Buy/Drive/Burn: Luxury Convertibles From 2010

by Corey Lewis

December 31st, 2018 8:13 AM

buy drive burn luxury convertibles from 2010

Three luxurious convertibles of six-cylinder and rear-drive persuasion. Which one is worth over 40,000 of your hard-earned dollars?

Infiniti G37

Infiniti followed up its very popular third-generation G sedan and coupe with a fourth version in 2007. The car was larger, the engine was larger, and new corporate styling modernized its appearance over the old model. The two-style lineup was expanded for 2009, when Infiniti introduced its first convertible since the Leopard-based M30 of 1990. Convertible G37s were all prepared the same way in 2010: 3.7-liter VQ V6 up front, 325 horsepower to the rear wheels, and no all-wheel drive option. We forego the manual transmission today, opting instead for the seven-speed automatic. $44,350.

Mercedes-Benz SLK300

Mercedes introduced its SLK model in 1996, whereupon it was quickly ignored by most every car enthusiast. Things got sharper when the second generation debuted for 2004. It was larger, more serious, more safe, and sported a nose mimicking the AMG SLR supercar. The new SLK maintained its basic initial characteristics of being a two-seat, metal-roof cabriolet. For our money, we’re in the base model SLK300 in its last year of production. The 3.0-liter V6 produces 228 horsepower, transferred to the rear wheels through the seven-speed G-TRONIC. $46,900.

Lexus IS 350C

Lexus debuted its new sub-ES model as the IS back in 1998. A badge job on a Japanese-market Toyota Altezza, it found fans among tuners and stance bro types alike. Lexus fixed their delight in 2006 with a second generation that was not JDM in any way. Gone were the inline-six Supra engines and sports wagon options. In their place was a single sedan, with an inline-four or V6 mill. In 2010 Lexus expanded the lineup to include a convertible, with engine options of 2.5 or 3.5 liters of displacement. The more expensive 350C is today’s choice. With a Lexus-exclusive V6 (in North America), 306 horsepower travel to the rear via the six-speed automatic. $44,890.

Which tin top convertible gets your money?

[Images: Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Infiniti]

#Buy/Drive/Burn #Cabriolets #Convertibles #Coupes #Germany #Imports #Infiniti #InfinitiG37 #Japan #Lexus #UsedCars #Mercedes-Benz #NewCars #LuxuryCars #LexusIS #NewsBlog #Mercedes-benzSlk

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5 of 29 comments

Lightspeed on Jan 01, 2019

Buy them all, don't drive any of them. put them in a barn because they're all going to be worth a lot of coin one day. Burn the barn.

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JimC2 on Jan 01, 2019

No love for the oft-forgotten Solara, which was out of production by 2010 and never a luxury car during any of its production.

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- Random1 on Jan 02, 2019
  
  If we're talking non-luxury: I had a base EOS for 10 years. 200hp, decent enough pep, manual, power hardtop. Seated 4 comfortably. I only added an aftermarket Pioneer stereo. I looked at basically all the convertibles on the market, the two-seaters were ruled out immediately, and found it really hard to justify paying more than I did for the base EOS. I believe the msrp was around $27k, or maybe that's what I paid? Was a long time ago...
  
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- JimC2 on Jan 02, 2019
  
  @random1 You know, the true 4 seater convertible market is a pretty small segment and most of the customers are outliers. Honestly, I'd forgotten about the Eos convertible until you mentioned it just now. Similarly, I'm pretty sure a lot of the TTAC B&B has forgotten about the Solara convertible. I think most of the convertible market is satisfied by a 2+2, with a tiny trunk, that are a second or even third car in the household- when they need more seats or a real trunk then they already have a primary vehicle to use for that. I bet your base Eos came with 16" wheels instead of 17-18-19 or worse. That's another benefit to the base model and something I enjoy every time I have to buy new tires, and of that matter every time I hit a sharp bump. Glad you enjoyed your car for so long!
  
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- JimC2 on Jan 02, 2019
  
  @random1 "Glad you enjoyed your car for so long!" I meant to correct that to read, I'm glad you enjoyed your outlier car for so long!
  
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