The Best Sports Cars

The last week has been very busy for me and I apologize for not posting content sooner, however, the news about the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show has been overwhelming to say the least. Coming from Chicago, we know a thing or two about auto shows, although growing up reading car magazines I always lusted over what Europe got to see before us, not to mention exotics on display did not happen until my teen years with the “Shell Presents” exhibition and was more of a side-show than the show itself, as unlike the Geneva, Paris or Frankfurt shows, the companies themselves are not on hand.

The news from Frankfurt makes the saying “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” the understatement of the millenia with all that is going on. Just trying to stay on top of the news that is coming out day by day would be a job in and of itself. So with that in mind, with the public viewing set to begin a week from tomorrow here is a list(source: wikipedia) of which future candidates for the best sports cars are to debut at this world class event. As the title states, it really is an excise in “one upping” the competition and in addition I will include a short description of the sports car class/attributes of each model:

• Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde

A sport compact with a 1.4L turbo model being the flagship

• 2010 Aston Martin Rapide

A supersport sedan from the same company that brought the radical One-77 concept whose official version debuted at Pebble Beach

• 2010 Audi RS3

The supersport version of Audi’s entry level compact

• 2010 Audi R8 Spyder

Images just leaked this week, an example of “one-upping” as earlier this week, competitor Mercedes, leaked images of the SLS

• Audi e-tron concept ^[9]

An electric powered R8- no way!!! Did we mention one-upping?(see BMW Vision EfficientDynamic below)

• 2010 BMW 3 Series Coupe and Convertible facelift
• 2010 BMW 5 Series
• 2011 BMW 6 Series facelift
• BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept

The 3/5/6 will most likely be controversial, as is BMW’s style(give us a new model, we don’t like, we fall in love with it, then change it again). However, the Vision EfficientDynamics concept has been rumored for quite some time and this might be the star of the show especially if it ends up looking like the M1 hommage concept!

• Bugatti Bordeaux

A four door version of the hyper-exotic Veyron?

• 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia

See the post about “More To Come From Frankfurt” as the boys in Maranello have been teasing us for quite some time

• Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racer

Another lightweight, track rocket from the boys from England

• 2010 Lamborghini Reventon roadster

Not to be outdone by their rivals from Maranello, the boys in St. Agata Bolognese decided to rain on Ferrari’s party by revealing the roadster version of their road-going jet!

• Lexus LF-ch concept

another sport compact, only this one will be good for the environment

• 2011 Maserati GranCabrio

Maserati’s gorgeous GranTurismo- topless

• Mazda MX-5 Superlight concept

We have yet to visit Japan on our “best sports cars around the world” tour, although you can expect a few future posts on the MX-5 Miata and the case it has made to be one of the best sports cars

• 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

A re-incarnation of the timeless classic, 300SL Gullwing to celebrate the death of the SLR and Mercedes divorce from McLaren

• Mini Coupe Concept ^[11]

See post titled “Special Feature – Mini Turns 50 and We Get the Present”, this was just the tip of the ice-berg

• 2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic
• 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo
• 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
• 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
• 2010 Porsche Panamera (European debut)

Further one-upping the pack, Porsche is bringing 4 new 911’s to the party as well as their controversial, yet cutting edge 4dr hybrid in the Panamera

• 2010 Volkswagen Polo GTI
• 2010 Volkswagen R20 Golf

More sport compacts, only this time it’s everyone’s favorite German SCC in both the Polo GTI and R20 Golf(the 2.0L I4T version of the R32)

• 2011 Volvo C30
• 2011 Volvo C70

Can’t forget about the Swedes, the C70, one of the safest and most beautiful cars under $50k has been received with much fanfare, now we’ll get to see if it does not disappoint.

And finally we can’t forget about the other top sports cars announced this week that just add fuel to the fire in the McLaren MP4-C12, Citroen GT and Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita.

Really makes one wonder what else is to come, stay tuned for more(as well as pictures and videos highlighting what Frankfurt will offer!)