The "two personalities" thing in a car is something that I discovered early on and something that's mandatory, especially if it's going to be your only car. That's why things like the GTI, G35/37, 3-series, and so on, are so popular - they can do the fast stuff, but they are also a normal car when you need them to be, and they're also fun at normal speeds where it matters the most.

THIS. This is why the Z4 3.0si is actually a better car than the Z4M. You can toss the 3.0 around and have fun with it, and when you just want to kick back and relax on a long drive, it's happy to do that too. The Z4M doesn't do relaxed. The ride is too hard, and when you're not REALLY pushing it's actually rather dull and lifeless. There's way too much performance for regular streets, and when you're only using 10-20% of its ability, it doesn't want to even get out of bed.

Track toys are fine, but literally the last thing I would ever want to do is drive 6 hours on the highway in a track toy, or in an EVO in top gear at 80mph with the engine near 4,000rpm the entire time. I'd rather take the bus.

I'm not sure the prognosis is actually that bad for enthusiasts who want something between an Elise and an old Buick. By most accounts Cadillac has done an excellent job with the ATS. A new A4 and A5 will be due in a couple of years, and based on the direction Audi has been headed lately, they should be lighter, better balanced, and better to drive than the current cars.

You can get a 183", turbocharged Buick. With a stick! Imagine Buick trying to sell something like that 10 or 15 years ago amidst their Centuries and what was then the Regal. The Regal is a real car now!

Thanks to "one Ford" we now have access to the cars Ford sells in Europe to compete against the aforementioned Clio RS, GTI, and Astra VXR. That means they are actually good. I don't think Hyundai is quite there yet, but they will get there soon enough, and they've certainly come a long way since the "Hyundai Accident 3-cyl diesel."

The Q50 is the best looking Infiniti ever, and with Johan de Nysschen in charge of the place, hopefully they will finally get their ride/handling/balance/refinement in order and be able to compete with the best. I can't stand the looks of the new IS, but clearly they are trying to make it much more of an enthusiasts car than the last one. Considering how much positive press the GS has gotten for its abilities, they can probably pull it off.

The Toyobaru twins may also convince Nissan to rethink the Z and turn it back into a true lightweight sports car instead of the roid-rage muscle machine that it is now.

As for the 0-62 being a bit BS.  That's BS.  It has electronic launch control, not some random d-bag dropping the clutch.  Plus it uses a DSG so what gear are you going to miss or get caught off guard by?  I don't know where you are seeing a Evo X w/ DSG doing anything more than high 4's.  6.5 sec is ridiculous, my MR-S does that and that's even slower than my Legacy GT.  It's impossible for an Evo to do 6.5 secs unless you start in reverse!
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C&D tested two EVOs, their time for an '08 MR with the DSG was 0-60 in 5.3, 5-60 in 6.0. An '08 5-speed manual EVO GSR managed 0-60 in 4.6, 5-60 in 6.1. I've seen as high as 6.5 for just mashing the accelerator in gear rather than using LC or hard launching the MT. A Cayman S posted 0-60 in 4.5, 5-60 in 5.7.

The Cayman was also faster in the 1/4 with a higher trap speed.

Remember, those times are 5-60, not 0-60. There is no launch. This is why they are so much better at approximating real world conditions. As in: the Subieyota's 6.2s to 60 doesn't seem bad, but that's with a high-rpm clutch dump, the 5-60 is 8s, and that's far more indicative of its everyday performance. Though some discount has to be made for a high-revving torqueless wonder engine that's forced to spend time at low revs in 1st gear. Once it gets rolling, it will be faster.

Also, a lot of the cars you listed are hardly going to be affordable. My point was that it's not a good time to be an everyman enthusiast. Yes, there are a lot of exciting cars coming out over the 40k pricepoint but they're not for everybody.

Lastly, I'm actually pretty sold on the whole KERS and performance hybrid thing, as long as manufacturers can keep the weight down. Coming back to torqueless wonder engines, with a hybrid that's not a problem, since you can optimize an engine for high-rpm operation and have the low-end torque supplemented by the electric motor. I think this will lead to some much higher-revving extremely oversquare engines appearing on the market, and those will probably be one hell of a lot more fun to play around with than your typical 2 liter turbo 4.

But, alas, not cheap.

I'm not seeing any of these 6.5 sec Evos man.  Maybe you're thinking of the Lancer (non-Evo) Ralliart or a Gallant.   


Actually half of the cars, if not more, that I mentioned will be under $30K.