you were exempted for redacted (mobile doesnt let me quote)
Not sure what that means but since I havent been chopped yet, it means I did something right 
Reading some of the stuff (why only 2 seats, cars with 600+ hp, etc.) I am surprised I’m still in 
It means your car gave me a reason to keep it when it should have been cut for similar reasons to the cars that were just cut, but I’m not yet ready to divulge what for.
Well I have clearly failed MURICA, so to make up for it here’s a badass muscle sedan with a 627hp V8.
Styling taken directly from my Adenine Defiant. Best part is a top speed of 235mph which puts it a few mph short of the McLaren F1 for fastest NA car in the world. And it still gets 20mpg with a cost under $30000!
I guess this battle is best fought with four doors (and/or seats).
That said, if the CS60 Coupe had been entered in a competition limited to real supercars, it may have won, or at least been a finalist.
And if I’d instead entered my four-door saloon, a machine inspired by Australian muscle cars (HSV, FPV) in terms of philosophy, but looking much more discreet, would that car have won, or at least made the next round?
Still, just getting this far is unexpected for a rookie, as far as this contest is concerned.
Good luck to everyone still in contention - it must be a nightmare for @KLinardo to decide who wins overall, let alone makes the next cut.
Well since I was so close anyway I decided to just go all out. (EDIT: Managed to beat the Hennessey Venom for under $40K.)
Meet the fastest naturally aspirated car in the world: the Pearlite Volition XS.
Key stats:
271 MPH
7.3L DOHC V8 Flatplane
929 HP
Wheelspin at 100 MPH
82.5 engine reliability/77.9 avg reliability
12.6 MPG - 98RON Super - have fun paying for that 
$39050 with 10% markup (would be $35640 with Premium instead of Sport interior)
#Final Cuts
December 3, 2012 - Okay, this is it. If the car makes it through this round I’m test driving it. If I’m test driving it, it means I might buy it right there and then. So that means the car has to have value. Therefore, I’m going to have to somehow determine what I can afford and what is actually worth spending my money on. It’s time to get a little more objective. MSRP divided by the key stats, that should give me a good idea as to what car is really the most valuable. Here goes something. Eight enter, but only three will be finalist in CSR 15!
##Round 5
@AirJordan, Smooth V-Block GT
This car was on borrowed time. I couldn’t stand to eliminate it in the last round because I loved the styling. It just looked so good. The grille was sleek and absolutely imposing. I can see the cars holding me up in the fast lane trembling as this car’s mug crept up and became omnipresent in their rear-view mirrors. The taillights were a magnificent intricacy of function and beauty. Everything about the outside of this car was absolutely stunning. I just cannot get past the price per horsepower. Of the remaining cars in the pile, this car cost the second most per horsepower. It also wouldn’t have done well in practicality if I had calculated costs for that. It’s only two-seats and that’s just dissuading when considering what I really want. Maybe if this car was an absolute power monster, I would have looked past the lack of the larger interior. This is certainly what I would consider a proper muscle on the outside. I just need more power under the hood to pull the trigger on the V-Block GT. The field was just too good to settle for 465 horses.
@titleguy1, Danver Spectra SR8
Honestly, I’m slightly surprised this car made it this far. That’s not a knock on the car as much as it is a statement of a lack of notoriety. I actually kept forgetting about this car. It just never ran afoul of the criteria I was judging by in the last four rounds of cuts. I originally mentioned that you don’t want to stand out as I weed through the field. Subtle pleasing of my tastes was the way to go. Well the Spectra SR8 did superbly until now. I finally found something I just don’t like compared to the rest of the field, and it’s the 422 HP rating. However, this car was so cheap that the price per pony was actually comparable to some of the prospective cars that were weighing in at over 600 HP. That means I would have plenty of change left over to buy aftermarket parts for the 5.2L V8. The car was otherwise of good quality with a premium interior, good fuel mileage, and respectable performance stats. However, as I compared my last group of cars I realized that this sedan was respectively average, albeit a great package overall.
