Porsche 911 GT2 RS – 700 Horsepower
Porsche chose to unveil the 991-generation 911 GT2 RS during the 2017 E3 gaming expo at the Xbox stand as it was featured in a new title in the Forza series. The automaker obviously wanted to promote the car (of which only 1,000 will be made) among those who played the game, but it’s no coincidence that it happens to have exactly 700 horsepower (at 7,000 rpm) from its twin-turbo, 3.8-liter, six-cylinder engine, and game-like acceleration numbers and handling characteristics. The transmission is a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch.
Being turbocharged, it also has a lot of torque too – 553 pound-feet (between 2,200 – 4,500 rpm) to be specific – so it feels very muscular to pick up from even lower rpms. That means on a track you can rely on the pulling power to drag you out of some corners without having to shift.
Price: from $187,500
Read our full review on the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS
Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat – 707 Horsepower
The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is the quintessential 700+ attainable car. It is by all definitions an American muscle car in terms of the way it looks, sounds, and goes. But, there’s actually more to it than that, as it’s not that bad at taking corners and you can actually have a lot of fun with it on twistier roads.
But, it’s still obviously the engine that dominates the headlines (and the experience of being aboard a Hellcat).
That’s enough to push the car — which weighs more than two tons — from 0 to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and on to 199 mph flat out. At the same time, though, thanks to the Challenger’s excellent cruiser abilities and the smoothness of the eight-speed automatic gearbox, it’s very easy to live with (if you can stomach the fuel bill, that is).
Price: from $58,990
Read our full review on the 2018 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk – 707 Horsepower
What FCA did in order to create the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk was simple. It put the same 6.2-liter, supercharged, Hemi V-8 from the Hellcat under its hood. In doing so, the brand managed to make a performance SUV that does really great on tarmac. From the outside, you won’t really know you’re looking at a Trackhawk unless you spot the unique badging, the low stance, and the big Brembo brakes with yellow calipers.
Even if it has all-wheel drive and a seamless-shifting eight-speed box, it’s not as fast off the line as the Challenger because it has to lug around nearly 2.4 tons, making it some five people heavier than the coupe.
Its engine makes 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque, and flooring the gas at any speed in this will place a lot of strain on your neck muscles as they struggle to keep your head level – it goes around corners much better than it has a right to, according to reviews.
Price: from $86,200
Read our full review on the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk
Ferrari 488 Pista – 710 Horsepower
Ferrari bumped the engine output of the newish 488 model, the turbocharged replacement for the 458 Italia, past the 700 horsepower mark with the introduction of the harder, faster, and more track-focused 488 Pista. I was there when the wraps fell off the car at the 2018 Geneva motor show, and let me tell you, it drew one heck of a crowd. It’s as if the whole motor show stopped to witness Ferrari’s premiere, even though very few people were actually looking to get one.
But it’s not hard to see why people were so into it given the fact the 488 had already made a reputation for itself in non-Pista guise.
The Pista’s 3.9-liter, twin-turbo, V-8 engine makes 710 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and has a peak torque of 567 pound-feet, thus enabling it to sprint from standstill to 62 mph in 2.85 seconds and to 124 mph in 7.6 seconds. Its top speed was not measured, but Ferrari says the 488 Pista should reach in excess of 211 mph. Its acceleration numbers are also helped by the sheer shift speed of its seven-speed dual-clutch.
Price: from around $350,000
Read our full review on the 2018 Ferrari 488 Pista
McLaren 720S – 710 horsepower
McLaren was essentially reborn as a sports- and supercar manufacturer in the late 2000s with the MP4-12C which, at the time, was the first ever production car fully designed and built by the company. Over time, their roster of models became wider and wider, and now, they have an entire range of models catering to different needs and budgets. The 720S is now one of its mid-range offerings, slotting in between the 570S and the extreme track-honed Senna.
The 720S still runs a development of the original MP4-12C’s 3.8-liter, twin-turbo, V-8 (now displacing 4.0-liters), but now it’s more powerful and sounds much better than it initially did.
In contrast, the similar engine in the Ferrari 488 Pista mentioned above (and which is a direct competitor no less) makes exactly as much torque, but it arrives much lower in the rev range, so the McLaren has to be revved a bit higher to extract all it has to give. At least its seven-speed dual-clutch makes downshifts fun and super snappy.
Price: from $284,745
Read our full review on the 2018 McLaren 720S
Aston Martin DBS Superleggera – 715 Horsepower
If you want the most extreme, powerful, hardcore and exclusive Aston Martin currently on the market, then you need to look at the striking DBS Superleggera. The vehicle is essentially the same as the current DB11, but it has a significant power bump (and 158-pound weight reduction) that bestows it with considerably more performance. Plus it also looks racier and more aggressive.
Motivating the DBS Superleggera is a twin-turbo V-12 engine that displaces 5.2-liters.
Torque, however, is a massive 663 pound-feet, and it peaks between 1,800 and 5,000 rpm, giving the car an especially muscular feel. That power is sent to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. The benchmark sprint time is 3.4 seconds and top speed is a claimed 340 km/h or 211 mph.
Price: from $304,995
Read our full review on the 2018 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Dodge Challenger SRT Redeye – 797 Horsepower
For some inexplicable reason, FCA decided that the Challenger Hellcat wasn’t hellishly fast enough with its 707 horsepower output, so they created the even more powerful, rarer and more extreme model that goes by the name “Hellcat Redeye.”
