What makes a car an "exotic"?

It's like pornography - I know it when I see it

 

The standard dictionary definition works just fine. Of course depending on where you live, your income level and who your friends are, some things that may seem exotic to others might not be exotic to you.

I see most exotics every day here in LA. They arent really exotic to me, but I do know they are exotic to most people.

For me seeing a Viper GTS-R is more special and exotic than seeing a 458 Italia. I think Ive only ever seen on Viper GTS-R on the road...I see Italias every week.

 

...the repair bills

 

there is something to this.

There are several things I believe:

Expensive to buy or maintain
Unusual or extraordinary powerful powerplants that scream bloody murder when used
Speed and acceleration numbers far beyond the norm of the day
Over the top and aggressive styling
Limited production or visability from the everyday
Some form of "cache'", such as being foreign or being associated with a racing team.
Hand made or using unusual materials or practices
Must be lusted after
Difficult or even scary to purchase.


And the big one: A totally ridiculous luxury with no point other than owning one because you just have to have it.

 

Something exotic is very rare and makes you tremble and feel high when you ride it.

 

Brookyln Decker ?

 

Any Beautiful sports car that isn't RED

 

Q: What makes a car an "exotic"?

A: When the normals haven't got a clue what it is, but instinctively know it's something special.

 

In England, a Corvette

 

Shhh, talking about them makes them less exotic.

 

Oh my - this one is refreshingly new. I like it.

 

Really? Now THAT'S funny! I must see ten of them a day here. At least.

 

In Cuba, anything American made AFTER 1959



Jedi

 

bwahahahahaaaa!!

 

I like this.

I would like to add - when people confuse it for a Ford Mustang because of the little "horsey"

 

This is a tough question.
I think a car is exotic if it has something unique or special to offer that you don't see every day or in other cars.
Every time I get behind the wheel of my e60 M5, I think it is an exotic.
Just because there aren't many 10 cylinder normally aspirated engines out there that can scream to 8500rpm, let alone in a four door sedan. The engine is an engineering masterpiece.

 

OK I have a good one.

Now most people on here are listing:

Expensive
Hugely powerful engines
Low production numbers
Expensive to maintain
Unusual design
ect...

Now living in the southeast including Atlanta (what 4th/5th largest city in the country now) I've seen about as many Elise/Exige as I have Ferrari'.

I would include the Elise/Exige as an exotic car.

It accelerates fast, handles extraordinary, looks exotic, yet does not have a very powerful engine, cheap to maintain and not expensive. It does however come from a boutique car maker that has racing ties both at it's roots and through out it's history including today in F1.

Now I don't think many people on this board would include one of these in a list of exotic cars but I would.

 

I vote for this and add that it must have insane maintenance and repair costs.

Davce

 

In Italy, my nephew's Mustang GT gets more "exotic" stares than any Ferrari or Lamborghini.

He lives in Vicenza and drove it down to meet us in Florence, where we were staying for a few days at a hotel on a piazza not far from Il Duomo. He parked on the piazza in front of the hotel and, within 15 minutes of his arrival, we had a dozen or so gawkers standing around, pointing their fingers and asking questions in a variety of different languages. It's S/C with full length headers and a Stinger exhaust, and when it turns over, it rattles windows. American V8s in Italy are as rare as US Prime beef.

So "exotic" is a very relative term.

 

In the US, people mistake Ferraris for mustangs. Maybe in Italy they mistake mustangs for Ferraris.

Dave

 

Just off the top of my head:

Exclusiveness/Rarity (low prod. numbers)
Materials Used (CF, Titanium, Alcantara, etc)
Styling (Low, wide, sharp or very curvy lines)
Options (Carbon Ceramics, CF Interiors, etc)
Colors (Bright, loud, nake carbon fiber)
Performance (This is subjective, but you get the idea)
Price New ($200,000-$2,000,000)

Also, an exotic car to me has to have that WOW factor. You know an exotic when you see one. While a Nissan GT-R will blow the doors off a 355/360 Spider in basically every performance category, park them next to each other and see which one turns more heads.

 

I agree that the Lotus is an exotic, mostly due to the cutting edge unique design. When the cars put performance or styling above comfort or ease of repair then they are true sports cars. True sports cars are rare today, and most of them would be considered 'exotic'.

My little Ginetta gets more stares and questions than anything else I have driven, yet it is relatively cheap to buy, really cheap to operate and maintain, and an absolute joy to drive. Comfortable? No. Reasonable? No. Practical? No. Exotic? I would say no, because the styling is more old school than cutting edge, but that's one of the defining characteristics in my book. It is definitely a pure sports car, just one of the rare cases that is not an exotic one.

BT

 

I think the exotic car as we used to know it has sort of died out. I think the last era was with the F50 and 355. Now we have the internet, video games, a lot of poseur celebrities, wanna be stars, the exposure is far too much. Before we only had magazines to see such cars and to really see one in the flesh was a once in a million sort of thing for most people. Back then a 308, Lotus turbo Esprit or a Porsche 911 turbo broke necks all day long. People stare now and whatever, but I don't see the look in their eyes like before.

 

Not likely!

My experience is that Italians are far more conscious of Ferrari-anything than are people of any other country. However, in Italy, modern Ferraris are definitely not considered to be "exotic" in the way North Americans typically define the term.

The point was that "exotic" is a very relative term and greatly depends upon one's perspective.