FIAT 500 CONVERTIBLE/ ASTON MARTIN V8 VANTAGE N420

Fiat 500C

Cheap, open-sk y fun for four.

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND

tH E F I AT 5 0 0 C O U P E is set to reach the U.S. market by the tail end of this year, and it will be followed shortly thereafter by the 500C—the convertible version of the subcompact that will reintroduce the Fiat brand to Americans after a twenty-seven-year sabbatical.

The 500’s main competition in the U.S. will be the Mini Cooper—both are two-door, four-seat hatchbacks that target “premium” buyers and o er countless confi gurations, as well as convertible versions—but the Mini is a bit larger all around.

The 500C’s soft top is actually more of a glorifi ed full-width canvas sunroof than a chopped-pillar a air. In addition to the fully open position, the roof can be set to almost any spot along its travel, the most useful of which fi nds the canvas folded above the rear passengers’ heads, leaving the small back window in place and preserving rearward visibility. With the top fully Thanks to the lowered, you may as well be towing a 500C’s atypical top horse trailer for as bad as rear visibility is. design, occupants can enjoy the open Speaking of horses, our diesel-powered air without being test car had just 95 of them, but it o ered completely on display to other plenty of torque spread over a broad motorists. power band. The ■ The Specs // ON SALE: Early 2011 likely engine for our shores—a PRICE: $20,000/$25,000 100-hp, 1.4-liter (base in the U.S./as tested in gasoline fourthe U.K., est.) cylinder—should ENGINE: 1.3L turbo-diesel earn an EPA I-4, 95 hp, 148 lb-ft (as tested) DRIVE: Front-wheel combined rating of about 30 mpg. The 1.3-liter turbo-diesel, however, yielded an average t b di l h i of 41 mpg over nearly 1200 miles. No Mini Coopers will be threatened by the way a 500 handles in the twisties, but the Fiat is still tossable, fun, and nimble. The 500 rides more comfortably than a Mini, too, and its preserved pillars mean that the body doesn’t feel limp like most four-seat droptops—all of which, we might add, the 500C should undercut in price, promising for a very enticing open-air opportunity when it arrives here in the spring. — R u s t y B l a c k w e l l

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420

N420 on the periodic table.

SAN FRANCISCO

wI T H O U T Q U E S T I O N, the most exciting element on the periodic table is the element of surprise. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 packs a full U.S. RDA–sized dose of the unexpected—a fact that’s even more surprising because this car is entering its sixth model year. You see, the Vantage is among the most elegant and dignifi ed sports cars on the planet, but the sound that comes from the N420’s new sport exhaust is anything but refi ned.

With the violent tone and deafening volume of an unmu ed NASCAR V-8, it’s rude, crude, The Specs // ON SALE: Now obscenely loud, and positively glorious. A blip of the throttle could—and PRICE: $133,350/ did—cause an acoustically desensitized $146,350 (coupe/ race-car mechanic to jump backward convertible) as if a pair of rabid vampire bats had ENGINE: 4.7L V-8, 420 hp, 346 lb-ft lunged out of the tailpipes. No one DRIVE: Rear-wheel expects to hear this sound coming from this car. From behind the wheel, though, the

Vantage remains perfectly civilized. The N420’s sport V t i f suspension is very fi rm but never jarring, and there’s an

The N420 is differentiated from the regular V8 Vantage by wider sills; a carbon-fi ber splitter, fender vents, and diffuser; and ten-spoke aluminum wheels— not to mention its glorious sound. enormous amount of feedback coming through its perfectly tailored, Alcantara steering wheel. Talkative though that steering rack may be, it’s the N420’s unlikely exhaust note that’s the most communicative part of this Aston, and it’s a not-so-subtle reminder that some elements age better than others. — Ja s o n C a m m i s a