Like the regular Challenger Hellcat, it’s not the best thing to throw around a twisty road due mainly to its fairly high weight (and internet inertia.) The soft-ish suspension and the uncommunicative steering also make it a little harder to handle. What it does best is annihilate any car regardless of how much it costs from any speed and any rpm, especially if it’s a rolling race and not one where it has to put all its power down from naught; a situation where it always struggles a bit. It’s also probably the best looking and most old school muscle car-like out of all its competitors.
Price: from $69,995
Read our full review on the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Redeye
Lamborghini Aventador S – 730 Horsepower
The Lamborghini Aventador S is not the most extreme flavor of Aventador that you can have nowadays, but with 730 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and 508 pound-feet of torque (at 5,500 rpm) from its non-turbo, 6.5-liter, V-12 you don’t need to go any more extreme.
Gear shifting is handled by a seven-speed dual-clutch that’s both responsive and quick on the fly.
With all-wheel drive ensuring strong levels of grip at all times (and plenty of usable features), the Aventador is probably one of the most suitable supercars of them all to be used as a daily driver. It attracts the kind of attention only a Lambo could, it is very well built with Audi levels of quality, and it’s definitely a car that makes people stop and stare. Some may even recognize its very unique V-12 engine note and know it’s coming before it comes into view.
I think the Aventador has future classic written all over it.
Price: from $417,650
Read our full review on the 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S
Chevy Corvette ZR1 – 755 Horsepower
Chevrolet Calls the Corvette ZR1 a supercar, and with 755 horsepower on tap from its supercharged, 6.2-liter, V-8 engine, we have no problem with it being called that.
What’s especially impressive about this latest ZR1 is the fact that it offers very good value for money based on what it can do. Not only can it go in a straight line very quickly, but it is not just good but superb around corners. On a smooth piece of twisty road, this is realistically one of the fastest cars in the world that doesn’t also incur the sale of an organ or two to make the purchase. It also looks quite a bit more special than a normal Corvette thanks to special wheels, unique aero bits, and a lowered stance.
Price: from $123,000
Read our full review on the 2019 Chevy Corvette ZR1
Ferrari 812 Superfast – 789 Horsepower
Ferrari must have received lots of complaints that the F12 Berlinetta was slow and not sharp enough to drive because it is these two areas that the 812 Superfast builds upon.
The source of these impressive numbers is a non-turbo, 6.5-liter, V-12 engine (a development of the unit that powered the F12) that not only provides serious oomph, but also one of the best and most evocative soundtracks in the business. Ferrari has also managed to make the 812 Superfast even more noticeable than the F12 through more daring styling. It’s also sharper to drive mainly through the introduction of rear-wheel steering. The gearbox is the same seven-speed dual clutch used in the F12 but with different software calibration.
Price: from $335,275
Read our full review on the 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast
McLaren Senna – 789 Horsepower
McLaren wanted to create a car that’s as exciting and nearly as fast as the P1 hybrid hypercar, but without the hybrid part. Thus, the Senna was born, a car named after one of the most famous (and revered) Formula 1 drivers ever. According to reviews, it’s thoroughly deserving of that name, and it actually succeeds in being as exciting as the company’s flagship model.
All that power is channeled through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The Senna sprints to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds and its top speed should be well in excess of 200 mph, especially since it’s a very light car 2,641 pounds) and has a fairly low drag coefficient (in part thanks to its active rear wing that is constantly moving while the car is driven hard).
Price: $1-million
Read our full review on the 2019 McLaren Senna
Brabus 900 Rocket Coupe – 887 Horsepower
Brabus is much more than a Mercedes-centric tuner, and the vehicles it creates are sometimes even more luxurious than anything that rolls of Mercedes’ line. They are always considerably faster and more brutal too. Take the Brabus 900 Rocket Coupe, for instance. It’s based on the Mercedes-AMG S65 Coupe, a car whose torque has had to be limited because there was simply too much of it to handle.
It’s the engine that the German company focuses on most, though, and in this instance, they’ve changed quite a bit of the original 6.0-liter, twin-turbo, V-12.
All that torque has been limited to just 884 pound-feet, though, in order to keep things safe and drivable. The car’s sprint time to 62 mph drops to 3.7 seconds, and it would sail past 217 mph if it weren’t electronically limited to that speed.
Price: over $300,000
Read our full review on the 2018 Brabus 900 Rocket Coupe
Koenigsegg Agera RS – 1,160 Horsepower
Moving into a totally different price bracket to anything else on this list, we have the gorgeous Koenigsegg Agera RS, one of the fastest cars in the world and also one of the most interesting. Built mostly in-house by a small company in Sweden, the Agera RS is not only monstrously powerful, but also focused on lightness and control.
It obviously has a bit of trouble putting its power down at first, so it can only manage the sprint to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds from standstill, yet if you have a long enough runway (which you probably don’t), it will top out at an almost unbelievable 277.7 mph, making it all but unmatched flat out. It’s also quite a bit cooler to own one of these compared to, say, a Chiron built by VW-owned Bugatti, as it focuses less on show and more on go.
Price: around $2-million
Read our full review on the 2018 Koenigsegg Agera RS