"This is Italy's car." It literally shook the supercar world upside down when it debuted in 2009. Everything about the Ferrari 458 Italia, from its styling, performance and engine note, is quite literally perfect. Powered by a 4.5-liter V8 placed midship, the 458 blasts from 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 205 mph. Did we mention it�s downright gorgeous inside and out? Every element of its exterior design has a purpose. Whether you just sit and stare at it or drive it all day long, it�s quite literally impossible not to love this car. The 458 Italia is perhaps the very definition of what an Italian supercar should be: beautiful, fast, and above all, emotional. The guys over at XCAR couldn�t agree more as they�ve created their own video tribute to the luscious machine.
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Carbuzz
9:47 AM
TIGER PRODUCTIONS
A top-notch supercar event with just the right sort of setting. The Wilton Classic is a slightly different from many of the other supercar events out there. Instead of a huge number of owners each bringing a car or two, this is actually a small number of collectors each bringing their large collections. That means a greater variety of cars, instead of just a lot of the more popular models. That is, of course what you want in a car show, and we�ve brought you the gallery, see if you can spot all of the Gulf Liveries. Hat tip to Steve at LS3 for the photos. 
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The slick-looking Honda Civic Tourer will make its official debut next month. This always seems to happen to US wagon enthusiasts. Whenever an automaker launches a cool wagon variant for one of its models, Europe is usually the only beneficiary. It totally sucks. Affordable and fun wagons are just not to be had anymore in the US and it�s a damn shame. Man do we miss the Dodge Magnum right now. And now Honda is breaking our hearts all over again by announcing that the production-spec Civic Tourer will make its official debut at Frankfurt next month. 
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In fairness, this is probably funnier than if the prank had actually worked. A pair of friends in Australia had a good, albeit not especially elaborate idea for a prank. They called for a taxi and then, with one of them wrapped up in plastic, the other got the taxi driver to help him load what was very obviously a body into the trunk of the car. They were filming the whole thing in order to capture what they assumed would be the driver freaking out. Things didn�t quite work out as they had hoped, but no more spoilers from us. We have to say that, once it has all played out, the driver took it all remarkably well. So there were apparently no hard feelings. 
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The next generation of design and engineering students are already creating and building concept cars. Interested in drawing cars for a living? Good at numbers? Then perhaps consider a career in automotive engineering. Forget lame ass accounting and become a car designer or engineer. That�s what these students did at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. What you�re looking at is the Deep Orange 3 concept, a next-generation Mazda concept car that was conceived and engineered by a group of Clemson students. 
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It's ok if this car sends shivers down your spine. He is possibly the greatest racing car driver of all time, and he sadly left this world far too soon. We�re talking about the one and only Ayrton Senna. To this day his name still draws endless praise for his driving genius as well as tears of sadness. Anyone looking to become closer to the man himself, perhaps the best way to do so is to own his 1993 Acura NSX. A seller on ebay is supposedly offering the iconic driver�s NSX for sale at a price of around $74,000. It has just 31,000 miles on its clock, and is actually one of three NSXs that Senna owned. 
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Does Chevy really need a new off-road capable SUV in the US? Perhaps. The truck-based Chevy Trailblazer was discontinued back in 2009, and it seemed unlikely even then that it would be replaced. Thing is, times change as does market demand. Although it�s not official at this point, an inside source who�s supposedly familiar with Chevrolet�s upcoming product plans claims that a new midsize SUV based on the Thai-built Trailblazer will come to the US in 2014. Chevrolet, of course, is denying this and says that there are no plans to alter its current SUV/crossover lineup. 
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Turns out Ford and Mountune give a shit about US enthusiasts after all. For years many US enthusiasts complained � and rightly so � that automaker and/or their official tuning partners were focusing all of their attention in the Euro market. In addition, many of the best and most affordable performance cars were only available to Old World buyers. The new Ford Focus ST and Fiesta ST are proof that�s no longer the case. And to make life even better, Ford�s official aftermarket tuning partner, Mountune, has just announced that�ll soon set up shop in the New World as well. 
