Speeding tickets are often associated with powerful sports cars, but insurance data shows a more complicated picture. Some performance-oriented models do appear near the top, yet several ordinary compact cars and sedans also rank surprisingly high.
Insurify analyzed more than 97 million insurance rate records from applications across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., comparing the share of drivers reporting at least one speeding ticket. The database-wide average was 8.3%.
The results therefore measure driver records associated with each model, not proof that the vehicle itself caused a violation.
1. Subaru BRZ
The Subaru BRZ sits at the top of Insurify’s ranking, with 23.9% of drivers reporting at least one speeding ticket. That is nearly three times the 8.3% average across all models in the company’s database. The figure is striking because the BRZ is not an exotic sports car with a six-figure price tag.
It has traditionally occupied a much more accessible part of the performance-car market, giving enthusiasts an affordable route into a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe.
The model’s character helps explain why its ownership base may look different from that of an ordinary commuter car. Subaru positioned the BRZ around lightweight handling, responsive steering, and driver involvement rather than practicality alone.
Insurify lists the model with 228 horsepower and a $30,195 base MSRP in the data used for its analysis. Those numbers place it within reach of younger enthusiasts who might specifically choose a car because they enjoy driving.
There is an important distinction here. The 23.9% figure does not mean that nearly one-quarter of BRZ owners regularly speed, nor does it establish that BRZ drivers are inherently irresponsible. It means that this share of drivers in Insurify’s insurance data reported at least one speeding violation.
The insurance consequences can also be significant. Insurify found an average full-coverage rate of $3,180 for BRZ drivers with clean records, compared with $3,540 for those with a speeding ticket. That $360 difference illustrates why a ticket can matter long after the traffic stop itself.
2. Hyundai Genesis Coupe
The discontinued Hyundai Genesis Coupe occupies the second position, with 21.9% of drivers reporting at least one speeding ticket. Its placement is particularly interesting because the model combined sports-car styling and substantial performance with a price that was considerably lower than many established performance competitors.
The final Genesis Coupe model year was 2016, according to Insurify. Its available 3.8-liter V6 produced 348 horsepower, giving the coupe enough performance to appeal directly to enthusiasts. Earlier versions also offered a four-cylinder engine, but the V6 became an important part of the car’s identity.
Price played a role in making the Genesis Coupe unusual for its class. Insurify lists a $26,950 MSRP in its analysis, putting a rear-drive sports coupe within the budget range of buyers who might otherwise have purchased a conventional sedan. That accessibility potentially broadened its enthusiast audience.
The insurance data adds another useful dimension. A Genesis Coupe driver with a clean record paid an average of $2,604 annually for full coverage in Insurify’s dataset. For drivers with a speeding ticket, that average increased to $3,000. The difference was therefore nearly $400 per year.
The model’s high percentage should not be interpreted as evidence that the car itself makes drivers speed. Insurance databases cannot establish that kind of cause-and-effect relationship. What the data does show is a strong association between the Genesis Coupe and drivers who had speeding violations on their records.
Its position also highlights a broader pattern in the study. Affordable performance cars can attract a very different group of drivers than mainstream transportation models.
3. Volkswagen GTI
The Volkswagen GTI proves that a car does not need exotic styling or enormous power to attract enthusiastic drivers. Insurify found that 18.8% of GTI drivers had at least one speeding ticket on record, putting the compact hatchback comfortably above the 8.3% average across all models.
Part of the GTI’s appeal has always been its combination of everyday usefulness and performance. Rather than separating practicality from entertainment, the model puts both characteristics into the same package.
Insurify’s data identifies a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 200 horsepower for the vehicle included in its study. Its listed MSRP was $25,095.
That combination is important because it helps explain why the GTI repeatedly attracts buyers who want something more engaging than an ordinary compact car without moving into the price territory of traditional luxury performance models.
The insurance figures are also revealing. GTI drivers with clean records paid an average of $2,424 annually for full coverage in Insurify’s dataset. Once a speeding ticket appeared on the driving record, the average rose to $3,000. Insurify calculated that as an increase of nearly 24%.
The numbers do not establish that GTI owners speed because of the vehicle’s performance. Instead, they show that the driver population associated with the model has a comparatively high incidence of speeding violations.
That distinction matters when interpreting rankings like this. A vehicle can be attractive to enthusiasts without making its owners unsafe drivers. At the same time, the data provides an interesting snapshot of how different vehicle communities appear in insurance records.
4. Chevrolet Cruze Limited
The Chevrolet Cruze Limited is perhaps one of the biggest surprises on the list. With 17.9% of drivers reporting a speeding ticket, it ranks ahead of several recognizable sports cars despite being designed primarily as practical transportation.
