Commuter Rides 2 the Max. Which one do U want ?
#1
03-12-2012, 11:14 AM
Commuter Rides 2 the Max. Which one do U want ?
Hi Member's,
There's always something new to read on the MCF 4-Sure ?
Which one of the below would you choose ?
You can only have one...Please post your selection/choice.
No Cheating ~>
Commuter Cars — to the Max
If you think your everyday ride is dull, check out these extreme daily drivers.
<CITE sizcache="65" sizset="122">By Josh Condon of MSN Autos</CITE>
Driving dynamics, horsepower, torque, acceleration, braking ability and aerodynamics — these are the things that determine a vehicle's overall performance, and the things auto enthusiasts consider when choosing a car. But a car's peak performance isn't often set in stone at the factory. Plenty of extra performance can be pulled out by those with the know-how once a vehicle leaves a dealer's lot. And while there's a whole industry dedicated to making supercars more, well, super, we like to focus on some of the more extreme versions of cars you see on the road every day. Consequently, here are some truly extreme commuters.
Bing: Performance Cars
Honda Mugen CR-Z
Click to enlarge picture
Despite its sleek sports-car-like sheet metal, the CR-Z's 122 horsepower from its stock gas-electric hybrid powertrain puts the compact hatchback squarely in the "running errands around town" category. Thankfully, Mugen Euro, the continental counterpart to Honda's official in-house Japanese tuning unit, has tweaked the CR-Z's go-fast parts to match the exterior styling. The 14-horsepower electric motor remains untouched, but by strapping a centrifugal supercharger to the small-displacement gas engine, Mugen has pulled the number of ponies up to a respectable 200. They've also cut some serious weight with carbon-fiber doors and hood, lightweight wheels, Recaro bucket seats up front and no backseat at all. The modifications help push the once-sluggish CR-Z to a respectable 6.6-second zero-to-60-mph sprint time.
Chrysler 300 Mopar ‘12
Click to enlarge picture
Unlike some other cars on this list, no extra boost is added to Mopar's 75th-anniversary special-edition 300, but then again, the 300 starts with prodigious power from its 363-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 engine. Mopar did revise the gearing for faster acceleration throughout the speedometer, and added a sports-tuned suspension and heftier brakes to handle the extra oomph. The result: The 300's zero-to-60-mph time drops to about five seconds (from around six). And with attractive aesthetic touches — including a blacked-out exterior with a chrome grille and blue pin-striping, tinted headlights, carbon-fiber trim, Katzkin leather seats and 20-inch wheels — Chrysler's high-performance division did a proper job making the 300 Mopar '12 suitably intimidating.
See: New Sedans With More Than 350 Horsepower
Cobb Ford Focus
Click to enlarge picture
Cobb Tuning took Ford's popular global Focus compact and gave it a ground-up transformation as part of the Blue Oval's 2011 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) campaign. Cobb adds a 6-speed manual transmission from the MAZDASPEED3 and a Cusco limited-slip differential, while the stock, direct-injection 2.0-liter inline-4 engine gets Pectel engine management, a BorgWarner turbocharger, a front-mounted intercooler and a turbo-back exhaust with a tubular exhaust header, all from Cobb. Cobb also adds the requisite carbon-fiber bits — splitter, diffuser, side skirts, vented extractor hood — and more race-specification parts that can be listed here. Cobb's Focus SE is about as far from Ford's everyday driver as can be, and that's what we love about it.
Hennessey Cadillac Escalade 1,001 HP
Click to enlarge picture
Hennessey Performance is well known for adding ridiculous power to whatever it gets its hands on. A case in point is this insane, 1,000-horsepower Cadillac Escalade. Cadillac's high-end people-hauler is the beneficiary of a twin-turbo 427 cubic-inch LSX engine, high-flow cylinder heads and catalytic converters, electronic boost control, and stainless-steel cat-back exhaust, among myriad other upgrades. The end result — besides the ability to beat a stock Nissan GT-R in a drag race — is a zero-to-60-mph sprint time of just 3.3 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 11.3 seconds at 124 mph. All that is from an SUV that tips the scales at more than 6,000 pounds.
