Sheri A. Myles

all about me :)

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2015 Best Sports Car Porsche Boxster 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche Boxster 2015 Porsche Boxster GTS A roadster supreme. The problem is always the onions. Or maybe the green peppers. Not usually the pepperoni, but if you have vegetarians around, well…just try to order a supreme pizza to share with more than two people and someone will raise a fuss. Although no one should object to Porsche’s mid-engine models’ getting an extra 15 horses, we do take issue with the front fascia of the new Boxster supreme. Shared with the GTS-trimmed Cayman, the new face is too aggressive. A pair of gaping, squarish air intakes spoil the taper of the hood and the cascade of the headlights on what is arguably the prettier of these fraternal twins. But you don’t have to look at the nose of the 2015 Boxster GTS when you’re driving it, and the little cosmetic changes—the black trim, the fake suede, the headrest embroidery—are just breadsticks and a side salad anyway. Carbing Up The main course is a Boxster S, with its engine computer reprogrammed to make 330 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. Porsche’s Sport Chrono package with dynamic engine mounts is included, along with the Porsche Active Suspension Management adaptive damper system, sport exhaust, and 20-inch wheels. Slide behind the wheel, turn the little car-shaped fob with your left hand, and when the 3.4-liter flat-six rumbles to life, you’ll hear the best argument that your $74,495 was not misspent. Porsche’s sound symposer now amplifies the burble of uncombusted fuel that accompanies hotshoeing the GTS. Whether or not you can feel the five-percent power boost, your ears will certainly hear it. The Boxster has always offered a full sensory experience, and the GTS is no different. With the top down, your range of vision expands to match the high resolution of the chassis, feeding back enough detail through the seat and electrically assisted steering that even at slow speeds the car feels fast and fun. Go quicker, and the Boxster just says more, but always in a reassuring tone: “I am helping to make you a better driver. Now, go glide around that hairpin like a dust mop on a hardwood floor.” Such a Deal If the Boxster S is the closest thing to sports-car perfection—on most days, an idea we wouldn’t disagree with—it only makes sense that the GTS comes closer. It still has useless cup holders, and there’s no place in the center console to put your phone, ergonomic issues that will befuddle the Germans long after Porsches are powered by cold fusion. The standard GTS spec works out to roughly $15,000 in à la carte equipment for the $10,200 premium over a stripped Boxster S, although the entirety of Porsche’s options list is also available. So spoil the recipe if you must, but ordering a GTS straight up from the menu will get you a fairly gourmet pie. Porsche Boxster review, Porsche Boxster, Porsche Boxster price, Porsche Boxster specs, Porsche Boxster photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Ferrari LaFerrari 2015 Best Sports Car Ferrari LaFerrari Ferrari LaFerrari Tested: Yes, It's Hellaciously Quick But the numbers only tell part of the story. To test the Ferrari LaFerrari, we traveled to Italy to the storied marque’s personal track, Fiorano. Ferrari’s offer was this: We could either test there—or not at all. We chose to test. The Fiorano circuit is nearly two miles long, a thirteen-turn rollercoaster built on what was once Italian farmland. Our usual testing venues, where we gather our zero-to-60-mph times, quarter-mile acceleration, braking figures, and grip numbers are nothing like racetracks. Putting a car through our battery of tests calls for a long, flat straight, usually one more than a mile in length, as well as a 300-foot skidpad to assess lateral acceleration. But even when we test at our locations, Ferrari doesn’t just let us jump into its cars and test them. An engineer watches the proceedings and provides an often-valuable briefing on the subsystems of the car, and mechanics are there to swap out tires if necessary. When asked why all the bother, Ferrari says it wants the test to go smoothly and being there ensures that any problems that arise can be hammered out that day. Every modern Ferrari we’ve tested with the factory’s knowledge also had the automaker’s own test equipment inside the car to record what we’re doing and, as they tell us, as a backup should our own test equipment fail. We find this “generosity” completely unnecessary, however, and, aside from a recent McLaren 650S test, no other manufacturer proctors our normal battery of tests, and we test more than 200 cars per year. The Results: Apply an Asterisk as You Deem Fit 0 to 60 mph: 2.5 sec 0 to 100 mph: 4.8 sec 0 to 150 mph: 9.8 sec Standing ¼-mile: 9.8 sec @ 150 mph Full disclosure: The Fiorano track introduces major limitations to our usual testing procedures. The straight has a slight kink in it as you pass under a bridge, and there’s not much space to accelerate beyond the quarter-mile. C/D procedure calls for running in two directions to offset any potential elevation changes and the effects of wind. Fiorano’s straight is ever so slightly downhill, but at least there was little to no wind on our test day. Ordinarily, we’d either reject the testing venue or we’d run in both directions and average the results. Running the straight in two directions is impossible, according to Ferrari, and reversing the FIA-approved racetrack would apparently poke the bureaucratic monster that rules over Italy. Or we might hit the bridge. Either way, that wasn’t happening. So we were unable to average our best runs in each direction and have to use the best in one direction here. The results, we must note, are uncorrected for ambient conditions, meaning they’re representative of what the LaFerrari did on this particular day. It’s the same policy we applied to our 2003 test of the Enzo, and, in any event, the weather correction wouldn’t have affected the LaFerrari numbers much at all. That’s it with the caveats—apply an asterisk as you deem fit—but at Fiorano the LaFerrari produced the quickest acceleration to 150 mph of any production car we’ve ever tested. To 150 mph, the LaFerrari is a full 1.5 seconds quicker than the early Bugatti Veyron 16.4 we tested in 2008. Put up against the Porsche 918 Spyder, the LaFerrari traverses the quarter-mile in the same 9.8 seconds, but the Ferrari is going 150 mph at the traps versus the 918’s 145. Making the performance even more remarkable is that the LaFerrari is rear-wheel drive. Ferrari’s launch control is easy to actuate and rips off consistent runs, but the 918’s four-wheel drive gives it an initial advantage. So the LaFerrari’s 2.5-second 0-to-60 romp can’t match the Porsche’s 2.2-second time to 60 mph. Initial traction gets the 918 to 60 in 114 feet; the LaFerrari needs 119. Still, the LaFerrari is pushing on your chest with a full g of force through 70 mph and it doesn’t taper off much after that. In the rolling 5-to-60-mph test, which removes the aggressive launch, the LaFerrari posted a 3.0-second time. Beyond 60 mph, the 3489-pound LaFerrari’s superior power-to-weight ratio allows it to begin to pull away from the 3724-pound 918. The Ferrari’s combined 950 horsepower yields a 3.7-pound-per-horsepower ratio; each of the 918’s horses moves 4.2 pounds. In the Ferrari, the century mark passes in a what-the-hell-was-that 4.8 seconds—one-tenth