I have to say I really like the styling of the Saturn Sky, far more than the Solstice. The cutesy rounded nose of the Solstice has been replaced with a much more aggressive looking piece, with a nice big air dam. Kind of looks like a tiny Ferrari from the back. That’s just me.
Personally I’d still take the Miata for its handling, but it should be fun to see if GM can make a dent in the cheap, fun roadster market.
The previous generation C70 was a rather boring car. Total US sales amounted to about 25,000 units, or just over 3,000 per year. Not exactly stellar numbers. Volvo hopes to improve those numbers with the new better looking, better handling car.
Power comes from the T5 engine, the same 5 cylinder turbo available in the S40. As the C70 weighs about 4,000 pounds, the 2.4i will likely not be offered. A 5 speed automatic and 5 speed manual will both be offered.
The Lotus Exige uses the same 190hp Toyota inline 4 as the Elise. Though slightly heavier, what with the gigantic rear wing and the roof, it still weighs in at just a hair over 2,000 pounds, meaing each horse pulls just 10.6 pounds. Thus the little Toyota engine has enough to get you to 60mph in 4.9 seconds, and to a top speed of about 150 mph.
But as with the Elise, the Exige is not about straight line performance. The jarring ride of the Elise seems downright cushy when compared to the Exige. If you can live with that, though, you’ll find the handling is phenomenal. This is the perfect track day car that can be driven home when you’re done.
It’s not that the car is not luxurious, but rather that most people just can’t seem to fathom paying such an exhorbitant sum for a Volkswagen. Plus, the 5,400 pound behemoth just doesn’t quite have the handling of the BMW, which can be had for about the same price as a V8 Phaeton. Seems to me Volkswagen would have been smarter to sell the car under the Bentley name. $67,500 would be cheap for a Bentley.
Yearly sales figures in the US for the Phaeton are numbered in the hundreds. Volkswagen had predicted that by now this number would be more like 10,000. Oops. The car will continue to be sold in other parts of the world, but sales abroad haven’t been impressive either, so I’d expect the car to be phased out entirely in the next few years.
It is truly a stunning car. I have to imagine that the grill and headlights will be toned down a little bit before release, but other than that I think it’s a great looking car. Word on the street is that it will feature a turbo V-6 that will produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 bhp. It’s not yet known whether the car will be rear- or all-wheel drive. Just my guess, but I’m thinking the drifters would be a lot happier if it were rear-drive. Then again, this is a $70,000 car, so maybe the target market would justify all-wheel drive.
This is going on the top of my “when I have a big pile of money” list. 
As with the RSX Type S, the new engine in the 2006 Civic Si is a screamer. 197 hp is achieved by revving the thing to 7800 rpm. iVTEC kicks in at about 6200 rpm, giving a small turbo-like boost all the way up to the redline. While this is certainly fun, if you’re trundling around town in 5th gear at 30 mph, you’ll likely find that punching the throttle does next to nothing.
Overall the 2006 Civic Si is a huge improvement over the previous model, both in style and performance.
The engine is a 240 hp 3.0 liter V6, pretty much the same as found on your ordinary Accord. The electric engine delivers another 16 hp and 100 lb-ft of torque. So you actually end up with better performance than with the standard Accord, particularly on the low end. Honda claims 0-60 time is improved by 0.5 seconds, to 7.5 seconds. Not too bad for a family sedan that gets 37 mpg.
Prices start at just under $30,000, about $3,300 more than the non-hybrid Accord.
The car is reportedly more of a driver’s car than the previous SVT Mustangs. Handling has been improved, even over the 2005 Mustang GT. Even at a fairly hefty 3850 pounds, the car covers the quarter mile in the 12’s.
Price is expected to start at around $40,000. Where else can you get nearly 500 horsepower for $40,000? Hats off to Ford and the SVT folks.
The 300 is a bargain, starting at just over $23,000 for the base model. Of course, the one I’d really like to have is the Chrysler 300C (pictured here). That’s the one with the 340 hp Hemi and the big bling wheels. That will run you closer to $33,000, still a good deal for 340 hp in my opinion.
If you just can’t get enough power, however, there’s always the ridiculous 300 SRT-8 version. The SRT folks got their hands and this thing and went nuts. It’s got a massive 6.1 liter Hemi that pumps out 425 hp. And of course you need insane wheels to go with that kind of power, so they slapped some shiny 20″ chrome on. Wow.
On to the good stuff. The 2.0 liter inline four cranks out 205 bhp and 200 lb-ft of torque. With a curb weight of only 2911lb, the Cobalt SS Supercharged gets itself to 60 mph in under 6 seconds. Not bad at all for the price!
