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A sports car with a naturally aspirated V12 engine and a manual transmission? It’s every enthusiast’s dream.

Buying one, however, requires deep pockets. The S1, Gordon Murray’s latest supercar creation, reportedly costs at least seven figures. All 64 units were sold even before collectors, industry insiders and admirers of Murray got a sneak peek at the S1 in August.

Murray himself has described the 681-horsepower car as “more elegant, more refined” but also “analog and deeply driver focused,” a seeming affirmation that manual gearboxes, gauges and ear-piercing revs (12,100 rpm!) can still exist in a world of increasing technology and electrification.

“A lot of customers are not too excited about hybrid supercars,” Matt Farah, host of “The Smoking Tire” podcast, told ABC News. “Regulations are making the new cars worse. People want an analog experience.”

The safety tech found in daily commuters — lane keep assist, emergency automatic braking, blind spot monitoring — has hindered the driving experience in sports cars, he argued. And hybrid powertrains — which boost output, speed and miles per gallon — can actually become a liability for owners, he said.

“Cars have just gotten insanely fast but that does not make them more fun, it makes them more braggable,” he said. “There’s no difference between 800 hp and 1,000 hp … you can only use so much on the street. I drive all this stuff and it’s boring.”

Enthusiasts are now splurging on older sports cars that have been “reimagined” by high-end restomod companies like Singer and Gunther Werks.

“The elite of the elite get real knobs and gauges and real stick shifts,” said Farah. “These small outfits are charging a lot to make old cars go faster.”

He added, “Everyone else gets stuck with a computer. The new stuff has become very digital but doesn’t have a lot of feel.”

Tony Roma, executive chief engineer for the global Corvette and performance cars team, called the latest supercars built by Murray, Czinger and others as “trendsetters,” adding that these boutique carmakers purposely keep production small.

“A lot of what they do is for show,” Roma told ABC News. “Corvette will never compete with these [supercars].”

He added, “This is a fashion industry. We sell a fashion product and people are buying the greatest and latest shiny thing.”

Roma declined to say whether a manual transmission would return in the Corvette, though he acknowledged the appeal of rowing one’s own gears and the desire for a more raw driving experience.

“What makes a great sports car? That is the question,” he said. “People want a visceral connection to their car. Customers want precise steering, a linear range of handling, they want the car to feel natural, to be a modern interpretation of the sports car in their youth. And they want it to sound great. The weight of the throttle and brake pedal — do they feel like the same person tuned them? And the car has to be confidence inspiring.”

Roma said Corvette’s customers also request a comfortable ride, which he said was achievable in all six Vettes currently sold, from the Stingray to the new Grand Sport to even the beastly ZR1X.

“Our niche, our draw, is that we’re affordable performance,” he said. “Most of our customers are not buying race cars.”

The backlash to big screens has helped propel sales of older Corvettes, like the C5 generation with manuals, Roma noted. As for the constant chatter about the unwelcome safety tech, Roma said the objections may be exaggerated.

“The people complaining about the tech … I am not sure they hate it,” he said.

Dan Pund, editor-in-chief of Road & Track, has driven many of the top supercars with hybrid powertrains. He said he’s astonished at what these machines can deliver when pushed hard on the track.

“The Ferrari 296 and F80 are amazing … they’re maintaining the sound of the engine, the gear shift, the dual clutch,” he told ABC News.

The 296 pairs a twin-turbocharged V6 with a plug-in hybrid system, which makes 819 hp. The F80’s twin-turbo V6 gets an assist from three electric motors for a terrifying 1,184 hp.

He also had high praise for McLaren’s new W1 supercar and its 916-hp twin-turbo V8, noting in his review that the electric motor is “fed by a tiny 1.4-kWh battery — might as well be a high-capacity pump flooding the driver’s brain with adrenaline, norepinephrine, and endorphins through a fire hose.”

Pund recognized that hybrid powertrains can add weight, a nightmare for purists. Automakers, however, have realized that “this is the reality of the situation … hybrid is the best option at this point. To be competitive in the industry, there has to be noise and vibration because that’s what sports car buyers want.”