The Cruze Limited was not built around extreme performance. Insurify lists it with 138 horsepower and a $16,120 MSRP in its study. Chevrolet offered the Limited for the 2016 model year as the outgoing version of the Cruze continued alongside the newer generation.
That makes its position particularly interesting. A model with modest output and an economy-oriented mission still appeared in a database where nearly one in five associated drivers had a speeding violation recorded.
Insurance costs show another side of the story. Drivers with clean records paid an average of $2,232 annually for full coverage according to Insurify. For drivers with a speeding ticket, the average climbed to $2,916. That represents a meaningful increase despite the car itself being relatively inexpensive compared with most performance vehicles.
The Cruze Limited therefore challenges the easy assumption that speeding-ticket statistics simply follow horsepower. They clearly do not.
A car’s driver population, age distribution, ownership patterns, and other factors can influence what appears in an insurance database.
The Insurify methodology relies on information disclosed by motorists when obtaining insurance quotes, so the results should be understood as an association between vehicle models and reported driving records rather than a mechanical assessment of the vehicles themselves.
5. Nissan 350Z
The Nissan 350Z returns the list to unmistakable sports-car territory. Its drivers had a 17.6% speeding-ticket rate, more than double the 8.3% average across all models in Insurify’s database.
Introduced in the United States for the 2003 model year, the 350Z became one of Nissan’s defining performance cars of the early 2000s. Its rear-wheel-drive layout, two-seat configuration, and V6 powertrain made its purpose very different from that of the average family sedan.
Insurify notes that the first model year produced 287 horsepower, while later versions reached 306 horsepower. The model was discontinued after five model years, but used examples remain part of the enthusiast market.
Its original price also helps put the statistics into context. Insurify lists a $36,870 MSRP for the vehicle in its analysis. Although considerably more expensive than some cars on this list, it remained attainable compared with high-end sports cars.
Interestingly, the insurance penalty associated with a speeding ticket was not especially dramatic in Insurify’s specific 350Z data. Drivers with a ticket paid an average of $2,424 annually for full coverage. The company’s analysis notes that the car’s age reduces its value and replacement cost, factors that can influence insurance pricing.
The 350Z’s appearance is less surprising than the Cruze Limited’s, but it still should not be treated as proof that the car encourages speeding. The data simply shows that speeding violations were reported at a substantially higher rate among drivers associated with this model.
6. Subaru WRX
The Subaru WRX records a 16.9% share of drivers with at least one speeding ticket, placing another performance-focused Subaru on the list. Its position is notable because the WRX has a long history of attracting enthusiasts who value acceleration, all-wheel drive, and rally-inspired engineering.
Insurify lists the model with 271 horsepower and a $32,735 MSRP in its analysis. That combination gives the WRX substantially more performance than a typical compact sedan while keeping it within a relatively attainable price bracket.
The model’s insurance figures demonstrate how a driving record can change ownership costs. Clean-record WRX drivers already faced higher average insurance costs than the national average in Insurify’s data.
Drivers with a speeding ticket paid approximately $3,360 annually for full coverage, which the company calculated as 31% above its U.S. average for drivers without a ticket.
The safety record provides another useful piece of context. Insurify notes that 2015 through 2022 WRX model years earned either IIHS Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ recognition, while the 2023 and 2024 model years did not receive those awards.
None of those safety results determine whether an individual owner will receive a ticket. They simply demonstrate why speeding-ticket statistics should not be confused with crash-test performance.
The WRX’s position is better understood as an indication of the type of driver population associated with the vehicle. Its performance credentials make it attractive to enthusiasts, and those enthusiasts appear frequently enough in insurance records with speeding violations to place the WRX among the country’s higher-ranking models in this particular analysis.
7. Scion tC
The Scion tC provides another example of a relatively affordable car appearing alongside much more performance-oriented machines. Insurify found that 15.8% of its drivers had at least one speeding ticket, nearly twice the model average of 8.3%.
The tC was positioned as an affordable, sporty compact rather than a dedicated sports car. Insurify lists 179 horsepower and a $19,385 MSRP for the model in its analysis. That price helped distinguish the tC from more expensive enthusiast cars while still giving it a sportier identity than many ordinary compact vehicles.
The model’s insurance numbers were comparatively modest. Drivers with clean records paid an average of $2,532 annually for full coverage in Insurify’s data, while those with a speeding ticket paid about $2,580. The increase was therefore much smaller than the jump seen with several other vehicles in the ranking.
The tC also earned IIHS Top Safety Pick recognition for model years 2011 through 2015, according to Insurify. That information reinforces why a speeding-ticket ranking should not be interpreted as a safety ranking. Vehicle safety engineering and driver behavior are separate questions.