@rcracer11m, Bestial
This is another car that quietly ducked through the first few rounds of scrutiny. However, it almost didn’t make it past the the looks stage. I presume I could have saved myself the trouble had I cut the vehicle there, but it wasn’t that bad looking. Mostly I wasn’t a fan of the stubby design. The fixtures were nice and the front end went together really well. The one glaring issue I had with the vehicle was the rather large scoop in the rear doors. I mean, barring some quirky ventilation system that has a means of transferring through the door frame below the C-pillar, they can’t possibly be functional. I don’t like faux vents and such. The faux fuel cap on the back of the newer Mustangs barely passes muster in my book. The Bestial stayed in this long much to do with the fact that it was throwing around 575 HP. That impressive HP number comes from a 4.8L DOHC 4-valve XPV8 that spins to 9000 RPM. The car had a luxury interior and a good fuel economy of 22.3 MPG for what it came equipped with. The Bestial’s downfall was that it was one of the most expensive of the remaining prospects making the cost per statistic points relatively high. The car’s value wasn’t atrocious, but it was somewhat low in most categories without standing out anywhere. Again, it was another case of good, but not good enough compared to the competition.
@Sillyworld, Glacier Aero pack + MT
No, no, no, no. NO! I did not want to cut this car. It looked A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. It was the best looking car here. And it was a sedan. And it had a manual. And I wanted to buy it based on looks alone. I just cannot justify the lack of power compared to the competition at this point. I drew an arbitrary line in the sand at 400 HP a few cuts ago and lo and behold the Glacier had 400 exactly as I went through the pile. Therefore, it got to stay. However, I cannot fathom why the Glacier’s engineers thought 400 HP would suffice for this car. Mind you, the 400 HP comes from a 6.2L V12. I was expecting at least a stupid amount of torque from the engine, but it only produced 410 Ft-Lbs. Disappointingly the dyno sheets made it look like you had to be over 4000 RPM to wake the car up. How do you have that many cylinders and that much displacement and quietly come in with 400 HP? It’s really this car’s Achilles Heel. It places the price per horsepower way above the rest of the competition. The 7-speed manual and looks couldn’t help this car overcome it’s relative mediocrity among the remaining vehicles. No stats were really overly impressive and the cost wasn’t exactly the lowest of the group. If the engineers spent as much time on the functional design as the design team took on the outside, I think this car would win. I was truly disappointed when I discarded this brochure.
@asdren, Revera RF1
Excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my chin as I look at this motor vehicle. Wow. This car is truly imposing. It kind of looks like a Nissan GTR and I’m not a big fan of those cars, but this is no twin-turbo V6 AWD car. This is a N/A 702 HP 5.5L V12 throwing the power through a single-clutch sequential transmission in a RWD car. I’m not a big V12 guy, but this is my kind of V12. Oh man I could do quite a bit with 700+ HP. It’s mouth-watering. Not to mention, this monster has 4 seats, even though it’s only a 2-door car. That’s what earned this vehicle it’s exception from the last round, yet it would still fall short in these cuts from reaching the final round. Now this car is predictably stupid fast. It’s also relatively practical with its back seat. It also has the look and function of a track monster, drag strips and road courses included. So where does this car fall short? Well, if you’ve yet to catch the theme of these cuts, it’s the value. Other than the horsepower value, buoyed by the fact that there are over 700 horses acting as the denominator, the other categories are relatively poor when compared against the last remaining vehicles. Every point in each stat category costs quite a bit more than the Revera’s counterparts that have either been eliminated or will be moving on to the test drives. 702 HP would have been plenty of fun, and the 4 seats made this car a distinct possibility, even though it wasn’t a sedan, but it was the most expensive of the remaining cars and the value was really only extraordinary under the hood.
#Test drives are being scheduled for @Madrias’s Storm Insaniti LX, @thecarlover’s Solo Jetstream SM, and @strop’s Courcheval Manta Touring.