And enthusiasts are clearly choosing hybrids over fully electric sports cars, he said.

“The Rimac [Nevera] was a darling of the industry but it did not sell. It feels like any electric car. You dip into the throttle and holy s— it’s fast. But you don’t hear anything and you don’t shift gears,” he said.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said there will be “no end to how much people spend” on restomods as vintage sports cars with three pedals become sought after by consumers.

“As we layer in more tech and more electrification, sports cars become faster and easier to drive. But this slowly hacks away at the soul of the car,” he told ABC News. “These cars are borderline autonomous. There are so many warnings. The vehicle has more control than you do at this point.”

Fuel economy has never been a selling point for sports cars, he noted, which make up less than 1% of industry sales. Drury said he, too, has become nostalgic for older models like the Honda Prelude, which was his first car.

“Honda brought back the Prelude nameplate as a throwback,” he said. “Prelude looks the part but doesn’t back it up with speed and innovation. It would not surprise me at all if Honda pulls the plug on the Prelude after two to three years.”

A Honda spokesperson told ABC News that the company is meeting sales targets of the sports car.

“We announced during the launch of the Prelude that we expected annual sales volume of approximately 4,000 units,” the spokesperson said. “We also noted that Prelude wasn’t meant to be a volume model, but instead a halo for our hybrid lineup, as it attracts faithful Honda fans while also bringing new buyers to the Honda brand. In fact, more than a third of Prelude buyers have come from another brand.”

Farah said he was impressed with the Nissan Z Nismo, a manual sports car that costs a fraction of the price of supercars he regularly test drives.

“It’s under $70,000 and very engaging. That car has a lot of poise, great brakes and is very good dynamically — there’s not a lot of computer intervention,” he said.

But the Nissan is an exception, he admitted.

“It’s very telling that people would rather spend $3 million to $4 million on a [restomod] supercar than $700,000 on a new one,” he said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A sports car with a naturally aspirated V12 engine and a manual transmission? It’s every enthusiast’s dream.

Buying one, however, requires deep pockets. The S1, Gordon Murray’s latest supercar creation, reportedly costs at least seven figures. All 64 units were sold even before collectors, industry insiders and admirers of Murray got a sneak peek at the S1 in August.

Murray himself has described the 681-horsepower car as “more elegant, more refined” but also “analog and deeply driver focused,” a seeming affirmation that manual gearboxes, gauges and ear-piercing revs (12,100 rpm!) can still exist in a world of increasing technology and electrification.

“A lot of customers are not too excited about hybrid supercars,” Matt Farah, host of “The Smoking Tire” podcast, told ABC News. “Regulations are making the new cars worse. People want an analog experience.”

The safety tech found in daily commuters — lane keep assist, emergency automatic braking, blind spot monitoring — has hindered the driving experience in sports cars, he argued. And hybrid powertrains — which boost output, speed and miles per gallon — can actually become a liability for owners, he said.

“Cars have just gotten insanely fast but that does not make them more fun, it makes them more braggable,” he said. “There’s no difference between 800 hp and 1,000 hp … you can only use so much on the street. I drive all this stuff and it’s boring.”

Enthusiasts are now splurging on older sports cars that have been “reimagined” by high-end restomod companies like Singer and Gunther Werks.

“The elite of the elite get real knobs and gauges and real stick shifts,” said Farah. “These small outfits are charging a lot to make old cars go faster.”

He added, “Everyone else gets stuck with a computer. The new stuff has become very digital but doesn’t have a lot of feel.”

Tony Roma, executive chief engineer for the global Corvette and performance cars team, called the latest supercars built by Murray, Czinger and others as “trendsetters,” adding that these boutique carmakers purposely keep production small.

“A lot of what they do is for show,” Roma told ABC News. “Corvette will never compete with these [supercars].”

He added, “This is a fashion industry. We sell a fashion product and people are buying the greatest and latest shiny thing.”

