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 What happened to the roll hoops? This is the all-new 2009 Mini Cooper convertible. Here's what BMW, the car's maker, has to say about it: "Evolutionary development of the car's design ... cues clearly link the new convertible to the Mini family." Which is PR-speak for not having changed things very much. Except that a rollover protection bar has been cleverly concealed behind the rear seats and will pop up when the onboard computer senses things going seriously awry.
The car also has an "Openometer" that records time spent traveling with the electrohydraulically actuated top down. Thank goodness, as it's always a worry that manufacturers might start adding useless things to successive generations. Of slightly more importance is the engine. It's a 1.6-liter four that kicks out 118 horsepower in the basic Cooper (up from 115) and uses a turbocharger in the Cooper S version to produce 172 hp (up from 168).
Whereas more power and a tidier rear might be the good news, the price is something else. The Cooper version starts at $24,550 and the Cooper S at $27,450 (both figures include $650 destination and handling charges). Compare that with $19,837 and $22,942 respectively. Then again, the new model is stronger yet lighter (by 22 pounds) and has a little more cargo space. And aren't those wheels cool?
-- Colin Ryan
Photos: BMW/Mini
 A few days ago, Nissan blew more dark clouds over the industry by announcing that it would not be participating in Detroit's North American International Auto Show or in the Chicago Auto Show. Lacking any new models to unveil, it argued, it would instead bow out and save some money in these tough times, credit crunch, economic uncertainty, headwinds, etc., etc., etc.
This generated a huge amount of press. Far more than the collective bailing on Detroit by Ferrari, Suzuki, Rolls-Royce, Land Rover and Mitsubishi, the decision by one of the world's largest automakers to ditch two of the nation's four largest shows (the others being L.A. and New York) was big news.
Not so fast. This evening Nissan announced that, although it was still staying away from Detroit, it would participate in the Chicago show in February after all. There is a catch, however. Nissan isn't paying the full freight. Its dealers are picking up the cost of staffing the company's display.
"After a careful review of (the decision to withdraw) with our North Central Region management and our Chicago dealers, we have found a way to maintain a presence at the Chicago show through our dealers, while still demonstrating the fiscal responsibility required by these challenging times," said Nissan spokesman Alan J. Buddendeck in a statement.
It's a nifty trick. Get your sales-starved dealers, desperate for promotions, to foot part of the bill for an extremely spendy event. In fact, Chrysler pulled it off at the L.A. Auto Show, on now, by having its dealers pay for its booth entirely.
(A Chrysler spokesman said that's standard practice, but other car makers disagreed. And the fact that Chrysler's display has no additional overhead lighting, the only such stand at the entire show, speaks to the exceptional nature of the arrangement.)
So if three is a trend, the question is, with Chrysler and Nissan on the bandwagon, who's next to pass at least part of the buck to their franchise-owning car salesmen pals? General Motors, anyone?
--Ken Bensinger
Photo of Renault-Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn by Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times
It's nice when the hometown auto show occasions the global debut of a new car, nicer still when that car is the stuff of fanboy legend. A few days before last week's L.A. Auto Show -- when the redesigned 2009 Nissan 370Z was still squirreled away under the silk sheets somewhere -- we got a hold of the car for a few days of testing and flogging.
The review will appear Dec. 5 in the dead tree edition, but here's the early juice: The car gains some much needed horsepower (now to 332 hp out of Nissan's evergreen V6 engine). The new Z is lighter and stiffer. The clunky crossbar brace in back is gone. The styling is more aggressive and flamboyant. And the car's six-speed manual offers a fantastic new feature that blips the throttle heel-and-toe style when you downshift. There are a lot of sequential gearboxes and automatics that do this, but this is the first gated shifter so equipped. Now I can wear my Allen Edmonds.
In the video we take the car to visit members of its core audience, the techs at FastAuto Works tuner shop in Arcadia. Check it out.
