Let’s face it guys; we’re not all going to be able to pay for a Ferrari or a Porsche. Despite this may be a sad fact to have to face up to, yet its there nonetheless. At times exotic cars are out of reach for all except for those who are affluent and even they occasionally have trouble keeping up with the payments and maintenance of a Bentley or a Lotus. Sure the allure is strong; simply imagine slipping into the leather cockpit of your Lamborghini and cruising around curves at hundred miles per hour with the wind in your hair and the sun on your face.

Sure you may have everything from your driving gloves to your sunglasses and your driver’s license, though the one thing you wish for is to have enough money for a Lamborghini. And then there’s the Camry or Taurus, which in spite everything just don’t have enough horsepower to take mountain roads at 100, and even though you could get it going that fast it would in all probability fly off the road due to its lousy suspension.

Nevertheless what if you didn’t have the chance to own a Lamborghini or Lotus to be able to drive it around those hairpin turns? Well, nowadays we do have a great way to try out a luxury or high-powered sports car of our dreams, with exotic car rental we don’t have to sell our house or steal one from one of your yuppie friends. There are a number of can rental companies, mainly in wealthier areas, starting to specialize in exotic car rental. In fact even the regular airport car rental companies like Enterprise and Hertz are starting to rent out exotics or perhaps luxury cars along with the standard economy and touring cars.

For those who would like to try one out, you don’t need to fly out of town or go on a holiday, almost any special occasion will do. Maybe you want to knock the socks off your date or perhaps impress your wife on your anniversary. Yes, you can either show up at the door behind the wheel of a Lotus Espirit or a Porsche 911. And for those who feel like making their son or daughter’s prom a night to remember then forget about the limo; a sleek black Bentley will get them there in style.

Despite the fact that the exotic car rental is generally a little more expensive than renting a Camry at the airport, it’s at all times a lot more memorable. Besides exotic car rentals also make great gifts; as some rental agencies which rent exotics also rent classic cars, so you could give your dad or uncle the ride of his dreams in a vintage Corvette or brand new Ferrari. Sure, it will make a great gift instead of the usual set of gold clubs or tie clip that you were considering as an alternative!

In the past, Jaguar, high class cars from England had small-sized and active features and high performance were favorable. Their appearance looked sedan and suited the passengers who loved to get anywhere in a group. They thought that there were many playboy millionaires, and if they were to produce a sport-car model, they could have marketed quite well. At least, Jaguar had built its good reputation from the racing cars for a very long time, especially Le Mans 24 hours.

A lot of people said that Jaguar’s sport series which began to be known well and were affordable could be XK series. XK 120 in the year 1948, followed up by XK 140 in 1955, and became XK 150 in 1957. They used quite modern engines that their competition had not known. Modernization, streamline that made a big positive impact on sport cars drivers, curved doors, and roadsters were the real style of sport cars.

Jaguar made its reputation in the Le Mans race course by a car that had been showed in 1954, D-TYPE, which was 3.4liters, 245 horsepower. The initial production was considered extremely fast. Moreover, it was empowered by making it 270 horsepower for racing, and that made it three-years-in-a-row champion in 1955-1957. There would not be anyone who would not wish the dignity of Le Mans’ championship sport cars which later was extended to 3.8liters, 306 horsepower. It competed in United States and made so big impact on sport cars guru that made a newer model to drive in a street.

The manufacturer decided to make them sport series, and not involved with normal cars except the engines and systems used together in order to reduce the cost of production. Therefore, E-TYPE Jaguar was influenced by XK series and D-TYPE. It was officially debuted in 1961, taking over XK 150, and completing the new full sport style, which was the long front and short end according to the classic style sport cars.

The appearance of E-TYPE is brilliant like Italian sport cars. At the beginning, it had been decided to name as XK-E, but eventually was E-TYPE, which seemed more okay and newer than old XK series that had been used for many models. It had been decided to be 3.8liters, twin cam, then later on extended to be 4.2liters in order to make it right for the size of the cars. The 3.8 liters one had been eventually stopped, until 1971 it was given a new 5.3liters, V12 engine in order to be an alternative choice for customers who were interested in pretty big block. The 4.2liters one’s production was terminated in 1974.

If you would like to own this model, you may need to consider if you are a millionaire or not because this kind of classic cars cannot be found at any car dealers. If you would really want it, you should check it out from a catalogue of car auctioning company. You might be that lucky that someone would sell it.