Roma declined to say whether a manual transmission would return in the Corvette, though he acknowledged the appeal of rowing one’s own gears and the desire for a more raw driving experience.

“What makes a great sports car? That is the question,” he said. “People want a visceral connection to their car. Customers want precise steering, a linear range of handling, they want the car to feel natural, to be a modern interpretation of the sports car in their youth. And they want it to sound great. The weight of the throttle and brake pedal — do they feel like the same person tuned them? And the car has to be confidence inspiring.”

Roma said Corvette’s customers also request a comfortable ride, which he said was achievable in all six Vettes currently sold, from the Stingray to the new Grand Sport to even the beastly ZR1X.

“Our niche, our draw, is that we’re affordable performance,” he said. “Most of our customers are not buying race cars.”

The backlash to big screens has helped propel sales of older Corvettes, like the C5 generation with manuals, Roma noted. As for the constant chatter about the unwelcome safety tech, Roma said the objections may be exaggerated.

“The people complaining about the tech … I am not sure they hate it,” he said.

Dan Pund, editor-in-chief of Road & Track, has driven many of the top supercars with hybrid powertrains. He said he’s astonished at what these machines can deliver when pushed hard on the track.

“The Ferrari 296 and F80 are amazing … they’re maintaining the sound of the engine, the gear shift, the dual clutch,” he told ABC News.

The 296 pairs a twin-turbocharged V6 with a plug-in hybrid system, which makes 819 hp. The F80’s twin-turbo V6 gets an assist from three electric motors for a terrifying 1,184 hp.

He also had high praise for McLaren’s new W1 supercar and its 916-hp twin-turbo V8, noting in his review that the electric motor is “fed by a tiny 1.4-kWh battery — might as well be a high-capacity pump flooding the driver’s brain with adrenaline, norepinephrine, and endorphins through a fire hose.”

Pund recognized that hybrid powertrains can add weight, a nightmare for purists. Automakers, however, have realized that “this is the reality of the situation … hybrid is the best option at this point. To be competitive in the industry, there has to be noise and vibration because that’s what sports car buyers want.”

And enthusiasts are clearly choosing hybrids over fully electric sports cars, he said.

“The Rimac [Nevera] was a darling of the industry but it did not sell. It feels like any electric car. You dip into the throttle and holy s— it’s fast. But you don’t hear anything and you don’t shift gears,” he said.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said there will be “no end to how much people spend” on restomods as vintage sports cars with three pedals become sought after by consumers.

“As we layer in more tech and more electrification, sports cars become faster and easier to drive. But this slowly hacks away at the soul of the car,” he told ABC News. “These cars are borderline autonomous. There are so many warnings. The vehicle has more control than you do at this point.”

Fuel economy has never been a selling point for sports cars, he noted, which make up less than 1% of industry sales. Drury said he, too, has become nostalgic for older models like the Honda Prelude, which was his first car.

“Honda brought back the Prelude nameplate as a throwback,” he said. “Prelude looks the part but doesn’t back it up with speed and innovation. It would not surprise me at all if Honda pulls the plug on the Prelude after two to three years.”

A Honda spokesperson told ABC News that the company is meeting sales targets of the sports car.

“We announced during the launch of the Prelude that we expected annual sales volume of approximately 4,000 units,” the spokesperson said. “We also noted that Prelude wasn’t meant to be a volume model, but instead a halo for our hybrid lineup, as it attracts faithful Honda fans while also bringing new buyers to the Honda brand. In fact, more than a third of Prelude buyers have come from another brand.”

Farah said he was impressed with the Nissan Z Nismo, a manual sports car that costs a fraction of the price of supercars he regularly test drives.

“It’s under $70,000 and very engaging. That car has a lot of poise, great brakes and is very good dynamically — there’s not a lot of computer intervention,” he said.

But the Nissan is an exception, he admitted.

“It’s very telling that people would rather spend $3 million to $4 million on a [restomod] supercar than $700,000 on a new one,” he said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Credit card debt held by Americans stands near an all-time high, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, just as a rise in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate threatens to drive up borrowing costs.

