[highteknology]

you could also look at the Nissan 350Z Roadster. it's a little more pricey, around the 40 grand mark. but it does have the "tiptronic" shift mode. Obiviously it comes with the automatic tranny, which consequently is 5-speed, where as the manual mode comes in a 6-speed.

or take a look at the Pontiac G6 convertible. it is a hard top convertible and the roof retracks into the trunk of the vehicle. i believe that the G6 comes only in the auto/tiptronic mode (probably a 5-speed as well). these are pretty nice looking cars. My sister and I had the chance to look at one the other day. they have some nice lines. you could probably pick one up for about 32,000. the BIGGEST drawback to this car though is that when the the top is down it severly minimizes trunk space. With the top up the trunk area is about 6 cubic feet. When the top is in there it is reduced to only about 2 cubic feet. i don't know how valueable trunk space is to you but that is something to consider.

thirdly i would consider the Audi TT roadster. a little more on the pricey side, probably pick one up around 35,000. Of course this is a convertible as well. you can get two differnt kinds of shift possibilities with this car. One is the "tiptronic" kind. The other is a paddle shift mode. I think that would be sort of cool. the car is a little bit on the small side though.

finally you could consider the Volvo C70. It is a hardtop convertible like the Pontiac G6. This car is a little more, about 40,000. It has the "geartronic" shift and it has a turbo engine. don't know how much that plays into it but thought i'd throw it out there. The thing about this car, like the G6, is that the roof folds into the trunk. It looks cool but i'm not quite sure how much room it takes up. As usual, you get the Volvo name and safety that goes along with the cars.

hopefully this will help you out a little bit. these are some of the cars i would consider, along with the Eclipse GT and Solstice (or you could look at the Saturn Sky Redline)