I was really hoping that luxury interior would make the car a lot more desirable that the others. Turns out I may have been better off saving $5,000 and just going with premium. If I gained more than 100lbs from using the luxury interior I probably would’ve went with premium but with the minimum safety the extra quality i needed there meant it was only about 50lbs lighter with premium the savings were the only reason to go for premium.
Well it depends. Your competition would have also been building actual supercars, so it’s tough to say comparatively. Your vehicle would have been strong.
It probably would have made the next round because your round of cuts was judged by whether or not practicality was > 50. So that was just my arbitrary decision to cut for that round. Of course I made some exceptions for a few cars based on… well completely subjective reasons. So I can’t say if you would have made the cut.
Heavy Breathing
Had I submitted my alternate choice of entry, it would have looked like this:
The Harris Redoubtable would have been my submission if my heart had not ruled my head and I decided to enter a four-door car in this round. If you see this in your rear-view mirror, you may want to move over…
In side profile, the Redoubtable is again quite handsome, and far more understated than any FPV or HSV ever was, is or will be.
The Redoubtable would have had five seats, not two, and a much bigger boot.
Of course, with more than 500 bhp on tap (quite a lot of cars, including some semifinalists, had much less than that), you would have to get used to the view from behind…
…and it also would have had plenty of torque throughout the rev range, which extends all the way to 8000 RPM (seriously, does anyone still build such an unfettered engine these days?).
Even with markups, it would have been much more affordable than the CS60 Coupe I submitted.
Yes, it would have been 5 seconds slower around the Airfield Track, but on the other hand, such a time would have been good enough for a car of its size and weight.
I also considered submitting an even more extreme version instead, the Redoubtable R. Here it is:
The extra power in this variant forced me to install an electric LSD, and I installed standard, rather than progressive, springs for better sportiness - this would have been the sporting flagship of the model range, after all.
Unlike the base engine, this variant would have had titanium conrods and a billet steel crankshaft for an extended redline (8500 vs 8000 rpm). A more aggressive cam profile and a higher compression ratio would have yielded over 580 bhp at 8300 rpm, and although the torque curve is much more linear, it encourages you to wring it out to the rev limiter for maximum enjoyment.
Even with the extra power, the Redoubtable R would still be cheaper than the CS60 Coupe, though it would have cost more than the base car.
Yet I suspect that it would have been worth it - as well as being even faster off the mark and at the top end, it would have been over a second faster than the base model.
So if I had submitted the Redoubtable, should I have sent you the base model, or the more extreme R version? At any rate >500 bhp should have been enough to win, or at least be a finalist - especially when the estimated price for both variants is under $40k.
This is the most intense round so far, a lot of close contest. I could have easily been cut for any number of reasons in the last 3 rounds, but somehow am doggedly hanging on. My regret was not sending the 2+2 trim, because I want the extra weight (4400lbs in a track capable muscle car? Come on.)
But hindsight is just that, and not that useful. This is shopping, not finding the best car!
I did not expect to be in the top three, and I’m up against two Automation Veterans. This is an intense round, and my heart was racing in this one when I saw the little 1 by my name. Was wondering how far I’d made it before the drop, only to see the top 3.
This is one really good round.
So our finalists are a pair of big saloons and a supercar-slash-grand tourer. Hats off to anyone who figured out that @strop named his car after Malochio’s ride in Interstate '76! Problem is, with an all-steel construction, it weighs almost as much as an HSV GTS Gen-F, and is actually thirstier than my entry… At least it’s normally aspirated.
@thecarlover must have used the front and rear fascias of the Ocelot Jackal from GTA V as inspiration, but it’s no bad thing given that the Jackal is also a looker.
@Madrias actually built a true luxury (not just premium) car, but will its more upmarket interior be the clincher? I am eagerly awaiting the final result.
On everything that’s been considered thus far, I’d put my money on @thecarlover and his Solo Jetstream SM if I actually had any - of all three finalists it’s the closest thing there is to a street-legal V8 Supercar in terms of performance and styling, but its rear wing and front splitter are nowhere near as large.