The spending crunch may push some debt holders to tap their 401(k) accounts as a means of paying down what they owe and resetting their finances. But experts who spoke to ABC News cautioned against the move, saying any immediate benefits are typically outweighed by taxes, penalties and years of lost investment returns.

Though some budget-busting emergencies could warrant reaching into a 401(k), they said, the advantages and drawbacks differ, depending on circumstances and execution.

“It’s definitely a tempting option, particularly when credit card debt feels overwhelming and you’ve got this balance of cash sitting in another spot. But the costs of taking out retirement funds to pay down debt are very high,” Timi Joy Jorgensen, a professor and director of financial education and wellbeing at the American College of Financial Services, told ABC News.

Total U.S. credit card debt registered at $1.26 trillion in the second quarter of this year, marking an increase of $21 billion from the previous three-month period, a recent New York Federal Reserve study found, also noting it’s the second-highest debt load on record.

Credit card interest rates, meanwhile, have jumped significantly in recent years. In the second quarter of 2026, the average interest rate on all credit card accounts with a commercial bank stood at 20.94%, up from 15.13% at the same time in 2022, Federal Reserve data shows.

Many borrowers who find themselves squeezed between surging prices and heightened borrowing costs may turn to their 401(k) accounts to escape a cycle of high monthly payments and mounting interest. The prospect of short-term relief, however, could carry life-altering financial damage over the long term, some experts said.

People who withdraw directly from their 401(k) accounts usually incur a 10% early distribution tax if they are under age 59½, in addition to a standard income tax paid on the funds. Depending on an individual’s tax bracket, those payments can result in a combined 401(k) deduction of about 30% or more, Jorgensen said.

“If you want to pay down $20,000 in credit card debt, you need to take out almost $30,000 from your 401(k). It’s pretty expensive as a repayment plan,” Jorgensen added.

To be sure, borrowers can sometimes earn an exemption from the early distribution tax. Some 401(k) plans offer qualified hardship withdrawal, allowing individuals to access their funds under particularly dire financial circumstances. The Internal Revenue Service also allows exemptions from the early distribution tax under certain conditions, including disability, home purchase and terminal illness.

Yet even after taxes, the largest downside of early withdrawal from a 401(k) may still remain. The immediate amount paid to access the funds could pale in comparison to the lost income suffered as a result of years of lost investment returns on the withdrawn funds.

A $20,000 withdrawal, for example, may eliminate the opportunity to earn three or four times as much over the ensuing years. If invested at an annual rate of 7% return, $20,000 would grow to more than $75,000 in two decades, according to Jorgensen.

“You’re taking an asset that’s growing in order to pay down an asset that’s already in the past,” Jorgensen said.

Instead of a direct withdrawal of the funds, 401(k) account holders could take a different approach: a loan.

Under this strategy, a person borrows a set amount from his or her 401(k) account and slowly replenishes the account over time through payments deducted automatically from pay stubs. This option allows a person to avoid the taxes associated with a direct 401(k) withdrawal while accessing funds at an interest rate lower than he or she may otherwise find in a consumer loan, some experts said.

“There are times when the loan makes sense if you’re able to pay it back and your cash flow is keeping up,” Kiersten Saunders, a personal finance author and co-author of “Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away.”

The main downside of a 401(k) loan is the risk a borrower may lose his or her job before the loan is repaid. Under those circumstances, the full loan amount is typically due by the next tax deadline.

If a person is in truly dire financial straits, he or she may benefit from turning to bankruptcy rather than a 401(k) withdrawal, some experts said. Since federal law shields 401(k) accounts from bankruptcy, the retirement funds may sustain hope for one’s financial future, even if present-day difficulties appear insurmountable, they added.

“The first thing I would do is put that retirement funding and savings out of my mind, because the courts will treat it that way,” Jorgensen said. “If the court isn’t going to touch it, then I wouldn’t touch it.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Credit card debt held by Americans stands near an all-time high, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, just as a rise in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate threatens to drive up borrowing costs.

