mikeyb
02-11-2006, 08:35 AM
100 BHP: Ford SportKa
http://www.americancarfans.com/photos/3041117.001/1001big.jpg
"There aren't many cars left with sporting pretensions that can't break into double figures for the valve count or three figures on a dyno graph, but that just makes the SportKa a perfect reminder of a simple point. It's not the amount of power you've got that matters, but what you can do with it. In this case, a lot, as we found when we took our princes of power for a blast around Wales."
The Contenders:
MINI One
Citroen Ca VTR
Renault Clio 1.4
200 bhp: VW Golf GTI
http://www.netcarshow.com/volkswagen/2004-golf_gti_3door/800x600/wallpaper_2b.jpg
"So adept is the chassis that the standard-fit ESP stability control rarely finds cause to intervene, even chasing the non-slip S8 over wet and bumpy roads. When it does, it does so with such decorum that it never distracts you, never chastises you, merely polishes off the rough edges of your clumsiest moves....A bit like the £1330 DSG gearbox option. Similar in principal to the one mounted in the back of the Bugatti Veyron, it flatters your driving with its silky shifts, making the BMW's SMG seem incredibly uncouth in comparison, and actually shaving three tenths from the 7.2sec it takes the stock car to get to 62mph."
The Contenders:
Honda Civic Type-R
BMW 325i
Lotus Elise
300bhp: Porsche Cayman S
http://www.netcarshow.com/porsche/2006-cayman_s/800x600/wallpaper_0e.jpg
"From the moment we first slid behind the wheel of the original malnourished 2.5-litre Boxster, the car that saved Porsche's speck, we've been clamouring for Stuttgart to give the chassis the grunt it deserves. Yes, there have been capacity hikes, incremental increases of bhp over the years and a hotter S version, but it's taken until now, nine years on, for Porsche to give us the fixed-roof Cayman S, the first of the mid-engined family to offer anything approaching 911 performance."
The Contenders:
Mitsubishi Evo IX FQ-300
Nissan 350Z
Chrysler 300C Hemi
400bhp: Audi S8
http://www.netcarshow.com/audi/2006-s8/800x600/wallpaper_03.jpg
"There are more powerful saloon cars than the new S8. There are faster four-doors too, including the M5. But none can lay claim to having the automotive equivalent of a porn star's schlong nestling between the front wheels, which is why we couldn't resist bending our own rules and letting the S8 into the ring even though it busts our 400bhp limit by the hefty matter of 44bhp....Because when it comes to that feelgood factor, knowing that your directorial barge is being hauled along by none other than Lamborghini's finest takes some beating, particularly when the £75k asking price is not much more than half that of the donor car."
The Contenders:
TVR Sagaris
Aston Martin Vantage
Corvette C6
500 bhp: BMW M5
http://www.netcarshow.com/bmw/2005-m5/800x600/wallpaper_03.jpg
"Supercar pace, supercar soundtrack, space for the family. Just as the Golf manages to be everything you could want from a £20k car, the BMW is the same two rungs up the ladder. No, £63k, is not small change, but in relative terms, the M5 is a bargain. Providing you can afford the 13mpg thirst and infuriating 250-mile range, you need never buy another car again."
The Contenders:
Ferrari F430
Lamborghini Gallardo SE
Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG
1000bhp: Bugatti Veyron
http://www.germancarfans.com/features/1030919.001/1030919.001.1L.jpg "You've just been reading about the best cars in the key perforamance increments, from roughly 100bhp to 500bhp. Where to next? Well, we could have gone up another notch and featured a Pagani Zonda F, Mercedes SLR McLaren, Porsche Carrera GT, or Ferrari Enzo. Each produces in excess of 600bhp, and delivers the elemental accelerative whump of a Sam 7 missile...Or we could have gone straight to 1000bhp, a number previously so thoroughly unthinkable that even Johnny Ball wouldn't have gone there. But in constructing the Bugatti Veyron, VW engineers did exactly that, and against all the odds they made it work. Magnificently."
http://www.americancarfans.com/photos/3041117.001/1001big.jpg
"There aren't many cars left with sporting pretensions that can't break into double figures for the valve count or three figures on a dyno graph, but that just makes the SportKa a perfect reminder of a simple point. It's not the amount of power you've got that matters, but what you can do with it. In this case, a lot, as we found when we took our princes of power for a blast around Wales."