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More power and added styles comes to Audi's performance wagon thanks to the guys at Senner Tuning. We�ve long been fans of high-performance wagons although they�re relatively few in number. What�s worse is that they�re not strong sellers in the US. Wagons in general have been long replaced by the SUV and CUV amongst America�s soccer moms. But Europe is a different story and wagons of all sorts continue to sell well. And now German aftermarket tuner has turned its attention to the diesel-powered Audi A6 Avant. 
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Guess the profit margin on such a rare thing of beauty was too tempting for one Veneno owner to pass up. That obviously didn�t take too long, but it was bound to happen at some point. One of the three Lamborghini Venenos (not including the fourth example that�ll remain in Lamborghini�s official museum) is supposedly on the market. We know that two of the Venenos were sold to a couple of uber wealthy American collectors while the third one went to a guy in the Middle East somewhere. Our source is indicating that the Middle East buyer is the one selling. 
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Don't worry, it�s not as bad as you're assuming. It turns out that green cars are increasing in popularity amongst car buyers in North America, Europe and Asia. But we�re not referring to "green" cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. We�re referring to the color green. Sorry for any confusion. A new report released by BASF has found that the green color range has become more popular than ever. Don�t think, however, that this has to do with the fact that cars are becoming more "green" on an emissions level. 
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Looks like Hollywood has sent a memo that this will be the year for all racing movies. The really great thing about making movies for car guys is that there isn�t much that will keep us from watching a car movie. We�ll put up with basically anything in order to see some good chase scenes, and it seems Born To Race Fast Track will at least deliver this much. At least from what we can tell by the trailer, the movie seems to have pretty good production value, and is both well directed and well shot, even if the writing and acting leaves something to be desired. But we�re quite certain we�ll end up seeing this, lame dialog or not. There are fast cars and loud engines. And nobody ever went broke putting pretty girls in their movies either. 
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Just a few weeks ahead of its official debut at Frankfurt, BMW reveals the i8's performance and power specs. Just a few days ago it was announced that the BMW i8 will have its official debut at Frankfurt next month. Before that event takes place, BMW has jumped the gun and has revealed the new high-performance sports car�s official specs. Only down side? Still no pictures of the final production car. Fortunately, the plug-in hybrid i8 is very different than the i3 EV. Power comes from a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that sends 231 horsepower to the rear wheels while an electric motor provides 131 hp to the front wheels. Total output comes to 362 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. 
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But it wasn't because Pontiac was killed with an ax. There was a time, albeit short, when it looked as if Pontiac was on the verge of a major comeback. It started with the fourth-generation GTO that launched in 2004, but lasted only until 2006. And yes, it was based on a Holden-developed RWD platform that was sold Down Under as the Monaro. That GTO wasn�t perfect but it was a solid first step to revive Pontiac. The G8 came along in 2008 and it was magnificent. So magnificent in fact that GM was serious about slicing the rear doors off it, and naming the new coupe GTO. 
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We're just as confused about this one as you likely are. There�s no question we�ve been getting mixed messages regarding the on again-off again future of the Scion FR-S and Toyota GT86 convertible variants. Earlier this month word began to leak out that Toyota had all but effectively cancelled plans to launch both convertible and turbo version of the hot-selling Scion FR-S. The GT86, which is for Europe only, was also said to be a victim of this decision. The bottom line thinking was, for all intents and purposes, about the bottom line: Toyota bean counters couldn�t justify the costs involved. 
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It was on the market for only a short time, but it forever left its mark. The Ferrari F430 Scuderia was unveiled by none other than Michael Schumacher in 2007 and was on sale until its successor, the 458 Italia, premiered in 2009. Compared to the standard F430, the 430 Scuderia was designed to tackle the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. Not only that, it matched the time of the iconic Ferrari Enzo around the Fiorano Circuit. It�s a supercar we respect so much that it�s even a part of the official CarBuzz logo. With its 0-62 sprint time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 198 mph, the 430 Scuderia will forever be one of our favorite Ferraris of all time. 
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Depending on whom you ask, Tesla is either doing well or its being deceptive in regards to its accounting. Life at Tesla is good these days. The EV automaker has just announced that it sold 5,150 Model S EV sedans in the US last quarter. Why is that a good number? Because the $69,900 Model S is selling about the same number of units as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, which are both considerably less expensive. Tesla also confirmed that it�s building almost 500 vehicles a week. Oh yeah, it also said it made $26.2 million. And it also lost $30 million. Say what? Here�s what: Basically, Tesla included in its quarterly report its leasing accounting. 
