The Death of the Sport Sedan

Disclaimer: What you are about to read is opinionized. Proceed at your own risk. I am not liable for any saltiness one may become whilst reading. Viewer discretion advised

One would argue that when Alfa Romeo dropped a twin cam four cylinder and made the Giulia Super in the 1960s, they started a whole new class of car: the sport sedan. Something that can be used to enjoy the backroads on Saturday, and take the family to a religious ceremony on Sunday. Fast forward to the 80s and Mercedes is dominating DTM with the 190E, and made some sporty variants of that as well, polishing and refining the sport sedan recipe. Then in 1986, BMW made the car that would change the game forever: the M3. However, the only reason that the M3 existed in the first place is because the FIA told them to if they wanted to compete in DTM to give Mercedes a good whoopin. These three cars would go on to define a segment that is one of the most heated and tight competitions in the history of the automobile.

But there’s a problem. The sport sedan is almost extinct. Almost all modern ‘sport sedans’ are luxury cars with sport added as a side dish. An example: the W204 gen Mercedes C63 was in fact a German muscle car. It had a big V8 up front, rear wheel drive, and was as focused on sportiness and liveliness while maintaining a good comfort aspect as well. The W205 gen C63 is more comfort orientated as one would come to expect from Mercedes but lost that sportiness feeling to it. It can still hang with the M3 but it’s not as athletic as it used to be.

Ahh, but you’re thinking “What about the BMW M3? Isn’t that the definition of the sports sedan?” Yes, but it isn’t one. It nails the sport part but not the sedan part. Like I said, a sports sedan should be able to be a backroad bruiser on Sunday and a good daily to work on Monday. The aforementioned C63 AMG is a good luxury car but isn’t a good sports sedan. The M3 is the is able to do sport just fine but a harsh ride and a bad interior (compared to the segment) means that it’s a bad sedan. It’s a good drivers car but not a good sedan to live with. That leaves us with the Giuila Quadrifoglio.

Is this a sports sedan? A lot of people have said so, it has to be, right? No. The Giuila is a good car, but it’s a sports car in a sedan wrapper. I think that if Alfa Romeo focused the energy on making a sport coupe instead of a sedan they would be a lot better off. It’s too focused on the sport part of the sedan. Take the interior: it’s what I’d expect from a Dodge Dart, not a $72,000 sedan. Alfa spent all this time and money on making a car that is frankly pointless. What good is a sports sedan if it can’t express what it really wants to be?

Is the sports sedan dead? No. There are cars like the Audi S4 and Genesis G70 that are good cars that can do sport really well and do sedan really well. But that’s the lower end of the spectrum. What about your M3 competitors? It depends on what you value. Do you want a good driving experience at the expense of day to day livability or good livability at the expense of backroad excitement? It all depends on what you want above all else. Me personally, I prefer livability over B road excitement so if I were in the market for a sporty sedan, I would get a Ford Edge ST.