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Nine cars we wish were convertibles

The snow has melted, the sun is shining, and the days are getting longer. At the Autoblog Detroit office we feel like our winter hibernation is finally over. And with warmer temperatures come visions of opening up a convertible roof and cruising. You know, just turn up the bass and let the Alpine blast. There are plenty of droptops on sale in the US, and more on the way (like the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata). That said, we always want more. More! More! More! In that spirit, we cooked up a list of nine cars aren't currently sold as convertible, but ought to be. Check out our picks, below. Summer's just around the corner. Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S In some parallel universe, this car actually happened. Toyota showed us a FT 86 Convertible concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 2013, and we immediately started licking our chops over the thought of a rear-wheel-drive convertible based on the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S twins. These days, the MX-5 Miata is our only option for affordable roadster fun. A competitor to the Mazda seems like a no-brainer to us, especially since we have naught but good to say about the BRZ/FR-S as-is. Unfortunately in our present timeline, this car is as likely for production as a BRZ STI. Which is to say, not very. Dang. Lexus RC F Unlike the FR-S, a convertible from Toyota's luxury division might actually see the light of day. The current IS convertible is about to be phased out, and the Lexus LF-C2 concept from the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show is really a thinly veiled look at a possible RC convertible. A droptop RC would be plenty good, but let's reach for the starts. What we really want is to run topless in an RC F, complete with that powerful, loud, 5.0-liter V8 engine. Lexus says the RC F is a true competitor to the BMW M4. If that's true, it only makes sense for Lexus to mimic the Germans and offer its performance coupe in a folding hardtop form. Maybach Landaulet Maybach is bach back, recast as an upper crust trim level for Mercedes-Benz. The Mercedes-Maybach S600 is seriously awesome, and more luxurious than a trip to the spa. But why not go a step into the truly ridiculous levels of extravagence and bring back that open-top Landaulet? We think your local princess will love this idea, and with better S-Class bones underneath, Jeeves will have a pretty enjoyable ship to steer, too. Besides, with that slick new Mercedes design language, a Landaulet redux wouldn't be nearly as hideous as the old model, pictured here.

Cadillac SRX production moving to TN, next-gen Equinox going to Mexico

It's a good week for the town of Spring Hill, TN, as General Motors has announced that its factory in the city of 31,000 will receive a $185 million contract to produce engines. On top of that, the next-generation Cadillac SRX crossover will be built at the factory (NA models are presently built in Ramos, Arizpe Mexico), which was once famous for being the home of GM's now-defunct Saturn brand.
The factory is one of GM's six facilities around the globe that will screw together the company's new line of three- and four-cylinder Ecotec engines. Spring Hill currently builds the 2.0-liter, turbocharged Ecotec, as well as the naturally aspirated 2.4 and 2.5-liter variants.
Spring Hill's vehicle assembly lines were idled in 2009, but were reactivated in 2011. The SRX is just one of the products meant to benefit from last year's $350-million investment, and should have a positive impact, creating or retaining around 1,800 positions at the factory.

Hotter Cadillac CT5-V could use the CTS-V's 6.2-liter V8

Cadillac is in the final stages of testing the high-performance variant of the CT5, prototypes are racking up miles all over the world, and a recent report sheds light on the engine screaming between its punched-out fenders. It's a V8, to no one's surprise, but it's not the twin-turbocharged, 4.2-liter unit many believed the sedan would use. Sources familiar with Cadillac's product plan told Car & Driver the hotter CT5 — whose name hasn't been revealed yet — will receive an updated version of the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that powered the mighty CTS-V. It developed 640 horsepower in the firm's last German-bashing super-sedan, though where engineers will peg the CT5's output remains to be seen. It will roast the rear tires through a paddle-shifted automatic transmission. The publication explained Cadillac chose the 6.2-liter because it's more compact than the 4.2-liter Blackwing engine it developed for the CT6. The former features a pushrod design, while the latter gets twin overhead cams that make it taller and wider. The CT5 is a new model, but its Alpha platform is older than Cadillac's newest V8. Cadillac hasn't announced what will power the flagship CT5. The model is tentatively due out in showrooms before the end of 2020, so we expect to learn more about it in the coming months. Seeing it in the metal for the first time during the 2020 Detroit Auto Show in June isn't entirely out of the question. What's next? If the report is accurate, the much-hyped Blackwing may end up being an orphan engine. It was developed specifically for the Cadillac brand, and inaugurated by the CT6-V that recently went out of production. The many rumors claiming General Motors will put the engine in other models to recoup its investment are falling like dominoes. It won't fit in the CT5, so there's no reason to believe it will end up in the smaller CT4; its flagship version will likely arrive with a twin-turbocharged, 3.6-liter V6 borrowed from the ATS-V. An earlier report claims the next-generation Escalade won't use the Blackwing, either, because making it fit would cost too much. Looking beyond Cadillac, the only General Motors-owned brand that could use the Blackwing is Chevrolet, since we can't imagine the GMC Yukon will get it if the Escalade doesn't. The Tahoe/Suburban duo is off the table, too.