The improvement of Renault, the inventor of the “Wind” roadster this year, is considered an interesting step because it reflexes the tendency into the roadster market in the future. There are many fascinating features of Wind developed under the “Touch Design” concept, such as the elegantly designed appearance that reflexes lively and the inner decorated with fine quality materials which reflexes class.

Neat, clean appearance consists of 2 main lines which are the bottom and top lines. Although the headlights’ shapes are plain, they are a significant part that helps empower the overall. Transparent windshield stuffed with blue and green lights similar to plane’s light, which are such brilliant. The green smoothly blended with the light blue or aquamarine of the body part is the individual characteristic of Wind. Fabulous 19-inch wheels and “245-35/ZR19” Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires are another remarkable complement.

The most outstanding of it is the 3-seat capacity which is cocoon-curve shaped, light brown leather seat embraces the passengers and the driver.

Frill-designed seats are permanently installed, as well as the steering wheel and console that are adjustable and automatically roll out when the doors are opened, and that helps the passenger enter the car more easily. The center section linked with the back seat which is made of carbon fiber. It is layered with foam and leather, which can flip inside out in order to make the third seat.

Although it is a compact roadster, Wind contains wide and useful space. The rear space has 232 liters in capacity. Wind’s dimension consists of 3870 millimeters in length, 1750 millimeters in width, excluding the side windows, 1260 millimeters in height, and 2395 millimeters in wheel’s base’s length, as well as the 850 kilograms in weight.. The back seat has extra thick car soft-top attached with the rear curve-shaped window for protecting the passengers from rain and sunlight.

All Wind’s controlling devices are made of aluminum, which reflexes the sport characteristic. They are designed to be in round shape installed in the center of console. They contain control button, communicative device, stereo, and navigation system.

6-speed robotized gearbox is designed to be with the dashboard, while the shift gear is put on the steering wheel like the Formular-1’s. There is one gauge-meter made of cylinder-shaped glass. It is used for indicating the round-per-minute speed which is displaying the numbers in both analog and digital.

Air conditioner’s controller is designed to put on the inner driver’s door. Its engine is a 16-valve 2.0liters, 136 horsepower maximum, and 191 N/m torque. It is considered a low-pollution engine which qualifies the Euro-4 polluting gas production regulation. From the Wind’s information, it implies the effort to market the small roadster which has the outstanding in designs in color, capacity, and clean burning energy that is quite energetic. Most of its designs are in the draft stage, so if Renault has a plan to import this production, they need at least 2 years in development.

Ferdinand Porsche was an automobile engineer with more than a thousand patents to his name, and played an important role in the development of airplanes and the construction of tanks for the Wehrmacht as well. In the 1920s he was appointed chief engineer at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart and later set up his own engineering workshop. There he designed, among other things, the Volkswagen. He acted as chief of operations at the plant where the Volkswagen was made, Wolfsburg, and at the end of the war he was interned by the Allies.

He was released a few years later and immediately went to work building his first car with his son, Ferry Porsche. This car was named the Porsche 356, after Ferry, and was a sports car with styling reminiscent of the Volkswagen. In fact it had the same four-cylinder boxer engine, and wore it rear-mounted, just as the VW did. This meant that it was far from being a powerful sports car, boasting a mere 40 bhp and a maximum speed of 87 mph (140 km/h). Distinguished by its elegant and innovative body, the Porsche 356 was first produced as a convertible and then as a hard top. Father and son developed it in the workshop of Erwin Komenda, a master of restrained streamlining who had been in charge of sheet metal and design techniques for Ferdinand Porsche since the VW Beetle. This new style of closed coupe designed by Komenda soon became the embodiment of the sports car, due in part to its "fastback".

Erwin Komenda and Ferdinand "Butzi" Porsche, the founder’s grandson, continued this tradition with the 911.

The 911 became instantly recognizable: it had an attractive sloping bonnet reminiscent of the 356, what later became characterized as "frog eye" headlights, curves running from the top edge of the windscreen to the rear bumper, and a straight waistline. From a functional and technical point of view it shared more in common with a BMW 1500, but it retained the distinctive stylistic features of the original Porsche. The new 911 became the keystone of Porsche’s identity, even though the design was not always fully appreciated. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, many Porsche designers attempted to distance Porsche from its legendary design and nearly brought the company to the edge of disaster. The more modern 924 model, "a people’s Porsche", developed with Volkswagen, as well as the 928 fell short fulfilling expectations, and failed to allow the company to branch out in new directions and styles.

