Autos

The iconic Shelby Cobra combined British styling with American muscle, the little roadster is one of the most famous cars in the world and if you were to ask any man to name their top 5 classic cars; 90% of the time the Cobra will be on that list.  Unfortunately for 99.9% of those men, they’ll never own a real Shelby Cobra, fortunately for them (and us), there is the Factory Five MK4 Roadster – Cobra replica.

Factory Five has been manufacturing Cobra replicas since 1995 and this latest version is the company’s fourth generation of the Cobra roadster replica.  The MK4 Roadster comes in two options; the basic kit ($12,900) requires a donor ’87 to ’93 model year Ford Mustang or the complete kit ($19,995).  The “complete kit” isn’t really complete as it still requires powertrain, paint, wheels and tires.  Still not a bad price, in my opinion, for a very sweet ride that’ll surely get you laid

We followed it through the development stage, and now we would like to introduce you to the finished Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4. With a 700 hp V12 of 479 lb feet of torque and a 0-60 in under 3 seconds to top out at 217 mph, the $350,000  Murciélago successor is more than bullworthy.

The Nissan 370Z is one of my favorite affordable sports cars; it comes with decently good looks, lots of power, and comes with Nissan’s racing pedigree.  To celebrate that racing pedigree, Nissan has launched a special edition 370Z GT Edition based on the European model.  The car will only be available in the European market; we don’t know whether Nissan will bring it to North America.

The special edition 370Z comes in three body colors, Kuro Black, Pearl White, and Black Rose.  The cars feature retro inspired stripes on the rocker panels, much like the Z cars from the 1970’s (click here to see Unfinished Man’s RB25DET powered 1974 Datsun 260Z).

To the average guy/girl, most of the models of the Porsche 911 look like the same cars that were first introduced 48 years ago, but true car fans know that while the main lines of the car keep true to the original design, it’s the fine details in the designs that make each of the 911 models different while looking the same.  At first glance, the 9^th generation 2012 Porsche 911 (code named 991) looks like the previous generation (997), looking closely at the car reveals it’s a totally different animal.

The main difference is, the new for 2012 911 is a lot bigger than its predecessor; the wheelbase is 4 inches longer and the roof height has been reduced.  Combine that with a wider body and you get a sporty new design while still retaining the classic Porsche 911 lines.

Ford’s newly redesigned Focus has been a big success and to make the car even more successful, Ford is releasing an all-electric version of the sporty car.  The Ford Focus EV will compete directly with the Nissan Leaf; however, the Focus EV will cost a few grand more.  The Detroit car maker just released pricing for the Focus electric with an MSRP of $39,200 + $795 for deliver, for a grand total of $39,995, the Nissan leaf starts at $36,050.

The 2012 Ford Focus EV is powered by a permanent-magnet electric motor that produces 123 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque, the car has a top speed of 83 mph.  Power is sent to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission and the electric motor gets its juice from a 23 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.  Ford didn’t provide the range for the Focus EV but did say the batteries can be fully charged in 18-20 hours using a standard 120V outlet and 3-4 hours using a special 240V charging system.

I’ve never heard of Donkervoort Automobielen or even know how to pronounce the name but I do like their crazy looking roadster called the D8 GTO.  Donkervoort Automobielen is a Dutch car company who developed the D8 GTO in collaboration with Audi.

The D8 GTO roadster is powered by a 2.5 liter 5-cylinder turbocharged engine which is normally found under the hoods of the Audi RS3 and TT RS.  The 2.5 liter engine went through a major transformation and weighs 66 pounds less than in Audi trim and it produces 340 horsepower which can be increased to 400 with the flip of a red toggle switch on the dashboard.