quicker than the 918. And there’s the aforementioned advantage to 150. At one of our normal testing venues, we could have pushed well past 150 mph, but at Fiorano we had to be hard on the brakes a blink after the speedometer indicated that speed. Ferrari LaFerrari review, Ferrari LaFerrari, Ferrari LaFerrari price, Ferrari LaFerrari specs, Ferrari LaFerrari photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2016 Best Sports Car Jaguar F-type R 2016 Best Sports Car Jaguar F-type R 2016 Jaguar F-type Manual and AWD Manuals: saved. Rear-wheel drive: in jeopardy. One of these days our Save the Manuals campaign will arrive at its inevitable end. Even if the ol’ stick shift wins a battle every now and then, newer, smoother, and faster transmission technology is dominating the war. We’ll be devastated to concede victory, but our work as the enthusiasts’ advocate won’t end with manual transmissions. That’s because there’s another just cause waiting in the wings. We’d call it our Save Rear-Wheel Drive Movement. As power escalates to obscene levels, carmakers are sending torque to all four wheels to get that grunt to the ground. Going fast is great, but all-wheel-drive systems also add weight and compromise handling. Which brings us to the 2016 Jaguar F-type coupe and convertible, cars that simultaneously fight the good fight and force all-wheel drive onto a sublime rear-drive sports car. Two years after the F-type debuted, a six-speed manual is optional with some engines while other powertrains are now mated with all-wheel drive as standard equipment. Behavior Modification Therapy We’ll hedge the bad news with some good: For 2016, the F-type V-8 S convertible is now an F-type R convertible, meaning it gets a power boost to match the coupe, going from 495 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque to 550 and 502. The downside is that all-wheel drive is now standard on all eight-cylinder F-types, both coupes and convertibles, regardless of whether they’re sold in Vermont or Florida. (Rear-drive Rs still will be available elsewhere in the world.) Jaguar believes you need four driven wheels to control the fury of the 5.0-liter supercharged V-8, and frankly, they’re not totally wrong. But the F-type derives a certain amount of charm from its tail-happy attitude and slightly juvenile inability to put the power to the ground. Besides, there will always be quicker ways than an F-type to get to 60 mph or to lap a track for $100,000 (such as the definitely-not-all-wheel-drive Chevrolet Corvette Z06). And at 176 pounds, the all-wheel-drive hardware does nothing to help the F-type’s serious weight problem. When we get our hands on one for testing, expect this two-passenger aluminum coupe to weigh in excess of 4000 pounds. The all-wheel-drive system, which is also an option on the 380-hp supercharged V-6 S model, can deliver up to 50 percent of the torque to the front wheels through an electronically controlled clutch pack or decouple the prop shaft completely to drive only the rear wheels in low-load, straight-ahead situations. While the four-wheel-drive F-type will still swish its tail around, breaking the rear end loose takes a concerted effort. The real benefit, of course, is the ability to drive out of corners with more throttle—and to apply it earlier. We lapped Portugal’s Estoril circuit in an F-type R and a low-speed handling course with a V-6 S coupe in a parking lot saturated by garden sprinklers. In the wet or dry, the all-wheel-drive F-type is far more stable and easier to drive at corner exit. There’s even enough traction to do a full-throttle launch in the wet with no evidence of wheelspin. For those who treat driving fast as a point-and-shoot exercise, an all-wheel-drive F-type R will probably save a few insurance claims. To us, though, it seems a bit stifling for Jaguar to foist all-wheel-drive on Sun Belt buyers and three-season drivers in the north. Electric Revolution All 2016 F-types switch from hydraulic power steering to electric power steering, and the outcome is far better than we could have anticipated. While it’s not quite as perfectly weighted as the setup in the sublime 2017 Jaguar XE, the F-type’s steering is precise, sharp on-center, and full of feedback. The effort is a touch light for our tastes, but that doesn’t prevent Jaguar from joining the rarefied company of automakers that have improved their steering with the switch to electric assistance. Six-Speed Salvation While the V-8 models are losing some of their driver’s-car appeal, the V-6 models gain credibility by way of an optional six-speed manual transmission. The stick shift is available on both the 340- and 380-hp V-6 models, but exclusively with rear-wheel drive. For the privilege of working the clutch pedal, buyers can expect a discount of about $1500 and a savings of 22 pounds compared with the eight-speed automatic. A light clutch pedal doesn’t offer much feedback as to where the friction point begins or how the clutch engages, and the shifter’s throws are on the long side, with a slightly elastic resistance to every movement. It’s all a bit reminiscent of a BMW shifter, which is to be expected considering that both Jag and BMW source their manual transmissions from supplier ZF. Overall, we’d call the Jaguar F-type R review, Jaguar F-type R, Jaguar F-type R price, Jaguar F-type R specs, Jaguar F-type R photos

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2016 Best Sports Car McLaren 650S 2016 Best Sports Car McLaren 650S 2016 McLaren 675LT: More Power, Less Weight, More Tail The newest McLaren goes (a little) longer. McLaren’s hot, new 675LT is a higher-performance variant of the 650S, and the LT portion of its name is derived from the wild 1997 F1 GT "Longtail" homologation special. That rare McLaren menaced the road with radically lengthened bodywork, racy aerodynamics, and a better power-to-weight ratio than the car on which it was based. The 675LT has two of those things, but its tail? Quite vestigial, we’d say. In fact, the 675LT is just 1.5 inches longer than the 650S, and it appears a decent stretch of that extra length comes from the sports car’s epic chin splitter. The rest goes to a slightly longer active rear spoiler that McLaren claims is 50 percent larger than the one fitted to the 650S. McLaren says that a “focus on outright performance, weight reduction, and ultimate levels of driver engagement” define a Longtail, so maybe we’re just being too literal. That said, the mighty F1 GT Longtail got more tail—the car was a full 25 inches longer than the regular F1—not to mention a full aero kit that entirely altered the supercar’s visuals. We Still Love You Setting aside the 675LT’s length issue, there’s little question it’ll be an epic thing to drive. The 650S on which it is based is no slouch, and McLaren says it swapped out more than a third of that car’s parts to reduce weight and increase power. Standout visual differences include a louvered plexiglass rear window; a contoured, P1-like rear fascia with thin horizontal LED taillights and two big titanium exhaust outlets; a plethora of extra scoops and vents; and a carbon-fiber aerodynamics package. The 675LT is 220 pounds lighter than the 650S, thanks to the plastic rear window, additional carbon-fiber body panels, a redesigned exhaust system, and carbon-fiber seat shells. The same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-8 bolted between the 650S’s rear wheels is present here, but McLaren massaged it for an extra 25 horsepower and 16 lb-ft of torque. While