Affordable Classics
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Pocket Exotic
When the Alfa Romeo 4C arrived in the U.S. for 2015, the brand skipped the soft reentry. Instead of a sensible sport sedan (which would come later), it brought a mid-engine coupe with manual steering and minimal sound deadening. It was a bold, slightly defiant move — and one that immediately set the 4C apart.…
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Le Sport Sedan
After years of peddling a variety of stodgy semi-luxury sedans on our shores, would a sleek, rev-happy 4-door with impeccable chassis tuning be enough to reverse nearly a decade of slipping sales? Peugeot sure hoped so — which is why it sent its 405 Mi16 to America in late 1988. Modern makeover The 405 was…
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Party Car
When we think of performance Fords here in the U.S., our focus is mostly on thundering V8-powered Mustangs, mid-engine GTs and the brawny F-150 Raptor. These are big cars with even bigger presence. But Ford of Europe is big on performance too, just in a smaller way. Across the pond, “Fast Fords” are most often…
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Redeeming Porsche’s Black Sheep
The 996-series Porsche 911 Carrera is the most-affordable 911 — and it always will be. Long billed as the Next Big Thing in the Porsche market for a good decade now, values of the 1999–2004 Carrera swelled, dipped and stagnated while its pre- and post-contemporaries have not. That’s a shame because, much like with sex…
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Back to Basics
The 2002 of the 1960s–70s introduced a legion of enthusiasts to fun-to-drive BMWs, but as time went on, the Bavarian brand’s models grew in size. BMW struggled to strike the right balance with “compact” versions of both the E36 and E46 3 Series but finally struck the right balance with the 1 Series coupe and…
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Gen Z Sports Car
When the Nissan 350Z arrived in 2003, it was more than just a new sports car — it marked the revival of the Z nameplate after a seven-year absence in the U.S. More importantly, it marked a philosophical change from the complex and expensive 300ZX. That car had priced itself out of the market by…
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One Final Triumph
Given collector-car market trends of recent years, many vintage British cars are slowly becoming more affordable. However, even in such a target-rich environment there are still sleepers — bargains among bargains. The Triumph TR7 and its last variant, the TR8, may be prime examples. That does not mean they are sleeper investments. Triumphs are toys,…
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The Best or Nothing
Since 1954, the Mercedes-Benz SL has built its legacy largely through popular culture. Think of Clark Gable and his 1955 300SL Gullwing or Hugh Hefner’s 1959 300SL Roadster. John Lennon owned a 1965 W113 “Pagoda” 230SL, and the R107 was given a starring role in countless 1970s–80s movies and television shows, including “Beverly Hills Cop”…
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Finding Middle Ground
It’s possible that the only thing worth complaining about in Acura’s third-generation Integra is a steering wheel so bloated with a ’90s-era airbag that it dominates an otherwise inoffensive and durable interior. Truly, that’s it. Produced for eight glorious model years, the Integra’s combination of a screaming VTEC powerplant, low cost, capable handling and livability…
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The Everyman Italian Exotic
It doesn’t seem like all that long ago when 20 grand was enough to own an honest-to-goodness exotic Italian sports car. Driver-quality Ferrari 308 GT4s, Lamborghini Urracos and Maserati Meraks were all within reach for a middle-class wage earner with some diligent saving and a bit of patience. Today, however, exotics from manufacturers ending in…