BY ALISA PRIDDLE

Does Nissan need a Miata fighter?

Nissan is trying to figure out if there is room in the market for an entry-level sports car that is smaller, more lightweight, and more affordable than the 350Z.

The Japanese automaker is interested in a front-wheel-drive sports car that could compete with the Mazda MX-5 Miata, Pontiac Solstice, and Saturn Sky, Nissan North America vice-president in charge of product planning and strategy Larry Dominique tells Car and Driver in an interview. (more…)

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BY AARON ROBINSON

The graying roadster attacks the track.

Warning! Auto racing is spectacular and exciting, but can be dangerous! The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course posts this caution next to the drivers bathrooms, so it’s probably worth repeating in this introduction to the Honda S2000 CR. For the CR”the initials stand for Club Racer”is about rubber-chunking, brake-burning, wall-fanning track work. You wouldn’t really want the shale-stiff CR for anything else, which is perhaps why Honda plans to sell only 1400 copies of the circa-$38,000 CR in 2008. (more…)

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BY DAVE VANDERWERP, PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON KILEY

Getting by on good looks.

Despite finishing last in three comparison tests, the original TT still managed to leave a mostly positive impression”a testament to how far looking good gets you”even though, as sports cars go, it wasn’t great to drive. (more…)

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BY AARON ROBINSON

A new electric toy ” batteries included, no assembly required.

After remaining dormant for several years, electric cars are surging back into the news. First, there was the summer debut of the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? followed soon after by the announcement in Los Angeles of the Tesla roadster, a $100,000 electric sports car built by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. (more…)

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BY AARON ROBINSON, PHOTOGRAPHY BY MORGAN SEGAL

Options are a mere $52,710.

Nabbing a Lamborghini for testing involves trying to chisel into a press-car calendar thick with celebrity-studded red-carpet parties hosted by the likes of Donatella Versace. It isn’t easy getting on the schedule. Lamborghini’s silk-suited brand managers are hyping a fantasy lifestyle, and we in the grubby Fourth Estate have nothing to offer against a Donatella photo op except burned-up clutches and chunked tires. (more…)

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BY AARON ROBINSON

Aston Martin’s rooflines are some of the hottest numbers in car couture”they’re low cut, tight fitting, and steaming with sex appeal. Cutting off one is like shearing the blond locks off a Barbie doll. Alas, the lovely V-8 Vantage goes headless with the new Vantage roadster, on sale now and priced for the still-working rich at $126,400. (more…)

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The 2007 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class is a 2-door, 2-passenger convertible sports car, available in 3 trims, ranging from the SLK280 Roadster to the SLK55 AMG Roadster. (more…)

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The 2007 Honda S2000 is a 2-door, 2-passenger convertible sports car, available in one trim only, the 6-Spd MT.

Upon introduction, the S2000 is equipped with a standard 2.2-liter, I4, 237-horsepower engine that achieves 20-mpg in the city and 26-mpg on the highway. A 6-speed manual transmission with overdrive is standard. (more…)

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