Cars

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.

2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera

The Lamborghini Gallardo has had no shortage of variants over its 8-year production life, it was introduced as the ‘affordable’ Lamborghini for the “new money” types. The Gallardo quickly proved a popular seller and 5 years after its introduction the first Superleggera was introduced as the track-day version of the popular sports car. For the 2007-08 model year, the first Gallardo Superleggera came standard with the base models E-gear automated-manual transmission, was lighter by 150 lbs and offered a 10 hp gain over the base model.

For 2011, the fine folks of Sant’Agata Bolognese have topped their (previously) top-of-the-line LP-560-4 by 10 hp “added lightness” by 158 lbs, besting the original Gallardo Superleggera. Surprisingly, according to those who reviewed it, ride quality has not been sacrificed. For the die-hard enthusiasts or those looking to track the Superleggera 570-4 can opt for the radio to be deleted. However, for comfort’s sake, air-conditioning and power windows remain standard and cannot be removed from the window-sticker.

Car and Driver (First Drive, Second Drive)
Inside Line (First Drive)
Automobile Magazine (Review)
Motor Trend (First Drive)
Popular Mechanics (Test Drive)
Road and Track (Review)

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]