the car’s name is drawn from its 675 metric power, we tabulate its might as 666 devilish horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. With less McLaren to haul around, the V-8 punches the 675LT to 62 mph in a claimed 2.9 seconds—0.1 quicker than McLaren’s stated time for the 650S—and on to a top speed of 205 mph. The LT uses the 650S’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, and power is still routed to the pavement through the rear wheels. It’ll Kick Tail, but Should It Have Kicked Its Tail? Unlike, say, the P1 GTR that McLaren is also debuting at the Geneva auto show, the track-focused 675LT is still road-legal. The interior is “stripped out” but it’s no penalty box—the sweet carbon-shelled seats, for example, are upholstered in faux suede and are similar to those fitted to the P1 hypercar. And if the 650S’s magical adaptive suspension is any indication, the LT should maintain a decent ride quality. Production of the coupe-only, roughly $345,000 675LT will be limited to an as-yet-unannounced figure. (Update: McLaren has announced pricing and confirmed that production will be "strictly limited to 500 units globally.") Deliveries will commence in autumn 2015. McLaren is clearly looking to spin its two (soon to be three) model lines into various offshoots and special editions, both to keep things fresh and to keep wealthy customers lining up at its door. The 675LT is a worthy addition to be sure, but we can’t help but wish it pulled more tail. McLaren 650S review, McLaren 650S, McLaren 650S price, McLaren 650S specs, McLaren 650S photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Chevrolet Corvette 2015 Best Sports Car Chevrolet Corvette 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible Eight-Speed Automatic We'd say something witty here, but those chrome wheels have us distracted. No sports car should have chrome wheels. The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible you see here does. It also has an automatic transmission, GM’s new in-house designed and -built eight-speed unit, which replaces last year’s six-cog piece carried over from the C6 Corvette. The new transmission has two things going for it: First, it has more speeds in an era where more is more, and second, ordering it doesn’t require those shiny rollers. We already drove a gaggle of Corvettes equipped with the new eight-speed, dubbed 8L90, and came away impressed. Well, we were mostly impressed; the cheap-feeling plastic steering-wheel shift paddles threaten to drag down the experience. The shift lever doesn’t offer a manual-shift gate, so choosing your own gears requires use of these flimsy actuators. Chevy needs to upgrade the pieces yesterday, lest people dismiss the new eight-speed outright on its regrettable visual and tactile deficiencies. Fortunately, everything else about the $1725 transmission is better executed. We recorded the same 3.7-second 0-to-60-mph time in this convertible as we did in a 2014 model with the six-speed automatic; by 80 mph, the newer Vette begins to pull away, and by 150 mph, it edges out a 0.7-second lead thanks at least partly to quicker shift times. The transmission’s logic and broad ratio spread elevate the self-shifting Corvette experience toward Porsche PDK dual-clutch-automatic levels of satisfaction. Weather, Eco, Tour (default), Sport, and Track modes offer drivers a spectrum of behaviors. In Track, the 460-hp V-8’s lightning-quick throttle response and the electrically boosted steering’s heightened alertness blend wonderfully with the transmission’s rev-matched downshifts and redline upshifts. Clear the red mist by switching to Tour or Eco, and the 8L90 works with a preponderance of civility. The EPA says that while the 2015 Vette with the eight-speed nets the same 16-mpg rating in the city cycle as the 2014 model, the highway number rises by 1 mpg to 29. This test car’s participation in our brutal 10Best testing stifled fuel economy to a dismal 12 mpg, but we’re confident that with normal use, it could better the 18 mpg we recorded with the old transmission. Transmission aside, the quintessential Corvette experience remains the same. We’d banish our test car’s Floridian retiree–grade interior and exterior color combo to the same purgatory Chevy sent the old automatic. The Laguna Blue paint isn’t bad, but the gray top is, and the slate-gray leathers and plastics manage to cheapen the look of the latest Stingray’s massively improved interior. It undermines the appeal of our test car’s $9450 3LT package with its attendant power seats with memory, navigation, sueded upper-cabin trim, leather-wrapped dash and door panels, heated and ventilated seats, a head-up display, and Chevy’s cool Performance Data Recorder. Our 8L90 muse also came with the $5000 high-performance Z51 package (performance brakes and suspension, dry-sump engine lubrication, 19-inch front and 20-inch rear tires, an electronic limited-slip differential, and differential and transmission coolers), which now includes the Vette’s available sports exhaust. Toss in a $995 interior carbon-fiber dress-up package and the chrome-finished wheels ($1995), as well as necessary options such as the $2495 Competition seats (if you can fit in them), the $1795 Magnetic Ride Control adaptive suspension dampers, the $995 blue paint, and the $1725 automatic trans, and our Stingray’s sticker came to $84,840. That loaded price (bizarre color choices and all) still adds up to $16,435 less than what Porsche charges for a base 2015 911 Carrera cabriolet with the PDK dual-clutch automatic and zero options. The new 8L90 might not equal Porsche’s stellar PDK, but it lives up to the rest of the Corvette’s excellence in a way the old six-speed didn’t. NOTE: The pricing information in this story has been updated because the original Monroney we were provided showed an option that wasn't actually on our early-build test car. Chevrolet Corvette review, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Corvette price, Chevrolet Corvette specs, Chevrolet Corvette photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 918 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 918 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Porsche recasts this whole hybrid business in a most amazing way. Funnyman Louis C.K. does a widely known bit summed up by a phrase uttered early in the performance: “Everything is amazing and nobody’s happy.” (Go ahead and Google it now, but promise you’ll come back to us. Beware the YouTube wormhole!) He’s talking about personal technology, but the perspective applies to today’s car industry, too. Take a moment to count your blessings as a car enthusiast in today’s world, and you’ll quickly realize you’re going to need a longer moment. We have Miatas and BRZ/FR-Ss, GTIs and Focus STs, 300-hp V-6 Mustangs (and 400-hp V-8s), 495-hp Jaguar roadsters, 11-second Mercedes-Benz station wagons, and a handful of exotics (and sometimes even near-exotics) in the 10s. There are also 200-mph sedans, beautiful things, weird things—in short, there’s no shortage of something for everyone. This, plus forums to talk about these things, eBay and Bring a Trailer to buy them, and a mind-blowing generation of video games that let us realistically experience the dreams we can’t afford. Yet the mood in the automotive sphere tends to be a little dreary. We yearn for the good old days or, more often, fear the bad ones to come. Diesels and hybrids and EVs are the future, and they’re going to ruin it all. Except they won’t, so you