The Contenders:
MINI One
Citroen Ca VTR
Renault Clio 1.4
200 bhp: VW Golf GTI
http://www.netcarshow.com/volkswagen/2004-golf_gti_3door/800x600/wallpaper_2b.jpg
"So adept is the chassis that the standard-fit ESP stability control rarely finds cause to intervene, even chasing the non-slip S8 over wet and bumpy roads. When it does, it does so with such decorum that it never distracts you, never chastises you, merely polishes off the rough edges of your clumsiest moves....A bit like the £1330 DSG gearbox option. Similar in principal to the one mounted in the back of the Bugatti Veyron, it flatters your driving with its silky shifts, making the BMW's SMG seem incredibly uncouth in comparison, and actually shaving three tenths from the 7.2sec it takes the stock car to get to 62mph."
The Contenders:
Honda Civic Type-R
BMW 325i
Lotus Elise
300bhp: Porsche Cayman S
http://www.netcarshow.com/porsche/2006-cayman_s/800x600/wallpaper_0e.jpg
"From the moment we first slid behind the wheel of the original malnourished 2.5-litre Boxster, the car that saved Porsche's speck, we've been clamouring for Stuttgart to give the chassis the grunt it deserves. Yes, there have been capacity hikes, incremental increases of bhp over the years and a hotter S version, but it's taken until now, nine years on, for Porsche to give us the fixed-roof Cayman S, the first of the mid-engined family to offer anything approaching 911 performance."
The Contenders:
Mitsubishi Evo IX FQ-300
Nissan 350Z
Chrysler 300C Hemi
400bhp: Audi S8
http://www.netcarshow.com/audi/2006-s8/800x600/wallpaper_03.jpg
"There are more powerful saloon cars than the new S8. There are faster four-doors too, including the M5. But none can lay claim to having the automotive equivalent of a porn star's schlong nestling between the front wheels, which is why we couldn't resist bending our own rules and letting the S8 into the ring even though it busts our 400bhp limit by the hefty matter of 44bhp....Because when it comes to that feelgood factor, knowing that your directorial barge is being hauled along by none other than Lamborghini's finest takes some beating, particularly when the £75k asking price is not much more than half that of the donor car."
The Contenders:
TVR Sagaris
Aston Martin Vantage
Corvette C6
500 bhp: BMW M5
http://www.netcarshow.com/bmw/2005-m5/800x600/wallpaper_03.jpg
"Supercar pace, supercar soundtrack, space for the family. Just as the Golf manages to be everything you could want from a £20k car, the BMW is the same two rungs up the ladder. No, £63k, is not small change, but in relative terms, the M5 is a bargain. Providing you can afford the 13mpg thirst and infuriating 250-mile range, you need never buy another car again."
The Contenders:
Ferrari F430
Lamborghini Gallardo SE
Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG
1000bhp: Bugatti Veyron
http://www.germancarfans.com/features/1030919.001/1030919.001.1L.jpg "You've just been reading about the best cars in the key perforamance increments, from roughly 100bhp to 500bhp. Where to next? Well, we could have gone up another notch and featured a Pagani Zonda F, Mercedes SLR McLaren, Porsche Carrera GT, or Ferrari Enzo. Each produces in excess of 600bhp, and delivers the elemental accelerative whump of a Sam 7 missile...Or we could have gone straight to 1000bhp, a number previously so thoroughly unthinkable that even Johnny Ball wouldn't have gone there. But in constructing the Bugatti Veyron, VW engineers did exactly that, and against all the odds they made it work. Magnificently."