2012 Shelby GTS Mustang

2012 Shelby GTS Mustang

Barring the occasional foray into sport compacts and other interesting projects, Shelby American's primary focus has long centered upon building premium, high-performance muscle machines. That's fine and dandy, but corporate executives believe that in order to ensure the company has a customer base in the decades to come, it needs to develop a younger customer base.
Like the 2007-2008 Shelby GT Mustang, the new 2012 Shelby GTS essentially an affordable stepping stone into the Shelby way of life. Designed with budding enthusiasts in mind, the package, available on both Mustang V-6 and Mustang GT models, promises to bring in some younger shoppers.
As is the case with other Shelby models, GTS cars incorporate a number of visual revisions designed to set them apart from a standard Mustang. A custom grille and bumper fascia, cribbed from the company's mid-level GT350 offering, are installed, as is a bespoke ventilated hood. The famed twin racing stripes are standard, as are unique Shelby and Powered By Ford emblems.
Mechanically speaking, GTS models receive new springs, stabilizer bars, and a front strut tower brace from Ford Racing, along with upgraded Baer brakes. The only performance upgrade for either V-6 or V-8 cars is a cold air intake, although customers can opt for a supercharger for either the 3.7- or 5.0-liter engines, boosting power to 475 and 525-624 horsepower, respectively. Other performance options include 6-piston Baer Brakes, adjustable control arms, 18- and 20-inch wheel packages, a two-tone leather interior, and a Watts link rear suspension.
Refrain from dipping into that option list, and the GTS package will run you only $9995 more than a stock 2012 Mustang V-6, or $11,995 over a 2012 Mustang GT. Shelby officials think many GTS buyers will abstain from those add-ons initially, but ultimately opt to retrofit them as their budgets allow.

2012 Shelby GTS Mustang

2012 Shelby GTS Mustang

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

At $21,485, Land Rover's Autobiography trim package has served to make the $95,465 Range Rover Supercharged the swankiest Rubicon-runner in the land. But the trouble with having it all is that soon you want more. Owners of $117,000 Porsche Cayenne Turbos can go back to the options well and keep ticking until they hit $171,175 (maybe even more). Well, now Range Rover has simplified the selection of wretched off-roading excess by introducing the Autobiography Ultimate Edition-one box to tick that fast-tracks the sticker to $170,000.
For that kind of dough you get baby's-bottom-soft leather everywhere (including the headliner and cargo area sides), Kalahari wood trim (that has a real Born-Free ring to it, eh?) on the dash and doors and genuine teak wood on the cargo deck and tailgate, grouted with the same rubbery non-slip stuff they use on boats. The hinges and tie-downs back there are rendered in Monaco-harbor-grade polished stainless too.
Each rear throne is fully adjustable, heated, and cooled, and enjoys its own iPad integrated into the front seat headrest. Naturally there's a champagne cooler and two stemware holders, plus a truly usable tray table that flips up out of the center armrest for use by either (but not both) of the rear-seat occupants. The choice of interior ambiances include ivory and either dark cherry or Arabica, as desired to coordinate with the exclusive exterior shades of Roussillon Red or Otago Stone. To identify an Ultimate Edition from the outside, look for its unique "atlas" grille, new side vents and special 20" multi-spoke diamond-turned alloy wheels. An Exterior Design Package and deployable side steps will also be available. Once identified, however, the rear windows' privacy coating may prevent you from seeing the occupants.
Hurry up and order yours now-of the 500 that will be built, only 50 are coming to the U.S.

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

2012 Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan

Compact sedans are all the rage, with a host of new entries from both domestic and import manufacturers reaching showrooms recently. Nissan will cash in on that popularity with the 2012 Versa sedan, debuting today at the New York auto show with refreshed styling and tweaks to improve fuel economy.
The 2012 Versa rides on an evolution of the last car's platform called V, for Versatile. The sedan's wheelbase and width are unchanged from the current model, but it loses about an inch of length and height. Despite this, Nissan says that packaging improvements for the engine and transaxle mean there is more trunk space. The new car also should be marginally lighter than before.
Styling-wise, the new Versa takes cues from the larger Altima and Maxima sedans, starting with a new grille design and oval-shaped headlights, and continued with a smoother rear and reshaped taillights that sweep from the rear bumper to the Versa's rear haunches. The hood and sides are broken up by an assortment of creased character lines akin to those seen on the Hyundai Elantra. Whereas the old Versa had a more conventional flat roof and steep rear window, the new car's roofline gently slopes toward the trunk, following the coupe-like trend. The exterior changes reportedly help achieve a low 0.31 drag coefficient.
Nissan claims the Versa's rear seats offer more legroom than a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and says much effort was spent making the seats comfier and the interior more spacious and appealing. The new dashboard has rounded, contoured controls in place of the drab flat-plastic layout in the old car, a simpler dual-gauge instrument cluster, and a redesigned steering wheel. That said, the interior continues to showcase expanses of plain plastics and fabrics (in either Sandstone or Charcoal color schemes) that don't look particularly upscale.

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan