Four ideal vehicles in which to find one's inner child: BMW M Roadster, Chevrolet Corvette, Mercedes-Benz SLK32 AMG, Porsche Boxster S. The Chevy Corvette roadster would have squeaked under the price ceiling in the last test, but its perceived deficit in refinement and large size was quoted as reason to exclude it. This year a host of detail changed brings added calm, quiet, and even a bit more horsepower and torque, so it's in.
From the August 2001 issue of Car and Driver. What kind of car did you drive when you were in elementary school? Not your parents' car, your mind's car. Maybe the hardware was branded Schwinn or Huffy or Little Tikes, but admit it: When you took off from a stop, you imagined—maybe even enunciated—the rasp of a cool car running through gears.
View Price on AmazonToday's a generation of juvenile car crazies is probably dreaming down the neighborhood sidewalks in one of these four riotous roadsters, and the adults who purchase them for real will likely do so for exactly the same reasons of coolness and fun, with nearly the same disregard for practical considerations. Each represents the state of the art in stuffing big engines into small, nimble-handling chassis that can, in a pinch, be raced.
Since our most recent test of the cream of this grin-generating roadster crop last August, the third-place-finishing BMW M roadster has been given an all-new engine good for 315 horsepower, a bump of 75. That test's second-place finishing Mercedes SLK320 has now been breathed on by AMG, which bolts on a trick new IHI helical-type supercharger and an air-to-water intercooler that harnesses an additional 134 horses to the team, for a total of 349.
Source: caranddriver.com
