Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ford Excursion


This truck wrote itself into the douchebag hall of fame the moment it rolled off the assembly line.This SUV is for the guy who saw the Tahoe and said, “nope, not big enough.” Then he saw the Hummer H2 and said, “nope, not big enough.”Then he saw the Excursion, the largest SUV ever on the consumer market, and said to himself, “Well, my penis is pretty much the size of a button, but I guess this is gonna have to do. Yo, sales bro, do you know where I can find an 18-inch lift kit for this thing?”

Mazda Miata


Have you ever seen a guy driving a Mazda Miata and thought, “man, I wish that was me!”? Neither have I.Aside from the fact that this car screams “I’m fabulous!” from every angle, this car was made for the guy who wants to drive down the coast with his new scarf from Wal Mart flapping in the breeze. If you own a Miata you're one of three things: in the closest, a woman, or a douchebag.

Scion XB


Whoa, who wouldn’t want to drive a shoebox on roller skates?I mean, it’s awesome that you found a shirt to match the bright orange piping on your seats just in time for the Jimmy Buffett concert, but the other XB owners are still a little disappointed in your lack of stick-on tribal decals and neon lights. This thing was basically custom designed for douchebags

Late Model V6 Mustang


Ok listen, if you’re a 20-something girl in college, I can give you a pass on this one. Even if you’re a post-menopausal secretary for a law firm, I’ll let that slide too.But if you’re a grown man who goes out and buys a base model, 200hp V6 Mustang, and tries to pretend it’s a 500hp supercar by throwing factory-optioned stripes, scoops, and wings at it, I’m sorry, but you sir are a douchebag. You’re not fooling anyone. In fact, the people you’re trying to impress with your “muscle car” are the very same group of people laughing at you when you drive by.

Chevy SSR


What the hell is this thing? I’m just at a loss for what sort of person would see this car, then see its $42,000 debut MSRP and think “now that is the car-truck thing for me!”Beyond being woefully underpowered, overpriced, and ungainly upon its release, the whole concept of a “factory hotrod” gives you less street cred than pre-distressed designer jeans and a trucker cap.Obviously, this car bombed out quickly. Now, the only the people who’re willing to buy these are the same people who rush straight from the dealership to Pep Boys for NASCAR floor mats to match their life-size Fathead wall decals.

Dodge Viper


Despite being the current king of the hill at the Nurburgring, the Viper’s true stomping grounds are more along lines of the Spearmint Rhino parking lot and the drunken 10mph crawl down the Sunset Strip on a Friday night.It’s even more frightening when one of these guys attempts to actually drive a Viper. Without any sort of traction or stability control, the Viper is an unforgiving beast when you drop the hammer, and it doesn’t care how big a douche you are.

BMW X6 M (2009 onwards)




555hp. Boy, do you know it. BMW has designed and patented a special exhaust manifold, ensuring this 4.4-litre turbo V8 has the response of, well, a non-turbo. Boot the throttle and pickup is vicious, brutal - uncomfortable, even. There's so much force, you soon learn to meter your right foot.
Masses of pulling power from low revs add to the ferocity - really, so long as you've a few thousand revs showing, you'll fly. Impressive? Undoubtedly. However, the impression of speed is reduced by both your height off the ground, and a muffled, anodyne engine note. Inside needs the rawness you hear from outside

Pagani Zonda C12 F 214mph,


The Pagani Zonda has never been about outright top speed. When you’ve got such extravagant design and exquisite detailing, not to mention epic acceleration, sublime handling and a pair of shoes made by the Pope’s cobbler included in the asking price, becoming part of the supercar elite was almost a given. And Pagani’s done it in record time – going from obscurity to revered supercar status in the blink of an eye. Still, it’s nice to know you can back up all that flash with a bit of firepower if you need to, and the introduction of the 214mph Zonda F nicely boosts a range that otherwise barely cracks the magic 200.
7.3-litres of bespoke Mercedes-Benz AMG V12 does the business very nicely, providing upwards of 602bhp (650bhp in Clubsport guise), and 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds. We’ll take ours in bare carbon-fibre, please. And if you want real exclusivity, there’s a Roadster version available, too.

