What does it mean when a car is fun to drive?

I’ve been around the block and have driven a lot of sports cars. What makes a car fun to drive is subjective, but here are some of the key attributes that contribute: Steering feel. Some cars let you feel what the front tires are doing better than others. This is a tactile sensation that makes you feel more connected to the road, and if you’re being spirited it can tell you a lot about the amount of traction and chassis balance you have at any given moment. The more steering feel, the better. Manual transmission. Maybe obvious, but more inputs are more engagement and more opportunity to command what the car is doing. Short gear ratios. The shorter the gearing, the more you’re rowing (assuming manual). If 3rd gear is necessary at legal speed, you’re giving a lot of inputs. Direct and consistent inputs. Basically a predictable and precise response from the car at each input. Steering goes where you expect with smaller input, acceleration is linear and predictable, braking is linear and predictable. Lightness. The lighter a car is, the better. There are many reasons for this. One of the most important for fun is chassis balance and responsiveness. Lighter cars can use softer suspensions, and that suspension can have more travel. This lets you feel the car progressively loading up weight over the tires which makes the limit of traction more predictable. When you can anticipate the limit predictably, you can push harder and also play with going over the limit and bringing back in. RWD. When a car is pushing from the rear, it’s less prone to understeer in a bend, and you can play with oversteer. If you want to drive a car that has max levels of all of this, drive a Lotus Elise or Exige. If you can’t get behind the wheel of one of those, a Miata exhibits a lot of these qualities.