Why Sports Cars Are Often the Most Reliable Used Cars

Every genre of car has its own reputation. Muscle cars, for example, are known for not always being very reliable cars. Pickup trucks are known for being rugged enough to withstand offroading — and possibly a nuclear bomb.

One thing that has been pretty shocking in the car world is the shift in reliability that sports cars have attracted in the form of reputation over the past few years. At one point, sports cars were known for being the least reliable vehicles you could buy.

Now, they're often the most reliable used cars on the lot, and dealers have had a hard time keeping them in stock. Ever wonder why sports cars are often the most reliable used cars?

Well, Car and Driver pointed out a number of good reasons why...

Design improved significantly.

One of the main reasons why sports cars are often the most reliable used cars is because engineers have started to make them better. There was a point when sports cars actually began to slump in popularity due to their unreliability.

Knowing that sports cars could easily become a thing of the past, engineers set out to design sturdier cars with better transmissions. That, in turn, improved their reliability and, at times, even their gas mileage, too.

Better builds meant better lasting cars, even if you have bad driving habits that hurt your car. That's why over half of all sports cars sold in the past 25 years have been above average ratings in the Long Term Reliability Index. Quality counts!

Sports car owners tend to be more careful with maintaining their car, too.

Sports cars tend to be known as status symbols — expensive ones, at that. Most sports car owners, therefore, tend to realize that it's a major purchase and will take care of it better. This also is part of sunk cost logic; they spent a lot buying it, so they tend to want to tend to it better.

Meanwhile, cheap sedans as well as luxury commuter cars? Well, since they're seen as "workhorse" cars, people tend to see them as less important and will work them to the bone — typically with bare-bones maintenance.

That's why you usually can trust when the most reliable online car buying sites tell you that a sports car is well-maintained. There's a psychological impetus there, which is why you would be more likely to see a sports car owner downloading maintenance apps than a typical driver would.

Lastly, one of the main reasons why sports cars are often the most reliable used cars deals with driving habits.

So, why sports cars are often the most reliable used cars? Simply put, studies have shown that sports car owners don't drive sports cars as much as typical drivers do. When you drive a car less frequently, you end up causing less wear and tear — regardless of your driving habits, in most cases.

Less wear and tear means that you can expect the car to live a little bit longer, which in turn means that the car will be more reliable on the long term. So, despite sports cars being designed to withstand a lot of engine abuse, they actually remain the most reliable cars on dealership lots.

Makes sense?