Lamborghini Murciélago


Lamborghini is synonymous with flamboyance. So when it unveiled this car at the 2006 Geneva motorshow, the world gasped. Who on earth had decided to paint a Murciélago in gloss primer grey? But the LP640 isn’t any ordinary Murciélago , and we rather suspect the utilitarian hue wasn’t just about making the car look harder than a Stealthbomber on a night out. Toning down the paint helps emphasize that this Lamborghini is all about performance, an impression enhanced by the optional transparent engine cover that keeps the LP640’s wailing V12 hard permanently on display.
211mph is six more than the standard version, which doesn’t sound much until you realise it’s taken 61 more horses to achieve, and the going gets pretty tough over 200mph. The total bhp count now stands at 631, helping drop the 0-62mph time by an impressive 0.4 seconds to only 3.4. Oh, and you still get the scissor doors – which should keep the traditional clientele happy

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren “722


What kind of supercar really needs a special edition? Well pretty much everyone is at it these days so that’s something of a moot point. But if anything does, it’s the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren – which has the unfortunate double problem of the McLaren F1 as a forefather and various AMG Mercedes as siblings. Ceramic brakes and an unrestricted top speed are all very well, but you don’t really expect them to be combined with an automatic gearbox and the interior from an executive saloon.
So, in order to up the interest a bit, only 150 “722 Edition” SLRs will ever be made, featuring a 650bhp version of the 5.5-litre V8, specially tuned suspension, a quicker 0-62mph dash and a top speed of 209mph – that’s a whole 1 mph faster than the ‘ordinary’ car. Hmmm. Tough to pick when an SL65 with the limiter removed will lose you your licence just as comprehensively for about £200,000 less

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano


The Ferrari Enzo was such a technical tour de force that it’s easy to imagine the engineers at Maranello scratching their heads over what to do next. No such luck for the competition as it turns out, since in developing a replacement for the 575M Maranello, Ferrari have completely re-written the script for front-engined GT supercars. Other cars on this list may be faster – in some cases very much so – but the 599 GTB Fiorano is just fantastically accomplished to drive.
Technical highlights include Magnetorheological Suspension Control, Formula 1 derived traction and stability control, and the not insignificant achievement of being 40kg lighter than the outgoing 575M despite being considerably larger. Don’t care about the techy stuff? Then simple glory in this 6.0-litre V12’s 8,400rpm redline, soulful interior, and the fact you’re driving a car with a prancing horse on the bonnet. Shame it doesn’t look a little bit prettier, but then the world never has been perfect.

Aston Martin Vanquish


The original Vanquish could never really be accused of being short of power, but such is the pace of development these days its cheaper DB9 relative was snapping at its heels in the performance department. Costing some £60,000 more than the DB9 that simply wouldn’t do. So the Vanquish S was born, raising power from its front-mounted V12 to 520bhp, a hike of 60bhp. That also pushes the top speed of this British bruiser up beyond the 200mph barrier.
As well as the engine modifications the S has a tweaked chassis to provide a more focussed, rawer driving experience, marking it out from the still available regular Vanquish and the DB9. Still largely hand built, in tiny numbers, the Vanquish S is a perfect British riposte to the thoroughbred Italians here; sophisticated, yet brutally fast, Aston Martin’s flagship is a very desirable and useable 200mph+ machine. KF

Aston Martin Vanquish




The Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is a supercar manufactured by Aston Martin since 2001. It rose to fame after being featured as the official James Bond car in Die Another Day, the twentieth James Bond film. In the film, the Vanquish has the usual Bond film embellishments, including active camouflage which rendered the vehicle virtually invisible. The Vanquish is powered by a 5.9 L (5935 cc) 48-valve 60° V12 engine, which produces 343 kW (460 hp) and 542 N·m (400 ft·lbf) of torque. It is controlled by a fly-by-wire throttle and a 6 speed 'paddle shift' or semi-automatic transmission. A special V12 Vanquish S debuted at the 2004 Paris Auto Show with the power upped to 388 kW (520 hp) and 577 N·m (426 ft·lbf).

Lamborghini Murcielago


The Lamborghini Murciélago is a GT and supercar automobile made by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. and designed by Luc Donckerwolke. It was introduced in 2002 as the successor to the Diablo. The body style is a two door, two seat coupé. The LP640 version was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2006. It features a 6.5 L engine, now producing 640 bhp, improving performance substantially. There were also a few minor external changes, primarily to the low air intakes.

