Now that it’s February, the official activity of the month here in Wisconsin is getting irritated that even though it’s already been winter for over two months, the weather won’t be decent again for another two months. Which has me thinking about convertibles!
Many years ago, I DD’d an NB Miata year-round. But since then I’ve been much more inclined to have awd and snow tires in the winter. It’s...safer. But I always think in the back of my head about getting a convertible again.
I drive a 2011 BMW 335xi M Sport coupe with a bunch of mods on it. My wife doesn’t drive it, because it’s stick shift. She has a 2016 Subaru Impreza Limited hatchback. We used to be a 3-car household but I consolidated my former Jeep Grand Cherokee and BMW 135is into this 335xi, and my wife’s car handles the hauling duties, which mostly consist of bringing large quantities of cardboard boxes from online shopping to the dump, or retrieving random pieces of old furniture from my mother-in-law’s house, garage sales, or Craigslist. Juggling 3 cars, one of which didn’t get driven in the winter, when we live in a townhouse with a 1-car garage, was kind of a pain in the ass.
Many things would have to fall into place before we could return to being a 3-car household, namely the restaurant I’m working on opening, and buying a house. But hey, doesn’t hurt to dream!
The realistic part of me knows that if I wanted to get another stupid car (my car in its current modded form is definitely stupid) it at least has to be something my wife can drive. Hence, flappy paddles.
So...what’s a fun convertible, with good handling, above-average power, and a not-shitty automatic transmission? Dual-clutch preferably, but torque converters are acceptable if they are part of a ZF 8-speed or some other particularly good option. Budget in the $25k-ish range, or at least potentially could be there in the next few years. A used 2011-2014 Audi TTS Roadster comes to mind. What else?
Go!