Sit down, listen, sleep on it, read the manual again — you still won't be qualified to mess with these ten monsters.
10.) Mercedes-Benz W05
It's so complicated, the rest of the current F1 field can't figure out how to copy its engineering. The split turbo and the crazy steering wheel is just the icing on the cake.
Suggested By: Diesel, Photo Credit: Getty Images
9.) Alfa Romeo Montreal
The Montreal is a gorgeous Bertone design, but there are two problems with it as a car. First is build quality. Basically, you have to take it apart and put it back together properly.
The second is the Spica Fuel Injection (which is so complicated, it has its own mini engine) introduced to beat US emission regulations. It's pretty solid once you figured out how to fix it, but that's a long journey standing still.
Suggested By: My X-type is too a real Jaguar, Photo Credit: granada_turnier
8.) Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 Spyder
From back when Mitsubishi meant awesome. Sacaren:
It's not enough that it has a transverse V6 in an engine bay crammed with twin turbos, twin intercoolers, all wheel drive, four wheel steering, electronically adjustable suspension, tunable exhaust and active aerodynamics...because it also has a folding metal roof. There's a reason these things weigh close to two tons.
Suggested By: Saracen, Manual Douche Elitist, Photo Credit: aldenjewell
7.) Volkswagen Phaeton
Volkswagen put everything they got into the Phaeton, including two miles of wiring. Read more about it here.
Suggested By: Pessimippopotamus, Photo Credit: VW
6.) Mazda RX-7 (FD)
Many owners of the twin-turbo rotary sports car convert their engines to single turbos, just because the factory design is so complicated.
Suggested By: LuczOr, Photo Credit: Mazda
5.) Buick Reatta
This special Buick ticks all the right/wrong boxes according to zacarious:
- 1st Gen ABS system - check.
- 1st Gen Touch Screen Computer interface - check.
- A tail lamp with 14 bulbs - check.
- Built by hand - check. (GM even sent a team to England to learn how to build the Reatta without an assembly line)
- Prototypes built by Aston Martin in the UK - (why the f*ck not) - check.
- Late 80s GM reliability - double check.
Suggested By: zacarious, Photo Credit: That Hartford Guy
4.) Lexus LFA
It took Toyota a decade and the invention of a carbon loom. Remember, you're not supposed to modify an LFA in any way. Get a GT-R for that.
Suggested By: RazoE, Photo Credit: Kojach
3.) Bugatti Veyron
A quad-turbo W16 that doesn't explode. Tires that can take 267+ mph. Ten radiators. Good luck.
Suggested By: Stig-a-saw-us-wrecks, Photo Credit: Bugatti
2.) Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser
It's a great sculpture full of hydraulic fluid. willkinton247:
Once again, EVERYTHING is controlled by a hydraulic system that's pressurized to 3200 psi that uses a very specific type of mineral oil. The windows, the front and rear power seats, the fresh-air ventilation system, door closure, trunk closure, the sunroof, and suspension damping are all controlled through this system, all absolutely silently.
The hydraulics for the windows are controlled by an $11,200 switch that allows for a variable speed of raising the window. Pressing it gently closes the window slowly, pushing it hard closes the window with enough force to cleave a limb off.
You can't close the trunk by yourself. If you do that, you'll break it and the entire system. You must let the car close the trunk itself
You get fresh air into the car by using a cowl on the hood that will silently retract using the hydraulics. When you turn it off, it closes silently.
A Hydraulically assisted vacuum system locks the doors.
The parking brake releases automatically when you put the car in drive or reverse.
There's a hydraulic spares kit in the trunk that includes brass spacers, three hydraulic blocks, three line connections, a set of hydraulic line plugs and clips, four wood wedges to insert in the window channels to keep the windows up, a spare hydraulic flex line, an instruction booklet, and an oil container. This costs $3,000 to replace.
Everything is custom fit to each individual car. The hood ornament and badges are actually 20% bigger than on a standard Merc. The designers couldn't have it look too small, so they made it bigger to match the scale of the car.
It has a regular horn, if you tap the switch one way. If you hit it the other way, it releases the loudest blast of noise from any car out there. It uses compressed air.
And that was all in 1963.
Source for info: Car and Driver
Suggested By: willkinton247, Photo Credit: durdaneta
1.) Porsche 918
It's a hybrid-V8-regen-carbon-mid-engined-torque-vectoring supercar.
The LaFerrari or the McLaren P1 might be faster, but the 918 is the easiest to live with, and in order to achieve that, Porsche had to reinvent the wheel. And everything around it. It would take a few months to understand it all even if they gave you the blueprints, which they won't.
Suggested By: mikewballou, Photo Credit: cmonville
Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Top Photo Credit: Bugatti