RideLust

If 4 Wheels News and Autocar are both correct, there’s good news regarding the production of VW’s Miata-fighting BlueSport roadster. Development is progressing on schedule, and the production version is set to be introduced at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September of 2013. As it stands right now, there will be at least two motor options for the mid-engined roadster, including a turbodiesel and a 1.6 liter gasoline motor good for an estimated 220 horsepower. Even the turbodiesel is said to be good for zero to sixty times well below seven seconds, while delivering exceptional fuel economy. The gasoline motored version should be even faster, at the expense of fuel mileage, and both versions are expected to be offered with either a six speed manual gearbox or a seven speed, dual clutch DSG gearbox.

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If you’re like me then one of your favorite pass times is chewing up miles on the road to nowhere. What I mean by that is, you love going out for a drive just because you enjoy the actual emotions that driving brings. For some it’s the action of rowing through the gears, for others it’s the feeling of the wind in their hair, and yet for others it’s simply a great departure from the rigors of everyday life. Owning a classic car is luxury that most people think is way out of their reach. Auctions such as Barrett-Jackson and Mecum have skewed the public’s perception that all classic cars are out of reach and that everything that was built before 1980 is worth in the triple digits. Well ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that that is simply not so, in fact there are loads of hot little sports cars and roadsters that you can pick up in excellent condition right now for the price of a new Ford Fiesta. Sounds crazy right… well it’s not. Below is a list of 10 amazing automobiles that can be had for below 20K. So, with that being said go take a look at the list and clean out your garage, because I have a feeling there may be a new little fun mobile in your future.
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Underneath that cover, the 1 Series M Coupe is completely naked.

BMW is carefully releasing information on the upcoming 1 Series M Coupe, in an effort to build as much publicity as possible. The car was conspicuously absent from the Paris Motor Show, except for the photos provided above. BMW is still not saying where the car will be sold, so we may be out of luck on this side of the pond. Hell, they haven’t even given us clear pictures of the 1 Series M, and we still have no idea when the car will go on sale in the EU.

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The psychotically awesome Peugeot Ex1 electric concept recently hit the track, and it clocked some impressive numbers. It hit 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.55 seconds, the quarter mile in 14.4, and raced up to a top speed of 161 mph. So, okay, the 14.4 quarter mile time isn’t all that impressive. But everything else about the car is. The thing looks like an angry silverfish, has all-wheel drive, and requires a helmet to dive. Its seats are also attached to its doors, which swing out like insectoid wing covers. Oh, and its two rear wheels ride on a motorcycle-like swing arm. Hit the jump for more photos.

Source: Wired

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I’ll admit to having high hopes for the upcoming BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Early on, I suggested that BMW build the car as a de-contented driver’s car without electronic gizmos like rain sensing wipers and self adjusting headlights. Cloth seats, the nice kind that you can still get in the EU, would be just fine and I’d be happy with a manual climate control. My biggest fear was that BMW would up-content the car and price the 1 Series M beyond the reach of most enthusiasts. Sell it at or below the price of the new Mustang GT (call it $35k, nicely equipped) and I’m interested. Push the price beyond that point and the 1 Series M becomes just another toy for wealthy BMW aficionados.

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The 2011 Ford Mustang GT; return of the 5.0.

Thumbs Up: Finally, a Mustang GT that’s good enough for track days, even bone stock

Thumbs Down: Interior of base GT is bland, cloth seats aren’t comfortable

Buy This Car If: You want a muscle car and sports car rolled into one

I’ll admit it: I’ve always liked Mustang GTs, since back in the day when the Fox bodied GTs were available as rentals from Hertz. They were fun cars to flog on a road trip, particularly if that road trip involved the sparsely populated roads of the American Southwest. They were amusing, but only for short periods of time. I was a sports car guy, after all, and flogging a Mustang around a road course just seemed wrong, like using a garden shears to cut hair. Even if it gets the job done, it isn’t going to be pretty.

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It was Toyota’s first sports car and is possibly the pinnacle of Japanese automotive design. The diminutive Sports 800 was released in 1965 and was the product of Nissan designer Shozo Sato and Toyota engineer Tatsuo Hasegawa. It was powered by a two-cylinder air-cooled boxer engine that was good for 45 horsepower and 45 miles per gallon. The car weighed just 1,200 pounds. It had the very first targa top, a lift-out aluminum roof panel for wind-in-your #1 Headband motoring. It is thoroughly Japanese, an automobile that could very well have driven out of the ear of Hayao Miyazaki. The low belt line, bubble roofline and bug-eye headlamps make the Sports 800 sleek and playful at the same time. But there’s seriousness in that sinister sweeping nose, a shark-like menace. And there’s good reason for it. Hasegawa was an aeronautical engineer during WWII and that curve mimics the nose of the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein, one of Japan’s fastest and most powerful fighters.

Only about 3,100 Sports 800s were built and fewer than 300 survive today.

Don’t get me wrong here: the Nissan GT-R is an amazing car and shows exactly what an automaker can achieve by embracing technology. Sales of the GT-R have cooled in the United States now that the initial introductory hype has died off (and since our economy still has one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel), so the time is right for a mid-cycle “refresh”. Nissan knows that major changes would be counter-productive, so the 2012 GT-R is just getting a revised front bumper, a new rear diffuser, lighter wheels and yet to be named interior, chassis and engine upgrades. Two new colors (blue and black) will be offered.

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Shin Yoshikawa is a man of many talents. He’s a photojournalist, he’s a car collector and he plays the piano rather well, too. Perhaps his most remarkable skill, however, is his ability to see beneath the skin of a car and reproduce, by hand, pen and ink artwork of classic and modern cars. Yoshikawa has quite a body of work, and has drawn both street and racing cars from over 20 different manufacturers. His art appears at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles and the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, and Yoshikawa regularly attends art exhibitions from coast to coast.

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A rending of the Subaru version. Photo: Autocar

If Autocar is correct, the Subaru version of the upcoming Toyota FT-86 will feature a turbocharged flat four motor good for 260 horsepower, a full 30% more than the normally aspirated Toyota will get. LIke the Toyota, the yet-to-be-named Subaru sport coupe will feature a front engine, rear drive layout, and AWD will not be an available option. Subaru, who already offers a range of high performance AWD models, objected to the added weight and expense of AWD in their version of the FT-86.

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