When the Volvo C30 arrived in America for the 2008 model year, it had been 36 years since production of the carmaker’s P1800 coupe ended. The new generation of sport coupe reflected the reality of its era, with an important nod to the past. The result was a 2-door hot […]
Affordable Classics
Escape Hatch
When the Volvo C30 arrived in America for the 2008 model year, it had been 36 years since production of the carmaker’s P1800 coupe ended. The new generation of sport coupe reflected the reality of its era, with an important nod to the past. The result was a 2-door hot […]
Middle Manager
If you want to out-Miata the Miata, there’s really only one option. You’ve got to pull out all the stops for mass reduction and centralization. You’ve got to go lighter and more focused. You’ve got to make a mid-engine sports car. So, some 23 years ago, that’s what Toyota did. […]
VTEC Just Kicked In
Think back to 1999. Four-cylinder sport compacts had overrun SEMA. Car magazines serving this market were 400 pages thick, with new ones being launched left and right. Every other Japanese econobox on the road was lowered and bedazzled with larger wheels and an aftermarket exhaust. No carmaker better understood this […]
Everything You Need, Nothing You Don’t
If you’ve ever discussed cars with a Lotus owner, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “What you have to understand is…” That’s just the nature of a Lotus. There are always going to be the parts that fail, the welds that crack, and sometimes the door handles that come off in […]
Driving Outside the Box
Though it may be hard to believe, Porsche’s first-generation 986-series Boxster is now 25 years old. While the Boxster was considered by many to be the Porsche you bought if you couldn’t afford a 911, in truth it was among the sharpest, purest sports cars the brand has ever built. […]
One Impressive Impreza
Mention Subaru to most people and they’ll think of an Outback station wagon-cum-crossover. Tighten it up to Subaru sports cars and they will usually think of the WRX and WRX STI hot rods, or the strangely sci-fi SVX of the 1990s. But there was a brief period at the turn […]
Peak Fahrvergnügen
One constant at Volkswagen has been the desire to move upmarket. The manufacturer whose name literally means “The People’s Car” has always set its sights on grander horizons. The Corrado is just one in a string of cars with driving performance that was overshadowed by its lack of showroom performance. […]
A Rising Sun Also Sets
Mazda’s FD3S third-generation RX-7 is hot in so many ways. First, it’s in demand. You can count on one hand the number of these cars that have sold for less than $30k on Bring a Trailer since 2020 — with the best reaching $80k. So, as affordable classics go, the […]
The Sweet Spot
BMW is well known for building performance cars, but it was the E30-generation 3 Series of the 1980s that really put the German automaker on the map for affordable performance. When the succeeding E36-generation 3 Series was unveiled, BMW fans expected something spectacular. What they got was not the lightweight, […]