So imagine our chagrin when, on any road we saw, the homely little Capri would up and vanish, leaving the rest of the group futilely checking parking-brake handles. No offense intended to our many fine friends in the clerical arts and sciences, but it seemed to be a secretary's car, intent on being more cute than cutthroat. We've never been smitten by Ford's little Australian-built droptop, mostly because it just didn't look like much, with its underbite face, featureless flanks, too-high beltline, and drab interior. We'd prefer to remember it that way, not see it continually shoved out to face rivals 25 years more modern.ĭavid Dewhurst | Car and Driver 3rd Place: Mercury Capri XR2 It became an instant classic in 1967 when poor, befuddled Dustin Hoffman chased up and down California in one, trying to come to grips with his life and a fetching Katharine Ross in The Graduate. But this car needs to be retired gracefully. Obviously, a few people still find the Alfa Spider irresistible-the company sells about three a day in the U.S.-and those good folks will pay no attention to what we say anyway. Its top also flips down easily-almost as quickly and casually as the Miata's-though the boot cover's hooks, snap, and zippers work awkwardly. And even after all these years, its clean shape remains attractive. It's true that on a mild spring day, at a very relaxed pace over immaculate blacktop, the Alfa Spider offers a heartwarming, offbeat ride. And discovered something about the tradeoffs we can be coaxed to accept in pursuit of sheer driving pleasure. ![]() Somewhere between beautiful downtown Chula Vista and the 8443-foot Onyx Pass, we found the test's winner. We collected this eclectic open-top fleet in Southern California and took to the mountains and deserts in search of truth, harmony, and transient response (and weird tourist stops, like these dinosaur/gift shops off Interstate 10 near Cabazon). They are Alfa Romeo's gray-bearded but still handsome Spider, Honda's incredibly well-thought-out Civic del Sol Si, Mazda's retro-look MX-5 Miata roadster, and Mercury's turbo-boosted Capri XR2. So it's a shame that "sports car" has been attached to every odd lump on wheels needing an image fix-so much so that when we want to use the term in a disciplined fashion, we have to specify that we're talking about cars regular working folks can afford.įor about five grand to either side of $20,000, there are exactly four cars available today that have the spirit and substance to be rightly called sports cars. Skinny-tired MGs drew a clear distinction between sporty driving and other more serious forms of motoring, and a modest price was as integral to the formula as a roofless cockpit. In the dawn of sports-car time, post-war Europe needed cheap transportation and couldn't pay extra for fun. If history and ad copywriters had shown a little respect for the term "sports car," perhaps "budget sports car" would be recognized today as the redundancy it out to be. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.From the May 1993 issue of Car and Driver. ![]() If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. ![]() This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it.
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