2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster Launched

If there was ever a town made to road test convertibles in, it must be Queenstown in New Zealand. So it’s no wonder that Nissan Australia has flown a group of automotive journalist over to review its new Nissan 370Z Roadster.

Day one of the event was an introduction to the vehicle and an overview of Nissan’s plans for the new Z Roadster. Even though there was no drive program today, pricing and performance figures were made public as well as the cars specifications.

The 370Z Roadster 6 Speed Manual will retail for $74,990 while the 370Z Roadster 7 Speed Automatic will be available for $77,990.

2011 Ford Shelby GT500

.


With a little more power, a less weighty engine and new performance upgrades for 2011, the folks at Ford's SVT performance unit continue to turn the once portly, push-pig Shelby GT500 into an ever-more-legitimate all-around performance car.

Like its V6 and GT brethren, the GT500, which the company is to unveil at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, gets substantial upgrades for 2011, only a year after a major overhaul for 2010. You can think of it as a preemptive strike against the Camaro Z28 that has long been rumored to be waiting in the wings at Chevy.

Not surprisingly, the 2011 upgrades for the GT500 begin with the supercharged 5.4-liter V8, which Ford describes as an evolution of the engine from the now-departed Ford GT. Yep, that means the GT500 now has an aluminum-block engine instead of the stout iron block it has used up to now. This little switch chops off 102 pounds from the burden carried by the front axle of the notoriously nose-heavy GT500.

20th Anniversary Limited Edition Mazda MX-5

Mazda celebrates two decades of global roadster success with the world premiere of a 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Mazda MX-5 at the Geneva Motor Show in March. This model, which will have a limited production run of just 2,000 units, will only be available in Europe and will take sportscar fans back to the basics of open-top driving fun. Each model is equipped with a special edition scuff plate in stainless steel with its unique serial number (from 1 to 2000).

Based on the 1.8-litre SE soft-top roadster, this version has a special exterior styling package with chrome grille, door handles and headlight fascia; along with silver-look fog lamp surrounds, unique 17-inch alloy wheels and 20th Anniversary logos. It can be ordered in three exterior colours – True Red, Crystal White Pearl and, specific for this edition, a new Aurora Blue – with matching body-colour painted decorative elements in the interior. A front suspension bracing bar is also added to ensure an even more sporty and exhilarating drive.

2010 Convertible Cars

2010 Audi A5 Cabriolet	Base Price: $42,000
	Doors: 2 Seats: 5	Top Style: Softtop Prod Status: Production
Description: With a top that drops in only 15 seconds there's no reason not to go topless! Notes: Check out the high-performance S5 for even more vroom. For More Info: www.AudiUSA.com

2010 Ford Mustang Convertible	Base Price: $25,995
	Doors: 2 Seats: 4	Top Style: Softtop Prod Status: Production
Description: Refreshed for 2010, this new model year brings several changes and refinements. Notes: Several models of the Mustang Convertible are available, step up to the Shelby GT500 Convertible for maximum performance! For More Info: www.FordVehicles.com

2010 Lexus IS C	Base Price: $38,490
	Doors: 2 Seats: 4	Top Style: Hardtop Prod Status: Production
For More Info: www.Lexus.com

2010 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder	Base Price: $27,799
	Doors: 2 Seats: 4	Top Style: Softtop Prod Status: Production
Description: The sleek Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible looks great whether top-up or top-down! (And goes from one to the other in under twenty seconds.) Notes: Move up to the Spyder GT to experience a full Eclipse. For More Info: www.MitsubishiCars.com

2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster	Base Price: $36,970
	Doors: 2 Seats: 2	Top Style: Softtop Prod Status: Preview
Description: The all-new Z Roadster due in late 2009 looks to be worth the wait! For More Info: www.NissanUSA.com

Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet

With characteristic modesty, Mercedes has released details of a convertible version of the E-Class Coupé.
It has become something of a tradition in the Classic Driver office to make fun of press material from the great Stuttgart manufacturer. In the spirit of the holiday season – ‘good will to all men’, and all that – we’ll make no mention of it being “highly appealing and emotionally charged”, nor will we refer to the all-new E-Class range’s ‘motto’ (gosh, that’s a first for the car industry) being "four seasons, four personalities".



Let’s make it clear: this is going to be a cracking car, beautifully built and so well designed that it will do anything you throw at it. Furthermore, its prestige and understated classy lines will be as popular as all preceding four-seat convertible E-Classes. But please, Mercedes, can we make our own minds up about it?



Right, what’s new with the latest in a long, and honourable, line of E-Class cabrios? The standard coupé is an excellent car. In convertible form the company has concentrated on making the open-air experience as comfortable as possible by introducing three new technologies:



The AIRCAP® automatic draught-stop. This is a mechanical solution to the problems of travelling at speed in an open car on a cold day by deploying a windscreen-mounted deflector, a net in the windscreen frame and a draught-stop between the rear seats. The occupants should therefore be able to travel in a bubble of insulated air helped by...

The modified AIRSCARF® neck-level heating system. This builds on Mercedes’ already class-leading air management system in open-top cars. It is integrated into the backrests of the front seats, providing warm air through outlets in the head restraints.

Very clever stuff, however even Mercedes cannot stop it raining so when the hood is raised it will be very quiet in the cabin due to the new model’s acoustic soft top, fitted as standard.




The E-Class Coupé is already one of the most aerodynamically efficient cars in its class. The Cabriolet has an impressive cd figure of 0.28 which, the company claims, is the ‘best in its class’. This is what we want to hear from Mercedes: more technical brilliance, less hyperbole for lazy websites to copy and paste.

Future of Mercedes-Benz Revealed

Mercedes-Benz SL Class Picture

An early test mule for the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL roadster was caught roaming the streets of Munich.

Ferrari's custom 599 convertible

Ferrari’s current portfolio of cars too generic for you? How about a neat custom P540? Ferrari’s rather unique 599 convertible.

You know the deal with Maranello – money talks. If you have a practically unlimited budget and impeccable breeding the fabled F1 team’s road car division can be awfully accommodating to your design whims.

Enter Edward Walson. Doesn’t sound familiar? Well, that’s hardly surprising.

Chasing a TV dream?

Edward’s not a celebrity in his own right but his father John did invent cable TV and you can only imagine the inherited financial resources at Edward’s disposal.

So, when Edward decided he wanted a contemporary Ferrari custom built (to pay homage to the legendary Fantuzzi-designed Ferrari 330 LM built specifically for the 1968 Fellini film, Toby Dammit) it simply had to happen.


Aero duct louvres behind both axles look the business, as does the large aft deck area and superb rear wheelarch curve-line.

The P540 Superfast Aperta is based on Ferrari’s outstanding front-engined 599 GTB Fiorano. Some striking Pininfarina designed bodywork adds 66mm bumper-to-bumper over a stock 599.

Despite being open-topped the P540 is 36mm taller than a 599 and 20kg heavier, the additional weight due to carbon-fibre strengthening to offset the loss of rigidity sans roof.

Traditional V12 values

Powering Walson’s car is a 456kW 5l V12 shifting through a six-speed paddle-shift transmission.

Performance promises to be epic and kudos to Ferrari for producing the complete car from sketching to homologation in only 14 months – just in time to make this Christmas Edward Walson’s best ever.

An interesting aside to the Edward Walson project is that such a one-off Ferrari’s owner receives the car’s tooling as part of the purchase to ensure it cannot be replicated.

Conversely, Ferrari reserves the right to buy back both the car and tooling again, to ensure Special Project Ferraris are not speculated against.