Aside from fast Ferrari’s, the high performance retailer, the Collection also handles sales duty for the German sports car maker Porsche. They did have a low slung Cayenne Transsyberia and a few Boxsters on display, but all eyes were on the new four door sports car that made its world debut back in Frankfurt, the Panamera. Starting at just under $90,000 for a 400 HP direct injected V8 powered Panamera S complete with Porsche’s new PDK gearbox, these cars will be on sale sometime soon next year, but the best part of all is that the 520 HP turbocharged super sedan will also show up in showrooms at the same time, we can’t wait.
Our friends at South Florida’s premier exotic car dealership, The Collection, brought out a trio of Ferrari’s finest to the 2009 Miami Auto Show. The headliners were the smaller of Maranello’s offerings, we saw the new retractable hard top California back at their Coral Gables showroom back in April, but any time you see a set of carbon fiber side mirrors, like those on an F-430 Scuderia, it is always a stunning sight to see. Hiding out in the back of the Ferrari part of the super car retailer’s display was their current flagship model, the front engine V12 grand touring 599 GTB Fiorano. Despite almost a million dollars worth of Italian speed machines, much of the interest was on the upcoming 458 Italia mid engine sports car that will eventually replace the discreet, non striped, Scuderia.
Mitsubishi brought their wingless wonder, the Lancer Evolution MR Touring to the Miami Auto show. This more discreet EVO X is a more upscale trend then we are used to from the Japanese budget super car maker, traditionally they would offer stripped down lightweight versions, where the large box shaped aerofoil is ditched for weight reduction reasons along with a radio and sound deadening. However as the Playstation generation grows up and gets jobs, heavily bolstered leather wrapped Recaro racing buckets await the driver as well as Mitsubishi’s new SST six speed sequential manual gearbox to go along with a more reserved EVO that can now hopefully fly under the radar, that is the blingtastic mirror covers don’t set off any alarms.
The English automaker Aston Martin showed off their familiar DBS Volante, a model that we have seen earlier on this year. Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s Director of Design, was kind enough to tell us a little bit about the new car earlier on when they made the $300,000 V12 powered drop top’s exclusive debut and even elaborated on the Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece that completes the 007 experience. Also in attendance were a pair of V8 Vantage hard top and roadster models, showing the hand crafted super car maker’s game plan of offering two distinct automobiles as opposed to a compromised hard top convertible.
When the blue oval’s high performance engineers were given the option of either producing another tire shredding SVT Lightning or something completely different, they opted for plan b. Instead of a supercharged work truck that can blow the doors off of most sports cars in a straight line, the SVT group chose to build an off road version of the F-150 that would be competitive in the Baja 1000 right out of the showroom, and actually ended up earning a spot on the podium. Now Texans know a thing or two about pick up trucks, with their starry skies and wide open spaces residents of America’s third coast get plenty out of their pick up trucks. So it was quite an honor when the Texas Auto Writers Association named the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor as their 2009 Truck of Texas. This marks the seventh consecutive time that a Ford F-Series pick up truck has won the award from TAWA.
Ford Motor Company’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields was particularly pleased when he heard the good news. “Winning the Truck of Texas is a distinct honor… Texans know their trucks, and this award is further proof of why the F-Series remains America’s number-one selling pickup. We built F-150 SVT Raptor for truck enthusiasts. And we’re gratified it’s gaining recognition for both its unequaled off-road performance and confidence-inspiring on-road demeanor." The Raptor combines extreme off road capabilities with an aggressive on road package that should only get better in 2010 when Ford puts the more powerful 6.2 Liter V8 version on sale at the beginning of next year.
Recently Bob Lutz, General Motors Vice Chairman, issued a challenge to the world in which he hopes to prove that the Cadillac CTS-V is hands down the fastest four door sports car on the market today. Mr. Lutz is inviting all comers with a stock production sedan to challenge the chairman’s best lap time around the Monticello Motor Club’s race track on October 29. If you are intersted in taking on the 556 HP CTS-V in your own fast four door then follow the link below.
In celebration of their new four door sports car, Porsche has released a new commercial that retells the tale about how Ferry Porsche couldn’t find a new ca that he liked so he got to work on the original 356. The television advertisement traces the new car’s heritage all the way back to the VW inspired sports car and reminds us of a few of the models that made Porsche such a dominant force in motor racing like the silver Porsche RSK spider, the classic 917 Le Mans competitor wearing full orang and blue Gulf livery and modern day sports cars like the hard core 911 GT3 RS and Carrera GT super car giving us a good look at the new Panamera’s family tree.
Both the Alpina B7 and the Mercedes Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series are high performance luxury vehicles that will run you well over $100,000; however they are both beasts of very different natures. The Alpina B7 is an over the top replacement for BMW’s lack of a factory tuned 7 Series, and thanks to the high end tuners at Alpina the supercharged luxury limousine has as much grunt under the hood as there are luxuries on the inside. Although the B7 will light up the rear tires on command, the Black Series Benz is the true sports car of the two. Whereas the Alpina seats up to five occupants comfortably, the F1 Safety Car inspired CLK only has room for two, and thanks to one of the German automaker’s high performance 6.2 Liter V8 and razor sharp handling makes the Mercedes the ride of choice for enthusiast drives, while the Alpina is more than suited to shuttle around royalty in a more than exclusive 7 Series BMW.<
What could be more beautiful than a high performance sports car driving in the rain, everything from the sound of the super car cutting through the precipitation, tiny droplets of water racing up the windscreen and rooster tails being shot up from behind the car as well as the occasional controlled slide on the less than grippy surface. Well thanks to our friends at Sharp Magazine we can bring you this red hot V10 powered Audi R8 super car dance on a damp race track.
The R8 V10 will be powered by the same 5.2 Liter V10 power plant as the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. The engine is rated at 525 HP, which is 105 HP more than the standard V8 R8 but still about 27 less than the Lamborghini. Officially known as the Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro, the new super car can go from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.9 seconds and equipped with Audi’s optional R-tronic semi automatic gearbox and a long enough stretch of pavement, the V10 R8 will reach a top speed of around 196 MPH.
When Lee Noble decided to make a living for himself, the highly motivated Briton decided that designing, building and selling his own brand of affordable super cars would be a good idea. A handful of speed machines later, including the original Noble M12 and even an Ultima GT-R, Mr. Noble’s high performance coach builders are hard at work coming up with the next generation of every man’s super car. In an recent interview with the automotive journal, AutoCar, Lee Noble announced plans for a a new closed cockpit, mid engine, two seat sports car that is slated to go on sale next year.
The next generation Noble will give owners as much as 650 HP for less than £100,000 and will be limited to just 100 examples per year. Depending on how much money are you ready to pay", the future Noble super car will be powered by a healthy V8 that will produce anywhere from 400 HP all the way up to 650 HP. The new Noble will be shifted with a Graziano six speed manual gearbox, the same transaxle as was used on the previous Noble M600. Weighing in at around 1200 kg, the next generation super car will be ale to sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in less than 3.5 seconds and an even more impressive run from 0 to 100 MPH in under 7.0 seconds.
Lee Noble also added that "it’ll start at around £70,000, although even the top-end versions will still cost less than £100,000...I always said I wanted to build a car with the performance of a Ferrari Enzo but for less than £100,000, and unless we do something badly wrong in the near future, that’s what we’ll deliver." If his track record is anything to go by, Lee will certainly deliver on his promise.
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