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The three best sporty vehicles when choosing to drop the top

Michael Vaughan and Jeremy Cato

Globe and Mail UpdatePublished on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 3:28PM ESTLast updated on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 3:31PM EST

Gentlemen: I owned a number of convertibles when I was much younger and now I think I’m ready for another one.

Here’s the problem: the soft-tops that I always had were noisy and wet and one even got cut open by a thief who stole my briefcase.

So, at this time, it has to be one of those hard-top convertibles, or whatever you call them.

I’ve seen a Volkswagen and one from Volvo, but they were rather uninteresting looking, with big back seats. I want something sportier, two seats and at least a little luggage room.

I’ve looked at the Mercedes SLK and the BMW Z4 and I like both of them. Which do you prefer and have I overlooked any others?

Leonard

Cato: Leonard, sounds like you have some cash to burn. The SLKs are perfectly good cars, but you can get a Mazda Miata – ahem, MX-5 – with a retractable hardtop for thousands and thousands less.

Vaughan: Lenny, I’m with you when you say you’ve given up on the vinyl-topped jobs. I had a Mustang 5.0-litre ragtop and I had to wear a raincoat inside if the skies opened. Ear plugs, too. And I had to replace the top when it got torn and …

Cato: I remember your old ‘Stang. What a sloppy, twisty body structure. With the lid down, it rode like a wet noodle. Chassis and body engineering are so much better now. Convertibles today, for the most part, have pretty tight rides – especially the crop of retractable hardtops.

Now Leonard, the two you mentioned are good and if you insist on a two-seater, I’d throw that little Miata into the mix.

But I don’t want you to dismiss completely all hardtop convertibles with a back seat. Leonard, don’t overlook the Infiniti G37 convertible ($58,300-$61,600).

Vaughan: Cato’s right, for once. Put the G37 on your list, Lenny. It is very different in appearance and character from the German pair, but it has some real elegance about it. And I think it looks the best of the lot with the steel roof folded away.

Cato: That’s because Nissan has come up with a very clever fold and stack arrangement for the roof’s steel panels. They tuck tightly into the trunk. What’s left is a nice low rear deck. There’s a back seat, sure, but the lines aren’t interrupted with a big bulge in the back. This is a near-roadster shape.

Vaughan: That’s the essential trick of a good retractable hardtop. TheVolvo C70 and the Volkswagen Eos both have a big rear deck that rises up to hide the roof. And remember the Pontiac G6 convertible? It’s rear end was bulked up so much you thought someone was driving around with a piano in the trunk.

Cato: You’re drifting into irrelevance, Vaughan. Lenny does not want a C70 or an Eos.

Now the Mercedes SLK ($57,500-$84,800) is the little brother of the much more expensive SL but it has that distinctive Mercedes look and style. It’s a quick little two-seater, though at the risk of being smacked by the Politically Correct Police, I have to say the SLK is a bit of a lady’s car. I mean, the majority of buyers are women and there’s a reason for this.

Vaughan: Cato, you are a Neanderthal.

Cato: No, no, no, no, no. Some cars have more appeal to women than men, and the SLK is one of them.

Vaughan: I’ll tell you what I like about the SLK – it’s the heated seatswith little vents on top that blast hot air at the back of your neck.

Look, Cato, convertible season is too short in Canada. When I had the ‘Stang, I would extend it by wearing a big parka and a hat with flaps in order to keep the roof down on the old ‘Stang. With the SLK, that heating system means it’s roof down until the end of December – you’re nice and warm.

Cato can get snobby about the SLK, calling it a woman’s car or a boulevard cruiser. But he’s dead wrong. This is a nimble, powerful sportscar that will never disappoint you with its driving performance.

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is.

Cato: Spoken by a man who’s been seen wearing a hat with flaps. My case is closed.