Its appearance instead highlights the importance of driver demographics and vehicle positioning. A compact car marketed with sporty characteristics can attract buyers interested in driving enjoyment, even when its power output is nowhere near that of a traditional sports coupe.
The tC therefore occupies an interesting middle ground in this dataset. It is not as overtly performance-focused as the BRZ or 350Z, yet its reported speeding-ticket rate still places it well above the national model average.
8. Scion FR-S
The Scion FR-S recorded 15.2% of drivers with at least one speeding ticket, giving it the eighth-highest percentage in Insurify’s ranking. The FR-S was closely related to the Subaru BRZ, which sits at the opposite end of this list with a considerably higher 23.9% figure.
That connection makes the two results particularly interesting. Both cars were developed around the same basic rear-wheel-drive sports-car philosophy, yet their reported ticket percentages were not identical.
Insurify lists the FR-S with 200 horsepower and a $25,305 MSRP. That price made it one of the more accessible dedicated sports coupes in the market when new.
Insurance costs also changed noticeably after a speeding violation. Drivers with clean records paid an average of $2,664 annually for full coverage in the study, while drivers with a speeding ticket paid $3,036. Insurify described the ticket-associated rate as 19% higher than its U.S. average.
The FR-S’s position reinforces a recurring pattern in the data. Enthusiast-oriented vehicles appear frequently among models with higher rates of speeding violations.
That does not mean the vehicle determines driver behavior. Many FR-S owners may have spotless records, and the 15.2% figure means that the majority of drivers in the analyzed group did not report a speeding ticket.
What makes the result useful is the comparison with the broader population. An 8.3% model average provides a reference point, and the FR-S figure is substantially higher.
The car’s reputation for handling and driver involvement may help explain why it attracted a performance-minded customer base, but Insurify’s data cannot determine why any individual driver received a ticket.
9. Chevrolet Malibu Limited
The Chevrolet Malibu Limited is another unexpected entry because its 14.5% speeding-ticket rate places it alongside several enthusiast-focused models. Unlike the BRZ, 350Z or FR-S, however, the Malibu Limited was fundamentally a practical midsize sedan.
Chevrolet produced the Malibu Limited for the 2016 model year. Insurify lists 202 horsepower and a $22,565 MSRP in its analysis, giving the sedan considerably more output than the Cruze Limited but keeping it firmly in the mainstream market.
The Malibu Limited’s insurance numbers are particularly interesting. Drivers with a speeding violation paid an average of $2,328 annually for full coverage in Insurify’s data. That was actually 9% below the national average rate cited by the company for its comparison.
This demonstrates why the percentage of drivers with a ticket and the financial consequences of a ticket should not be treated as the same statistic. A model can have a relatively high proportion of drivers reporting violations while still producing comparatively moderate insurance costs.
The 14.5% figure also shows that vehicle performance is not a sufficient explanation for the ranking. The Malibu Limited was never positioned as a sports coupe, yet its associated driver population appeared more frequently with speeding violations than drivers of many faster cars outside the top 10.
There is no evidence in Insurify’s analysis that the Malibu Limited itself encourages speeding. The result simply identifies an unusual pattern in the insurance records examined by the company.
That makes this sedan one of the clearest reminders that driver behavior cannot be predicted solely from a vehicle’s appearance, horsepower or intended purpose.
10. Toyota Yaris iA
The Toyota Yaris iA completes the list with 14.5% of drivers reporting at least one speeding ticket, tying the Chevrolet Malibu Limited. The result is perhaps the most surprising of all because the Yaris iA was an economical small sedan rather than a conventional performance car.
Insurify lists the Yaris iA with just 106 horsepower and a $15,950 MSRP in its analysis. That makes its position difficult to explain through engine output alone. The car’s relatively low price and compact dimensions placed it in a very different market segment from the sports cars dominating much of the ranking.
The model was essentially a sportier-looking version of the Yaris, and that distinction may have influenced its appeal, but the available insurance data cannot establish why its drivers appeared with speeding violations at such a high rate.
The financial impact was comparatively restrained as well. Insurify reported an average annual full-coverage cost of $2,412 for Yaris iA drivers with speeding tickets, about 6% below the national average rate cited in the study.
The 2017 model year also earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick rating, according to Insurify, providing another example of why ticket frequency should not be confused with crashworthiness.
The Yaris iA ultimately makes the ranking more interesting because it prevents a simple horsepower-based explanation. Six of the 10 vehicles in Insurify’s list are sports cars, but four are not. The presence of practical models shows that speeding behavior appears across very different vehicle categories.
Insurify’s data therefore works best as a snapshot of driver populations rather than a judgment on the vehicles themselves. A speeding ticket belongs to a driver’s record, not to the car sitting in the driveway.