However, in the 1990’s the company seemed to realize that what some perceived as a stylistic straitjacket was in fact a market advantage. During this period Porsche embraced the timeless nature of classic styling to become highly profitable. Nearly forty people now worked in the design department solely dedicated to further improvement of the long running 911. Such developments included the 911 GTI, put forward by the in-house designer Anthony R. Hatter as a powerful combination of sports and racing car. In 1999, Porsche’s chief designer proudly unveiled the new Boxster, enabling Porsche to establish a second independent range of successful models.

Designed to win races, the Maserati MC12 is actually sold as a road car, albeit it a very impractical one. Still what do you expect with a 620 bhp exotic car? The car looks just like the sports racing car that it is. To be fair, it is a real two-seater while the cars that race at Le Mans are more like single-seaters.

Only 25 MC12s were built initially, and quite a few were used for racing. Actually, when they heard about Maserati building the MC12 for the GTA championship (ooops, sorry for sale as a road car, was the official line, I think) some of the other companies threatened to withdraw as they thought the presence of the MC12 on the starting grid would make a farce of the whole series.

Although the Maserati MC12, is a true exotic car, it is based on the Ferrari Enzo. The whole idea was to upgrade Maserati’s image following a checkered history. The glory of the 50s, when Maserati was a regular winner of Grand Prix, got lost in the mire of an economic downturn, when the company took the wrong turn more than once.

As Ferrari and Maserati are both part of the Fiat Group, and were in fact in the same sub-group, it made sense to modify the Enzo to get Maserati back as a winner. Now, Ferrari and Maserati have been put in different sub-groups, so this sort of collaboration is not expected in the future.

V-12 from Ferrari with 622 bhp

The Maserati MC12 looks completeley different from the Enzo, though,, with a long nose and very long tail. Where the Enzo is angular, the MC12 is curved. It has a carbon fiber body structure with steel sub-frames front and rear. Power comes from a 6.0 liter V-12 developing 622 bhp @ 7,500 rpm, and 480 lb ft (652 Nm) torque @ 5,500 rpm. A semi-racing engine to be sure. It is coupled to a semi-automatic six-speed sequential gearbox, developed by Ferrari in racing.

Suspension is by double wishbones, with inboard spring and damper units acting through pushrods. These are mounted horizontally as on the Enzo. The dampers have variable rates. Quite a car, but not as extreme as the Bugatti Veyron or the latest Saleen S7.

Following the racing success of the MC12, Maserati is now to build a more extreme version - the MC12 Corsa. The MC12 Corsa has a massively uprated Enzo V-12 engine giving about 750bhp. You can get this for about $1.3 million - or £700,000 or Euros 1 million depending where you live.

But this is not a road car, nor will you be able to race it in any official categories – so this is a trackday special at a huge price. Maserati plans to build about 12 MC12 Corsas a year.

The most exciting high performance American sports car in history is returning in a new form. After a 40-year absence, Carroll Shelby and the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT) have joined forces once again. The ultimate goal was to produce an undisputed reincarnation of the classic and most sought after Shelby Mustangs from the Sixties. The achieved goal far surpassed any expectations, including Shelby’s. Combining the awesome tradition of past Shelby Cobras with modern aerodynamics and performance, this beauty can be touted as no less than an instant performance classic. As anyone who knows Mustangs will tell you, anything with Shelby’s name on it requires a look under the hood and a quick check on the performance statistics. As a living legend in racing circles, Shelby knows more than anyone about big-block performance and eye-catching, heart-racing design: Not only was he the designer of the original Mustang Shelby GT500 classic, he was also the senior advisor on the special team that developed the 550 horsepower Ford GT.

The 2007 Shelby Mustang delivers over 450 horsepower, some, including Shelby himself, say as much as 475 horsepower. With a cast iron block, supercharged at 8.5 pounds per square inch of boost, the 2007 Shelby is the most stalwart production Mustang ever built. In comparison with the wildly popular 1967 Shelby GT500, the 2007 version produces nearly 100 more horsepower with nearly 100 less cubic inches. Besides delivering extraordinary power, it produces more than twice the fuel economy and 300 times less emissions. Four valves per cylinder and a double overhead cam means optimum efficiency in air and fuel ignition. The electronic fuel injection system is a top quality returnless and sequential force feeder. The cast-aluminum intake manifold compliments the equilibrium of the air/fuel system with an air-to-water inter-cooler. Just as the original Shelby GT500 was the next level up to big-block power from the GT350, the new Shelby Cobra GT500 is a giant leap up from the 4.6-liter engine used in the previous generation Cobras. Ford’s 5.4-liter “MOD” (short for modular) V-8 delivers unrivaled and exceptional power. The 32-valve engine and screw-type supercharger delivers the ultimate in performance driving experience.