Now as for the Z4 ($54,100-$62,100), I love styling, and the road manners are even better. That beautiful inline six-cylinder engine burbles beautifully. There is power to spare here. It sits nice and low to the ground; you’re planted in true sports car fashion.

Vaughan: Lenny, note the heated seats. The Bimmer does not have little hot air vents, but cranked up full, the heater and those warm seats will get you most of the way through December. The Z4 strikes me as a classic German roadster updated with all the mod cons. I took a lengthy trip in one through the Sud Tyrol and that was pure driving pleasure.

Cato: But Lenny, I’d own the G37. It’s gorgeous, loaded with features and go-power and I like having a smallish back seat. This car is a great combination of design, comfort, performance and practicality.

Vaughan: I can’t argue with that, but I’m attracted to the German-ness of the other two, and might lean toward the Z4. But Lenny, go sit in both and see which one puts the bigger smile on your face. Check the rear view mirror to see which one has you most grinning like an idiot. Only then will you know.

Jeremy Cato and Michael Vaughan are co-hosts of Car/Business, which appears Fridays at 8 p.m. on Business News Network and Saturdays at 2 p.m. on CTV.

what-car@globeandmail.com

How they compare

	2010 Infiniti G37 Sport	2010 BMW Z4 sDrive 3.0	2010 Mercedes-Benz SLK300
Wheelbase (mm)	2,850	2,496	2,430
Length (mm)	4,657	4,239	4,103
Width (mm)	1,852	1,790	1,788
Track (front/rear in mm)	1,544/1,590	1,511/1,599	1,530/1,541
Engine	3.7-litre V-7	4.4-litre V-8	3.0-litre V-6
Output (hp) (torque)	325/267 lb-ft	255/220 lb-ft	228/221 lb-ft
Transmission	seven-speed automatic with manual mode	six-speed automatic with manual mode	six-speed manual
Drive system	RWD	RWD	RWD
Curb weight (kg)	1864	1470	1470
Fuel economy(litres/100 km)	11.9 city/7.8 hwy	11.2 city/7.0 hwy	11.2 city/7.6 hwy
Base price	$ 60,125	$ 56,195	$59,595
SOURCE: CAR MANUFACTURERS

LOS ANGELES — The seats push cool air to keep you from getting sticky in the summer sun. The audio system is loud and clear with the roof folded and tucked away (13 speakers overall, including a 10-inch speaker in the front door and headrest speakers). And the ride and handling are athletic for a car without a permanent roof.

This is the Infiniti G37 and it’s about time. Infiniti has been in need of a sexy flagship for – well, pretty much forever. And with a June on-sale imminent, the G37 convertible is it.

“It’s not an old person’s car,” says Infiniti Canada planning boss Ian Forsyth.

Forsyth and his pals are being coy about pricing, what with the muscular yen making a mess of price tags on exported models from Japan. But look for numbers in the mid- to high-$50,000s, which will make the G37 convertible competitive with BMW’s 3-Series Cabriolet ($55,600-$65,600).

Enlarge ImageThe G37 convertible goes on sale next month. (NISSAN)

That’s the point.

Infiniti sees itself as something of Japan’s answer to the Bavarians. Sporty styling, racy handling and all that. And that’s why the engineers put so much effort into making sure the G convertible is rigid, solid.

They beefed up the chassis with more structure behind the rear seats. They strengthened around the A-pillar (that supports the windshield).

It all worked, though the A-pillar’s design can make entering and exiting tricky if you’re not careful. Visibility to the side and rear is not quite ideal, either.

That said, the Sport version – the stiffest model – is quite the handler. You can carve corners happily here, boxing around the standard six-speed manual tranny or paddle-shifting the seven-speed automatic. The less aggressive, more luxurious Premier G37 has only the seven-speed autobox, by the way.

And the car looks good, too – not fat and bloated at the rear end, which can happen with these convertibles with the hardtops that fold into the trunk. All that sheet metal has to go somewhere, right?

