Italdesign Parcour Concept

The Italdesign Parcour breaks a rule that automotive companies have either been too scared to do or don't want to do it. That is you don't mix a SUV with a sedan or a sports car with an SUV. But it has been broken. And it was broken with the coolest looking piece of metal that has ever laid foot apon this earth. Backed by the Lamborghini and Audi portion of VW, Fabrizio Giugiaro set off on a child hood dream to mix a mid engine super car with a SUV type feel.

 The outcome? Well, the outcome you could say is the new Lancia Stratos, but with a Lamborghini V10, enough said. To clarify for those who don't know the legendary Lancia Stratos, the Parcour is a very fast sports car that can also go very fast off road. That's scary to think of driving a very expensive sports car on dirt, fast. But they seem to know what they are doing at VW because the Parcour can deliver all 540 hp through an all-wheel drive system on any surface. Its awesomeness does not stop with the design or the idea.

To make it possible for either a sports car feel or a SUV feel, the Parcour can be set at three different ride heights: 8.3, 9.8, or 13.0 inches thanks to hydraulic suspension. Thats not all though. To get better performance off road, the chassis incorporates two shock absorbers at each corner, but not how you would think. One shock is mounted more or less vertical and the other horizontal. The shocks are set up for a pushrod-style setup but there are no pushrods, instead employing lockable rocker arms for maximum suspension versatility. In the firmest setting, the rod locks and removes the higher, horizontal shocks from the equation. Raise the ride height, and the rocker arm unlocks, bringing all eight shocks into play. Instead of mirrors there are cameras, which makes way for an interesting aerodynamics system that pushes air close to the body and back over the Lamborghini V10. That air pushes the heat and fumes from the exhaust, which is above the transmission to keep it safe from off road obstacles, away from the car keeping things cool and clean. Now thats German enginering.

If VW brings this car to the public, I will devote all my free time and money into buying one of these, even if it kills me. Well, maybe not that extreme, but you get the picture. It looks great, sounds great, and is an idea I have been wanting to see in a car for a long time. Unfortunately in the world we live in it will stay a concept. But then, VW is the company that owns Bugatti, so you never know what will happen. Anything is possible if you own Bugatti.

(Both a coupe and roadster form was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.)

Jaguar XFR-S

With the release of the XFR-S, Jaguar has found their inner teen again. Re-birthed from the old man days, Jaguar is trying to appeal to a younger audience, and its self again. I'm not saying that Jaguars in the past 10 or so years were bad, but they definitely were not appealing to a younger crowed. With the XFR-S they have not just slapped on a rear wing and a extra letter in the name. Instead Jaguar has throughly morphed the XFR into a power hungry hooligan. They have done so by stiffening the front and rear suspension by 40 percent. They also stiffened the bushings and changed the knuckles. The have morphed the front and rear facias to drop lift down by 68 percent. The biggest change to the R-S, is the engine management controls and exhaust system, which squeezes 40 more horsepower and 41 feet-pound of torque of the already powerful 5.0-litre V8, for max hp of 550 and 502 ft-lb torque. Those numbers help propel the 4400 lbs sedan from 0-60mph in just over four seconds. Top speed is limited to 186 mph, unfortunately.

To me, this is is the coolest car to come from Jaguar since the release of the F-Type, and most of their cars. Other than all the other cools cars to come from Jaguar this is my favorite. It seems like, from what I've read and watched, its fast. Not only in a straight line but also up the mountain road. It is also a very appealing car. It looks powerful yet still elegant, like a Jaguar. It may be fairly heavy but its a Jag, so its all good.

Jaguar hopes that the R series of cars to come will be a competitor to AMG, M, V and Quattro. Its price tag is definitely more along those line at more then 16 grand more then the XFR. At a base price of $99,895 and only 100 to be shipped to the US in 2014, they probably will not be swarming us like Camry but we can keep our hopes up for 2105.

Spyker B6 Venator Concept

In April at the Geniva Auto Show, there were a lot of cool and exciting releases. One that did not catch my eye, unfortunately, until now was by the Dutch auto company, Spyker. Unlike the other Spyker models, the B6 Venator, and its sister model, the B6 Ventura Spyder, are not as crazy. Even though Ventur means 'Hunter' in Latin. It looks sleek and sexy, just waiting to be driven. The interior is still very Spyker, which means its like sitting inside of a 1930's stereotypical luxury plain but with the 21st century thrown in. Also there are almost no plastics used in the interior, unlike most sports cars. Instead of a key for ignition, Spyker throws in some aviation and adds a switch and a button to start up the 375+ hp V6 that is located between the driver and the rear axles. Even with large amounts of leather, the B6 Ventor only weighs about 3,090 lbs. I think this is the best looking car that has come from Spyker, and it looks like it will be the best performing car to come from them also. It seems like it is not some crazy product of an engineer's wet dream. Instead it looks civilized but it is still ready to pounce at your slightest move. I cannot wait for 2014 when it comes out, so I can drool while Top Gear does a road test. Until then we will just have to drool over these beautiful pictures.

