Spring Season Is Open; Should We Care About Artura Spider, GranCabrio, or Roadster 2.0? No

While the Tesla Roadster 2.0 might seem like the most extreme example in the title, the reality is that Rolls-Royce's Arcadia Droptail easily outweighs it both in terms of luxury and pricing.

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I don't know if there's something in the air – like a spring aroma – but the final week of February was definitely not about the usual stuff: crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks. Instead, the lackluster 2024 Geneva Motor Show brought us the one supermini a lot of people would probably buy if available in America: the chic and technically capable Renault 5 E-Tech. Remember, the original was sold in the United States and Canada as 'Le Car,' a name that's still fitting even today.

But I'm not here to talk about this cheap EV (again) or the ongoing Chinese invasion across the Old Continent – the all-new MG3 is a supermini model that doesn't look too good but has the first instance of the British company's (under Chinese tutelage) Hybrid+ technology. This conventional hybrid system mates a small 1.5-liter Atkinson gasoline engine with a stronger electric motor and offers a combined system output of no less than 191 horsepower. Those Brits are clearly horsing around.

Anyway, back across the big pond – aka the Atlantic Ocean – I want to completely ignore that BYD's Seal U DM-i has an odd name and the fact that the Chinese brand was the other major automaker at GIMS alongside Renault and Dacia. So, for all the fans of expensive and potentially flawed exotic sports cars, the new McLaren Artura Spider also debuted this past week as a rival that probably won't hold a candle to Ferrari's twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid supercar, the incredible 296 GTB. Oh, sorry, I meant 296 GTS, of course (wink, wink). America is also getting a quirky local manufacturing first – the 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV, while hard to write, is the first production plug-in EV and hydrogen-powered passenger car made in the US of A.

Interestingly, this wasn't the first and only exotic announcement this week. Instead, if you were feeling at a loss because Elon Musk hasn't made a rant about a Tesla vehicle in ages, the big kahuna came back to X, or Twitter, or whatever it's called in the next months, and announced that at long last, the second-generation dedicated electric sports car they first talked about in 2014 as the Tesla Model R, then suggested in 2015, reconfirmed as the second-generation Roadster in 2016, and surprisingly shown at the end of the Tesla Semi event in 2017, is coming for the grand unveiling later this year.

Dubbed as the "most mind-blowing" product of all time, the Tesla Roadster 2.0 is not only touted as another crazy idea, but it's potentially the first attempt at teleportation in the real world because Elon Musk hinted it could do zero to 60 mph (96 kph) in less than one second. Mind you, I am kidding about the teleportation stuff, but prepare to work out intensely if you want to achieve these acceleration times because the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 (1,025 horsepower on E85), a dedicated OEM drag racing machine, is capable of exceeding twice the gravitational pull of planet Earth during straight-line acceleration when allegedly hitting the 60 mph mark in just 1.66 seconds!

Frankly, I think there's a chance that Maserati's new GranTurismo brother – the 2024 open-top GranCabrio – sells better than Tesla's Model Y global champion before the Roadster 2.0 hits the milestone, but that's just me; you can feel free to contradict me in the comments section, and I promise I won't be stingy about it. In fact, can anyone imagine the sight of a Rimac Nevera versus Tesla Roadster 2.0 at the local quarter-mile dragstrip? Beyond that, I really don't think there is a need to drop an arm and a leg for a McLaren Artura Spider, Tesla Roadster 2.0, or a Maserati GranCabrio.

The stark reality is that folks can still eclipse your British, American, or Italian drop-top when trying to enjoy the breeze in your hair – Rolls-Royce just revealed the latest $30+ million one-off, the third of the Droptail series, dubbed Arcadia. It's opulence on top of excessiveness disguised as automotive art – but since someone is paying to be built, why the heck not? Of course, it goes to show a lot of the things that are wrong with human society nowadays – most of us only dream of owning an Artura Spider, GranCabrio, or Roadster 2.0, and then here's someone who's paying ten Bugatti Chirons for just one car. Ahem, there's a lot of equality around planet Earth. But you know what? I could not care less about the Arcadia Droptail and the fact that someone had such 'pocket money' to satisfy a whim.

This is all because Jeep recently presented the one (or two) models to rule them all – the Beach versions of the 2024 Wrangler SUV and Gladiator pickup truck, both ready to daze and amaze the crowds at the upcoming gathering in Daytona Beach. The upgrades – body-colored hardtop, decals, Sunrider fliptop, or Mopar Katzkin leather seats, and more – are less important than the potential feeling of joy and happiness when you go to the beach after a hard day's work in your upcoming Wrangler or Gladiator Beach special editions. Just two things annoy me – one is the price: the Wrangler 4xe Beach costs $60,395 sans destination ($1,895), while the non-plug-in hybrid Gladiator is $50,495, also without the fees. Secondly, there are only 500 SUVs and even fewer trucks up for grabs.