Yet the designers and engineers managed to stay almost completely within the dimensions of the G coupe. The convertible is only 10 mm longer than the coupe and about 40 mm wider at the rear. Not a bad trick for a car with room for the roof in the trunk.

The engineering team at Germany’s Karmann Group helped a lot here. Yes, this is the same Karmann that filed for bankruptcy protection last month in Germany.

In any case, the Infiniti-Karmann partnership is moving ahead, regardless. It’s worth noting that Infiniti has never worked with Karmann, yet what the engineers did is pretty slick: the G’s roof panels shuffle and invert for more efficient trunk stacking. The roof is all gone in about 30 seconds or so.

“It’s not just a coupe with the roof removed,” Forsyth says.

I like the drive, but I love the cabin. The leather in my tester was just soft enough, but not mushy or gooey to the feel. Lots of back, thigh and lumbar support, too. The materials look and feel upscale but not ostentatious or showy. And the controls make sense, unlike a lot of high-tech cars these days.

Alas, all is not ideal. Daylight glare makes the instrument panel lights nearly unreadable. If you’re wearing sunglasses – a must in a convertible – you’ll struggle.

Infiniti needs this convertible in its lineup to jazz up a pretty basic portfolio of sedans, coupes and SUVs. It’s a halo car designed to cast a favourable shadow over the rest of the models. So the fact Infiniti might sell less than 1,000 in a good year is not the point. Brand-building, image-building, that’s the point.

And so it’s important for Infiniti to get this car right. Well, power is good from the 3.7-litre, V-6 engine: 325 horsepower.

The packaging makes sense, too. The Sport model has 10-spoke, 19-inch aluminum wheels with performance tires, sport-tuned steering, Brembo brakes, sport seats, aluminum pedals, power and memory front seats, leather interior and magnesium paddle shifters. The usual and expected electronic stability control and all the airbags are standard.

The Premier Edition comes in only one colour: Diamond graphite. It’s really metallic grey, if we’re being honest. The red leather upholstery is trimmed in real maple. The front seats are climate-controlled, there is a navigation system and the front grille is black.

If you want navigation on the Sport, you’ll need to opt for the Hi-Tech package and also pay for voice recognition, “Music Box” audio, intelligent cruise control, adaptive front lighting and pre-crash seatbelts.

The Sport model’s adaptive dual-zone climate control is pretty trick, I’ll give Infiniti that. When it’s colder outside, the system speeds up the fan to warm the cabin; when it’s hotter, more cool air is pumped into the cabin.

Then there’s the trunk. It’s a good size when the roof is up, but of little use when loaded with the folded lid. So use the back seat for your golf clubs; it’s not exactly ideal for real adults to sit, anyway.

What Infiniti has here is a great looking open-air car with excellent handling, loads of power, a rich cabin and some very smart features. Sure, we’d all like better visibility, a bigger trunk and a roomier back seat.

Then again, if we’re going to get all practical here, note that Infiniti’s residual or resale values are the best among luxury brands in Canada, according to Automotive Lease Guide.

That’s one more sensible argument in favour of this car.

****

2009 INFINITI G37 CONVERTIBLE

Type: Premium two-door convertible with folding hardtop

Price: (estimated) $55,000 and up

Engine: 3.7-litre V-6, SOHC

Horsepower/Torque: 325 hp/267 lb-ft

Transmission: Six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic

Drive: Rear-wheel-drive

Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 12.0 city/7.8 highway; premium gas

Alternatives: BMW 328i/335i Cabriolet, Audi A4 Cabriolet, Saab 9-3 convertible, Mercedes-Benz CLK350 convertible

****

Like

• Upscale, but not over-the-top, interior
• Excellent sound system
• Climate control with heating and cooling seats
• Slick folding top
• Handsome look without a big rear end

****

Don’t like

• Visibility in some directions
• Lack of useful trunk space when top down
• Small, small back seat
• Instruments tend to disappear in daylight, with top down