can put away your sad trombone. On top of all that other great stuff comes a curious new phenomenon: The million-dollar, 900-hp hybrid hypercar. Want even more evidence that things are going well? In the past decade, several companies have quit making minivans, yet now three different automakers build these insane hybrids. We’ve yet to drive the Ferrari LaFerrari or McLaren P1, but we just clambered out of Porsche’s 918 Spyder, and it turns out that hybrids can be pretty awesome. The Hybrid Ambassador There’s no family-hybrid-esque Atkinson-cycle four puttering away beneath the 918’s perforated engine cover. Think, instead, high-output V-8 bristling with modern engine technology. Porsche says the engine was derived from that in the Le Mans class-winning RS Spyder, but you really need to stretch the definition of “derived” for that to be the case. In large part, the only commonalities between the RS Spyder’s 3.4-liter and the 918’s 4.6 are that they both have flat-plane cranks and 90-degree vee angles, and saying that 90-degree vees on two eight-cylinders implies shared roots is like claiming you and Billy Joel must be cousins because you both have goatees. But if the 918’s engine shares little with the racing car’s mill, it also shares little with those of any lesser Porsches. For starters, it breathes in reverse. Air enters from the outside of the heads and is exhausted in the valley of the vee. Then, rather than wind their way to the back of the car, the spent gases simply exit skyward from a pair of gaping cannons mounted immediately aft of the occupants’ heads. There’s not room for much muffling before this happens, which is fine by us—not to mention a boon to driver alertness. The block and the heads are aluminum, the connecting rods are titanium, and the exhaust system is Inconel, a lightweight and super-expensive nickel-based alloy. Keeping the internals light and the crank flat means the V-8 can rev to 9150 rpm, a speed at which it emits a scream of such intense, pure rage that we felt obliged to apologize. (The V-8 continued screaming nonetheless.) Carrera GT + 930 Turbo = 918 Spyder The V-8 makes 608 horsepower, three more than in Porsche’s previous limited-edition flagship, the Carrera GT. But the 918 then adds roughly the output of another old flagship, the 930 Turbo, via two electric motors. One wedges in between the V-8 and seven-speed PDK transmission; the other sits aft of the front cargo hold. The battery pack sits low behind the passengers within the carbon-fiber monocoque. Total system output from the engine and motors sits at 887 horsepower and a maximum of 944 lb-ft of torque. (For even more details on the 918’s powertrain and its operation, check out technical director Don Sherman’s prototype drive here.) We weren’t able to gather instrumented test data, but figure on a 0-to-60-mph time of 2.6 seconds and a quarter-mile time of about 10 flat. And in case you missed it, the 918 Spyder is the first production car ever to break the seven-minute barrier at the Nürburgring. Not only that, but Porsche’s drivers say they were told to exercise caution and insist they could do better than the 6:57 they stamped into the record books. Chalk one up for hybrid goodwill. Porsche 918 review, Porsche 918, Porsche 918 price, Porsche 918 specs, Porsche 918 photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2016 Best Sports Car Jaguar F-type 2016 Best Sports Car Jaguar F-type 2016 Jaguar F-type Manual and AWD Manuals: saved. Rear-wheel drive: in jeopardy. One of these days our Save the Manuals campaign will arrive at its inevitable end. Even if the ol’ stick shift wins a battle every now and then, newer, smoother, and faster transmission technology is dominating the war. We’ll be devastated to concede victory, but our work as the enthusiasts’ advocate won’t end with manual transmissions. That’s because there’s another just cause waiting in the wings. We’d call it our Save Rear-Wheel Drive Movement. As power escalates to obscene levels, carmakers are sending torque to all four wheels to get that grunt to the ground. Going fast is great, but all-wheel-drive systems also add weight and compromise handling. Which brings us to the 2016 Jaguar F-type coupe and convertible, cars that simultaneously fight the good fight and force all-wheel drive onto a sublime rear-drive sports car. Two years after the F-type debuted, a six-speed manual is optional with some engines while other powertrains are now mated with all-wheel drive as standard equipment. Behavior Modification Therapy We’ll hedge the bad news with some good: For 2016, the F-type V-8 S convertible is now an F-type R convertible, meaning it gets a power boost to match the coupe, going from 495 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque to 550 and 502. The downside is that all-wheel drive is now standard on all eight-cylinder F-types, both coupes and convertibles, regardless of whether they’re sold in Vermont or Florida. (Rear-drive Rs still will be available elsewhere in the world.) Jaguar believes you need four driven wheels to control the fury of the 5.0-liter supercharged V-8, and frankly, they’re not totally wrong. But the F-type derives a certain amount of charm from its tail-happy attitude and slightly juvenile inability to put the power to the ground. Besides, there will always be quicker ways than an F-type to get to 60 mph or to lap a track for $100,000 (such as the definitely-not-all-wheel-drive Chevrolet Corvette Z06). And at 176 pounds, the all-wheel-drive hardware does nothing to help the F-type’s serious weight problem. When we get our hands on one for testing, expect this two-passenger aluminum coupe to weigh in excess of 4000 pounds. The all-wheel-drive system, which is also an option on the 380-hp supercharged V-6 S model, can deliver up to 50 percent of the torque to the front wheels through an electronically controlled clutch pack or decouple the prop shaft completely to drive only the rear wheels in low-load, straight-ahead situations. While the four-wheel-drive F-type will still swish its tail around, breaking the rear end loose takes a concerted effort. The real benefit, of course, is the ability to drive out of corners with more throttle—and to apply it earlier. We lapped Portugal’s Estoril circuit in an F-type R and a low-speed handling course with a V-6 S coupe in a parking lot saturated by garden sprinklers. In the wet or dry, the all-wheel-drive F-type is far more stable and easier to drive at corner exit. There’s even enough traction to do a full-throttle launch in the wet with no evidence of wheelspin. For those who treat driving fast as a point-and-shoot exercise, an all-wheel-drive F-type R will probably save a few insurance claims. To us, though, it seems a bit stifling for Jaguar to foist all-wheel-drive on Sun Belt buyers and three-season drivers in the north. Electric Revolution All 2016 F-types switch from hydraulic power steering to electric power steering, and the outcome is far better than we could have anticipated. While it’s not quite as perfectly weighted as the setup in the sublime 2017 Jaguar XE, the F-type’s steering is precise, sharp on-center, and full of feedback. The effort is a touch light for our tastes, but that doesn’t prevent Jaguar from joining the rarefied company of automakers that have improved their steering with the switch to electric assistance. Six-Speed Salvation While the V-8 models are losing some of their driver’s-car appeal, the V-6 models gain credibility by way of an optional six-speed