Auto Trends

There have been a lot of Halloween posts as of recently on the 10 scariest vehicles, and while yeah, the Ford Pinto would make most of us fear for our lives to drive to the grocery store and back, the basic design of the vehicle really doesn’t do too much for us as far as being really that scary. Now do you really want to see something scary?

Let us show you…

Porsche 550 Spyder-

The history pages are full of cool cars that were hardly capable of blowing an ant off the tire tread at wot (wide open throttle). We proudly present some of the more notable models.

1978 Mustang King Cobra-

With a name like King Cobra, you’d think this Ford Mustang would have been a screamer. It came with a spoiler, fender flares, decals up the wazzoo, a hood scoop, t-tops (like the Trans Am), and an impressive 5.0 liter emblem on the hood to let everyone know that you meant business.

Unbeknown to some, the only business you were truthfully going to be up to with the 129 horsepower 302 cubic inch engine, is slow business… very slow business! The King Cobra was of course back in the days when the government was beginning to tighten down on manufacturers to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy (CAFE standards), so the 5.0 only received a tiny 2-barrel carburetor, a measly 8.4:1 compression ratio, and one single exhaust pipe, which they tried to pass off with a chrome tip.

To achieve reduced smog, the King Cobra received an EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve, PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve, and single catalytic converter to go with its single exhaust pipe. Despite Ford’s efforts, the King Cobra still only received about 17 mpg breathing out of a blocked straw.

These are classics and sure do look performance oriented, but if you like performance to go along with your go-fast looks, then this is one Mustang Cobra that would best be left on the used showroom floor. The new 2008 Shelby Cobra with 500 horsepower 5.4 liter will be much more to your liking…

1969 Porsche 914-

The Porsche 914 was Porsche’s version of a sports car for the poor folk. These were the kind of folk who wanted the Porsche symbol, yet didn’t mind the Volkswagen performance and boxy looks. While this car has received its share of brownie points over the course of its existence, if you were to buy one now and take it out on a Saturday night cruise, you’d be left at just about every stop light by mom’s in their mini vans and dad’s in their Mazda Miata’s.

While the car was a mid-engine configuration, which has always made for a nicely balanced race car, the 4-cylinder that Volkswagen provided was among the same prowess as the infamous 69 beetle and hill challenged Volkswagen hippie van.

You did have a few choices of engines, ranging from slow, really slow, and appallingly slow. These choices are better known as the 1.7 liter with 80 horsepower, the 1.8 liter with 79 horsepower, and the 2.0 liter with 95 horsepower, all with a five-speed manual gearbox which was standard on all models.

These are classics, but to today’s standards they certainly do not live up to what the name Porsche has come to be known!

Continuing from our list of the best used cars from 1998 and up, we come to the letters N through P of the manufacturers alphabet:

Nissan Altima-

Nissan Maxima-

Nissan Murano-

The Murano was released back in the not so distant 2003. While these are certainly not all that old, you can still get a great price for one at somewhere between $15,000 to $25,000. The Murano is basically a repackaged Nissan Altima which is another great Nissan that hit the Consumer Reports list for best used cars from 1998 and up.

There is nothing too fancy about this car-based Nissan crossover, but it is quite stylish for its class and a good solid reliable vehicle for the most part. It’s simplicity is probably what makes it have such great reliability to be quite honest.

It comes with 18 inch rims, a 3.5 liter V-6 worth 245 horsepower and 246 ft-lbs of torque, and a CVT (continuously variable automatic transmission), which not only makes the gear switching seamless, but saves you a few mpg’s with its stated 20 city/ 24 highway.

One of its only negatives for its crossover status would have to be its four passenger interior, which is a tad smaller than most of its competitors five to seven seating arrangement.

But if your family is fairly small, you can still enjoy a few of its useful standard amenities, like tilt steering and climate control, with room to upgrade to power adjustable pedals, leather interior, navigation system, xenon lighting, and traction control.

This is all the urban assault you should really ever need in your typical city battleground!

Pontiac Vibe-

Porsche 911 (except ‘03)-

High performance sports cars don’t often make it on these lists, so when one does you have to take notice. If you erase the 2003 model out of your mind, the rest of their offerings from 1999 on up were darn near bulletproof. At least as bullet proof as 300 some horsepower engine can be.

It isn’t hard to fathom why the Porsche 911 made it onto the list with 34 some years of refinements under their belts. 1999 marked a new generation that would offer an all new redesigned engine incorporating water cooling and dual-overhead cams and a wider stance by three inches, that would put the meaning of “wide body” back into the Porsche name.

Porsche tends to follow the old saying, “speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?” On the lower end of the price spectrum, $19,000 (in relatively poor shape mind you) could get you the 1999 standard 3.4 liter flat six with 300 horsepower and all the standard Porsche tuning that has made this car practically unbeatable on a curvy road.

If your willing to up the ante on the price by several thousand, you could opt for the turbocharged 3.6 liter, which saw no less than 415 horsepower. 2002 grew the liters of the standard Porsche to 3.6 liters, which boosted its 300 horsepower to an easy 320. 2002 was also the year that the infamous Porsche GT2 was released, which has a potent 456 horsepower at its disposal.

If you can find a 2004 model with the optional “horsepower kit” installed, the horsepower will run you 345 for the base 3.6 liter and 450 for the turbo. About the only way you are going to get much faster, is to take up a 2007 turbo 911 rated at an awesome 480 horsepower.

But as we said, you pay for what you get. If you want to really fly in style, $100,000-plus seems to be the going rate for a newer GT2, or you could go with the lesser GT3 (380 horsepower) in the upper 50’s.

So, how fast do you want to go?