Convertibles, V8 Ultra-Muscle and Hot Hatches… Oh My!

Audi RS3 rendering

Whoa, baby, we’ve got some cool cars coming to America!

What do you like: convertible muscle cars? You’re covered. A little more horsepower for your Challenger? Check. A small hatch that is affordable and still fun to drive? It can be yours. What about a 340-hp hatchback that’ll scoot to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds? We can only hope.

Chevrolet is readying the popular Camaro with a rag top, according to the boys over at Autoblog. Check out this picture of a group of fresh-off-the-line convertibles sitting at the Holden plant in Australia. Anyone up for buying a 2011 convertible Camaro? Even in the silver/tan color scheme?

Owners of ‘08 or ‘09 Dodge Challengers now have an option of upgrading to the Classic Design Concepts Group 2 Challenger, a series of options that can raise the horsepower to a stellar 560. Also available are 12.5-inch-wide rear tires, Baer brakes, lowering springs, a custom hood, and more. The full upgrade can bring the cost of an SRT Challenger to over $79K, putting it close to Viper territory. Still though, at that price, it’s dang-near worth it.

Looking for something much less expensive but still fairly fun to drive? Suzuki hopes to catch your eye with the 2010 SX4 Sportback. Looking nearly identical to the SX4 Crossover at first glance, the Sportback sits lower to the ground, has 17″ wheels and tires, isn’t offered in AWD, and lacks roof rails. And it has only 410 fewer horsepower than that Group 2 Challenger.

But a six-speed manual tranny, performance shocks, and anti-roll bars should help the SX4 Sportback provide a fun drive while getting 30 miles per gallon. In my mind, the SX4 Crossover and Sportback are further proof that Suzuki is ready to seriously take on the U.S. market.

Finally, we’re nearly beyond words at the thought of the new Audi RS3 (pictured at the top of this story) hitting America. Granted, the odds aren’t great that we’ll see it here, but it’s not out of the question. So for now we can drool over these numbers provided by the good folks at Leftlane:

At the heart of the RS3 will be an Audi TT RS-sourced 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbocharged engine. Tuned to produce 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque, the RS3 should be able to easily scoot from 0-60 in about 4.5 seconds, with the electronic nannies kicking in at about 155 mph.

We’ll keep an eye on next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, where Audi should release more info and prices.

Are there any new car debuts you’re eager to see?

-tgriffith

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Electricity and Incest at the Detroit Show

The first news out of the Detroit Auto Show was to downplay expectations: Major firms weren’t coming; the new cars weren’t exceptional; it was a very tough year. And then things got quite green all of a sudden with the media crowing over electric cars (really hybrids with gas engines doing the battery recharging).

Lotus Evora

The idea of high-end electric cars (and most of them will be quite expensive) seems to have charmed the pants off everyone. And the sports cars generated the most comment.

The notion of driving a sophisticated batt-mobile with real performance has turned on a lot of people. Perhaps they want a quick escape from the bad financial news at the office.

Tesla, of course, has gotten terrific reviews and presold about 1,200 roadsters at $109,000 per. But it’s got money troubles and is reported to be suing competitor Fisker, whose new 4-door Karma was one of the hits of the show (a roadster is coming). The smart money seems to be on Fisker, which is getting some funding from Qatar and making an international push with their cars. Tesla developed its car jointly with Lotus of England, which is in bed with more than one carmaker.

Cadillac Converj

To me, however, the really interesting electrics are still concept cars, some of which, like Cadillac’s Converj, I hope will get built. It is designed around the same power package that the Chevrolet Volt will be using: The first 40 miles are on the batteries, then the gas engine recharges them to permit “several hundred” more driving miles in hybrid mode.

Chevrolet Volt

Like the Volt, it has a plug-in, overnight recharger. Unlike the Volt, it’s a beautiful exercise in design, executed by Simon Cox in England. As they used to tell us in the car biz, styling sells cars. If they can do this one for less than $100K, they’ll have a winner.

Maybe Chrysler will too, but who knows when? Its Dodge Circuit EV, a true electric, promises 150-200 miles between charges, zero emissions, and 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds. Though the name Charger was apparently taken, the Circuit’s origins are in the earlier Dodge EV roadster and the Lotus Europa, to which it owes big styling and engineering debts. Chrysler is being very coy about price and production. I think they may be using the Circuit to “get someone to dance” with them, as Sen. Corker put it in the bailout hearings.

Dodge Circuit EV

To reinforce the incestuous nature of this business, Lotus is working, possibly with Toyota, on its own EV car, as yet unnamed but perhaps to be styled like the Evora on display in Detroit. Likely competition will be the Tesla roadster and . . . the Dodge EV.

I do hope these folks don’t trip themselves up over all their “alliances.”

OK, let’s vote: Which of these cars would you like to have?

—jgoods

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