European Cars
Gary Westfall & Margaret Barcelo
2023 Jaguar F-Type P450 R Dynamic
After three photo shoots in a row and a different vehicle at each shoot, hopefully we have found a vehicle to stay in our stable for a while. The Jaguar is Fuji White with a Tan/Ebony/Tan Interior. Tan Windsor Leather Performance Seats accent the interior. The Jaguar engine is 5.0 Liter Super Charged. Finally, a deployable rear spoiler operates at 70 mph or manually if chosen.
Mike & Sandy Connors
2014 BMW 640M Coupe
White with charcoal interior. The high-performance BMW M6 features a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 engine that produces 560 HP and 500 lbs./ft. torque. BMW reports that this car can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds and has a top speed of 155 mph.
Alex & Renate D’Angelo
2017 Mercedes Benz SLC300
This Mercedes Benz SLC300 is my 5th roadster. I have had English, German and Italian roadsters. My Radiant Blue/Saddle SLC is a thrill to drive.
I seem to like sports cars that have engines the same size as the transmission. This Turbo I4 is married to a 9-speed, all electronically controlled, always in the correct gear. Mercedes Dynamic Drive adjusts the handling, transmission, and exhaust, so you can get as much road experience as you can handle. And just for toppers, SLC has a folding hardtop and a warm "air scarf" for those cool mornings and evenings, so you stay in Mercedes comfort.
Rich Gruenberg & Judy Umbreit
2020 Jaguar F-Type
After seven years with our last corvette, we started looking for a replacement. Car shopping, especially for two people “into” sports cars, can be fun and frustrating. After spending time on car lots and in showrooms without finding “the right one,” we decided to grab some lunch. As we walked out of the showroom, a gorgeous 2020 Caldera Red Jaguar F-Type convertible was making its way onto the showroom floor. It was the one! We headed right back in, and by the next day, we were driving it home. Who would have thought that after having 9 corvettes, we would end up with a Jaguar? We love it and are enjoying having a convertible again.
Steve & Michele Iannone
2022 BMW M440i
My version of “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is outfitted in San Remo Green with Cognac interior. This latest model was redesigned with a soft top and a more aggressive grille, the two things that drew my attention to this nimble beast. You either love it or you ….don’t. Since I was a kid, I always loved hot rods, I have had all kinds of cars, mostly Chevys but there were a few times when a Ford or a Mopar found their way into my garage. This is my first “Big Boy” foreign sports car, unless you count Nissan’s 4DSC of the early 2000’s.
I am thoroughly enjoying everything this M Sport has to offer, whether it is the 382 horses the 3.0-liter Bi-turbo inline-six delivers to the 8-speed automatic transmission combined with 48V mild hybrid technology, or the over-the top tech that controls it all seamlessly. I was having so much fun with my car that I flew out to the BMW Performance Driving Center in Thermal, California to see what these cars can do on the M high performance track, and…WOW! As soon as I returned home, I upgraded my exhaust bringing my HP to 400 plus ponies with a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds.
I will keep this for a while because Michelle likes this better than my last ride, a 2018 Camaro ZL1-1LE, a proper 650 horse street/track GORILLA. But that does not mean I cannot add to the collection…always looking for the next ride.
Dave & Bobbe Lytle
2024 Audi S5
After 10 years of driving her 2014 BMW Z4, we decided it was time to buy a new sports car. The Z was a great car, but it was a little small for my liking, so, after much agony, we decided on a 2024 Audi S5 convertible. The car is very comfortable, has plenty of power, sounds great, and has way too many bells and whistles (you need a degree to figure them out, or have a lot of patience). It has a 3.0L V6 that produces 349 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, an 8-speed Tiptronic transmission with the quattro all-wheel drive system. Edmunds claims that it will do 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds, and I believe it. It also has a sports exhaust resonator (did I mention it sounds great). The color is Navarra Blue, with a gray leather interior and a soft black top. Interestingly, the Z4, with its metal convertible roof, was much noisier on the road than the Audi with its insulated soft-top.
Carol Parkinson & Tom Lupica
2017 Mercedes Benz C300
I first fell in love with sports convertibles in the early ’60s. My first car was a Mustang GT convertible. After that, I moved to a ’76 Corvette, then an ’86 Corvette. Both cars were T-tops. My next sports car was a 2012 BMW 328i hard top convertible which I drove as a daily driver until trading it in for my current ride, a 2017 Mercedes Benz C300 Cabriolet with a rag top. The convertible top on this beauty takes only 20 seconds to retract and can be operated at speeds up to 31 mph! The C300 has a turbocharged 2.0-liter, a 4-cylinder powerplant that makes a respectable 241hp. The automatic transmission is 9-speed and delivers seamless shifting to the vehicle’s top speed of 130mph (which I have yet to verify personally!). The car weighs in at 3,957 lbs. And is a very comfortable touring car on top of its sporty looks.
Kathy & Ken Maher
2015 Mercedes Benz SL 400
The SL-class is a grand touring sports car manufactured since 1954. Initially, the first 300 SL was a racing sports car built in 1952 with no intention of developing a street version. In 1954, an American importer suggested the street version of the 300 SL for the wealthy performance car enthusiasts in the United States, where the market for personal luxury cars was booming. The rest, as they say, is history.
With each new version, it is the one car that seems to get better and better looking, with the older models just becoming classics in their own right.
We bought this car in 2016 after being an executive demo. Having had a 1987 SL 560 where it took a crane to lift off the hard top and a team of horses to put up the convertible top, being a hard top convertible, everything is done with the press of a button. We can say that the smile on Kathy’s face gets wider when the top goes down.
Rodney & Linda Pennington
2022 BMW M850i Convertible
Drives like a dream, especially when Linda is with me in the evening
Tom & Carol Rossi
2015 Alfa Romeo (4C) Spider
The 4C was launched in 2013 to be Alfa Romeo’s Halo car and was engineered to be a pure sports car in the most traditional sense. Light, fast and fun. The 4C weighs in at an unheard of 2,500 lbs. in North America (2,000 lbs. in Europe) and Alfa Romeo achieved the weight savings through exotic materials such as Carbon Fiber for the chassis and SMC panels for the body. The carbon-fiber tub which is the support structure for the whole car weighs less than 150 lbs. and is stronger than steel or aluminum. The Alfa Romeo 4C is fast, beautiful, handles amazingly well, and is probably the last sports car we will ever see that follows the formula of a traditional lightweight sports car where “less is always more”.
Tom & Carol Rossi
2015 Maserati Gran Turismo Sport
The Maserati Gran Turismo has beautiful and timeless Pininfarina styling along with the heart of a Ferrari derived engine, supple Italian leather throughout the cabin, and the deep yet melodic voice of its naturally aspirated V-8 engine exhaust is legendary. A very special car indeed.