Should you consider taking a sports car on a road trip?

Most car enthusiasts use their sports cars for weekend drives and spirited runs. That's because these vehicles are usually less fuel efficient than regular economy cars; they have stiffer suspensions – which is great for handling corners, but makes for a more uncomfortable experience for regular use; and they sit low to the ground, which means you need to keep these cars on even roads and away from potholes and speed bumps.

With skyrocketing fuel prices, and the road conditions in Bangladesh, it is a rare sight to see petrolheads taking their sports cars out on the highways. But the great thing about these cars is that, more often than not, they are extremely fun to drive, and, in theory, should add to the experience of a fun road trip. 

So we put this theory to the test. 

We took a 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four and 1993 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo out for a 1,100 km trip to Sylhet.

Driving the Starlet GT on Lawachara’s mountain roads was a dream come true for Zafar after seeing the Japanese roads on the show ‘Hot Version’.

The Celica GT-Four belongs to Emon Shah, and Syed Zafar Ahmed owns the Starlet GT Turbo. Both owners use these cars as their daily drivers. 

The Celica has a number of titles attached to its name in the world of motorsports, especially the World Rally Championship. Producing about 252 bhp and 302 Nm of torque from the turbocharged 2,000cc 3S-GTE engine, paired to a 5-speed manual transmission, and transferred to all four wheels, this was the most powerful Celica ever built and the last Celica to bear the GT-Four moniker. 

Zafar's Starlet GT Turbo was offered by Toyota during the '90s, which replaced the limited edition Toyota Starlet Turbo S. This lightweight hot hatch is powered by a tiny 1,331cc turbocharged 4E-FTE engine, which produces 133 bhp and 157 Nm of torque, paired to a 5-speed manual transmission, transferred to the front wheels. 

The trip began from Uttara to a private farmhouse in Nabiganj, Sylhet, 200 km away. 

Despite the common issues regarding ground clearance and stiff suspensions, one advantage such sportscars have over economy cars on the highway is the significantly better acceleration. You instantly have an advantage over the drivers when overtaking other cars, especially on the highway.

"The best part of the trip for me was driving my Celica on the Dhaka Sylhet-Highway," said Emon. "The torque makes a huge difference on the highway. It was very easy to overtake any vehicle." 

The second day of the trip was a drive to Sreemangal's Lawachara National Park. Arguably one of the most beautiful roads of Bangladesh to drive on, this part of Sylhet consists of tall Lawachara trees, small hills featuring tea cultivation and a road between the mountains with changing altitudes. 

These were exactly the type of road Zafar always dreamt of driving on "after seeing the Japanese mountain roads in the popular Japanese car show 'Hot Version'." 

The Starlet GT has a great power to weight ratio. Such low curb weight translated to better braking on the highway and superb stability when cornering.

"Due to my upgraded braking system and tires I could brake just in time to dodge potholes and speed bumps, which was a must due to my car's height," said Zafar. 

The drive through the mountain roads was so enjoyable that they decided to go for a second run through Lawachara the day after as well. 

The Celica proved to be surprisingly practical, carrying three passengers on board with luggages, but didn’t scrape even once throughout the trip.

Sports cars also tend to be quite compact, and do not normally offer a lot of room for storage. This is one of the main reasons why you don't see too many sports cars being taken on such road trips. 

The Celica, however, has a lot of room for luggage, enough to fit three travel bags. The Starlet did not have as much space and struggled to fit two travel bags. 

A genuine concern on road trips was the road conditions outside of Dhaka, the excessively high speed bumps and potholes could very well damage the cars. Unlike the Starlet, the Celica is a pure rally bred car, designed to be driven on extreme roads. But neither car surprisingly got scraped underneath once during the 1,100km trip. 

The cars were later taken to visit Moulvibazar, Sylhet Town, as well as a few tourist attractions like Shada Pathor. However, the crew always came back to Nabiganj for the night, which explains why the trip to Sylhet crossed the staggering 1,100 km mark. 

Both cars resting at the parking lot of Shada Pathor, only a few kilometres away from the Indian border, with the hills in the back falling on the other side — India.

One of the biggest concerns with turbocharged sports cars like the ones featured here, or even any non-Japanese naturally aspirated car, however, is with the substandard fuel quality of the pumps outside of Dhaka. Turbocharged engines instantly start knocking if they have to burn poor quality fuel.

"We filled up from Dhaka and did our research on fuel stations prior to our journey," said Zafar. "We refuelled only twice on the trip, and the cars proved to be quite fuel efficient throughout the trip. We were averaging 400 km on a full tank on both our cars. Luck was on our side, our cars had zero knocks after refuelling."

So, to answer the question, should you take a sports car on a long road trip? If you have the passion and courage for it, then yes. But certain things need to be kept in mind. 

Firstly, you must know your car from the inside out. Both Emon and Zafar drive their cars regularly and have a very good idea about the potential of their vehicles. Besides, both cars have been properly maintained, and checked before going on the trip. And lastly, given the inconsistent fuel quality across fuel stations, it is ideal to do some research beforehand.