2000 Bentley Continental T

The carbon fiber rear wing nicely replicates the actual racing unit, though it's trimmed "flat" to provide neither lift nor downforce. But who cares; it sure looks cool. Inside, the cabin is trimmed in black leather with blue accents on the seats, console, E-brake handle, and door panels. Pretend you're Team Oreca driver Justin Bell or David Donohue by strapping in using the five-point competition-style harness.

Even though there's no change to the engine's internals or exhaust, you can hear the difference the new intake plumbing makes. As Senior Road Test Editor Mac DeMere snap-shifted the GT2 through our bevy of acceleration tests, it spoke in a deep, reedy howl like that of no other Viper. The new hardware must help a bit, too, as this white lightning rod turned in the fastest acceleration numbers (0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds) we've ever recorded for a stock Viper.

There's an even more noticeable handling improvement via the lower-profile rolling stock. Braking feel and pedal modulation with the still-non-ABS discs were also the best of any Viper we've driven, and we've driven a bunch. Handling is sharper, crisper, and the limit of adhesion is higher-though once past that limit, rear-end breakaway is more dramatic. At our rest track, I killed more than a few orange cones discovering this phenomenon. So the GT2 will reward the competent driver, but might take a stab at a ham-fisted wheel jock.

There are three major problems with the $85,200 way-too-limited edition Viper GT2: (1) we had to give ours back, (2) Dodge only built 100 of them, (3) they're all sold.
-Matt Stone

Jaguar Xjr
387 Lb/Ft @ 3600 Rpm
Enough Torque To Pull The British Isles Off Their Moorings
We commoners have gone and given torque a crude, almost base connotation. Leave it to the riff-raff to take one of the great delights of premium motoring and associate it with mass-produced barley beverages, pro wrestling, and "Show us your [bosom]!" signs (wording altered for obvious reasons of propriety). This is what happens when torque is widely offered to the masses at bargain prices without the proper indoctrination in its correct and proper usage.

With an out-the-door transaction price over $70,000, Jaguar's XJR luxury-sport sedan automatically filters out any vulgar individuals who might be lurking in its would-be customer base. Nobody steps into an XJR without first developing a fine touch and a steady resolve honed by the competent handling of a high-torque financial portfolio. And while the ultra-Jag develops an entirely different type of torque, the consequences of its misuse can be every bit as devastating as, say, investing heavily in mechanical typewriter futures.

Anybody old enough to have seen "The Avengers" first airing (the '60s series, of course, not the dreadful recent film of the same name!) will surely appreciate the XJR's (as well as Mrs. Peel's) elegant lines, the silky Connolly leather appointments, and smoky wood trim. The XJR's greatest beauty, however, is its ability to blend these luxuries with a supercharged 4.0-liter DOHC V-8 that generates a whopping 387 pound-feet of torque.

Given proper personal restraint, you'll be utterly unaware that such malevolence is at the ready until the first time you plunge your Italian loafer to the floor. With traction and stability control systems in place should the need arise, the XJR jumps ahead with all the enthusiasm of the famed "Leaper" that rides on its hood. You'll pounce to 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds (so swift that a Corvette driver has to be quick on the draw to keep up), awash in a haze of tire smoke should you decide to switch off the traction control.

Of course, you could back off at this point. But you won't. Stay in the throttle, and you'll dispatch the quarter mile in 13.7 seconds at 103.8 mph; topping out at an artificially limited 155-mph top speed (sans limiter, the big bad cat should top 170 mph).