A new year, a new round of concepts and production previews are heading our way. On display at this years North American International Auto Show (NAIAS henceforth) will be everything from a $100,000 Corvette supercar to the first production fuel cell vehicle, the Honda FCX (I still say it looks like a Prius) to a new Hummer. I can’t wait.

Although at this moment, the most glaring issue I see is where are all the budget fun cars? I want another Mark II Golf or Plymouth Roadrunner. A cheap but insanely fun vehicle that is little more than an engine, a body, decent handling and nothing fancier than ABS and FI. I want a car I can buy for $10k-$15k that’s as bone stock as possible but with a potentially massive aftermarket so you could build it into whatever you wanted: weekend racer to lowered and flared cruiser.

I can’t remember the last supercheap car to be built that was actually entertaining right out of the box. What we are getting pushed these days are performance cars edging closer and closer to $30k just for a starter good time, and frugal but not exactly exhilarating hybrids and alternative fuel cars.

I beg you, Detroit, Asia, Europe, anyone, please, give me a sub 3000lbs high-revving 4 banger that I can thrash and bash and simply enjoy the thrill of driving itself without selling an organ to get there.

For now I will simply ogle the awesome new cars to be shown at Detroit and console my wallet as best I can as we drool over the new Camaro (btw, Chevy, GET IT OUT THE @#%$ DOOR!, thank you).