Cars

2010 Dodge Viper ACR rebuildable

Dodge’s Viper has always been a crude car. Some say its the evolution of the American Muscle car, a two-seater V10-powered American built supercar. That being the case, the Viper ACR is the ultimate Viper, evolution and revolution. American Club Racing’s nearly homologization model focuses on maximizing performance for the weekend track members of road racing and auto-crossing environments, though the Viper ACR is still street legal. Horsepower from the V10 engine is increased over the regular street model to 600 All-American-HP and its 80 lbs. lighter when the “Hardcore Package” option is ticked.

Today’s eBay find is a 2009 Dodge Viper ACR with a slightly damaged front-end classified as “rebuildable.” Items needed to be replaced include both front fenders, the hood, both headlight buckets, most of the cooling system, left tail light (front end damage?) and some simple frame repairs. This green Viper ACR “lot drives” (but not for long with no cooling!) quite quickly with 600HP on tap and no headlights. For a Buy-It-Now price of $53,900 this Viper ACR from New York City and a claimed replacement value of over $100,000 this salvage-titled green monster sounds like a steal!

[wordbay]dodge (rebuildable, salvage)[/wordbay]

2010 Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin’s Rapide is everything to everybody. A four-door coupe: check. A V12-powered sports car: check. The best-looking sedan, ever produced: check-check. But then again how long has it been since Aston Martin hasn’t produced an absolutely stunning product out of sheet metal? Quite some time, for sure.

Built to compete with the likes of Porsche’s Panamera, Mercedes’s CLS the upcoming Audi A7 and Lamborghini’s Estoque concept the Aston Martin Rapide had much leeway to create a “beautiful 4-place sports car” after the Panamera’s grilling by the press for its styling and the CLS’s redesign. Under the hood of the Rapide lays the naturally-aspirated 6L V12 found in the DB9 (essentially a carry-over) but pushing out 470HP through a standard 6-speed slushbox with electronic paddles making mere suggestions to the Touchtronic. Performance figures aren’t impressive (see the HP figure) and they’ll continue to disappoint those who shop-by-numbers; 0-60MPH takes just over five seconds (the same as a 2011 V6 Ford Mustang) and on to a top speed of 184MPH (less than all competitors lest electronic nannies).

But none of that’s important right now because the Aston Martin Rapide is a DB9 with two more doors and that’s just flat-out impressive. Today’s eBay find is the first Rapide available on eBay and is finished in Tungsten Silver (a carry-over corporate color for the Ford-era) with black leather and over 600 miles on the clock already. Located in Miami and listed for a smidge under 200K at $199,000 this fine piece of British engineering, er… an elongated DB9 built in Austia… can be in your driveway to proudly claim your position as the first one on the block.

32" Asanti's on Hummer H2

Hummer’s, at least in consumer form, have always been a symbol of excess. Whether they’re making the news for being banned in cities in California for supposedly breaking the asphault beneath them or for being the most likely vehicle targeted by police across the nation for the majority of tickets attributed to the high seating position of the drivers. Whatever the case, Asanti has decided the Hummer H2/H2T was the ideal showcase for its new 32″ bling.

Introduced at the 2008 SEMA show in Las Vegas, there are only a handful of vehicles that 32″ rims will fit on including the Hummer H2, Cadillac Escalade, Nissan Armada and the Infiniti QX56 to name a few. Today’s eBay find are a set of 32″ Asanti’s advertised for you to be “the first on the block with 32″ rims.” And customization of this level doesn’t come cheap, for you to be the first with such bling costs a one-time fee of $32,500.

BMW E90, E92, E93 Supercharger Kit

When the E90/E92 series BMW M3 was released it never had an easy life. It was compared to everything on the road including the Bugatti Veyron, as it should, since the M3 is often considered the benchmark sports car whether it be in the entry level, hardcore sports, sedan or coupe segment categories. The fantastic motorsports derived 4.0L V8 found in the current M3 broke the mold with 414HP and almost 300LB/FT of torque. But for those of you M3 drivers who want more, wait no longer.

Vortech’s Stage 3 supercharger boosts your E90, E92, or E93 BMW up to 775HP after chipping with less than 7PSI of boost. Unlike most supercharger kits, this one comes fully involved with a high capacity intercooler, drive belt rollers, larger fuel injectors, a K&N air filter, hose clamps and other necessary hardware to complete the project. The Stage 3 kit is only compatible with the strength of the BMW manual transmission because of undocumented torque figures, however the Stage 2 kits and under are all DCT aware. This Stage 3 kit lists for $13,389 or best offer for the full enchilada or just $8,800 for the “starter” Stage 1 kit to boost the benchmark sports car.

2010 Ferrari 458 Italia

Modern supercars are often badgered as being pointless specifically because you can’t use the speed in modern day traffic. The argument is a moot point even when discussing the most basic transportation on the market including Toyota Prius drivers being charged with speeding over 100MPH, trying to defend a Ferrari’s power or maximum velocity is rough. The Ferrari 458 Italia (see Review Roundup) specifically, Ferrari’s latest entry-level mid-engined supercar, has a top speed of over 200MPH while still achieving a respectable 17.6MPG in some tests. There’s a dealership in New York that wants to help you dream the dream before purchasing your next Ferrari.

Today’s eBay find is one of the first Ferrari 458′s on Ebay available in America for sale is listed for $354,995 and is available in downtown Chicago, IL. But the most interesting thing about this Ferrari 458 is the incriminating (or flattering) trip computer showing that even a supercar from Chicago can achieve over 100MPH even in the first 80 miles of ownership (the car is listed in “used” condition). It’s capable, yes, and without restriction and can be propelled on to another 100 after your bid of $355K.