Lotus Elise Sports Vehicle

If your idea of a sports car is a car with 2-doors, RWD, a manual transmission and telekinetic handling all wrapped up in a curvaceous, sexy body, look no further than the Lotus Elise. Since it came to life in 1995, it has been the bench mark for a “driver's car.” This car provides the grip, poise, and performance of cars 4 times more expensive. Handling has always been the forte of Lotus, but reliability wasn't. That fear is in the past, thanks to a Toyota-sourced 1.8L engine producing a healthy 190hp. Yes you have to rev the hell out of it, and it won't win the Texas Mile, but this car is neither for idling around town or doing high speed highway runs. Canyons, road courses, Auto X; these places are the Elise's natural habitat.

The MSRP on an Elise if $47,250, and for that money you get a lot. Here's a few of the names that will be on your spec sheet; Brembo, AP, Eibach, Bilstein and Advan. Those names some of the best in the business when it comes to making cars stop, turn and stick. It's no wonder these cars feel like they have tires made out of Gorilla Glue. With that MSRP, we had very little room for options, so we went with what we felt would heighten the driving experience even more; the LSD. Let's face it, if you buy an Elise, even with an unlimited budget you won't be building a comfortable coupe that bathes you in serenity and gadgets. It's a car, and nothing more. It will have a heater fan, if you're lucky. This is a bare-bones car meant for one thing; driving. The LSD ($1,790) just makes the car do its thing a little bit better. For $49,000 you won't find anything with the looks of an exotic and the handling to match.

The Mini Cooper Sports Vehicle

The Mini Cooper is one of the best cars available today. Sure it's FWD and half the size of Oprah's thigh, but it does so many things so well it is far more than a simple sub-compact. For over 50 years the Mini has combined cute looks with great handling, a pint-sized exterior and a cavernous interior. It can take 4 people-with luggage-on a road trip yet manage to park in spots deemed too tiny for a Honda Civic. And it does all of that while having more charm than almost anything on the road. They also drive like a mini bat-out-of-hell. To reach our price point we had to pull out all the stops and go for the Cooper S JCW Edition. “Aw gee, you mean I have to order the best Mini they make? Rats.”

Starting at $28,800 the JCW Mini has a supercharged inline-4 making 208hp/193ft lbs., sling-shotting this pebble to 60mph in 6.2 seconds. With serious suspension, brake, and TC tweaks, the JCW Edition is the ultimate Mini. A Mini Cooper S turned up to 12. The ability to customize your Mini is something BMW promoted from day 1, and they still have it down in spades. What material would you like around your gauges? How about the dash, mirrors, roof, or steering wheel? What color would you like the air in the tires to be? The choices seem endless.

By adding on $17,000 worth of options (Bluetooth, red leather, NAV, stereo, carbon fiber, etc, etc etc.) we turned it into a comfortable, stylish, 100% personalized Mini that would lead the pack in any FWD hatch shootout, and give plenty of “sports cars” a serious fight on your favorite set of twisties.