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.

2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo

A German sedan with 500 horsepower is nothing new; nor is a twin turbo or controversial Porsche new to the automotive landscape. But what happens when all those traits combine? You get the Porsche Panamera Turbo, a 500 horsepower twin-turbo V8, 4-door Porsche controversy not-withstanding. Porsche purists cried and moaned when the car was released hoping Porsche wouldn’t follow the same route they took with the Cayenne. Well, after releasing an SUV some say a sedan was the next logical step to compete with Porsche’s other German rivals from Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

And compete they will with the quickest 4-door production sedan accelerating from 0-60MPH in 3.4 seconds. That’s quicker than any AMG Mercedes sedan, BMW M sedan, and even the venerable Cadillac CTS-V sedan, the quickest American-made 4-door sedan, which is powered by the supercharged V8 from the Corvette ZR1.

Reviewers all found something to complain about with the Porsche Panamera Turbo but no one claimed it was underpowered. U.K.’s CAR Magazine claims Porsche missed an opportunity by claiming the car’s design focus oriented it too much towards comfort and not enough on lightness. Road & Track magazine attempts to explain the styling  as the “elephant in the room” referring to the “ungainly roof and awkward slope of its hatch,” neglecting to mention the Panamera’s “elongated 911″ appearance the Porsche styling designers were aiming for. Overall, however, the reviews were generally positive complementing the speed and the cocooning interior most of all. Check out the reviews, videos and gallery below and decide for yourself before you buy!

Reviews:

Autoweek (an AutoWeek Drivers Log)
Car and Driver (Review)
Popular Mechanics (Test Drive)
Road & Track (Road Test)
Motor Trend (First Drive)
Edmunds.com (Road Test)
National Post (Canada, Road Test)
Times Online (UK, Jeremy Clarkson Drive)
AutoBlog (blog, First Drive)
AutoGuide (First Drive)

Video Reviews:

iMotorMag (UK, YouTube)
Fifth Gear (UK, YouTube)
AutoCar (UK, YouTube)
Drive Time (Review, YouTube)

2010 Mercedes-Benz E63

When a 4-door sedan has an optional “performance Package” you know it means business. The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 is the mid-level rocket-ship performance sedan in the Mercedes portfolio slotting slightly above the C63 entry-level sedan and slightly below S63 top-of-the-line sedan. All share the same door count, sub-4.5 second 0-60 acceleration time, similar AMG refreshes and the same AMG 6.2L V8. When installed in an E63 the 6.2L’s specific output is pegged at 518 HP or a 10 HP increase over the outgoing 2009 model.

AMG breathes new life into each E63 with an emphasis on improving the overall driving dynamics, and it shows. Each sedan retains the air suspension but only in the rear while replacing the front bags with steel springs in increasing the track to improve overall handling. The transmission is still a slush-box 7-speed but features a wet-disc clutch in lieu of a torque converter and a mighty switch on the center console with options for Controlled Efficiency, Sport, Sport+ and Manual, very un-Mercedes-like words.

Even more unbecoming of a Mercedes is the Performance Package which raises the speed-limiter to 186 MPH (up from 155) as well as the ceramic brakes option (cleaning your wallet of another $8800) but they’re squeal and fade free. Reviewers find this car to be the “end of horsepower wars” since its so powerful and enjoy the spectacular chassis dynamics. Read on to find out how the E63 compares to the rest of the 4-door uber-sedans.

• Automobile (First Drive)
• Car and Driver (First Drive)
• Motor Trend (First Drive)
• MBWorld.org (Review)
• AutoGuide.com (First Drive)
• Jalopnik (blog, First Drive)
• Inside Line (Full Test)

2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost

Rolls-Royce has had a glorious past, as have many car companies have, including building airplane engines and owned its most serious competitor (Bentley) several times. But when Rolls-Royce itself was bought by BMW, things changed. The 2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom was the first “all new” car Rolls-Royce produced. Engines were sourced from the corporate overlords at BMW and that sumpuous 6.75L V12 was the lone part. The leather work, wood work, and finishing is done in a new factory to celebrate the new brand. That was 2003.

