Defining Car Classes

It's been a long time tradition of NFS to classify cars in one of three types.  Tuner, Muscle, and Exotic.  These classes are actually based on real life but what are they?

Well....

Tuner is any car that has a modified performance or looks aspect that is non-OEM.  Examples can include, but are obviously not limited to, Mansonry Mercedes SLR or Shelby Cobra.

Exotic is any car that is limited in production, out of the common man's financial reach or rarely purchased.  Examples in this group can include the BAC Mono, Alfa Romeo 4C, or McLaren P1.

Muscle cars actually are defined, unlike the other two groupings, by more than enthusiast groups.  The original muscle cars were performance modified pony cars.  So what's a pony car?  A pony car, according to original Trans Am racing rules and manufacturer specifications, are two door, four seat RWD cars with naturally aspirated V8 engines of less than 5.0L.  They also are marketed towards couples and singles who have little to no family and are Post-WWII vehicles.  Interestingly enough, the original pony car is not the Ford Mustang but the Ford Thunderbird.  Other examples include the original Chevrolet Camaro

Muscle cars are any pony car that has a larger than 5.0L V8, has more than 8 cylinders, or is charged in some manner.  Either supercharged or turbocharged or both.  This definition has changed to include the Supermuscle, Modern Muscle, and Modern Pony car subsets over the years.  A supermuscle is any muscle car that only seats two people and includes the Corvette, Dodge Viper, AMG GT and Aston Martin V12 Vantage.  Modern muscle includes the Bentley Continental GT and is any muscle car that has two doors, seats four or five, has a V8 engine over 5.0L (more than 8 cylinders and charging are allowed) and can be RWD or AWD.  Finally, modern pony cars are any car that's based on a muscle car platform that has an engine less than 5.0L (including less than 8 cylinders and charging) in size.

A small group of people also consider such vehicles as the modern Dodge Charger to be muscle cars.  The only difference between them and the classification above being that they have four doors.  I consider such a claim as spurious as they are sedans and were differentiated from pony cars when pony cars were first classified.  At a time when charging and AWD were rare and relatively unheard of.