This super-car is standard equipped with a six-speed performance gearbox that helps deliver an evenly distributed torque curve and optimum power via precise gearing ratio. The heavy-duty transmission is more than adequate to handle the enormous power transfer to the rubber on the road. It has been tested and proven in track competition as well as day-to-day street driving. In the 2005 Mustang FR500C, this racing chassis and suspension rose to the occasion by clinching the Grand-Am Cup series. Needless to say, this makes the 2007 Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 the best handling high performance vehicle on the road today.

The upgraded chassis and suspension features improvements in many components including shocks, stabilizer bars and spring rates. The independent front suspension boasts genuine MacPherson struts and reverse type lower control arms. It also boasts large 34-mm tubular stabilizers. The three-link solid axle rear suspension is equipped with a Panhard rod for precise rear axle action with coil springs and a 24-mm solid stabilizer bar. The brakes are some of the largest ever designed for a performance vehicle. They feature four wheel power discs: Brembo 14-inch vented, crossed drilled with four-piston calipers up front and thirteen inch vented, crossed drilled with two piston calipers on the back wheels. This combination has set itself apart from the rest of the field as great power requires great control. The 2007 Shelby Cobra features very large wheels: 19 by 9 1/2 inch machined aluminum, which accommodate P255/45R19 racing performance tires.

The Cobra emblems and LeMans racing stripes are Shelby’s signature touches. The gauge face arrangement, console layout and the rest of the interior design creates waves of nostalgia that sweep over the driver. Again, tradition meets modern technology as the light-emitting diode (LED) instrument panel can be adjusted through the MyColor™ color-configurable instrument panel to create more than 125 unique color options for personalized gauges. The tachometer stands out as at least as important as the speedometer. All in all, the design creates a very strong connection with the performance enthusiast whatever age they may be.

Early forecasts of the demand for the 2007 Shelby Mustangs are astonishing. A high profile production car of this pedigree should undoubtedly be priced far out of the reach of most enthusiasts. Thankfully, this is not the case. The MSRP is predicted to be under $40,000. One of the best ways to make sure you will be driving a new Cobra is to plan early. Find out which dealers will be offering Shelby’s new creation, and when it will happen. I can guarantee you the showrooms will be packed wall-to-wall for this one.

The best way to plan for the unveiling is to get on the Internet and visit car finder services (http://www.carfinderservice.com/model/2007-Ford-Shelby-Cobra) These kinds of services can absolutely guarantee you will get your Shelby Mustang at the most rock bottom pricing possible. You can input a description of what you are looking for with your zip code. A trusted in-network dealer will then contact you personally to talk about your request and how to fulfill it. They can also answer any questions you might have. If it is not available locally, you will receive a call offering you information on where the vehicle matching your request is available.

The 2007 Shelby Mustang GT500 is here. It has made a dramatic and grand entrance into the American performance vehicle scene and it arrives with the earmark of royalty and dominance which is rightfully its place. The bar has been set very high with this one. It is, indeed, the new benchmark of excellence.

Hella Inc. will unveil its “revolutionary” answer to the visual challenges of night driving with DynaView® Evo2, retrofit lighting that bends as drivers turn their vehicles. The system enhances nighttime driving, making it possible to see better when heading into dark curves. [PRWEB Nov 2, 2005]

“We’re especially proud of this new corner lighting development and extension of our expanded product lineup,” says John Remakis, marketing manager for Hella’s North American aftermarket operations. “Our research, engineering and development teams consistently strive to keep us ahead of the pack with an exciting array of new lighting products.”

The 2005 Honda Pilot replaced the Passport and it shares the same basic chassis and powertrain as the MDX. The new Honda engine features a broad and flat torque curve, very low emissions and high fuel economy. The Pilot uses an advanced four-wheel drive system called Variable Torque Management 4WD VTM-4. [PRWEB Jun 24, 2005]