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The biggest reason why Ford is sharing stuff from Volvo, Jag and Mazda is because those companies had so much R&D vaulted away that they couldn't use because they had no money. Once Ford purchased them they could finally start applying this R&D to newer models of Ford affiliated companies. In all fairness to Aston, that V8 is not a Jag motor anymore, they don't even share the same parts (basic parts are the same to save overhead costs, but the motor is engineered completely different). It's just like when Koenigsigg borrowed the 4.6liter Ford V8 to have a starting point to build their twin supercharged all aluminum master piece. These smaller companies don't want to blow big dollars on engineering an entire motor on their own, so they ask for a starting point and work from there. EDIT: Word choice

What Clarkson was talking about with the Vantage "note" was that most cars of this calibur (purpose built footballer car) are usually as civil as a kitten, but this car had a throaty grumble as if to command its power from Zeus. This is in large due to the fact that the motor is short stroke large bore (much like the Nissan V6's) which is a rare approach but provides great stability and awesome torque. The motor started life as a Jaguar motor, which is why the responsive torque and power note were unexpected.

exactly, just like the Vette is good on a track but any track enthusiast knows you have to throw away the leaf springs to get a great track time (just look at the C6R, coil over spring setup). GM is not about to throw a ton of money into the car to set it up in that fashion especially since 90% of people are just going to drive the ZO6's in a straight line anyway. In fact I had this exact debate with Pfunk awhile ago and eventhough i still believe better springs would make the ZO6 perfect, I now realize that it's just not a realistic thing to ask of an already awesomely priced production car. If i ever had the opportunity to own a ZO6 i would just pull the money for parts and install the coil over setup myself and save a whole bunch more money than if GM had it as standard equipment.

but the cars you mention with independent rears are much lighter and less complex than the porky supercharged Mustang and so while they have independent rears, they also don't have to be of high build quality. We're talking (from Shelby's mouth) a near 5grand difference to have an independent rear for the GT500. For that much you can get an aftermarket company to build you one. Some people would even argue (especially if you're a D1 fan) that the solid rear would help more than hurt the Mustang. From a performance standpoint independent rear is "better" than solid rear, but if that's always the case then tell all of the Vette owners to dump their Transverse leaf for a coil over spring and hear the uproar you 'cause on that (or overhead valve for OHC, etc.). If i wasn't clear enough on why independent rear would be more expensive, it's because it's not something that's formally in production on any of their cars so they can't just take it off of the shelf. They would have to do R&D and then manufacture and independently install seperately from the assembly line (since specialty cars like the GT500 and ZO6 are built on the same assembly line as their little brothers). It's just a whole slew of extra unecessary steps that really don't add much to the overall driving experience of the vehicle. And if it's that big of a deal for people taking it to a track, then they can do it themselves for a fraction of the cost.

Better suspension same solid rear differential. Shelby gave an interview that explained why they didn't put an idependent rear and it was because it showed no significant improvement over a solid rear but costing tons more to have it (price tag couldn't be sub 50,000 if it had the independent rear). So for the sake of the mid/high 40's price tag, i'm sure no one is going to complain about a solid rear especially if it's still going to pull close to 1.0g in the skidpad as it is. The real test is going to be pinning the car against the ZO6 and testing the performance to dollar since there may be a new winner.

Nurburgring is one of the most famous tracks that Schumacher (and most race car drivers for that matter) is all too familiar with (it's the epitomy of THE race track) so it's not a big surprise to see him run away with a win on that course. Schumacher is way too good a driver to have been stuck in a rut for too long, if you look at Ferrari's season most of their losses were because of bad tire and suspension setups costing them valuable track time. If Schumacher can keep it up he might be able to pull ahead of Alonso but as of right now I'm pretty sure Renault has it in the bag.

in a force induced car it is very rare to see peak HP/torque any lower than it is (4500rpm for torque on any kind of car is pretty darn good) Supercharged cars usually prove better at getting their power early than turbo charged cars (inherit in design). For some greater perspective on how good a power band the GT500 has, the ZO6 Vette doesn't hit it's HP peak until 6200rpm and torque at 4800 so the Stang is already a jump ahead in that regard. Personally i think if they're going to use a cast iron blocked motor then they better supercharge it to get all of the extra juice they can, doesn't seem any less "muscle car" or "american" to me.

I love the specs on the new Stang, but I wish Ford (and most companies for that matter) would focus on their weight. 500HP in a car that weighs nearly 4000lbs (or exactly 4000lbs if you get the convertible) is not as impressive as it should be. I'm sure as soon as a sports car enthusiast buys one their going to start throwing weight out left and right to make that thing turn out awesome track times.