Vector M12

 If you google "worst supercar ever" and click on the first result, the page that it brings you to is the site of the British TV show: Top Gear. And the car it shows is the Vector M12, with this caption below it: "Denounced by one J Clarkson as 'the worst car in the entire world', the M12 was a re-bodied Diablo with the sophistication of a mastodon and the build quality of a Glastonbury tent. Made the Lambo look like a sensible, reliable choice." To clarify for those who do not watch Top Gear, which every one should, Jeramy Clarkson is the host and has been for many years. He is also the one who reviewed the M12. So when someone who has been driving cars for a living for the past 30 years says that a car is rubbish, it must be true. Another car on the list is the Lamborghini Jalpa which has such a great caption I have to add it."Not an awful car in its own right, but suffered from its billing as the useable, affordable alternative to the Countach. That's like trying to make a living as a friendly, vegetarian mako shark. Or a prudish porn star. Or Nickelback"

Enough with the captions. The Vector M12 is bad enough it deserves some attention but it wont top last week. The M12 is basically a rebadged, re-bodied version of the Lamborghini Diablo. That along makes it bad. Not because the Lamborghini Diablo was bad but, because it was a poorly built copy. The Diablo and the M12 had the same engines which should make it the same car, right? Well, no. The M12 had a slightly de-tuned V12 and weighed 200 lbs more then the diablo (3,474 Diablo, 3,600 M12). Also the M12 could only go 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds and would top out at 189 mph. Where as the Diablo could go 0-62 mph(100 kp/h) in just 4.5 seconds and would get to a death defining 202 mph. I think its amazing that the M12 was so much slower even though it had 492 hp and 425 ft-lb of torque compared to the Diablo's 492 hp and 428 ft-lb of torque. Three ft-lb of torque does not make all the difference by point tree of a second and 13 mph, then what does? Well one is a Vector and the other is a Lamborghini; oh and the diablo is 126 lbs lighter, that makes the difference.

If someone gave me a Vector M12 I would be very happy because it is a Lamborghini Diablo underneath. However if I had to fork out $184,000 in 1995($273815.42 in 2013) I would not have been one of the 14 people to buy one before the car was canceled in 1999. Its ugly and reminds me of the '90's even though I don't remember them. And if I was going to get a M12 I would just go for a Lamborghini Diablo because it does not look like stereotypical '90's.

(The Vector M12 is so bad it is not on the website I use for photos, so I apologies for bad photos.)

Ferrari 458 Speciale

The 458 Speciale is not a completely new 458 Italia, but instead what the 458 Italia should be, or will be soon. The 458 Speciale does set itself apart from the 458 Italia on many levels. The most notable difference is the body. Ferrari has made the rear spoiler more prominent and changed the front end to be more aerodynamic. Which personally has made the 458 Speciale more visually stunning then the other 458. It looks less "normal" then the 458 Irtalia, which is hard to say for a Ferrari in the first place.

The biggest difference between the 458 Italia and the 458 Speciale is the power train. The reason there is a 458 Speciale is because Ferrari greatly improved their naturally aspirated V8. Ferrari redesigned almost everything. The new V8 is now 17.5 lbs lighter then the old V8 and more powerful. Ferrari redesigned the air intakes, and the exhaust so the engine circulate air better then before. They also redesigned the cylinder heads and up the compression ratio to an impressive 14:1. Thats the highest ever compression ratio for a engine of this lay out. Its also the most powerful, naturally aspirated, road going, V8 ever! At 9000 rpm the 458 Speciale has 603 hp and 540 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm. It puts out 135 hp per liter!

Another big improvement from the 458 Italia is the aerodynamics. The 458 Speciale has a new front and rear air dame. The front air dame has a splitter with two vertical and a horizontal flap that channels air into the radiators. When the car is at low speeds the virtical flap are open for the necessary cooling of the amazing V8. When the 458 Speciale is at higher speeds the flaps close to lesson drag. When the 458 Speciale exceeds 138 mph the horizontal flap adjust to help the balance of downforce between the axles. That gives the 458 Speciale a 20 percent shift in aerodynamics over both axles. The rear dam has also improved the aero dynamics with two flaps that adjust depending on what the car is doing. The two flaps can be lowered by as much as 17 degrees, which stalls the diffuser increasing drag, and slowing the car. With all of the 458 Speciale's aerodynamic gizmos the coefficient of drag is .35. Still .11 higher then the Tesla Model S(and yes I will bring up the Tesla every time).

