2008 Chicago Auto Show: YES! 3.2 Roadster

What it Is YES! 3.2 Roadster Preview – 2008 Chicago Auto Show: The YES! 3.2 Roadster is high-performance sports car from the German company Funke & Will. The 3.2 part of the name comes from the displacement of the V-6 engine. The all-caps exclamatory part is supposed to create EXCITEMENT! At least that’s our take on it. SO THERE! OK, we’re calm again. Seriously, the 3.2 is the latest generation of the car, and the first bound for U.S. shores. There’s also a 3.2 Turbo version, which ups the horsepower to 355 from the 255 in the regular flavor. All that output rides in a car that weighs about 2,000 pounds.Why it Matters Europeans have access to several high-performance cars that never make it across the big pond. Usually there’s an issue smog or crash standards or lack of the big money needed to get a dealer network going. Funke & Will says this all going to happen this year, but we’ll wait and see. Still, a ridiculously FAST! two-seat sports car will always be an enticing vehicle. Even if we can’t afford it AND NEVER WILL! What’s Under the Hood The YES! 3.2 Roadster is powered by a 3.2-liter, V-6 engine, puts out 255 horsepower and 243 lb.-ft. of torque, and makes the trip to 60 mph in less than five seconds. The 3.2 Turbo raises the output to 355 horsepower and 358 lb.-ft. of torque, which cuts the time to 60 mph by a second. The company says there’s an option that will raise the turbocharged engine’s horsepower to 415. In the word of basketball broadcaster Marv Albert: YES! What It Looks Like PORSCHE! LAMBO! Uh, sort of like a modernized 550 Spyder married with sides of a Murciélago. It’s not a very pretty car, but light weight and high power make up for a lot. A no-frills design graces the interior, reinforcing the idea that the 3.2 Roadster is ALL! business. What We Think The fickle nature of car buyers has bitten large, well-known companies. Ask Mitsubishi about the 3000 GT or Nissan about the 300 ZX or Mazda about the RX-7 FD. All of those $30,000, two-seaters were predicted by one magazine to be the certain death of the Porsche 911. Didn’t work out that way. All kidding aside about the capital letters and the exclamation point, the YES! has the right numbers in the right places: high on horsepower and low in weight. The mark of punctuation that could be an issue für Funke und Will is the question mark: Is there enough room in the market for another high-end sports car? Especially from a company few in the States have heard of.