Rolls-Royce Phantom


The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a luxury saloon automobile made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a BMW subsidiary. It was launched in 2003 and is the first Rolls-Royce model made under the ownership of BMW. It has a 6.8 L, 48-valve, V12 engine that produces 453 hp (338 kW) and 531 ft·lbf (720 N·m) of torque. The engine is derived from BMW's existing V12 powerplant. It is 1.63 m (63 in) tall, 1.99 m (74.8 in) wide, 5.83 m (228 in) long, and weighs 2485 kg (5478 lb). The body of the car is built on an aluminium spaceframe and the Phantom can accelerate to 60 mph (100 km/h) in 5.7 s.

Maybach 62


The Maybach 57 and 62 were the first automobile models of the Maybach brand since the brand's revival by DaimlerChrysler. They are derived from the Mercedes-Benz Maybach concept car presented at the 1997 Tokyo Motorshow (which was based on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan). DaimlerChrysler attempted to buy the Rolls-Royce/Bentley marque when Vickers offered the company up for sale. When this attempt failed (they were outbid by BMW and Volkswagen respectively) they introduced the Maybach as a direct challenger in 2002. Both models are variants of the same ultra-luxurious automobile. The model numbers reflect the respective lengths of the automobiles in decimetres; the 57 is more likely to be owner-driven while the longer 62 is designed with a chauffeur in mind. The engine is a Mercedes-sourced 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12, generating 550 hp.

Mercedes SLR McLaren


The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a sports car and supercar automobile co-developed by DaimlerChrysler and McLaren Cars. It is assembled at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. Most people presume "SLR" to stand for "Sportlich, Leicht, Rennsport" (German for "Sport; Light; Racing"). The car's base price is £300,000 or $455,500. The SLR has a supercharged 5.5 (5439cc) litre dry sumped 90 degree V8. It produces 466.8 kW at 6500rpm (626 hp) and 780 N·m (575 ft·lbf) torque at 3250 - 5000 rpm

Porsche Carrera GT


The Porsche Carrera GT is a supercar, manufactured by Porsche of Germany. The Carrera GT is powered by an all-new 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 SAE horsepower (450 kW). Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62.5 mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 330 km/h (206 mph), although road tests indicated that in actuality the car could accelerate from 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds and to 0-100 in 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 335-340km/h (209-212.5mph).

Koenigsegg CCX


The Koenigsegg CCX is the latest supercar from Koenigsegg. CCX is an abbreviation for Competition Coupe X. The X commemorates the 10th anniversary of the completion and test drive of the first CC vehicle in 1996. The CCX is intended to be more suitable for the U.S. market and thus engineered to comply with US regulations. The CCX is powered by a Koenigsegg designed and assembled, all aluminium, 4700 cm³ DOHC 32-valve V8 based on the Ford Modular engine architecture enhanced with twin Rotrex centrifugal superchargers with response system, 1.2 bar boost pressure and an 8.2:1 compression ratio. The engine produces 806 hp (601 kW) and 678 lbf.ft (920 Nm) on 91 octane (U.S. rating) gasoline, 850 hp (634 kW) on 96 octane (Euro rating) gasoline and 900 hp (671 kW) on biofuel.

Pagani Zonda C12 F


The Zonda C12 F debuted at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. It is the most extensive reengineering of the Pagani car yet, though it shares much with its predecessors including the 7.3 L V12. Power is increased to 602 PS (443 kW/594 hp) with a special clubsport model producing 650 PS (478 kW/641 hp). The company promises a 3.2 second sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h, a top speed over 374 km/h (225 mph) and it will be the queen in braking from 300 km/h to 0 (186 mph to 0). The Zonda F clubsport has a power to weight ratio of 521 bhp/ton (384 W/kg) . Compare, for example, the Enzo Ferrari which has a power to weight ratio of 483 bhp/ton (356 W/kg).

Ferrari Enzo


The Enzo Ferrari, sometimes referred to as the the Ferrari Enzo and also F60 is a 12-cylinder Ferrari supercar named after the company's founder, Enzo Ferrari. It was built in 2003 using Formula One technology, such as a carbon-fiber body, F1-style sequential shift transmission, and carbon-ceramic brake discs. Also used are technologies not allowed in F1 such as active aerodynamics. After a maximum downforce of 1709 pounds (775 kg) is reached at 186 mph (301 km/h) the rear spoiler is actuated by computer to maintain that downforce.

Bugatti Veyron


The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407 km/h or 253 mph). It reached full production in September 2005. The car is built by Volkswagen AG subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS and is sold under the legendary Bugatti marque. It is named after racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm. The Veyron features a W16 engine—16 cylinders in 4 banks of 4 cylinders