The 458 Speciale also has improved vehicle dynamics over the 458 Italia. To name a few of the many, it has something that is pretty awesome, and completely new, called Slip Slide Angle Control (SSC). When the 458 Speciale starts to slide sideways, it corrects itself by talking to the differential, torque management, and reference data to right the car. Also the 458 Speciale has quicker response to commands. With steering response time of just 0.06 seconds and lateral acceleration of 1.33 g! Those are the best number in those classes ever made by Ferrari!

The 458 Italia is one of my favorite cars. Its beautiful, sounds amazing, and is yet also refined while being able to bite you in the back. Its hard to say, but the 458 Speciale might be more of a favorite then the 458 Italia. It is definitely on my favorite list, but it is hard to say if I like it more then the 458 Italia. Ferrari officially unveil it at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt yesterday(Sep 10, 2013). The 458 Speciale is going to cost some where around $279,000 based on other models(F430 and F430 Scudeira), even though no information on the price has been released. I cant wait for Top Gear UK to get their hands on the 458 Speciale.

SRT Viper

In last weeks post, I said that I was going to do a Bertone, but I am going to save that for another time because there are some great cars that came from the studios of Bertone and, they deserve a more formal greeting. Today though I am doing a car that I should have done a year ago. Not only is it an American icon, but for the first time in more then a decade it was redesigned and debuted last April. That is non other than the SRT Viper, formally know as the Dodge Viper. There was talk in 2010 that the Viper would be cut, but instead chief executive Sergio Marchionne announced that there was going to be a new Viper for 2012. There was much rejoicing. It was a good thing the Viper was not cut because then there would be not super car coming from a major US car manufacture and that would not look good for die hard US car fans.

 The new SRT Viper is in a league of its own. Its lighter than the last generation, more powerful than the last four generations and personally it looks better than the other ones also. The SRT Viper comes standard with an all-aluminum 8.4-liter V-10 with 640 horsepower and 600 lb·ft of torque. That power house is mated to a Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission. The SRT Viper also has 50% better torsional stiffens over the past generations. Add in electronic stability control, traction control, 4-channel ABS, carbon fiber and aluminum skin with a drag coefficient of .364(Tesla Model S is .24). Put Pirelli P Zero Z-rated tires, 4-piston Brembo brakes with fixed-aluminum calipers and vented rotors on 18 inch front and 19 inch rear wheels that are 16lb lighter than last models wheels and this thing will fly. Add in 20 mm lower seating position, 7-inch full-color customizable instrument cluster, Harman Kardon audio system, and bi-xenon projector headlamps, thats is one sweet snake. But thats not all. When the fairly wealthy, patriotic american puts his foot down on the gas pedal, he, and the gorgeous SRT Viper around him, will launch from 0-60mph in just about 3.4 seconds and will eat up a 1/4 mile in 11.7 seconds at 124mph. If one is so courageous the SRT Viper will reach 207mph.

This is one of the few cars that is made buy a major US car company that I would love to have in my garage. Its fast, looks good, and is also fairly civilized while still being a monster. It maintains a patriotic look and feel while still able to take on the European market. It really takes on the European market with a base price of just about $100,000 and about $120,000 for the one up GTS. Still that is too much to be in my garage, oh well.

'Merica!

Icona Vulcano Concept

That marvelous car at the bottom of the page that you can't keep your eyes off of, is the next generation of beauty. Its a brand new car from a brand new company, Icona. The reason behind all the beauty is to “evacuate hot air from the engine and reduce the air turbulence generated by the wheels”. Most car designers design a car for its looks; and then will go to the wind tunnel to do some little tweaks. Not design it so it will be more aero dynamic and then realize that they made a thing of beauty. But the brain behind the Vulcano is not like most car designers, instead he is a chap called Samuel Chuffart, who has designed cars for brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, and Bertone (blog topic for next week). Enough about the looks. The Vulcano has two different power-train options: a 950hp V12 called ‘H-Turismo V12’ which is a front engine, rear wheel drive lay out; or a V6 with with a pair of electric motors on each axle, which makes it all-wheel-drive, comes out to 880hp, and is ‘H-Competizione’. The normal V12 will get this precious piece of engineering and the wealthy man inside up to 60 mph in just three seconds and will eventually reach 217 mph. On the eco hand, the all-wheel-drive Vulcano will get the wealthy, environmentally conscious man inside up to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, and will also reach 217 mph. I would love to have this pice of art in my garage today. It looks wonderful and will hopefully perform just as well. Unfortunately it will cost an arm and a leg and its solely for the Chinese market (Icona is run out of Shanghai). If you do have another arm and a leg to spare, then the Icona team could possibly ship one your way, that is if you are not in china. Tell next time, admire this work of art.

I hope they make this car for the US market also.