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 Mercedes-Benz SLK. The Mercedes offers an interesting mix of performance and luxury. It also has a retractable hardtop, making it more of an all-weather car.

U.S. TT sales were just over 12,000 units in calendar 2000, small potatoes by absolute standards but a stunning 134-percent increase over '99. That means discounting will remain infrequent to nil.

To keep buyers interested, Audi will reportedly add a 265-horsepower TT coupe and convertible for 2002, perhaps badged TTS. Both will have standard quattro all-wheel drive, mandatory to handle the more potent 1.8 turbo-four, plus a suitably upgraded chassis and the inevitable unique trim. Sales will doubtless be limited; we'd guess no more than 1000 a year for the U.S.

Still apparently in the works are V6 TTs with upwards of 300 hp, but they've been delayed by the newly muscled-up 4-cyl models. Indeed, we may might not see them until the TT's first redesign, which should come somewhere in the 2004-05 timeframe. The engine will be the same new twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 destined for the upcoming second-generation S4 sedan and wagon.