We believe American supercars are superior to their competition.

It’s why we chose this name for our company, and it represents what we stand for.

In this post, we want to invite you into our world. Let us show you why and how American supercars are so great.

Don’t get us wrong – there are plenty of amazing European supercars. And they can be a lot of fun to drive and own. However, as we’ll show you in this piece, they often cost a lot more, and are more of a hassle to own than their American counterparts.

In addition, American supercars’ racing accomplishments give them a sense of American pride that you can connect with through owning one of these cars.

The Price to Performance Ratio

Let’s just get this out of the way:

One of the strongest reasons for owning an American supercar compared to a European one is the insane price to performance ratio of these cars. While nobody doubts that the Europeans can make some high end cars, they also usually come with a price tag in the hundreds of thousands.

And in some cases, American supercars are simply THE car to beat.

A prime example?

The new Dodge Viper ACR.

Image source: Car and Driver

The 2016 version has set more track records than any other production car in the world. That means it’s bested times from rivals like the McLaren P1, Porsche 918, and the Ferrari LaFerrari.

According to Road and Track, a Viper ACR with the Extreme Aero package set a new record of 1:28.65 at Laguna Seca, beating the previous record by 1.24 seconds.

The previous record holder?

A Porsche 918.

Here’s the kicker: this Porsche starts at an MSRP of $845,000.

Even with the fancy aero package, the Viper sits pretty at $135,890.

So, the Viper, which costs more than $700,000 less than the Porsche….

Was quicker on the track. Go figure.

Chevy Wins the Comparo

Here’s another example of an American supercar besting the foreign competition.

In a three way comparison between the 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S, the 2015 Nissan GT-R, and the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 NISMO Car and Driver rated the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 as the overall winner.

Image source: Jalopnik

And just take a look at the “as tested” prices for each car:

• 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: $102,120
• 2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO: $151,880
• 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S: $195,175

Don’t get us wrong – this Porsche was amazing. But as Car and Driver writes: “… it costs as much as two Z06s. And it’s not twice as good.”

However, the power to performance ratio doesn’t just come into play in the upfront costs of your supercar. There are big differences in maintenance costs as well.

The Issue Of Maintenance

One big issue with European supercars such as a Lamborghini or Ferrari is that of maintenance. Simply put, these cars are more expensive to maintain than their American counterparts. Even for simple things like oil changes or new tires.

Not only that – but these cars require more of a hassle to maintain as well. There are less dealerships available for foreign supercars, and they’re more likely to be far away from you.

For example, there are more than 3100 Ford dealerships in the contiguous United States. Compare that to 28 for Lamborghini and 38 for Ferrari, and you’ll begin to see what we mean.

Time Spent

Let’s break all of this down with a situation. Let’s say you’re living in Fresno, California, where American Supercars is located. The nearest Ferrari dealer, in Silicon Valley, CA, is approximately 2 hours and 46 minutes away.

That’s a long drive to get your oil changed.

Compare that to: if you’re living in Fresno and have a 2005 Ford GT, there are 2 dealerships within 5 miles of American Supercars – and another 2  within 20 miles.

Granted, you’ll want to make sure the techs have some experience with working with GTs, but it’s a good bet that one of the 4 will be able to service your vehicle adequately.

So, instead of a 6 hour round trip, (not counting the time it takes you to actually get your oil changed), you have a 10-45 minute round trip. A task that takes up your entire day versus one that takes up a small part of your afternoon.

Money Spent

And once you get to your Ferrari dealer, you’re going to pay much more for it.

As Secret Entourage says in their article “Cost of Ownership of an Exotic Car”

“A typical oil change on a Ferrari F430 will run you $500, and about $800 for a Ferrari F360 Modena, or $1100 for a Ferrari F355. This typical oil change needs to occur every 5000 miles or once a year, since most owners don’t drive their cars 5000 miles a year.”

Maybe that’s just Ferrari though. Let’s see how a Lambo oil change compares:

“The Murcielago will run you about $2000 for an oil change,The Gallardo …just $400 for an oil change.”

Hmm. Maybe not.

What about the American equivalents? A Dodge Viper, or a 2005 Ford GT?

According to these threads, a 2005 GT oil change will cost you anywhere from $175 to $300 dollars.

Meanwhile, in Dodge Viper threads people are crying out “highway robbery” when they’re quoted $105 for an oil change, and Autowyse lists the average cost from $130.83 to $150.82.

More Advanced Maintenance

Things get even more different if you want more than your oil changed. For example, maybe you need new tires, or new brakes and rotors.

Doug Demuro writes about his year of owning a Ferrari, stating in an article for Jalopnik:

“I replaced the tires and did an oil change at 17,941 miles for $2,333.75. The car then went seven months and 3,238 miles without issue.

At that point, it was due for another oil change, and the dealer recommended changing the front brake pads and rotors — for a total cost of $1,754.45.”

Giving some further info into how much a Ferrari costs for a year, here are some dealer-verified prices for common maintenance jobs:

Source: Jalopnik

You’ll notice two things with this chart:

1. The oil changes aren’t necessarily extremely expensive. There’s clearly a wide range of prices, although Doug mentions that his oil changes each cost $400. However….
2. The annual fluids and brake pads can be quite pricey.

Meanwhile, the cost of the average cost for replacing two Dodge Viper Brake Pads Is between $2612 and $522, according to RepairPal.com.

And the cost of annual fluids for a Viper?

Around 300 dollars a year, or $1000 dollars every 3 years.

We’ve collected all this data to prove a point: an American supercar is going to be a lot less expensive for you to maintain than a foreign one.

Racing History

American supercars have a long and illustrious racing history.

For starters, there’s the story of the Ford GT not only capturing the Le Mans trophy in 1965 and continuing to win 4 years in a row, but repeating it 50 years later with the racing edition of the new Ford GT.

These iconic races are some of the most famous and well known in the racing community.

You also have cars like the Dodge Demon, which currently owns the record for the fastest quarter-mile time a production car has ever done.

Road Show writes that in the Demon, “…you can dust just about anything on the road short of a superbike — or a Bugatti Chiron.”

For the record, a Bugatti Chiron costs 3 MILLION dollars.

The Demon?

It starts at $83,295 dollars.

(Side note: the Demon is so fast that the National Hot Rod Association has banned it from participating in drag races without a roll cage and and racing harness being installed).

Final Notes on American Pride

Throughout this article, we’ve primarily made a financially based argument for buying American supercars as opposed to European ones.

However, in addition to the financial reasons and racing history of American bred cars, there’s one more factor to consider – pride.

America is, more than any other country on Earth, a country for cars. Our highway system is the largest of its kind in the world. Most Americans use cars to get to work each and every day. OUr cities and states are designed with this in mind.

So most of our cars are more or less designed for practicality, for getting from point A to point B, representing the hard work ethic our country was founded on.

However, we also make high performance vehicles that are anything but practical. These cars speak to our drive for achievement, for perfection, for being the best in the world.

These supercars speak to our country’s ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, and are a moving embodiment of the American Dream that says:

“You can do more. You can do better”.

Christian Rose

Christian’s favorite car is a 1996 Dodge Viper GTS with Blue with White Stripes. He loves marketing and social media almost as much as sports cars. You can reach him at: [email protected]