10 Cheapest Sports Cars of 2012

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A good summer sports car will blow other cars off the line. A great one will do it without blowing away your bottom line.

That summer sun gives drivers an urge to cruise and a need for speed. Unless you're planning on driving the Grand Prix circuit at Monaco with the rest of the world's high-priced playthings, though, there's no need to drop six figures on a Maserati GranTurismo or the price of a three-bedroom house in the 'burbs on a Ferrari.

The folks at auto pricing site TrueCar see a whole lot of value in low-priced sports cars and came up with a list of the 10 least costly speedsters on the market. They may not be quite as powerful as their high-priced supercar contemporaries, but they won't burn up your savings or your gas budget quite as quickly:

10. 2012 Nissan 370Z 
MSRP: $32,690 
Average paid: $31,959

This Nissan(NSANY)   is the most costly car on the list, but it's also one of the brawniest. The 3.7-liter V6 puts out 332 horsepower and can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds. The folks at TrueCar think it looks like a Porsche from the outside, but add-ons such as aluminum pedals and a Bose audio system make it feel like a luxury vehicle on the inside as well.

9. 2012 Dodge Challenger
MSRP: $25,920
Average paid: $24,310

This is the first of the trio of American road-friendly sports cars that are driving Detroit's muscle car renaissance. The Challenger was rereleased in 2008 after a 25-year hiatus, but already keeps up with rivals such as the Ford(F)   Mustang and Chevy(GM)   Camaro. Its base V6 engine produces an impressive 305 horsepower, but its beastly 6.4-liter hemi V8 cranks out 470 horsepower. Even with all that power, it still has enough room to fit a family of four comfortably with a load of groceries in the trunk. Think about that the next time you snicker at a stick-figure family sticker in a Challenger's rear window.