The DSM Talon/Eclipse's are so old now that it would require quite a bit of money to make one reliable (forget fast). The GSX's are especially notorious for blown transfer cases and trans axles, i would steer clear of them altogether. If you must have one, then go for a GS-T hardtop because it'll be lighter and you'll have less moving parts to mess with.

Notice my choice of adjectives when i say "strong" not "powerful", and the IS350 has more HP than its competitors but also more weight to go with it (and also less torque to pull that weight than its competitors at 277lb-ft). Furthermore, you cannot currently purchase a manual transmission or AWD with their 3.5liter V6 which definitely reflects in its performance statistics against the out of date G35 and M3 sedans. The real test for the IS250/350 will be when the new M3 and G35 are released next year. My MR2 i purchased a 91 naturally aspirated, hardtop, used, with 40,000 original miles on it. I swapped both the motor and trans out with a 3SGTE rear clip that i purchased straight from Japan that had 20,000 miles on it. The gear synchros going bad in the transmissions of both the Supra's and the MR2 are very commonly known problems but Toyota refuses to come up with a fair solution that doesn't make your pocket cry. My Mark IV Supra i purchased was a 94 with 60,000 miles from the original owner (technically from Carmax because i worked for them and got it wholesale, but carmax purchased it from the original owner), the original owner had all of the paperwork including scheduled maintenance, oil changes, and everything in between. When the car was delivered it had the synchro problem and that's when i started to do my research and discovered that i wasn't the only one in this predicament. I will admit my friend drives his car like an idiot, but his also had the same problem that mine did when he purchased it. The difference between his and mine is he had money to fix it and i didn't it didn't matter much though, because i sold the Supra for way more than i paid for it (or ever would have paid for it). What year is your friend's Supra? Even if it's the last US production year, that makes it at least 10 years old. Any sportscar that old will eventually run into problems, and that's not factoring in how your friend drove/treated the car. I owned a '95 MR2 Turbo for 4 years and did a lot of speeding/commuting (40 miles from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach one way and then back again 8 hours later, 5 days a week), plus canyon runs (specifically Mullholland) on the weekends and had no problems whatsoever. Did you buy your MR2 used? And concerning Toyota's V6s, the IS350's V6 (a sports sedan, not a pure sportscar mind you) has more power/torque than the Acura NSX and Infinity G35/Nissan 350Z (which are, with the exception of the G35, pure sportscars). I'm sorry but I don't know which competitors you are talking about posting bigger numbers (unless you're going across the Atlantic to Europe). I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree when it comes to the Big T. 392071[/snapback] I'll agree to disagree for Toyota... but never for VW, those bastards.

Actually (in proportion) yes, you pay much more for a generic parts than any of the "Luxury" brands in proportion to your vehicle value. Often times to cheat the system i'll tell people to take their luxury brand car to their generic brand counterpart (Infiniti to Nissan, Acura to Honda, etc) for maintenance because you can often get the work done cheaper, thus is not the case with Toyota/Lexus. As far as reliability, my friends Corolla has over 200,000 miles on it and is running like a well bred horse. However, on the flip side, my friend's Supra TT is on it's last leg and will probably turn over and die soon. Their economy cars are wonderful, its their sports cars that have problems (especially the transmissions). Plus, their newest V6's with the high HP ratings aren't very strong (compared to their competitors) but so long as they're driven like economy cars and not sports cars they should hold up. The third gear synchros in my Supra TT were almost completely shot and same thing with the second gear in my MR2 (the powerful gear ) by the time i was ready to get rid of them. And i definitely didn't have the 2grand to blow on replacing it (the way their designed doesn't allow you to take it apart to fix individual pieces, plus it'd be a pain to do if it was an option). Other than that, after doing their internet sales for so long, and having a new Toyota to drive each week, they last a long time because they stick to things that are cheap but effective. Just look at any of their cars and the parts that they use, definitely not on par compared to the price of their Japanese bretheren (Subaru, Nissan, Honda, etc) but their manufacturing and QC allow them to get away with a less effective part since they know it'll last longer (except in the case of the Sports car). Really? Even compared to the European brands (MBZ, BMW, Jag in particular)? 391792[/snapback]

I think people are just brain washed into thinking they're reliable. Both Toyota's i owned had severe transmission defects and also horribly cheap suspensions (the MR2's was cheap all around, the Supra just had a horrible setup). Great Economy cars; price to performance in their sports cars really leaves you hanging, especially for parts and maintenance (highest mark up on parts of any other manufacturer).

i dont' understand what it's suppose to be... and i also can't tell if its ugly or just plain weird. One thing is for sure; it will get an underpowered motor that costs a fortune to make fast.

