Bring On The Affordable Green Sports Cars

WIRED - The hybrid revolution is well under way. Honda is rolling out the new Insight, the third-gen Prius is coming and even Ford's got a winner with the Fusion Hybrid. Nice cars one and all, but about as much fun as a root canal. Not one of them is something you'd back out of the garage on a Sunday morning to take for a quick blast up your favorite twisty road.

But don't worry. Affordable eco-conscious sports cars are coming, and soon.

We were impressed by the Prius, we love the Insight and we're thrilled to see Toyota rising to Honda's low-cost challenge with a Yaris-based hybrid. We're also eager to get behind the wheel of a Fusion hybrid. Cars like these are smart answers to thorny questions about fuel efficiency, oil dependence and CO2 emissions.

But they don't get the blood racing.

If automakers make green cars people want to drive as opposed to cars they think people should drive, everyone wins and the technology catches on that much faster. Tesla Motors gets it, but the Roadster runs 100 large. The Fisker Karma and electric Porsche that Ruf is working on won't be much cheaper. Make a green(er) car that's fun to drive, pleasant to look at and affordable and people will line up for them.

The auto industry is beginning to get this, and there are at least three cars - the Honda CR-Z hybrid, the Volkswagen BlueSport Roadster and the Toyota MR2 hybrid - poised to prove sports cars can be environmentally responsible and reasonably priced.

Of the three, only the CR-Z (main photo, above) is a sure-thing. Honda says we'll see the gas-electric two-seater - which beautifully updates the awesome CRX - in 2011. Word is it'll have a 140-horsepower motor mated to the IMA system found in the Insight and - importantly - a manual transmission. With a curb weight in the vicinity of 2,800 pounds coupled with a torquey electric motor and one of Honda's high-revving fours, how could it not be fun?

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