All About Supercars

Supercars are the all hailed automobiles that are indulgences, beauties to look at and privileges to own. They are made of the best things in automobile engineering and are built to be possessions that anybody would be proud of. They are factory owned and they're street-legal. Modified cars can never be supercars and neither can discount cars.

Ideal weight to power ratio is an indispensable trait of a supercar as it has to have a comparatively low weight yet provide great acceleration. For this reason most supercars have a rear mid-engine and rear drive-wheel layout. However the Bugatti Veyron, the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Audi Quattro are four wheel-drives. Their engines and gearboxes are capable of supporting four wheel drives due to their high power and low weight.

The design of the car is extremely important as nobody would be interested in paying a million dollars and drive around something that looks like a bug on four wheels. This is precisely why Italian supercar manufacturers like Ferrari, Masserati and the Lamborghini spend years on just designing one model. It took Jerod Shelby seven years to design The Ultimate Aero TT which is the fastest supercar on the road.

Although the definition of supercars are varied as different enthusiasts think different cars are great, there are certain standard criteria that only supercars can match up to. Most Supercars have top speeds up to 250+mph and acceleration from 0-62mph in less than 5 seconds. The Bugatti Veyron reaches 62mph in an impressive 2.5 second record time. It is a four wheel-drive with a 529 break horsepower per ton. The Koenigsseg CCX had a top speed of 241 mph. The Ultimate Aero TT has the best top speed of 256mph however it is estimated to go up to even 273mph.

The Koenigsseg CCX and the CCR, Saleen S7, the Ferrari Enzo, the Lamborghini Murceliago and the McLaren F1 can be considered supercars due to their excellent performance and handling. It is not enough for a car to be all muscle and sleek for it to be a supercar. The handling is really important. It must have a high cornering and max road grip and must be capable of winning races. The Dodge Viper SRT-10 has brilliant braking as it stops from 100 mph in 274 feet. The Veyron claims that it can stop from 249 mph in ten seconds.

The pricing also may outline a car as a supercar. Most supercars can easily cost a million dollars and well beyond that. The Bugatti Veyron costs $1.6 million making it the most expensive supercar in the world. The Ultimate Aero TT which is the fastest car only costs half the price. Other expensive cars include the Enzo Ferrari, the Porsche Carrera GT, the German Maybach 62 and the Mercedes SLR McLaren.

Everything has a special value if it is rare and hence supercars are not produced by the thousands. Manufacturers only produce 20-300 pieces of supercars. For many people, the Corvette Z06 is not a supercar in spite of awesome features only because too many of them were produced and priced only at $40,000.

Great cars are not necessarily supercars but supercars are more than just great cars. They are marvels of engineering and design.