manual transmission. The stick shift is available on both the 340- and 380-hp V-6 models, but exclusively with rear-wheel drive. For the privilege of working the clutch pedal, buyers can expect a discount of about $1500 and a savings of 22 pounds compared with the eight-speed automatic. Jaguar F-type review, Jaguar F-type, Jaguar F-type price, Jaguar F-type specs, Jaguar F-type photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2016 Best Sports Car Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S 2016 Best Sports Car Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S AMG pulls its halo downmarket. It wasn't a bad move Normally, prior to the launch of an important vehicle, manufacturers assemble a jet-lagged mob of scriveners for an every-last-detail PowerPoint presentation. AMG was so confident that the new GT S would speak for itself, it simply gave us a quick route briefing and sent us scuttling out the door and down the San Francisco Peninsula toward Monterey in this, the final-spec version of its latest halo product. (We’ve previously ridden in a test car and driven a prototype.) Make no mistake: Despite the fact that the GT S is likely to cost two-thirds as much as AMG’s most expensive offering, the S65 coupe—final pricing has yet to be released for either car—the car we’re discussing here serves as the brand’s calling card. At the end of the day, after a couple of hours spent lobbing the car around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, AMG CEO Tobias Moers gathered our g-force-addled bunch, offered a few remarks about the car, and casually noted that a 1:41 lap was a pretty good time for a session that saw us restricted to lead-follow lapping behind instructors. For reference, 1:41 is the sort of time a solo racing driver in full time-attack mode lays down around Laguna in something like a Porsche Cayman S. The point is this: The GT S turned a similar time during what amounted to an exceptionally spirited Sunday drive. Yet the sensation of speed in this, the car with which Daimler hopes to take a chunk out of Porsche’s Neunelfer Zwiebelkuchen, is muted. One does not quite realize the sheer velocities attainable until the right foot attempts to extricate itself from the floorboard just ahead of the crest marking the end of the front straight. Or until one experiences the forces acting upon the car when slowing for the Andretti Hairpin. Point, squirt, brake, repeat: The result is subdued violence all the way around the course. Atop the Corkscrew, the long hood and low windshield header conspire against sightlines. The quick and sure turn-in, paired with predictable front-end grip, more than make up for those shortcomings after a couple of laps. The twin-turbo 4.0-liter M178 V-8 dispenses with the grunty, naturally aspirated honk-’n’-braaaap hoedown that the late, lamented C63 Black Series offered. Home taping is killing music, turbocharging is killing engines’ auditory esprit d’guerre. Despite Moers’s hatred of BMW’s current MP3 soundtracks—notwithstanding his laudable intent to let an engine be what it is—the 503-hp, 3600-pound GT S never gives you that side-of-beef-to-the-chest whump offered up by, say, the big-bore Corvette Stingray. The AMG just accelerates. We predict 60 mph will arrive in 3.5 seconds. Given enough room, AMG says it will continue to build speed until the car hits 193. Chuck everything you remember about Mercedes-Benz steering. Imagine the tactility of a nice manual rack, then picture it boosted to the point that there’s just enough feel left. The wheel saws easily from left to right. The automobile is incredibly quick to follow these orders. The tiller reminds us a bit of the McLaren 650S’s, if the Woking-bred supercar’s had spent the past 24 hours pulling helium-tank keg stands. The supercharged V-8–powered Jag F-type R is a loutish hooligan of a thing, a straight-outta-Albion wide boy happy to throw the odd elbow to make his point. In contrast, the GT S makes like the handsome, stern Teuton in the corner, prepared to dispatch interlopers with understatement, efficiency, and extreme prejudice. The AMG offers prowess and competence but something just short of unfettered joy. Rewarding as hell? Yes. Satisfying? Of course. Interior-wise, the impeccably trimmed AMG’s cabin shames those of all comers save for the 911. The Porsche features better ergonomics and visibility, and we find that car’s sport seats to be more comfortable than the tight-fit units in the GT S. The main quirk of the Mercedes, however, is that its gear selector is placed far rearward on the high, sloping center console. We understand this is due to Americans’ need for cup holders. We’re not huge fans of Mercedes’ column-based gear stalks, but one might have been more useful here. Alternately, ditch the cup holders. Due at your local Mercedes store in April, the GT S will be followed in 2016 by the base level, 456-hp GT. Despite Mercedes’ refusal to comment on its impending existence, a blast-furnace Black Series model will arrive at some future date. There may even be other models to come. Could we see a roadgoing AMG GT GT3? The racing version is in the works, after all. Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S review, Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S, Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S price, Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S specs, Mercedes-AMG GT / GT S photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Ferrari 458 2015 Best Sports Car Ferrari 458 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale A: The A Isn't for "Awesome," But It Should Be An especially special 458 Spider The “A” in the new Ferrari 458 Speciale A’s name doesn’t stand for “awesome,” but it could. The “A” actually is for Aperta, the Italian word for “open.” Based, of course, on the 458 Italia, this version of the 458 Spider gets the same special upgrades as the transcendent Speciale coupe. That means 597 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque from the naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V-8—it hasn’t gone turbocharged yet—making it the most powerful spider ever to emerge from Maranello. The power increase comes courtesy of a 14:1 compression ratio, a new manifold and airbox rendered from carbon fiber, higher lift for both the intake and exhaust valves, new pistons, and reworked intake runners and ports. The gearbox is a revised seven-speed dual-clutch automatic with shifts so quick that they could bend both space and time. The Speciale A sports an aluminum lid that retracts or raises in just 14 seconds; the price paid for the deployable roof is 110 additional pounds to cart around. Even so, Ferrari estimates that the car will rocket to 62 mph in three seconds flat, but we’d likely be able to break into the twos in a 0-to-60 run with our equipment aboard. Other carry-overs ported from the fixed-top Speciale include Side Slip Angle Control, the lines of code for which were developed in part for the LaFerrari mega-ultra-hypercar. It aims to measure the car’s slip angle in real time, then adjust the electronic rear differential and stability control based on what it determines to be the optimum slip angle. (Learn more about how it works, as well as myriad suspension, steering, and other chassis upgrades, in our 458 Speciale first drive.) The A also gets the 458 Speciale’s advanced aerodynamic features, including a flap ahead of the front fascia’s Ferrari logo that sends air under the car to create more rear downforce at