View Slideshow: Best Bang for the Buck: Horsepower
Hamann Fiat 500
Click to enlarge picture
German tuning house Hamann Motorsport recently tackled the Fiat 500 Abarth with a host of upgrades. But considering that the Abarth is essentially a tuned version of the base 500, we're more interested in what Hamann did with the stock 500 to create the Largo edition for the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, when the tiny Italian compact was new to the United States. And what they did was impressive, upping the regular 500's maximum 135 horsepower and 152 lb-ft of torque to a whopping 265 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of twist from a turbocharged 1.4-liter mill. Add a sport suspension, high-performance brakes and a 4-pipe sport exhaust and you have a vehicle that will smoke Fiat's own performance model.
Find new and used cars with the new MSN Autos mobile app, available on multiple platforms.
Ram 392 Quick Silver
Click to enlarge picture
I like this one ^
Not everyone's everyday commuter is a compact or a sedan, and for the high-performance enthusiast who also favors a pickuptruck, Chrysler's Mopar Underground unit presented the Ram 392 Quick Silver at the 2011 SEMA show. A custom suspension on 22-inch wheels drops the Ram R/T-based truck to hot-rod-like proportions (the Mopar body kit completes the look), while the same 6.4-liter V8 engine featured in the asphalt-burning SRT products from Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep gives it the grunt to match. Power goes to the rear rubber, and the Hemi engine also gets a cat-back dual exhaust, headers with electronic exhaust cutout and cold-air intake.
View Pictures: Custom Trucks and SUVs
Honda HFP Accord V6
Click to enlarge picture
The Honda Accord is one of the most common commuter cars around, so it was nice to see an uncommonly powerful version bow at — you guessed it — the 2011 SEMA show. The Honda Factory Performance team took on the challenge of upping the Accord's base 271 horsepower and 254 lb-ft of torque to the tune of 333 horsepower (that's 10 more ponies than the current V6 Chevy Camaro convertible) and 285 lb-ft of torque. The HFP team got there via a prototype supercharger and custom intake and exhaust systems created especially for the concept. And it is a concept, one that Honda says is meant to gauge public appetite for a spicier Accord. Yes, please.
Jeep Wrangler Blue Crush
Click to enlarge picture
For off-roading types there's nothing quite as insane as the Jeep Wrangler Blue Crush, which resembles a stock Wrangler about as much as the regular Wrangler resembles a Hot Wheels toy. Meant to combine, according to Jeep, "high-speed off-road racing and rock-crawling capability," the go-anywhere beast rides on 39-inch tires and a performance off-road suspension, and it is powered by a 426-cubic-inch Hemi V8 with 540 horsepower. In case the massive tires, ultracapable suspension and Herculean engine don't get the point across, the full Baja-style roll cage should tell you that the Blue Crush Wrangler means serious business.
View Slideshow: 10 Best Manual Transmission Cars
Nissan Juke-R
Click to enlarge picture
Much has been made of the Juke-R, aka the Super Juke, Nissan's engineering experiment that transplanted the guts of the GT-R supercar — including the 3.6-liter V8 engine — into the bug-eyed body of the Juke compact crossover. The project was more than just an engine swap. Everything from Godzilla's 6-speed transaxle, suspension and modified 4WD driveline to the gauge cluster was subbed in, requiring a full retrofitting of the body and electronics system. The result: The diminutive crossover produces 485 horsepower and can hit 62 mph from a standstill in just 3.7 seconds.
Hennessey MaxBoost 435 Lincoln MKS
Click to enlarge picture
There are few brands as unlikely for a go-fast makeover as Lincoln, which is why Hennessey Performance's MaxBoost 435 Lincoln MKS is so awesome. The "435" refers to, of course, the 435 horsepower that Hennessey massages (along with 405 lb-ft of torque) from the base model's twin-turbo EcoBoost V6, which, we admit, develops a not-too-shabby 355 horses. Hennessey does the trick by optimizing the stock turbos and performing some basic tuning work, along with the addition of a massive cold-air intake and a stainless-steel cat-back exhaust. What the Lincoln flagship gets for the effort is a zero-to-60-mph sprint time of 4.5 seconds — on par with the venerable BMW M5 — on its way to a top speed of 106 mph.
Read: Can a Sedan Be Called a Sports Car?
Josh Condon has covered everything from nanotechnology
There's always something new to read on the MCF 4-Sure ?
Which one of the below would you choose ?
You can only have one...Please post your selection/choice.
No Cheating ~>
Commuter Cars — to the Max
If you think your everyday ride is dull, check out these extreme daily drivers.