-- Dan Neil
 Take that, $9,990 Nissan Versa 1.6. Hyundai has made its 2009 Accent the cheapest new car on sale in America by lopping $1,100 from its MSRP, so the numbers on the screen now read $9,970. This price applies to the three-door GS model with a five-speed manual transmission.
For that kind of money, we’re still talking about a 110-horsepower, 1.6-liter engine, 27/33 mpg (city/highway), power steering and a full complement of airbags. Hyundai also has a good warranty, and serial surveyor J.D. Power & Associates declared the Accent the most dependable subcompact in its 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study.
Just a little small print on the Accent: Freight charges are an extra $695, there’s no radio as standard, plus -- of particular importance to Southern California residents -- air conditioning is an additional $1,600. Oh, and ABS brakes aren’t even on the options list for the GS. The Nissan Versa also requires $695 for freight and has a similarly sparse standard equipment list (“simplified content” is Nissan’s euphemism) -- no radio or A/C. And the Versa offers an option for ABS but not for an auto gearbox.
Still, competition and free-market forces, it’s what America’s all about.
-- Colin Ryan
Photo: Hyundai
 The L.A. Auto Show runs through Thanksgiving weekend, which seems appropriate, because there is a lot of turkey on the show’s menu. From Honda’s hydrogen-powered hypercar -- a guess that’s tofurkey, of a sort -- to a huge, steroid infused, poultry-yellow Rolls-Royce that is lacking only a wattle, the show’s collection of large, flightless birds is certainly worth a, um, gander.
I know, I know. You’re stuffed. You’ve loosened your belt, maybe even undone your trousers … ahhh. But perhaps there’s room for one … more … tiny …morsel?
>>Click here for the complete list: Top 10 turkeys of the L.A. Auto Show. After-dinner chit-chat can commence in the comments section.
-- Dan Neil
Photo: Honda's tofurkey, er, FC Sport concept. Credit: Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images
It’s easy to tell how fast we’re driving. We just check the speedo, notice the rest of the traffic reversing toward us and press the throttle a little further. We might even make a game of it -- see if we can take that familiar corner 5 mph faster. But how do we know when we’re driving in a conservative manner? Two car companies, Ford and Honda, have their own solutions.
Ford -- EcoGuide rewards with green leaves
The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid (and its upscale Mercury Milan Hybrid sibling) has the so-called SmartGauge with EcoGuide. It’s an instrument cluster, Jim, but not as we know it. On either side of the good ol’ analog speedo is a liquid crystal display screen, one of them with the image of green leaves. As the driver becomes more gentle with his or her inputs, the leaves grow plentiful, almost as if Mother Nature herself is showing appreciation for being so considerate.
Because this virtual vegetation can be picked up in the driver’s peripheral vision, attention need not be diverted from the road. At journey’s end, the gauge displays the trip’s stats -- miles covered, fuel used, etc. It may also display the driver’s long-term green driving habits.
Honda -- Eco Assist uses "red light-green light" approach
 Honda’s contribution comes in its new Insight hybrid. This driver feedback feature goes under the clumsy moniker of “Ecological Drive Assist System” but is thankfully shortened to Eco Assist. It works like this. The background color of the speedo changes to reflect how wasteful or otherwise the driver is being at that moment. Fuel-saving practices like smooth acceleration and braking make the dial glow, predictably, green. Somewhat less efficient driving makes the meter glow blue-green, while gas-guzzling aggressive starts and stops elicit a fully blue hue.
An economy scoring function provides extra information on current driving techniques, as well as feedback on long-term driving style. Coincidentally, the Honda system also has a green leaves graphic. When the ignition switch is turned off, the leaves in the top line of the display give a driving score for the just-completed cycle (startup to shutdown); a horizontal bar in the lower part of the display scores cumulative lifetime performance.
So that game of going faster seems to be turning into one of being greener. Both cars go on sale next spring, when the real leaves come out.
-- Colin Ryan
Video: Ford
Photo: Honda
 [Update: read the review of the Lexus IS 250C and 350C here.]