New for 2010 is the Rolls-Royce Ghost, the “Rolls to drive” some say. The Ghost is smaller in most dimenions than the Phantom but shares only 20% parts with its corporate cousin, the BMW 7-series. A large part of that percentage is the 6.6 L twin-turbo V12 rated at 563 BHP and mated to an 8-speed automatic. That’s enough power to propel this 5,455 lb luxury estate to 60 in less than 5 seconds on to an electronically limited maximum velocity of 155 MPH.

Today’s car is a Ghost finished in Diamond Black exterior paint and black leather from the same assembly line that does the Phantom. Some features include a panorama sunroof, comfort entry system, front massaging and ventilated seats, picnic tables and a camera system. This particular Rolls-Royce has 600 miles on the clock and is currently located in New Orleans. Click thru the link to contact the seller, schedule a test drive, make an offer or just gander at the over twenty images.

2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 6.2L

The Raptor SVT by Ford was originally engineered as a test bed for Ford’s “Hurricane” V8 and was Ford’s first truck built primarily to go off-road (in its 100+ year history no less). While Ford has always celebrated the success of the many other models of F150 no one knew the Raptor SVT would become so popular, garnering over 5000 orders in its first year of production alone quickly surpassing the last SVT truck, the 1999 Lightening SVT. However, the Raptor SVT was released before the Hurricane V8 was available for road use. That is until now.

After much ado, a whirlwind from the Rumor Mill, repeated “spy shots” and to the chagrin of early adopters Ford has finally come to market with the F-150 Raptor SVT 6.2 fuel hog. This (optional) engine pumps out 411 HP and over 430 Ft/Lb’s of torque in SVT trim and shaves almost a second off the truck’s already stellar (for its weight, calm down) 0-60 run. Still only avalble (for the time being at least) in extended-cab form, Ford’s betting the SVT suspension and body work combined with the new engine make a fantastic couple.

• Automobile Mag (Review)
• Car and Driver (First Drive)
• Motor Trend (First Drive)
• Popular Mechanics (Test Drive)
• Four Wheeler (Review)
• Edmunds (First Drive)
• Autoblog (blog, First Drive)

2010 Porsche 911 997 GT3 RS

Ah, the Porsche 911. Jeremy Clarkson, host of BBC’s Top Gear, once described the engineers and designers the laziest in the industry because they never actually restyled the car, only refreshed it. And why should they? For almost 50 years now the Porsche 911 has graced streets the world-over with its svelt rear-engined body. Emphasizing Jeremy’s point that the engineers are lazy they’ve “refreshed” the entire line-up with the Type 997.5 iteration halfway through the life cycle of the Type 997 body style, awaiting the Type 998 lineup in late 2011. The refresh took almost 2 years and is now complete with the release of the 997.5 GT3 RS.

The Porsche 911 GT3 is essentially the street-legal version of the 911 race car (originally for homological purposes) but quickly proved popular as sales figures show. Air conditioning, Sat/Nav, cruise control, and heated leather seats can all be had (actually, with the exception of Sat/Nav, they’re standard equipment) on this street-legal “race-car,” giving the driving enthusiast modern comforts and amenities without sacrificing much track performance. In fact, the suspension, gearing, ECU, some engine internals and a less aerodynamic body (producing more down force) are all that separates the GT3 from a “regular” 911.

The GT3 RS takes it one step furthur with some rather extreme weight reducing practices, taller gearing for a better bottom end and a slightly remapped ECU for better performance. For 2010, the GT3 RS receives a new 3.8L boxer flat-six producing close to 450HP (a 35HP increase over the outgoing 997 GT3 RS) and with a curb weight of just over 3,000 lbs the power-to-weight ratio works out to be close to 300HP/ton. Some examples of the extreme weight savings are a smaller fuel tank, the body emblems have been replaced with stickers and the wheel nuts have been replaced by a single titanium central-locking nut.

Today’s GT3 RS is the first one posted on eBay and is located nowhere else but in Beverly Hills, CA. Described by the seller as “barely street legal”  it comes in Carrera white with black alcantara and leather interior. Unique styling cues to the GT3 RS are the asymettrical GT3 RS badging (only on the port side of the car) and featuring (the signaturely random Porsche) seat belts in red. So if you’re looking for the ultimate streetable track-car, this car has just 16 miles on the clock and an opening bid of $170,000.

[wordbay](2010, 2011) 911 gt3[/wordbay]