high speeds. Spring-loaded doors up front open above 105 mph to divert air from the radiators and through vanes at the corners of the car. The regular Spider’s three-tip central exhaust becomes a pair of wider-set cannons to accommodate a big rear diffuser and a motor-actuated drag-reduction setup that drop from the underside of the rear end to help achieve Vmax. The coupe can hit 202 mph; no figure has been released yet for the A. The car makes its debut at the 2014 Paris auto show, and just 499 will be built. We’re guessing a big-ol’ chunk of the run has already been spoken for. Ferrari 458 review, Ferrari 458, Ferrari 458 price, Ferrari 458 specs, Ferrari 458 photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Lamborghini Huracán 2015 Best Sports Car Lamborghini Huracán 2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 No amount of warning could prepare us for how quick this new Lamborghini is. From the September 2014 Issue of Car and Driver You may know the Nardò Ring as the 7.8-mile asphalt track where the world’s automakers take their top-speed vacations. A traffic-free circular autobahn in the heel of Italy’s boot, the Porsche-owned test track is banked such that you can take your hands off any car’s steering wheel at 149 mph in the outer lane. It’s one of the few places on the planet where Lamborghini’s new 10-cylinder wedge, the Huracán, could prove to us how aerodynamically sound it is approaching its claimed top speed of 202 mph. We say “could” because the ring is off-limits today. Instead, we’re rifling through Nardò’s other treasure, a 3.9-mile squiggle of asphalt known only as the handling track. Wide enough to field a NASCAR race and technical enough for a Grand Prix, it merits a more pretentious name, so we’ll give it one. Circuito Internationale Nardò, as we’ll call it, is 16 corners of sweepers, hairpins, and flyers that make it a perfect place to inspect Lamborghini’s new runt and its 602-hp, anything-but-runty V-10. Halfway around the track, you crest a small rise that reveals a heart-stopping panorama stretching to the horizon. The land falls all the way to the Ionian Sea, creating the illusion that a wrong move could send the Huracán sliding nearly two miles into the drink. A car with this much drama and this much speed doesn’t let your pulse rest for long. The Huracán corners flat, grips doggedly, and blitzes out of bends. But it keeps your heart rate from fully redlining by being just as precise and predictable as it is explosive. There’s more understeer in this four-wheel-drive Huracán than elsewhere in the mid-engine stratum, but it’s hardly the frightening push of some past Lambos. Trail the brakes or lift in a corner and the aluminum-and-carbon-fiber space frame willingly changes direction. The brakes bite ­progressively, with some of the best modulation we’ve experienced from carbon-ceramic discs. Pirelli P Zero rubber sinks claws into the pavement to produce ­cornering grip of 1.01 g’s and a 70-to-0-mph stopping distance of just 144 feet. The seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, Lam­bor­ghini’s first such transmission, executes ruthless, premeditated gear­changes. You don’t miss turbochargers when you have 10 ­cylinders inflating a torque curve to such a healthy level, either. According to our tests, the baby Lambo is quicker than not just the Ferrari 458 Italia but also its big brother, Lambo's Aventador. Lamborghinis once had a reputation for being fast in a straight line and clunky in corners. This car is fast everywhere, though our test gear confirmed that this Huracán is freakishly quick in a straight line. We ripped to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and burst through the quarter-mile in 10.4 seconds at 135 mph. Forget the comparable Ferraris and McLarens—they’re eating the Huracán’s dust. In fact, the little Lambo even knocks off the Porsche 911 Turbo S, a computerized acceleration kill-bot and another bright satellite in the VW universe. This thing is Veyron quick. But the real drama lies closer to home as the Huracán, base price of $241,945, beats the $404,195 Lamborghini Aventador in the critical acceleration measures by a half-second. You still have to buy the expensive one, however, if you want doors that open up rather than out. Seems worth it, no? Our Huracán demands a break after 55 miles of Nardò’s handling track. The water-temperature needle nips at the red, and the digital instrument cluster begs us to have mercy on the transmission. When a cool-down lap yields no relief, we pit. The 5.2-liter decachord behind the seats snorts steam through its air intakes and the slatted engine cover, enveloping the rear half of the car in a sweet-smelling ethylene-glycol fog. The popular story line holds that the newest bulls mark a monumental shift for Lamborghini and its relationship with Audi; that the Germans have gone down to where the wild things are and tamed one and made it their own. The blown coolant hose is only the first indication that this Lamborghini is still very much Italian. Lamborghini Huracan review, Lamborghini Huracan, Lamborghini Huracan price, Lamborghini Huracan specs, Lamborghini Huracan photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 REVIEW dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4S Porsche's latest Targa demands little in the way of compromise. It was never Porsche’s first choice to build the original 911 Targa. Porsche planned to develop an open-air 911, but back in the 1960s, the future of the convertible was under threat by impending U.S. regulations, so the company came out with the Targa, an almost-convertible with a permanent roll bar. With no droptop to compete with in the 911 lineup, the Targa gained a following despite its slightly awkward looks. A glass rear window soon replaced the original, zip-out plastic version. The stainless-steel roll hoop was eventually painted black. Even after Porsche released a real convertible 911 in 1983, Targa sales continued. It wasn’t until September of 1993 that Porsche stopped building the basket-handle Targa with the lift-off top. The name continued, but subsequent versions had what was essentially a giant glass sunroof. Those glass-topped Targas are now gone—and the new Targa looks a lot like the old Targa. Retro Looks, Modern Mechanicals Based on the latest 911, known among Porsche-philes as the 991, the new Targa is a clear homage to the original design, with a brushed-aluminum roll bar and that distinctive, curved-glass rear window. The roof’s operation, however, is thoroughly modern. With the push of a button, the rear glass lifts and glides backward along with what seems to be the entire rear end of the car. The trim at the top of the bar opens, the black-fabric-covered roof panel moves up and then back, nestling behind the rear seats, and the rear window whirs back into place. This automated metamorphosis takes 19 seconds. In the original Targa, this process required tools to release the top, getting out of the car, lifting the vinyl-covered top off the car, and then awkwardly folding the accordion-like roof to get it to fit in the front trunk. With a bit of practice, you might get it done in less than two minutes. For first-timers, it was closer to five. The new Targa comes standard with four-wheel drive and can be had with either a 3.4-liter flat-six with 350 horsepower or the 4S’s 3.8-liter flat-six with 400 ponies. There’s no two-wheel-drive Targa, which makes us think that the Targa is the “convertible” for folks whose pants are stained