Almost as impressive as some crazy SOB in a Miata, top-down, that is tearing around Boston and Cambridge right now. This guy is tearing down unplowed streets without so much more than an occasional wiggle.

@sven

Blackberries do the same exact thing. The reason (according to RIM) was to let people know you were on the road and probably away from an actual computer and can only work in a limited capacity.

Clarkson probably tried it because he got away with it once before when he said some German car "has a satnav that only goes to Poland."

According to this old article, the 3-bangers will put out between 163 and 241HP.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/08/bmw-working-on-range-of-3-cylinder-engines/

I'd prefer the 1.8L turbo-4 with 321HP. Mmmm... angry 4-cylinder.

@snowdog
No. The MX-5 is under 2500lbs, yes, but it has 170HP, not 140HP, as well as enough torque to chirp the Potenza RE050A's going into 2nd.

Toyota complains about not being able to attract a younger audience... then they do this. About as brilliant as the Prius Coupe with the Corolla's 1.8L instead of the usual 1.6L. Half-assed for the sake of calling it a "green" vehicle.

@Matt (that likes ford)

Brian's comment isn't completely unfounded. The last Ford Puma that the US got was the late 90s/early 2000s Mercury Cougar.

It's not a Jaguar. It's a Jaaaaaaaaaaaag.

Who else feels that after watching Top Gear for years, you absolutely get spoiled by their camera work and feel that anything else could've been accomplished by 5th graders?

Roll cages are illegal in the US for two reasons.

1) The jaws of life, if they were required, would take forever to cut someone out.

But the big reason?

2) The second collision. If you don't wear a seatbelt, you slamming into the roll cage is going to do some serious damage. Since seatbelts are required by federal law, and their required use is mandated by the states, they pose a serious danger to unbelted occupants.

So yes. Roll cages would save a LOT of lives. But they've been outlawed because since some people won't wear seatbelts, they'd likely do as much harm as good.

Ridiculous Catch-22, huh?

They did make a coupe-version. Of the NB. In it's outgoing year. And was released in extremely limited volumes only in Japan.

Owning a 2008 NC, it's already gotten "too big". The 2.0L MZR up front -- despite the "more go" -- causes it to push more than its predecessors and makes the rear a bit more skittish. It's also creeped up to nearly 2500 pounds. Hey, I won't argue against heated seats -- it makes December driving realistic except when it's snowing -- but it has gotten... yuppieish. The 5.3 cu2 of trunk space is handy, but again is because the car has grown.

Bring it back down to 1.5 or 1.6L that can rev to at least 8K so it's nice and peaky, keep the wondrous transmission, shrink it a wee bit (but try to keep the trunk), keep the fantastic-to-use soft top, drop 200lbs, and I'd consider upgrading for the improved hoonability