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. Chevrolet Corvette is fast, comfortable, and reasonably affordable, but it doesn't beat you up with a hard ride, and it will cruise quietly at highway speeds. Our other Best Buy, Mazda Miata, is a bare-bones roadster with few frills at a great price. For weekend fun on a twisty back road, it's hard to beat.

A Recommended selection, Honda S2000 offers up all the performance and thrills of a traditional sports car without the intimidating price tag. Audi's TT is solid, stylish, and loaded with features making it fit for the Recommended list as well. Like no other in its class, TT offers the all-weather advantage of available quattro AWD at a great price. New this year is the Nissan 350Z. It offers heart-stopping performance and civility at a very reasonable price. After additional tests we may well move this vehicle to a Best Buy.

A long-rumored V6 coupe and roadster join the TT line this fall. Respective starting prices are said to be $40,000 and $43,000, about $3000 upstream of the 4-cyl, 225-hp 1.8T versions. Called 3.2 quattro, the V6 models borrow a 3.2-liter engine from parent VW's upcoming Golf R32 "hot hatch." Outputs are 250 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque. Also new--and mandatory--is an exclusive 6-speed manual transmission that Audi dubs the "Direct-Shift Gearbox." An electrohydraulic mechanism eliminates the clutch pedal and allows sequential manual shifting from the gear lever or steering-wheel-mounted "paddle" switches. The transmission also has an automatic shift mode. Other V6 TT features include an uprated suspension and subtle exterior styling changes. No word yet on '04 changes for the 4-cyl models.

TT sales were down over 24 percent in calendar 2002, which may cloud the outlook for a redesigned replacement. Assuming it gets the green light, we probably wouldn't see it before model-year 2006. Insiders say the next-generation TT should stick with the current basic formula. That means a cut-down version of the latest A4 platform and specific sporty styling, the latter likely to be cautiously evolved.