with salt for five months of the year. Testing the Targa Although removing the top might not take as long as before, in 4S guise, the Targa proved to be a bit slower than the Carrera 4S. Our Targa 4S, which was equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, hit 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and 100 mph in 9.8. The quarter-mile comes up in 12.6 seconds at 113 mph. As noted, these numbers are a few ticks behind those of a PDK-equipped Carrera 4S we previously tested. We’d surmise that the difference is largely due to the extra 144 pounds the Targa carries. The rear glass and its integral lid weighs 55 pounds, and Targas also begin life with the additional bracing found in the convertible 911. At 3630 pounds, the Targa 4S is the heaviest 991 we’ve tested; it’s even 42 pounds heavier than the Turbo S. On the plus side, we didn’t notice any structural quivers. Despite carrying the equivalent of an extra passenger, the Targa 4S still grips to the tune of 0.99 g and stops from 70 mph in a very strong 148 feet. When pressed, it’s incredibly stable and secure. There’s virtually no body roll, and Porsche’s optional Dynamic Chassis Control ($3160) keeps the eventual loss of grip neutral and safe. It’s hard to believe that 61 percent of the mass presses on the rear wheels. Now, a quick whine about the continued growth of the 911 species: Some of the toylike character and liveliness we’ve come to love in 911s is gone in the latest version. That said, the 991 still feels smaller than its rivals such as the Nissan GT-R and the Chevrolet Corvette. With the top in place, the Targa acts much like the coupe. There’s no additional wind noise and the sound-level meter registers 71 decibels at 70 mph—actually quieter than the aforementioned 4S coupe. In our earlier first drive of the Targa, we noticed some squeaks where the roof seals meet the windshield frame. Porsche must have addressed the problem, as our test car didn’t utter a peep. Opening the top brings in the wind and noise, but at lower speeds the raspy sound of the flat-six playing through the $2950 Sport exhaust is all you’ll remember. That louder exhaust was but one of the many options on our test car. Prices start at $117,195, but our car came equipped with $29,815 in extras. How is that possible? The biggies are the two-tone leather interior that adds $4120, the dual-clutch automatic costs $4080, LED headlights are $3110, the Premium Package Plus commands $2330, 14-way Sport seats with memory are $2120, and the Sport Chrono Package boosts the price by $2370. Porsche 911 review, Porsche 911, Porsche 911 price, Porsche 911 specs, Porsche 911 photos

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2016 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 2016 Best Sports Car Porsche 911 GT3 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS: Naturally Aspirated, Nurburgring Honed The newest definition of 911 purity has arrived. Porsche has the art of exciting 911 devotees down to a science, and the buildup to the reveal of the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS was no different. For most neunelf followers, the twitching began with the simple knowledge that the car was on its way, the eagerness growing to sweaty-palmed anticipation with every unsubstantiated rumor or spy shot. While Porsche’s engineers toiled to take the rear-engine principle to new levels of insanity, sufferers played into the drama, their uncertainty cultivating impure thoughts like, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to fit the engine in the middle—you know, like in the Cayman?” And “Turbocharging is pretty much a given, right?” And “Zuffenhausen? I thought the city shut down all those unlicensed rave clubs.” We’re here to report that all the worry was for naught. 4.0 for Fighting Continuing on the path of its predecessors, the newest 911 GT3 RS arrives packing 500 horsepower and 338 lb-ft of torque courtesy of a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six hanging off the back end, where God and Ferdinand Porsche intended. Sharp-eyed aficionados will be quick to point out that those numbers are nearly spot on with those of the 2012 GT3 RS 4.0, matching it in displacement and horsepower while losing a single pound-foot somewhere along the way. This, we can live with. More disconcerting, however, is that a seven-speed PDK is the only available transmission in the 2016 car, at least at launch. (As we have reported, however, a manual is being seriously considered for later.) On the upside, a paddle-neutral feature and a button for limiting pit-lane speed are standard, and the RS also gets a shorter rear axle ratio than the standard 911 GT3, which should provide for hastier takeoffs. Porsche, whose estimates are generally on the conservative side, pegs the 911 GT3 RS’s zero-to-60-mph time at 3.1 seconds and its zero-to-124-mph run at 10.9; the sprint through the quarter-mile is said to consume 11.2 seconds, and Vmax is achieved when the speedometer reads 193 mph. When we strapped our test gear to the current-generation, 475-hp 911 GT3, we hit 60 in 3.0 and matched the RS’s quoted quarter-mile run. You can see why we’re betting Porsche came in soft on the initial performance numbers. ’Ringing in the RS The 2016 GT3 RS’s 7-minute, 20-second lap time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the gold standard of performance hairsplitting, handily betters the regular GT3’s time by five seconds. Useful equipment in that endeavor includes the car’s bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires—the widest fit to any 911, Porsche says—on center-lock wheels. A fully adjustable suspension allows owners to tweak the camber, caster, and anti-roll bar settings, and the RS also features rear-wheel steering, an infinitely variable locking limited-slip differential (PTV Plus), and Porsche Active Suspension Management. The body is shared with the 911 Turbo, which, combined with the new wheels and tires, gives the car wider front and rear tracks than the regular GT3. Despite the familial resemblance, the GT3 RS manages to look even meaner, sporting louvered vents atop the front fenders, a positively massive rear wing, and brake rotors larger than LeBron James’s size-15 kicks. As you’d expect from such a track-focused beast, exotic and advanced materials are part of the mix, including carbon-fiber panels for the engine cover and the frunk. A magnesium roof with a double-bubble recess helps make room for helmeted heads, the bodies attached to which are seated in the red and black faux-suede-trimmed bucket seats. The steering wheel gets the faux-suede treatment, too, a single yellow accent marking the twelve-o’clock position. Lightweight fabric-loop door pulls stand in for conventional pieces. All in, Porsche says the GT3 RS weighs 22 pounds less than the GT3. As is its wont, Porsche took time to assemble a healthy list of options, including a lightweight lithium-ion battery, front-axle lift system, carbon-ceramic brakes, and the Sport Chrono Package. Porsche 911 GT3 review, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 911 GT3 price, Porsche 911 GT3 specs, Porsche 911 GT3 photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2015 Best Sports Car Porsche Cayman 2015 Best Sports Car Porsche Cayman 2015 Porsche Cayman GTS Spend more, save more. It would be easy to write off the new Cayman GTS as an obvious expansion of the model line. On the surface, it seems like a paint-by-numbers trim package: a couple of essential options