Awesome Cars

Audi’s A5 Sportback is official; essentially a five-door version of the A5 coupe with a tailgate, it’ll be coming to Europe September but most likely will skip the USA this time around.

JS Armoured’s customized Bentley Continental Flying Spur is a military-grade sleeper: the changes are all inside, with ballistic steel, bulletproof windows, run flat tires and kevlar floors.

Who we gonna call? Potentially you: Ecto 1, the 1959 Cadillac ambulance used for Ghostbusters by Universal Studios, is being sold on eBay–minus the proton packs, of course.

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson takes a drug dealer’s EVO VII and pits it vs. the British Army; sure, it’s contrived and they’re firing tracers, but it’s tough saying no to harmless war porn. Part 2 here.

Move over, Bugatti: the 1931 Miller V16 was the cream of the crop for a line of Indy-bred racing cars, and the only with a 16-cylinder engine; it’ll auction at RM Auctions next month.

The Yin to the Carbon Edition’s Yang, Gemballa’s Mirage GT Matt Edition swoops in with a stealth-bomber paint job, 670 hp/630 Nm of torque V10, 0-60 of 3.7s and 208 mph top speed.

Not content to dominate Microsoft, Google’s Autonomobile takes on the car makers and takes out the driver: there’s no steering wheel or brakes, although it ironically includes a bar.

The 2010 Jaguar XJ is official: the all-aluminum chassis flagship sedan takes the design cues of the XF; the top model packs a 5.0L V8 with 510 hp, 461 lb-ft, good for a 0-60 of 4.7s.

With a downforce-creating carbon fiber chassis and all-wheel-drive, Nic Case’s RC car is now the world’s fastest at 161 mph; it uses an 11 hp motor, with power from a 12-cell battery pack.

Hurst sets its sights squarely on the wallets of Hemi fans with the Competition/Plus Challenger SRT8; you’ll get an Eibach suspension, Magnaflow exhaust and Hurst 20″ alloys.

Hennessey throws one heckuva bone to track-hungry ZR1 owners with the 2010 Z700, upping power from 638 to 705 hp, dropping 60 lbs of weight and adding 300 lbs of downforce.

Decked out in red, white and blue, Pagani’s Cinque Roadster apes another American tradition: it’s an open-top Zonda R-based Coupe that keeps the same 0-100 km/h time of 3.4s.

If you happen to own a Mustang GT, Steeda’s 2010 Sport Edition provides handling tweaks with sport springs, billet lower control arms, underdrive pulleys and Nitto NT05 tires.

The Cool Hunter’s been busy, with both Transformer and Space Invader skate parks on the way; still, our favorite project is a pair of Mini Coopers decked out in neon 8-bit livery.

It’ll take you longer to read out its name than hitting 60 mph with the Porsche Sportec SPR1 TR80; 0-60 in three seconds and a twin-turbocharged 858 HP flat six = daddy wants.

The Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 finally makes the jump from AWD to RWD; it’ll likely pack a 5.2L V10 good for 550hp, a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 0-100km of 3.9s.

Filling the gap left by the 4.2L V8 XF between the regular XF and the XFR, Jaguar’s 2010 XF Supercharged comes out in October with a 5.0L V8 good for 470hp and 424 lb-ft of torque.

Playing off the UK’s mania for Top Gear, Australian TV show hosts see how far they can get impersonating the Stig and borrowing other people’s cars; the answer: oui, oui, monsieur.

Shelby has unloaded six new models, lead by the 2010 GT500 Super Snake: you’ll get 725 courtesy of a supercharger, a cold air intake system, cat-back exhaust and carbon fiber bits.

Two of racing’s most famous icons go head to head: yesteryear’s King of Cool, Steve McQueen, races modern-day F1 champ Lewis Hamilton courtesy of Tag Heuer’s Monaco LS.

Life imitating art: Peugeot’s Metromorph concept is like Minority Report’s skyscraper-climbing cars; ideally, it’ll drive you up to your apartment and double as a balcony while parked.

Largely a sleeper mod, Ferrari’s 599 GTB HGTE is sparing on the exterior tweaks; this sport-tuned variant gets stiffer springs, an anti-roll bar, a lowered ride and faster gearbox shifts.

In the interests of suspense we won’t reveal the ending, but come on: a Corvette ZR1 vs an F/A-18 Hornet? MotorTrend’s “race” is a little silly, but still fun; the action starts at 8 minutes.