This class features an interesting mix of hard-core performance models and more luxurious touring convertibles. Our Best Buys give you a little of both worlds. The Chevrolet Corvette is fast, comfortable, and reasonably affordable. Unlike previous models it doesn't beat you up with a hard ride, and it will cruise quietly at highway speeds. Our other Best Buy, the Mazda Miata, is a bare-bones roadster with few frills and average acceleration, but for weekend fun on a twisty back road it's hard to beat.

If you don't mind spending a few more bucks, we recommend you take a look at the BMW Z3 and Mercedes-Benz SLK. Both are two-seat convertibles. The BMW is more sporty and the Mercedes is more luxurious.

If you are interested in bang-for-the-buck our Budget Buys include the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. At any given price or equipment level the Camaro is a faster car, but the Mustang might be a little more user-friendly as a daily driver.

Answering criticism that the 911 looks too much like the entry-level Boxster in front, Porsche will give 2001 Carreras the same face as the latest Turbo, with the same enlarged "basset hound" light clusters and a slightly extended nose without the Turbo's prominent in-bumper air ducts. Come 2002, Carreras will also get the Turbo's 3.6-liter engine displacement, which will reportedly combine with refinements to engine electronics and Porsche's VarioCam variable-valve-timing system to boost horsepower by 15 to 315 and torque to 273 pound-feet.

But that's not all. Arriving at about the same as the larger non-turbo engine is a new Targa, a body style missing from the 911 line since the new-generation water-cooled series appeared in 1998. Like the last Targa, the new one will have a full-length glass roof panel that powers back inside the rear window, but is said to have improved seals for reduced high-speed wind noise. It should be available in both Carrera and Carrera 4 form.

About 6 months after the Targa returns--say summer 2002--Porsche will introduce a new version of the Carrera 4S, which combines Turbo styling with the non-turbo engine. The 4S will reportedly have a simpler rear spoiler instead the Turbo's complex two-element affair and will lack its prominent rear-fender air ducts, but should look the same otherwise.

Also on deck for model-year '02 is a new version of the 911 GT2, a model previously sold in Europe but not the U.S. This is basically the Turbo again, but rear-drive only and stripped of non-essential features to reduce weight and boost performance. The twin-turbo engine will reportedly be reworked to deliver around 450 horsepower.