like PASM and Sport Chrono bundled with 20-inch wheels, an interior done up in faux suede, and a new nose. There is substance in a tweaked engine computer that boosts power by 15 horses over the power of a Cayman S, but is that reason enough to get excited about this range-topping, $76,195 Cayman? Yes. Not because of the car itself, which drives just like the Cayman we know and love, but rather because it confirms that Stuttgart will no longer subjugate the Boxster and Cayman to the hoary 911. Cayman S performance already was on par with that of the base Carrera, and the 340-hp GTS hints at a future in which cars like the forthcoming Cayman GT4 will make our preference for Porsche’s mid-engine models over its rear-engined jelly beans seem prescient. Porsche’s motivation likely has less to do with our predilections than with the increasingly competitive field of sub-$80,000 sports cars in which the 911 no longer plays. Whereas the C7 Chevrolet Corvette hits Porsche on value, the new Jaguar F-type S dispenses with the body blows and goes right for the emotional jugular. Porsche’s engineers admit that the Jag and its machine-gun exhaust caught their attention, which explains why the GTS-spec Caymans and Boxsters get model-line-exclusive sound symposers as standard equipment. Press the sport-exhaust button on the GTS, and it cranks up the volume on par with the standard F-type exhaust note, although the Jaguar can still go all Spinal Tap when its own sport exhaust is engaged. Which is okay with Porsche (and us, too). The Germans quite obviously imagine that Porsche buyers are more mature and more discerning, although we wonder if they aren’t just spending more. Add a few expensive options to the GTS—$2580 for Carmine Red paint, $3025 to upgrade the two-way-adjustable sport seats to 18-way adaptive sport seats, $6730 for the Burmester High-End infotainment system, $3960 for the PDK tranny, $7400 for ceramic brakes, $1320 for the torque-vectoring differential—and you’re looking at six figures in the rearview mirror. But the base price of the Cayman GTS is somewhat encouraging, as an itemized list of standard GTS equipment that’s optional on the Cayman S runs more than $3000 past the $11,400 bump in sticker. And that’s not even accounting for the extra power. Only at a Porsche dealership can the most expensive, range-topping model represent the best “value.” Porsche Cayman review, Porsche Cayman, Porsche Cayman price, Porsche Cayman specs, Porsche Cayman photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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2016 Best Sports Car Acura NSX 2016 Best Sports Car Acura NSX 2016 Acura NSX, the Real One This is it Exactly one quarter-century has passed since an upstart Japanese luxury car brand named Acura introduced an ambitious mid-engine sports car called the NSX. Sold in other markets as a Honda, the aluminum Acura NSX was light, stylish, and fast, yet its less sexy qualities—everyday drivability, friendly ergonomics, and Honda reliability—are what ended up turning the exotic-car world on its nose. From that moment on, Ferraris and Porsches couldn’t get away with being tempestuous, occasional-use money pits. The NSX was the world’s first everyday exotic, one that cost a fraction of its mid-engine competitors. But Acura did little to evolve the NSX over the years, and alas, it was a relic by the time Acura finally pulled the plug in 2005. Ever since, NSX enthusiasts (ourselves included) have pined for a second act, but Acura made the world wait, having shifted its focus to building decent, if not exactly stimulating, crossovers and sedans. Then, three years ago at the 2012 Detroit auto show, Acura trotted out a striking, mid-engine concept bearing the NSX name and confirmed that it would indeed be built—in America, no less! Now, following countless subsequent auto-show appearances, spy shots, camo’d prototypes doing fly-bys at racing events, the debut of the NSX Concept-GT race car, and one ugly fire on the Nürburgring, Acura has finally shown us the 2016 NSX exactly as it will roll out of its Marysville, Ohio, Performance Manufacturing Center later this year. The second coming of the NSX is upon us. My, How You’ve Grown! While the overall shape hasn’t changed since the NSX concept cars started floating around, the production version has grown more than three inches in length, one inch in width, and about a half inch in height. Compared with the original NSX, it is considerably larger, as well, particularly in width, up by 5.1 inches, and wheelbase, which has grown by 11.0 inches. Its space-frame structure is comprised of aluminum, high-strength steel, and “other advanced materials,” and the floor is carbon fiber. Acura did not provide estimated curb weight, but we reckon it’ll tip the scales at about 3600 pounds (in 1994, we weighed an NSX at 3030 pounds). The car’s exterior details have been refined and refined some more, resulting in a car that looks finished, sophisticated, yet even more extreme. Up front, the concept’s chunky, five-block headlamps have been replaced by skinny rows of six LEDs underscored by an even thinner strip of LED DRLs, while redesigned ducts and filaments within the fascia have rendered Acura’s much-maligned “power plenum” grille treatment to a mere chrome strip. (Hooray!) The body panels are made of aluminum and SMC (sheet-molding compound), and they include a flying-buttress-style C-pillar that drops about halfway down the body side to accommodate the gaping engine-air intake. Out back is a thin band of taillamps spanning the width of the car, while the bumper contains a trio of massive air extractors and diffuser vanes bracketing center-mounted exhaust pipes. And in a nod to the original NSX, the debut car was rendered in NSX red with a contrasting black roof. A carbon-fiber roof will be optional. The ultra-thin-spoke wheels measure 19 by 8.5 inches in front, 20 by 11 inches in back, and are wrapped by 245/35 and 295/30 Continental ContiSportContact tires. Tucked behind them are six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers clamping carbon-ceramic rotors. Dramatic Interior The visual drama continues inside. The low dashboard features exposed aluminum structural components covered by padded, black-and-red-stitched leather panels. A TFT instrument cluster is nestled behind a highly sculpted steering wheel with flattened upper and lower sections. Acura is very proud of one particular feature of the new NSX, which also happens to be one of our favorite aspects of the original car: the thin windshield pillars, which are meant to facilitate a panoramic view of the road ahead, contributing an impression of lightness. The original NSX made news also with its easy ingress/egress, as well as its ergonomic simplicity—even using components from workaday Hondas. Now, as then, the NSX’s climate controls are refreshingly simple, and the screen perched above them appears suspiciously like the app-based infotainment system found in the Civic and the Fit, which, unfortunately, we aren’t overly fond of. We’ll hope that Acura has found a way to finesse the system’s fussier logic paths—we would hate it to be a blight on an otherwise stellar-looking cabin. High-Po Hybrid: Twin-Turbo V-6 + Three Electric Motors = “North of 550 hp” Acura NSX review, Acura NSX, Acura NSX price, Acura NSX specs, Acura NSX photos dream car overview, review, speed, acceleration, exhaust, overview, cars reviews, supercar, DCO

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