That's kind of like the new Ford GT being perceived as the GT40 MkII when it really looks like a carbon copy of the MkI (with different tail lights).

It was on CNN so yeh, but i think if you're a car enthusiast news of a wrecked Enzo, F40, Carrera GT, Ford GT, Gallardo, etc. is going to make it to your door. I live like 5 minutes away from a Ferrari/Maserati dealership and about 10 minutes away from a Porsche dealership (one of the first to get the Carrera GT), and i used to work pretty closely with the guys at the Porsche dealership (they were my neighbors so to speak). Got the breaking news on the first three Carrera GT's that got wrecked, fortunately though they weren't as bad as the Enzo's.

I'd have to agree with a few of you, and like Mr March it would satisfy different aspects of my personality. Belldandy because she is the perfect woman (kind of a 60's era charm) can cook clean and completely selfless. Not to mention purposely takes a liking to your hobbies and is good at EVERYTHING. Faye/Misato because they're probably both freaks in the sheets, they can handle fire arms, and they're both witty.

I don't recall an accident in VA, there was the one involving that CEO dude from Britian down in California. He totally wrecked the car and made up some fake story to cover his tracks since the car payments had lapsed. Pretty ridiculous. There shouldn't even be an arguement between the F40 and the F50, the F50 was a piece of crap, everyone knows it. The Enzo and the F40 is a completely different story, but the LM F40 was stupid fast and if i remember right was better than the Enzo in every category except for top speed. Plus the F40 is the best looking ferrari to date (with the 308, 355 and 360 on its tail).

In the 20th Anniversary issue of Automobile they did the top 20 vehicles of the last decade (available in the US) and the F40 was in there (as the McLaren was not regularly available in the US). I've only ever skimmed through Automobile magazine, but after reading a few of their latest issues i might get a subscription. Their justification for their top twenty, though sometimes questionable, was if nothing else factual and intelligently written. F40 is one of a very small handful of Ferrari's that i really love (The handful mostly consisting of Ferrari's that begin with the # 3). For one it was a pefectly timed twin turbo and eventhough it was aimed to be a grand tourer, it ended up being a full on pure bread race machine, with stripped interior and completely functional yet fluid styling. And compared to it's successors (though i hardly consider them as such) the F50 and the Enzo, it still is the best looking and can be built to be a better performer (than the Enzo, it's already better than the F50).

Well it is built by Germans, the same people to churn out the Veyron (eventhough it is a money pit and selling at a loss), it's just for the sake of dumping money into something to claim the pride and title of being the fastest car. Realistically if a company wanted to invest millions into the fastest supercar in the world they could, but it's so much nicer when it happens as a coincidence of just building a great car (McLaren F1, Koenigsigg's, S7, F40, etc.), that's not only good for going in a straight line, but can also hold its own on a track. EDIT: Had to add the F40, arguably one of the greatest super cars of all time.

I wonder what the top speed of the Cobra is.

IIRC, the first four OVA episodes didn't catch on well, so they decided to just wrap it up with two more episodes and then later repackaged it as a long movie. That would explain the huge animation drop in the last two episodes, and probably why a whole lot of cool opening sequence never made it into the animation. It always seemed like the first four episodes were going to take this series into a good direction and the last two just turned it into DYRL?

The only thing i really enjoyed from this series were the war scenes. I hated the fact that the opening was completely misleading as it was great and the series was mediocre (the opening also had a whole bunch of animation that you thought you would've seen during the series but then just never showed up). Disappointing as a sequal, but not so bad on its own, and the mechs were very appealing.

but they still didn't get rid of the big problem... weight

too bad America doesn't get the cool european front/rear ends, for some reason honda always puts the gay looking grills for US releases thinking they'll sell better. Ford is guilty of the same thing, the Focus in Europe looks pimp. They're finally going to do something right though and bring the hard top convertible European Focus to America. I love the CLS, it's the only recent Mercedes model that i have any sort of respect for (besides the SLK) as it's one of the few that actually accomplishes the task that it was created to do.

It's rumored that GM is bringing a newer Opel "GT" to America under the "Stingray" name. It's going to fall into place as an entry level sports coupe right below the GTO/Camaro. GM has been doing a lot of that lately (Saturn Sky is the current Opel GT in europe) taking from their australian and european branches for domestic releases. Hopefully Opel will take styling cues from their vintage 70's GT (like the one pictured above) and pull out a work of art.