Convertible, manual, handles, roomier than a Miata, will hold together, $25K, that certain je ne sais quoi:

Ferrari 328. $100K will get you a well-kept well-sorted one. Owning one is more about sensation and innate gratification than numbers, but that’s probably for the better. Also a solid rep for being decently reliable and usable.

It looks like a decal now. Read more

Ferrari 308. As ergonomically effective as it is elegant.

It’s small, simple, light, and rear-drive. You’re 80+% of the way to the formula that has defined fun-to-drive for generations of enlightened enthusiasts. Add in the immediate response of electric motors and that’s another point in its favor. Read more

The standard Volkswagen Golf.

Please go back and recheck the spelling of that one particular Japanese manufacturer. Your fingers did a few dance steps out of sequence. Read more

Hi, New York City-based 2014 Mazda 3 owner with a recently replaced CMU here. Read more

John Hughes had a fantastic feel for cars in his films - not just Bueller, but through his entire output. Read more

Mercedes W123, especially a diesel.

They’re not the bargain they were a couple years ago (what is?) but a really good E30 325is should come in well under the $30K budget. Spend a bit to get it into excellent shape, maybe spring for some 15-inch wheels, but it hits all the requirements and then some.

Nah. Zonda.

Dino 246.

The most 1980s car is the original Acura Integra.

Yes. Read more

Capping at an arbitrary twelve so as to promote general usage, although I could keep going long enough to try the patience of the Sultan of Brunei. Read more

2001 Honda Civic. Cost-cutting compromise after cost-cutting compromise - the loss of the signature A-arm front especially hurt - wrapped in blander-for-your-safety styling capped with Mitsubishi taillights. This is where the magic started to fade.

If I’m facing reality with this question, I’m looking twenty to forty years in the future and considering a world moving away from fossil fuels and the necessities of my family situation and a general desire to comport myself with dignity and grace.

Somehow finding abandoned/disposed cars in the Gowanus isn’t terribly surprising. Read more

I usually do this without strictly measuring the spices, but these measurements are pretty reasonable: Read more