Realizing that I haven't posted in quite a while, and having recently listened to a podcast about someone else's top 10 favorite cars, I thought I would post some of my favorite cars of all time. Here they are in no particular order:
Caterham is a British company that manufactures small, extremely light, high performance cars. This is what I think would be about the most fun you can have in a car. I really really want one. ;)
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McLaren F1 was the world's fastest production vehicle when it was built, in the 90's, with a top speed of 241 mph. It was built to be the purest and best driving experience possible. It has no traction control, or other driver aids to numb the experience. It's a pure driver's car, as witnessed by it's central driving position, with a passenger on either side and slightly behind the driver. It was also the most expensive car that had ever been built at the time, and cost about $650,000 when it was new. Now it's worth about $2,000,000 for the lucky few who get to own one.
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Shelby Cobra was built in the 60's by Carroll Shelby to compete against the Ferraris and other European sports cars that dominated the racing scene at the time. The idea was to build a small, light car with a big, powerful engine. And the idea worked very well. This car was one of the winningest racers in history. It also looks awesome. Real Cobras sell for upwards of $500,000 now. But there are replicas and kits that are inexpensive that would be an awesome weekend driver.
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Audi R8 Spyder is based on the Lamborghini Gallardo platform, and shares its 525 hp V10. At around $170,000 for the V-10 convertible shown here, it isn't cheap. But it is one of the most exciting cars built recently, with massive power and excellent handling. Not to mention that it is drop-dead gorgeous.
Speaking of drop-dead gorgeous styling, this is the
Koenigsegg CCXR. One of the fastest cars in the world with a top speed of 260 mph, it's a monster of supercar performance. Its twin supercharged V8 engine is tuned to run on biofuel and produces 25% more power than its twin brother, the CCX. This means that it produces 1,064 bhp and reaches 60 mph in around 3.0 seconds! And if that fails to impress, there's always the doors, which are perhaps the coolest part of this unbelievably cool car. While the sticker price for the CCX is only $550,000 , they are in higher demand than they have available, so it can cost as much as $2.2 million for this amazing supercar.
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Ferrari F40 is one of the most iconic sports cars ever made. Its performance figures are still impressive, despite the fact that the first ones rolled out of the factory in 1987. Retail price was $400,000 new, but some buyers reportedly paid as much as $1.6 million. It was the world's fastest production car, until the Lamborghini Diablo stole the title, with a top speed of 200 mph. Weighing only 2,400 lbs and having a 471 hp twin-turbocharged V8 gave the F40 a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds.
This also happens to be the only car on this list that I have personally driven. :)
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Ariel Atom is like a race car jr., or maybe a go-kart on steroids. Either way it looks like an awful lot of fun. One of the lightest cars you can buy, it has more horsepower per pound than the Bugatti Veyron! This car has blindingly fast acceleration and otherworldly handling capabilities. Not many cars can even hope to keep up with this car on the track, regardless of how much they cost, or how much power they have, and it's running on the engine from a Honda Civic!
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Ferrari California is, in my opinion, the most beautiful Ferrari ever. It may not be their fastest car, or their most advanced car, but if I were going to buy any Ferrari in the world today, this would be the one.
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Ferrari 355 Spyder. This was my favorite Ferrari until the California came out. The classic looks of this Ferrari were replaced by the 360 Modena, but to this day, it is still a far more beautiful car.
Subscribing to the same idea that less is more as the Atom, the
KTM X-Bow (cross-bow) is extremely light and fast. This is another car that would really only be useful on a track, but would be so much fun to drive that you wouldn't even care that you had to wear a helmet to drive it, and that you had no windscreen, or any luxuries at all. This is a pure driving experience like few cars even try to deliver.
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Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce is Lamborghini's way of sending off the Murcielago in style, as they did with the Diablo SV when it was replaced by the Murcielago. The SV boasts 670 hp from it's giant V10, has 4 wheel drive, and is lighter and faster than any other Murcielago has ever been. 0-60 comes in only 3.1 seconds. You'll be doing 124 mph in only 10 seconds and on your way to a top speed of 209 mph. Lamborghinis are undeniably cool, and this one is the coolest one ever made.
Lexus decided to have a go at making a supercar to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini and the others, and what a car they came up with! The
Lexus LF-A comes out next year as a 2012 model. It has 553 hp from its V10 and gets from 0-60 in only 3.5 seconds on its way to 202 mph. That V10 was developed to change revolutions so quickly, like an F1 car, that a regular mechanical tachometer won't move fast enough, so they've replaced it with an electronic one. The price will be around $350,000.
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Lotus Elise is a track-day hero. This super-light sports car gets its power from a Toyota Celica engine. That means only 185 horsepower. But it's what this car does with that power that make it truly special. The car is so light, and so balanced, that it can run laps around cars with far more power in their arsenals. It's the idea that light makes right that makes this exciting little car a popular track car that can still be useful on the road.
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Nissan GTR is Japan's way of rewarding America for waiting so patiently for them to finally let us have the Skyline. While it's no longer called a Skyline, the GTR is the all-wheel-drive, computerized wonder car that we have only been able to experience in video games for so many years. Only now it's gotten even more advanced, even more powerful, and faster. With 530 hp, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, a top speed of 195 mph and a price tag of around $80,000, the GTR is the most cost-effective way to get into supercar performance.
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Pagani F Roadster is about as extreme as you can get without leaving the planet. $1,448,000. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Top speed of 214 mph. And just look at that amazing carbon fiber body. It's the wildest car on the planet. It's as far from a sensible car as you can imagine. It shouts "Hey, look at what I can do!" at the top of it's lungs. And I love it. This is what a dream car really should be. You'd have to be insane to own one, but that little boy inside me wishes I could be that crazy man in the insane car.
I love Porsches, and here are what I believe are the best ones ever.
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Porsche Carrera GT is what Porsche came up with when they decided to make the fastest, best car they could come up with, whatever the price. And it is spectacular. With a 612 hp V10 in front of the rear axle the GT will reach 60 mph in 3.6 seconds on its way to a 205 mph top speed. Retail price for a Cerrera GT was $440,000 with a planned production run of 1,500 cars. However, production was halted after only 1,270 GT's were produced, making this the holy grail for Porsche fans.
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Porsche 911 Turbo S is the top of the line 911. And in my opinion the 911 is the ideal sports car. Therefore, to me, this is as good as it gets. The S has 530 hp and 4-wheel-drive that move it from 0-60 in just 2.9 seconds on it's way to 195 mph. With all the amenities of a luxury car onboard, those are some seriously impressive numbers. This is the one that I would own and drive every day if money were not a factor. That being said, with a sticker price of $171,000-$180,000 , money is definitely a factor.