Ah, the cliches of Paris in October. Cool air, warm baguettes, hot espressos. What better way to enjoy all the niceties of a French automne then driving down the Champs-Elysees … in your Japanese hardtop convertible?
Well, it made sense to Lexus, who chose October’s Paris Auto Show to introduce the world to its new drop-top, the IS 250C and IS 350C. Why it didn’t wait for an auto show in a warmer, more appropriate clime is a little vague. Maybe company officials like France's crepes more than our huevos rancheros. Regardless, we North Americans had to wait another month before Lexus debuted its latest convertible to our continent at the L.A. Auto Show.
Continue reading L.A. Auto Show: The Lexus IS; first rabid, now topless »
Saab is one of the world’s most charismatic brands and has the potential to be a huge hit for GM in the U.S. It's the four-wheeled delivery system for Euro chic, minimalistic style, green consciousness, all that good stuff.
It’s just too bad that the Trollhattan, Sweden-based firm is being starved of development dollars -– or krona –- and is actually on the block due to GM’s current cash worries. It doesn't help that Saab sales are down 31% for the first 10 months of 2008.
As a Saab fan, I feel the loss most keenly when I look at the Saab 9X Air BioHybrid Concept, the glitzy show-car version of a B-platform Saab 9-1 (Around the size of a BMW 1-series). The BioHybrid powertrain -– that is, a dual-mode gas-electric with flex-fuel capacity –- is already in GM’s pipeline. But the likelihood that the 9-1 will get built is small, and the possibility that it might include this gorgeous, hard-to-build canopy top is slim-to-none. But ooftah, is that cool.
-- Dan Neil
From the dawn of the hybrid age –- figure 2003, when the second-generation Toyota Prius appeared –- naysayers played the “hybrid premium” parlor game: Comparing the difference between the price of a hybrid vehicle and a conventionally powered model and calculating how long before you would recoup in fuel savings what you laid out for the fancy hybrid powertrain.
The coming-soon Honda Insight puts an end to all that. Priced perhaps “significantly below” a Civic Hybrid ($23,550) says a company spokesman, the Insight pretty much zeroes out the hybrid premium and returns combined fuel economy of about 45 mpg. Honda calls it a five-door – sure, whatever – and no, you’re eyes do not deceive you. It looks a lot like a Prius.
Also borrowed from the Toyota was the notion of a real-time feedback mechanism that encourages drivers to drive more efficiently. Honda’s Eco Assist instrument display glows a warm, chlorophyll-like green when drivers are driving efficiently. But during hard acceleration and braking (less efficient) the instrument backlight changes to blue. How sad.
-- Dan Neil
I confess, I have never watched a single full episode of "Seinfeld," and the snippets here and there I have seen left me in stony, un-amused silence. It’s just one of those things. I’m sure there are people who don’t think “The Simpsons” are funny. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Jerry Seinfeld himself, however, has my admiration as a serious car guy. In April, for example, the comedian was bashing around the Hamptons in his lovely ’67 Fiat BTM coupe when the brakes failed. Seinfeld was obliged to go for the ripcord – the handbrake – and rolled the car. He emerged from the accident shaken but unhurt. Cool.
For the intro of the 2009 Porsche Boxster and Cayman at the L.A. Auto Show, Seinfeld lent his beautiful blue-white 550 Spyder, seen below the jump. I was thus inspired to do my Seinfeld impersonation. Very sorry.
-- Dan Neil
Continue reading L.A. Auto Show: Seinfeld’s Porsche and Dan’s Seinfeld »
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What happened to the roll hoops? This is the all-new 2009 Mini Cooper convertible. Here's what BMW, the car's maker, has to say about it: "Evolutionary development of the car's design ... cues clearly link the new convertible to the Mini family." Which is PR-speak for not having changed things very much. Except that a rollover protection bar has been cleverly concealed behind the rear seats and will pop up when the onboard computer senses things going seriously awry.
