehicles can be more than that. Some definitions of the word, such as the one from the Cambridge Dictionary, describe a supercar as a very fast car, usually being of an unusual or rare type. This is correct, although relatively broad. Another definition, such as the one from Automotive Dictionary, refers to supercars as cars with a high horsepower engine that can also provide fast acceleration and high speeds.

Generally, in the car world, a super car is classified as a car that is around 500-900 horsepower. (Horsepower being a measurement of the engine’s power.) Some examples of this are a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, which provides a horsepower of 760 and a Ferrari SF90 Stradale, which has a horsepower of around 769.

This picture shows a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. It is photographed in motion and driving on a mountain. https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2020-lamborghini-aventador-svj-roadster-first-drive-review/photos/

Next, supercars generally reach top speeds of around 200+ miles per hour. The ones mentioned above have a top speed of 211 and 217 miles per hour respectively.
Supercars typically need to have a 0-60mph time of around 3 seconds; the ones above have a 2.8 and 2.5 0-60 mph time.
Lastly, supercars generally weigh in at around 2,200 to 3,700 pounds. An Aventador SVJ weighs in at around 3,360 lbs and a Ferrari SF90 Stradale at about 3,600 lbs.
While there are some exceptions to this, supercars generally only have two seats, very rarely do they have more than two.

This picture shows a Ferrari SF90 Stradale in a dark blue and gray with yellow highlights. They are not in production anymore and there are only 799 models. https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/lor5763-1625593683.jpg

Those are the specifications typically used to classify cars as supercars. After reading this article, you should now know how you can tell a supercar from the normal cars, although usually it is pretty obvious by looks alone.

Works Cited

Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Supercar. Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved September 11, 2024, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/supercar
Dictionary of Automotive Terms. (n.d.). Super Car definition. Automotive Dictionary. Retrieved September 11, 2024, from https://automotivedictionary.org/dictionary-of-automotive-terms/super_car
Washington Exotics. (n.d.). What is a SuperCar? Washington Exotics. Retrieved September 11, 2024, from https://www.washingtonexotics.com/what-is-a-supercar.html.

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About the Contributor

Kristian Caushaj, Staff Reporter

Hello, my name is Kristian Caushaj. I am a sophomore at Elmwood Park High School. I write for the school’s newspaper as part of my Journalism class and usually write about cars. Some of my interests include watching movies, playing games, and, of course, cars. After high school I would like to go to college and major in Computer Science.