I kinda felt the small block was a bit of a risk but I wanted to keep it fairly economical. Plus still managed 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds. I totally forgot I went with a flatplane V8 instead of a crossplane V8 which certainly pushed it more to the sports side of things though. At least I made it to Round 4! I was cut in good company, I mean this whole round just about every car looked great.
There were exceptions. My car - and yours - weren’t among them. But I perfectly understand why HSV-style crossplane v8s are king here: they are smoother and require fewer production units to assemble. Plus, eight cylinders really is the sweet spot for a high-performance NA engine, with an ideal balance of firepower and affordability.
And yes, my car’s engine produces 670 metric (or DIN) bhp, so @KLinardo was right about the output being 661 bhp (under the SAE NET system in use in America - Japan and continental Europe use DIN bhp, or PS).
Malochio’s not the only one who likes the Manta. It is the single most OP car in the game, if you can get past the mildly flimsy armor rating. Just whack on 4 7.62mm MGs, or 4 30mm cannons, or 4 Dr Radar Missiles… it’ll completely destroy everything that gets in its way.
But it still only takes a single Cupid missile to whack Malochio 
EDIT: Reactions to the last round of cuts:
@airjordan is now a very strong competitor in a lot of contests so no surprises I had my eye out on this one. It just goes to show that the only reason I got away with two seats is because everything else was better that way. Oh, and more power. I now no longer regret getting rid of the VVL in order to accommodate more power per mass.
Saying this about @titleguy1’s cars just goes a long way to show just how bloody strong the field is. In his own company thread, his cars (not to mention the graphics jobs) sends people drooling and reaching for their fantasy chequebooks.
A range of 30-40k may not seem that huge but considering 40k is a good 33% greater than 30k, and that a number of entries snuck in under 30k (my own included), that made relative pricing very important.
If @sillyworld had put in a big fat V8 with 600hp, this competition would have been over already. No amount of 2 seater coupe would overcome exactly what the host was looking for. So in a way I was kind of relieved to see that the engine went all noughties Aston Martin. They’re the number one culprit I think of when it comes to specific outputs of 60bhp per liter from big fat V12s.
Agreed, I thought this might be a shoe-in for a win too, except for the fact it’s based on a Nissan body. Then again did not know anything about the interior, and in a way, my default action would have been to do the same thing. It’s an exception to my rule that I didn’t.
Actually, they’re called Cherub missiles, and they are only usable at the end of the I76 campaign. Speaking of which, your car certainly has the firepower - and handling - to blow away the opposition in the final stage of this round like a Cherub missile
Moreover, I always implement VVL to improve the engine’s power delivery at low revs and increase fuel economy even further than if I used VVT on its own.
So the recipe for success seems to be a four-door saloon with a 600-bhp v8… I just hope you can prove otherwise since your car has two each of doors and seats.
But I was right to build a V12 with a specific output of >100bhp/litre. Slotting the CS60 Coupe’s engine into a saloon would have created the ultimate Q-car!
Cherub!? Damn, I literally played the entire campaign yesterday, how did I miss such a detail?
Here’s to hoping the car’s superb balance will appeal to the driver side of the host.
Yeah, funny thing was @abg7 my original design for the Lera (which was a 2010 design I was going to use for the Big Fruinian Muscle Car Thing too) was actually a crossplane V8 more along the lines of a classic muscle car HSV style design. But I accidentally went into the whole factory thing and forgot what the estimated pricing was so I ended up creating two separate designs.
I could have entered the CS60 Coupe in stage 2 of the Big Fruinian Muscle Car Cup if it had cost $3-4k less with a 10% markup; it would have cost even more to run due to its high capacity (>5 litres). And the Chieftain 5.0 GT I entered into that challenge would have been too slow here.
Yeah, I think a lot of us focused so much on speed here that didn’t realise how important the other issues were like a few extra seats 
