For the sixth year in a row, we single out the eight new cars that deliver on the promise of affordable performance.
Our annual Eight Great Ride awards have gone from competitive to cutthroat. Thanks to a windfall of new products out there, only three of last year's eight are repeat winners: the Subaru WRX, the Nissan SE-R Spec V and the Acura RSX Type-S. And of those three, the WRX, which was just the new kid on the block, has now been around the longest-this is its third year.
In other words, five of these eight cars are new this year, two were new last year and one, the WRX, was new three years ago.
Time is marching on so quickly that the WRX, which was easily the quickest and most powerful car of all the Eight Great Rides last year, is outgunned on the dyno and outrun on the dragstrip by three other winners this year.
Like we said, cutthroat.
This year, thanks to the introduction of the Subaru WRX STi, which costs $31,000, another problem arose. Many thought we should hike our traditional $30,000 price cap. After all, the STi is one of our favorite cars, and it no doubt delivers a remarkable level of performance for its sticker price.
But, after much debate, some of it civil, we've left the price cap at 30 grand, and the reason is simple. Where do we draw the line? This year we raise it to $32,000 for the STi. Then another car comes out that pushes our pleasure buttons, but it costs $34,000, so next year we bump the cap up to 35 grand. Then another car is introduced, and it costs...you get the idea.
If we let it escalate like this, before we know it, the car companies begin to price themselves right out of the market. It will be the Supra Turbo, RX-7, 3000GT and 300ZX Turbo all over again. History will repeat itself.
So we decided to take a stand. We've even renamed the award unofficially. It's now the Eight Great Rides For Less Than $30,000, and it will remain this way until time stops.
Besides price, for a car to be considered for the award, it must be for sale in some volume in the contiguous United States, and the carmaker must make a production spec unit available to us for track and chassis dyno testing. That last part, by the way, kept the new Mazda RX-8 from the list. Mazda was simply unable to get us a car in time.
OK, enough chatter. The 2003 Eight Great Rides For Less Than $30,000 are the Subaru WRX, Acura RSX Type-S, Nissan SE-R Spec V, Dodge SRT-4, Mazdaspeed Proteg, MINI Cooper S, Nissan 350Z and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII.
On the following pages are full road tests of each. And for fun, we've photographed each car with a significant vehicle from its ancestry. Hope you enjoy the treatment, and congratulations to the winners.