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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.

McLaren F1 team sets deadline for engine decision amid Renault speculation

BUDAPEST - McLaren says the next five weeks will be the key to deciding which engine it will use next season, with speculation mounting that the former world champions could ditch Honda and switch to Renault. Chief operating officer Jonathan Neale told Reuters at the Hungarian Grand Prix that "everybody is talking to everybody," but time was running out. "We've got to land those decisions in the next four or five weeks," he said, speaking from a design perspective and because drivers like McLaren's Fernando Alonso were waiting to see what engines teams had before committing to new deals. "I think there is a solution out there for everybody and I hope it's one that will be able to retain Fernando in this team." McLaren scored their first double-points finish of the season in Budapest on Sunday with double world champion Alonso finishing sixth, a day after his 36th birthday, and Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne 10th. The nine points lifted McLaren off the bottom of the standings just before the August break and factory shutdown, a result that Neale compared to scoring a goal before halftime. Alonso's future is a key concern, with the Spaniard out of contract and saying McLaren needs to provide a competitive car to keep him. Honda's power unit has been beset with problems since the partnership started in 2015, the engine neither reliable nor competitive. Hungary, the slowest permanent circuit on the calendar, reduced those shortcomings, but the next two races in Belgium and Italy are two of the fastest, where engine horsepower is of critical importance. McLaren is Honda's sole team in Formula One. A proposed partnership with Sauber terminated last week with the Swiss team choosing to stay with Ferrari. A split from McLaren could force the Japanese manufacturer out of the sport, but Neale hinted at an alternative. "You'll have seen the media speculation that there's discussions with Toro Rosso," he said. Toro Rosso use Renault engines, but a switch to Honda — which could bring welcome funding to a team whose Red Bull parent has considered a sale in the past — would free the French units for McLaren. The Renault engine has won a race this season with Red Bull and could satisfy Alonso, who won both his titles with the French manufacturer. The other alternatives to Honda are Mercedes and Ferrari, but Neale recognized that putting a Ferrari engine in a McLaren, the Italian team's historic arch-rivals, was highly unlikely.

10 automakers shack up in Detroit hotel to talk Takata airbags

Since Takata has decided not to take the lead concerning potential issues with its airbag inflators, the automakers have. Perhaps that's unsurprising, since it's the automakers, not Takata, that will take a beating on the dealership floor if consumers decide its models are a health hazards. The Detroit News reports that Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru met in a hotel conference room near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week to sort out a way to understand the technical issues involved. So far, faulty airbag inflators have been ruled the cause of five deaths and 50 injuries around the world, but neither Takata nor investigators understands exactly why the inflators are malfunctioning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Takata to issue a national recall, Takata declined, citing a minuscule failure rate and the fact that it's still investigating the issue. Toyota and Honda then made an industry-wide appeal for "a coordinated, comprehensive testing program" that would pinpoint the problem inflators and get them replaced, and that's what the Detroit meeting was about. Numerous issues, however, will make this a long row to hoe: simply getting the parts to replace the nearly 20 million inflators in cars recalled around the world so far - even working with other suppliers - will take a years, but more importantly, no one knows if the replacement inflators currently being installed will suffer the same issue. Answers will hopefully come quickly with Takata, the ten automakers and NHTSA all independently investigating the problem.