1997 Toyota Supra

Here's a car that represents one of the more remarkable automotive metamorphoses in recent memory. Over the course of its first three renewals, the Toyota Supra evolved as an increasingly overstuffed, over-weight personal luxury car. Though it was portrayed as a high-performance sport coupe, its true character fell more into the realm of rolling hedonism. That era ended decisively in January 1993 when Toyota rolled out the current Supra, an automobile that turned its back on its own pudgy past and be-came a real sports car -taut, aggressive, competent and lighter than its predecessor. Although the Supra still has a respectable range of luxury-car features, it emphasizes sports-car virtues that include decisive handling, exceptional braking and plenty of smooth power. As a result, the Supra takes its place with the best sports cars of our time: the Mazda RX-7, Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan 300ZX and Porsche 911. Unchanged for 1995, the Supra comes in two basic editions, Turbo and non-Turbo, and both offer motoring alfresco if you order the optional removable roof panel. We went with the base model, which boasted impressive standard equipment such as anti-lock brakes (ABS), air conditioning, power mirrors and locks and cruise control. Total cost: $37,757.