<CITE sizcache="65" sizset="122">By Josh Condon of MSN Autos</CITE>
Driving dynamics, horsepower, torque, acceleration, braking ability and aerodynamics — these are the things that determine a vehicle's overall performance, and the things auto enthusiasts consider when choosing a car. But a car's peak performance isn't often set in stone at the factory. Plenty of extra performance can be pulled out by those with the know-how once a vehicle leaves a dealer's lot. And while there's a whole industry dedicated to making supercars more, well, super, we like to focus on some of the more extreme versions of cars you see on the road every day. Consequently, here are some truly extreme commuters.
Bing: Performance Cars
Honda Mugen CR-Z
Click to enlarge picture
Despite its sleek sports-car-like sheet metal, the CR-Z's 122 horsepower from its stock gas-electric hybrid powertrain puts the compact hatchback squarely in the "running errands around town" category. Thankfully, Mugen Euro, the continental counterpart to Honda's official in-house Japanese tuning unit, has tweaked the CR-Z's go-fast parts to match the exterior styling. The 14-horsepower electric motor remains untouched, but by strapping a centrifugal supercharger to the small-displacement gas engine, Mugen has pulled the number of ponies up to a respectable 200. They've also cut some serious weight with carbon-fiber doors and hood, lightweight wheels, Recaro bucket seats up front and no backseat at all. The modifications help push the once-sluggish CR-Z to a respectable 6.6-second zero-to-60-mph sprint time.
Chrysler 300 Mopar ‘12
Click to enlarge picture
Unlike some other cars on this list, no extra boost is added to Mopar's 75th-anniversary special-edition 300, but then again, the 300 starts with prodigious power from its 363-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 engine. Mopar did revise the gearing for faster acceleration throughout the speedometer, and added a sports-tuned suspension and heftier brakes to handle the extra oomph. The result: The 300's zero-to-60-mph time drops to about five seconds (from around six). And with attractive aesthetic touches — including a blacked-out exterior with a chrome grille and blue pin-striping, tinted headlights, carbon-fiber trim, Katzkin leather seats and 20-inch wheels — Chrysler's high-performance division did a proper job making the 300 Mopar '12 suitably intimidating.
See: New Sedans With More Than 350 Horsepower
Cobb Ford Focus
Click to enlarge picture
Cobb Tuning took Ford's popular global Focus compact and gave it a ground-up transformation as part of the Blue Oval's 2011 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) campaign. Cobb adds a 6-speed manual transmission from the MAZDASPEED3 and a Cusco limited-slip differential, while the stock, direct-injection 2.0-liter inline-4 engine gets Pectel engine management, a BorgWarner turbocharger, a front-mounted intercooler and a turbo-back exhaust with a tubular exhaust header, all from Cobb. Cobb also adds the requisite carbon-fiber bits — splitter, diffuser, side skirts, vented extractor hood — and more race-specification parts that can be listed here. Cobb's Focus SE is about as far from Ford's everyday driver as can be, and that's what we love about it.
Hennessey Cadillac Escalade 1,001 HP
Click to enlarge picture
Hennessey Performance is well known for adding ridiculous power to whatever it gets its hands on. A case in point is this insane, 1,000-horsepower Cadillac Escalade. Cadillac's high-end people-hauler is the beneficiary of a twin-turbo 427 cubic-inch LSX engine, high-flow cylinder heads and catalytic converters, electronic boost control, and stainless-steel cat-back exhaust, among myriad other upgrades. The end result — besides the ability to beat a stock Nissan GT-R in a drag race — is a zero-to-60-mph sprint time of just 3.3 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 11.3 seconds at 124 mph. All that is from an SUV that tips the scales at more than 6,000 pounds.
View Slideshow: Best Bang for the Buck: Horsepower
Hamann Fiat 500
Click to enlarge picture
German tuning house Hamann Motorsport recently tackled the Fiat 500 Abarth with a host of upgrades. But considering that the Abarth is essentially a tuned version of the base 500, we're more interested in what Hamann did with the stock 500 to create the Largo edition for the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, when the tiny Italian compact was new to the United States. And what they did was impressive, upping the regular 500's maximum 135 horsepower and 152 lb-ft of torque to a whopping 265 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of twist from a turbocharged 1.4-liter mill. Add a sport suspension, high-performance brakes and a 4-pipe sport exhaust and you have a vehicle that will smoke Fiat's own performance model.
Find new and used cars with the new MSN Autos mobile app, available on multiple platforms.
