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.

Corvette fans are salivating over the new "C6" models expected in summer 2004 as early '05s. Look for a formal unveiling at the next Detroit Auto Show.

Conceptually, C6 is said to be much like today's C5, but with most everything redesigned. A hatchback, hardtop and convertible will return, though maybe not all at once. Fiberglass body panels again clothe a steel "skeleton" incorporating a "backbone" chassis with high center tunnel. This platform is said to be much more rigid than C5's and somewhat lighter. Aluminum subframes will again support an all-independent suspension with new components, though still mostly in aluminum. A transverse fiberglass leaf spring remains at each end, allied to the Magnetic Ride Control shock-absorber system introduced with the 50th Anniversary '03 model. Larger four-wheel disc brakes reportedly team with a new, more effective ABS setup and standard antiskid/traction control. Steering is by GM Magnasteer rack-and-pinion, newly recalibrated.

Transmissions remain rear-mounted, but the automatic will be a new 6-speed unit with manual-shift "paddle" switches on the steering column. A 6-speed manual will continue. Enginewise, the hatchback and convertible should carry an improved version of today's LS1 V8. Horsepower allegedly goes from 350 to 425, helped by a new variable-timing system for the intake valves. The V8 may also mark the production debut of GM's "Displacement on Demand" technology. DOD is designed to save gas by shutting down four cylinders in situations like highway cruising that don't demand max power. We hear EPA city/highway fuel economy may come in at 20/30 mpg, up 1-2 mpg from current figures. And there's more. One source says a new Z06 hardtop will be delayed to around mid-2005, but will boast a new 6.8-liter V8 making 500 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque, the same as the Dodge Viper V-10.

Styling is anyone's guess now, but many observers expect a slimmer, swoopier evolution of the C5. Rumored elements include '60s-style "coke-bottle" fenderlines, exposed headlamps, and a sweeping "boattail" fastback roofline for the hatch. No word on dimensional changes, but we don't expect them to be major.

There's general agreement that C6 will markedly improve on Corvette materials quality and overall workmanship. The cockpit is said to be far less gimmicky than C5's, with large analog gauges in a sort of retro style, plus much nicer leather and plastics. Heated/cooled seats and "smart" cruise control are among several new options expected.

We should have more C6 buzz fairly soon, so keep checking back. Meantime, rumors persist of a "Super 'Vette" with unique styling, possible V12 power, lightweight construction, and a $100,000 price. Several GM execs evidently want to challenge big V12 Ferraris and the upcoming Mercedes SLR and Porsche Carrera GT, all high-performance limited editions with prices to match. Still, the Super 'Vette has yet to get the green light as far as we know. Assuming it does, don't expect it before 2007 at the earliest. Name? We wouldn't be surprised if it's Corvette Grand Sport.

C5 sales eased 3.3 percent in 2002 after a 7.8-percent year-to-year hike in calendar '01. But the difference amounted to 1100 units, not a bad showing for a big sports car in a jittery market.