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You never know what your going to face on the trail. Ram Trucks are terrific for off-road use. If off-road, however, means taking a dirt bike up a dirt trail, the last thing you would expect to see is a ram, no not the truck, the real deal, the one with fur and horns. That's exactly what happened to this unsuspecting dirt biker. After a quick standoff the ram gave the biker a first hand look at why they name trucks and football teams after the them. The biker for some reason decided to wrestle with the animal instead of just moving on. For the Ram, it was likely just another day of head bashing. We've got to give it to this little guy. Unlike the St. Louis Rams, this ram doesn't give up when his opponent starts to pull away with it. 
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We'll be seeing all of it once it's unveiled in Frankfurt. It might not be obvious from the pictures, but Kia�s new KED 10 Concept, which will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, is aimed at taking business away from the Nissan Juke. Kia released a couple of teaser shots of the car, which look very dramatic, but if we had to put money on it, we�d guess that what we�re basically talking about is a two-door version of the Soul with sportier styling. But there�s nothing wrong with that, and Kia is also likely to undercut the Juke�s price. 
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Most actual full-scale cars can't hit 200mph, so it'll be extra impressive from an RC car. Two days ago we ran a video which shows a Mclaren F1 RC car that nearly hit 100mph. Our reaction today... Meh. Why? Because now we see what happens when the subject of top speed is tackled by a much more serious group of enthusiasts. The result was actually much the same, although this time the car went airborne because of a blown tire, not aerodynamics, and it happened at 177mph, a considerably higher speed than the other car�s 99mph. Hat tip to SvBob! The guys at Team Associated RC are looking to hit 200mph with an RC car, and we can see that they�re already gotten much further than most. Good luck to them. 
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If a vinyl wrap is worth doing, it's worth doing right. We�ve seen all kinds of vinyl wraps on cars in recent years. The trend has really taken off, and now even more exotic materials are being used. So a Maserati wrapped in camouflage vinyl might seem pretty run of the mill, but it is the details where this job succeeds. The wrap was done by WrapStyle Prague, which is obviously in the Czech Republic. The detail is in things like the wheels and the interior trim inserts, which have also gotten the treatment. This was no ordinary 30 minute job. 
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Somehow even cooler than the usual Aston Martin endurance racers. There are only a handful of things in the world which you can tell will be fantastic after just hearing the name. The �Aston Martin V12 Zagato Race Car� is definitely one of those things. Aston Martin has teamed up with Zagato a number of times in the past, usually for extremely limited runs of gorgeous road cars, but this time they have built an endurance racer. We can see it here starting up in the garage and then pulling out onto the track for testing. The footage was shot at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, and we�re looking forward to seeing more from the GT racer. 
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"I'm crushing your head!"..."crush!".. -The Head Crusher, Kids in the Hall Who doesn�t love a tank crushing things? There is something pure that comes from the excitement of a brute force demonstration. We are guessing these guys in the UK have the world�s biggest crushes (pun intended) on all thing pummeled by these mechanical behemoths. They have even gone so far as to make the site Letscrushit.com, featuring a really hot blonde named Pippa, and you guessed it, videos of their tank, crushing things of all shapes and sizes. Sounds like the recipe for a good site. 
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A reminder that barns can often times contain some of the great automotive treasures. The Lancia Stratos is without a doubt one of the greatest cars of all time. It has everything an iconic car should have: racing pedigree, Italian styling, plenty of power and, above all, rarity. We just love it. It�s also one of the most successful rally cars ever built. All told, just 492 examples were built along with countless replicas. But this particular 1972 Stratos Stradale is very real, very rare and all original. It was recently uncovered in a barn. Originally sold to an owner in Germany, but came to the US in 1982. 
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Forget past models like the LeSabre and Park Avenue; Buick's future is looking brighter than ever. It was only a few years ago when it seemed as if Buick was going to die. GM�s troubles were massive and Buick�s appeal only satisfied those whose average age was 65. It was a sad, sad situation for such a great brand that had a wonderful history. But today is very different. GM is different, and Buick is making cars again that people who are decades away from retirement are actually interested in buying. One of those cars is the Encore. 
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