Ram 392 Quick Silver
Click to enlarge picture
I like this one ^Not everyone's everyday commuter is a compact or a sedan, and for the high-performance enthusiast who also favors a pickuptruck, Chrysler's Mopar Underground unit presented the Ram 392 Quick Silver at the 2011 SEMA show. A custom suspension on 22-inch wheels drops the Ram R/T-based truck to hot-rod-like proportions (the Mopar body kit completes the look), while the same 6.4-liter V8 engine featured in the asphalt-burning SRT products from Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep gives it the grunt to match. Power goes to the rear rubber, and the Hemi engine also gets a cat-back dual exhaust, headers with electronic exhaust cutout and cold-air intake.
View Pictures: Custom Trucks and SUVs
Honda HFP Accord V6
Click to enlarge picture
The Honda Accord is one of the most common commuter cars around, so it was nice to see an uncommonly powerful version bow at — you guessed it — the 2011 SEMA show. The Honda Factory Performance team took on the challenge of upping the Accord's base 271 horsepower and 254 lb-ft of torque to the tune of 333 horsepower (that's 10 more ponies than the current V6 Chevy Camaro convertible) and 285 lb-ft of torque. The HFP team got there via a prototype supercharger and custom intake and exhaust systems created especially for the concept. And it is a concept, one that Honda says is meant to gauge public appetite for a spicier Accord. Yes, please.
Jeep Wrangler Blue Crush
Click to enlarge picture
For off-roading types there's nothing quite as insane as the Jeep Wrangler Blue Crush, which resembles a stock Wrangler about as much as the regular Wrangler resembles a Hot Wheels toy. Meant to combine, according to Jeep, "high-speed off-road racing and rock-crawling capability," the go-anywhere beast rides on 39-inch tires and a performance off-road suspension, and it is powered by a 426-cubic-inch Hemi V8 with 540 horsepower. In case the massive tires, ultracapable suspension and Herculean engine don't get the point across, the full Baja-style roll cage should tell you that the Blue Crush Wrangler means serious business.
View Slideshow: 10 Best Manual Transmission Cars
Nissan Juke-R
Click to enlarge picture
Much has been made of the Juke-R, aka the Super Juke, Nissan's engineering experiment that transplanted the guts of the GT-R supercar — including the 3.6-liter V8 engine — into the bug-eyed body of the Juke compact crossover. The project was more than just an engine swap. Everything from Godzilla's 6-speed transaxle, suspension and modified 4WD driveline to the gauge cluster was subbed in, requiring a full retrofitting of the body and electronics system. The result: The diminutive crossover produces 485 horsepower and can hit 62 mph from a standstill in just 3.7 seconds.
Hennessey MaxBoost 435 Lincoln MKS
Click to enlarge picture
There are few brands as unlikely for a go-fast makeover as Lincoln, which is why Hennessey Performance's MaxBoost 435 Lincoln MKS is so awesome. The "435" refers to, of course, the 435 horsepower that Hennessey massages (along with 405 lb-ft of torque) from the base model's twin-turbo EcoBoost V6, which, we admit, develops a not-too-shabby 355 horses. Hennessey does the trick by optimizing the stock turbos and performing some basic tuning work, along with the addition of a massive cold-air intake and a stainless-steel cat-back exhaust. What the Lincoln flagship gets for the effort is a zero-to-60-mph sprint time of 4.5 seconds — on par with the venerable BMW M5 — on its way to a top speed of 106 mph.
Read: Can a Sedan Be Called a Sports Car?
Josh Condon has covered everything from nanotechnology
:p
#7
03-12-2012, 11:37 AM
For a fun commuter, I think I'd go for the Cobb-modified Ford Focus. Looks like it would be a fun ride! The modified Fiat 500 Abarth could be pretty good, but I can't get past the looks. Kinda has that stubby-shoe look to me. Not my thing.
#10
03-12-2012, 01:41 PM
Just get a Model for your GTO/Edge/Monte...Everyone should have one 4-Sure ~>
Do you have a pic of the one in the Caddy ? I don't get the chance to watch 2 much T.V.===========================================
Thanks member's for your post/contributions...You guys sure picked a variety mix of rides..., but we are a very diverse group of people & one weird alien ~>
LOLI do like what Chysler has been doing to many of their rides & I hope they succeed & keep `up with the BIG 3 America Auto Companies....Yes we can, yes we can
I think it would look better
with Surf Board and a strong Tie Down Rack so the boards wouldn't blow off @ 150 MPH + ~> Oh`NO