The spending crunch may push some debt holders to tap their 401(k) accounts as a means of paying down what they owe and resetting their finances. But experts who spoke to ABC News cautioned against the move, saying any immediate benefits are typically outweighed by taxes, penalties and years of lost investment returns.

Though some budget-busting emergencies could warrant reaching into a 401(k), they said, the advantages and drawbacks differ, depending on circumstances and execution.

“It’s definitely a tempting option, particularly when credit card debt feels overwhelming and you’ve got this balance of cash sitting in another spot. But the costs of taking out retirement funds to pay down debt are very high,” Timi Joy Jorgensen, a professor and director of financial education and wellbeing at the American College of Financial Services, told ABC News.

Total U.S. credit card debt registered at $1.26 trillion in the second quarter of this year, marking an increase of $21 billion from the previous three-month period, a recent New York Federal Reserve study found, also noting it’s the second-highest debt load on record.

Credit card interest rates, meanwhile, have jumped significantly in recent years. In the second quarter of 2026, the average interest rate on all credit card accounts with a commercial bank stood at 20.94%, up from 15.13% at the same time in 2022, Federal Reserve data shows.

Many borrowers who find themselves squeezed between surging prices and heightened borrowing costs may turn to their 401(k) accounts to escape a cycle of high monthly payments and mounting interest. The prospect of short-term relief, however, could carry life-altering financial damage over the long term, some experts said.

People who withdraw directly from their 401(k) accounts usually incur a 10% early distribution tax if they are under age 59½, in addition to a standard income tax paid on the funds. Depending on an individual’s tax bracket, those payments can result in a combined 401(k) deduction of about 30% or more, Jorgensen said.

“If you want to pay down $20,000 in credit card debt, you need to take out almost $30,000 from your 401(k). It’s pretty expensive as a repayment plan,” Jorgensen added.

To be sure, borrowers can sometimes earn an exemption from the early distribution tax. Some 401(k) plans offer qualified hardship withdrawal, allowing individuals to access their funds under particularly dire financial circumstances. The Internal Revenue Service also allows exemptions from the early distribution tax under certain conditions, including disability, home purchase and terminal illness.

Yet even after taxes, the largest downside of early withdrawal from a 401(k) may still remain. The immediate amount paid to access the funds could pale in comparison to the lost income suffered as a result of years of lost investment returns on the withdrawn funds.

A $20,000 withdrawal, for example, may eliminate the opportunity to earn three or four times as much over the ensuing years. If invested at an annual rate of 7% return, $20,000 would grow to more than $75,000 in two decades, according to Jorgensen.

“You’re taking an asset that’s growing in order to pay down an asset that’s already in the past,” Jorgensen said.

Instead of a direct withdrawal of the funds, 401(k) account holders could take a different approach: a loan.

Under this strategy, a person borrows a set amount from his or her 401(k) account and slowly replenishes the account over time through payments deducted automatically from pay stubs. This option allows a person to avoid the taxes associated with a direct 401(k) withdrawal while accessing funds at an interest rate lower than he or she may otherwise find in a consumer loan, some experts said.

“There are times when the loan makes sense if you’re able to pay it back and your cash flow is keeping up,” Kiersten Saunders, a personal finance author and co-author of “Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away.”

The main downside of a 401(k) loan is the risk a borrower may lose his or her job before the loan is repaid. Under those circumstances, the full loan amount is typically due by the next tax deadline.

If a person is in truly dire financial straits, he or she may benefit from turning to bankruptcy rather than a 401(k) withdrawal, some experts said. Since federal law shields 401(k) accounts from bankruptcy, the retirement funds may sustain hope for one’s financial future, even if present-day difficulties appear insurmountable, they added.

“The first thing I would do is put that retirement funding and savings out of my mind, because the courts will treat it that way,” Jorgensen said. “If the court isn’t going to touch it, then I wouldn’t touch it.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.